Professional Well-Being

Creativity can help us become better doctors by sparking our ability to innovate, empathize, and adapt within the art of medicine.

As physicians, we learn to compartmentalize a lot of emotions–probably too often. We go from room to room and patient to patient, and we must display the best versions of ourselves, both physically and mentally.

In my gap year, I read a lot of books. I’m talking well over 100 books. For me, reading is a creative outlet.

My hope is that by raising awareness of the subtle signs of burnout, physicians will not only be introspective of their own "internal battery” but also unfaltering advocates for the mental and physical health of their colleagues. Without further delay, here are three subtle signs of burnout I have recognized throughout my medical training.

“There are two skills that would benefit students as they navigate these issues: learning how to communicate about relationships and identifying their own needs or knowing how to get support.”

Medicine is a field that requires finding a level of comfort in the unknown.

Almost 30% of medical students and residents suffer from depression and 10% report having suicidal thoughts. Now, a growing number of medical schools and teaching hospitals are developing programs to identify and help at-risk trainees.

Doctors have some of the best access to mental health resources, yet they have nearly double the risk of suicide when compared to non-health care workers. On this week’s episode of “Beyond the White Coat,” host AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, talks to Justin Bullock, MD, MPH, and Yunyu Xiao, PhD, about the stigmas that surround mental health in the medical profession and how those stigmas trickle down into patient care.

Black children ages 5 to 12 are twice as likely to die by suicide as their White peers, and Black teen suicides are growing at shocking rates. What’s going on, and what can be done to help save young Black lives?