Sound Mind: conversations about physician wellness and medical culture

Burnout, depression, anxiety: These are long-standing challenges within medicine. But since the pandemic was declared, physicians’ mental health has continued to deteriorate. Now, new health and wellness data from the Canadian Medical Association sheds light on the seriousness of the situation. "I've never seen so many physicians feeling so demoralized by the system and so deeply burnt out. I think we are in dark times, but I still have optimism because my colleagues remain committ...

Medical school is tough enough. For Indigenous students, it can also be fraught with racism, and the pressure to share their cultural ‘expertise’ with teachers and classmates.“A lot of the time, the stereotypes they’ve grown up with, their internal bias, the racism they don’t realize is there, comes to the surface, and it can be very traumatic as an Indigenous student to hear that, to sit through that, to sometimes have the questions directed at you.” - Jayelle Friesen-EnnsOn this episode of ...

The shortage of health care workers in Canada is a growing crisis. The daily tradeoffs of caring for patients while keeping up with administrative demands is leading to burnout – and prompting some professionals to trade private clinics and hospitals for team-based practices. “Working in a team makes me feel valued. I feel like I have a team that supports me just as much as I support the physician… There's no worrying about rushing to finish your shift and having to choose between not gi...

The strain of working in a health system on the brink – not to mention two years of a pandemic – can erode the sense of meaning that motivates so many physicians. But two emergency doctors, Anthony Fong in Vancouver and Daniel Kollek in Hamilton, found inspiration by going towards, rather than away, from crisis on a volunteer medical mission in Ukraine. “We provided emergency care in a setting that was really needed... And we didn't have all the bells and whistles you might find in an em...

Last year, a Texas A&M University professor predicted a mass exodus of workers in the wake of the pandemic, as people reflected on whether their jobs provided them a sense of purpose. He called it “The Great Resignation.” In medicine, job dissatisfaction, combined with increasing levels of burnout, is also forcing many doctors to reflect in the same way. Preliminary data from the Canadian Medical Association’s National Physician Health Survey shows nearly half of those surveyed...

Working mothers have suffered tremendous levels of stress throughout the pandemic – and doctors are no exception. A recent study found that physician mothers scored substantially higher on measures of anxiety and depression than physician fathers, in part because they’ve had to take on a disproportionate share of the increased childcare and online schooling needs. “When COVID-19 first started, my thoughts as a mother and a physician were… overwhelming. As women, we often make such freque...

“Code White” is a term used in many health care settings to alert workers to a real or perceived threat of violence. Unfortunately, they are being called more frequently, especially in emergency departments. The reality is that health care workers face four times as great a rate of workplace violence than other professions. In emergency departments, more than 50% of nurses will be sexually harassed or assaulted this year. More than half are physically or verbally abused in any given week...

Physician advocates never imagined being the targets of intimidation and death threats for supporting public health measures during the pandemic. But it’s happening. Three doctors -- Nili Kaplan-Myrth, Naheed Dosani and Jennifer Kwan -- open up about the impact these violent threats have had on their wellness and the steps they’ve taken to protect themselves, their families, their staff and patients. “In my office, we added cameras indoors and outdoors. And we keep our door locked, ...

For most physicians, the fight against COVID-19 took place away from public scrutiny. But for public health physicians, their words, their work, and sometimes their raw emotions, have taken centre stage. Two of Canada’s chief medical officers of health – Dr. Saqib Shahab from Saskatchewan and Dr. Catherine Elliott from the Yukon – share the toll the pandemic has taken on them and their colleagues. “It was only a few months in where I thought, no human can really keep this pace: new evide...

Dr. Amy Tan shares how she endured months of online harassment during the pandemic for defending racialized communities. “There was a racist, misogynistic, violent threat made to me by phone, which is different than keyboard warriors on Twitter, tweeting or emailing terrible things. It's different when somebody seeks out your workplace and asks to speak to you.” -- Dr. Amy Tan Dr. Amy Tan is an academic family and hospice palliative care physician on Vancouver Island.During the pand...