Doctors & hobbies: How does it prevent burnout?
M3 India Newsdesk Mar 01, 2018
Taking a break occasionally, indulging in another hobby or interest that may ward off stress for some time, is an ideal way to prevent the mountain of physical and mental health problems that burnouts can cause amongst doctors.
Stress is a part and parcel of a doctor’s life. When this work-related stress becomes overwhelming, it results in occupational burnout. Experiencing burnout for protracted periods increases the risk of anxiety, mental illnesses, sleep disturbances, fatigue, poor decision making difficult relation with co-workers, and hostile attitude towards their patients.
Causes of burnout in doctors: What studies tell us?
Advances in the field of medicine and healthcare are taking place almost every day. By the time the doctors adapt to one change, some new evidences evolve. According to the World Medical Association, keeping up with these advancements is a potential cause of stress amongst doctors.
Compassion fatigue is a state experienced due to helping patients in distress continuously. The extreme state of tension and preoccupation caused due to suffering of patients results in secondary traumatic stress in doctors. A study carried out El-bar N et al., reveals that there is a strong correlation between compassion fatigue and burnout in doctors.
Dyrbye LN, conducted a study of medical specialists and found that factors such as: interference to family life; not being able to meet the professional standards; feeling of being poorly managed or resourced can all lead to stress.
Maslach and Jackson characterized burnout as a three-dimensional construct which includes:
- Emotional Exhaustion (EE): Physicians’ physical and emotional energy becomes extremely low
- Depersonalisation (DP): Physician develop feeling of cynicism, sarcasm and the emotional energy is tapped dry
- Personal Accomplishment (PA): Physician doubts on the quality of his own work and efficiency
A study conducted in rural British Columbia reported that 80% of doctors had moderate to severe EE, 61% had DP and 44% had reduced PA.
Erdur B et al. found out that not having a hobby is one of the most prevalent causes of depression and burnout in doctors.
How can hobbies prevent burnout amongst doctors?
A well-developed hobby outside the profession could be a great asset in doctor’s life. It can help unwind, relax and recharge the mental, physical, and spiritual energy. Having a hobby to build and maintain work-life balance is one of the keys to prevent physician burnout.
Hobbies and leisure activities in doctors are sequentially linked with:
- Higher satisfaction and intrinsic motivation
- Improved quality of life
- Lower level of emotional stress
- Decreased incidence of anxiety and depression
- Ability to overcome on-the-job-unhappiness
- Deeper approach to work, to be more extrovert and more conscientious
- Enhanced leadership skills
- Having more social opportunities- to have something to talk about with the patients improves the sense of engagement and doctor-patient relationship
A study done by IC McManus et al, suggests that downtime is strongly linked with better performance in healthcare delivery.
Doctors who engaged in hobbies or leisure activities tended to see more patients, had a greater choice and independence at work, had a deep approach to work, had a more supportive-receptive work environment, were more extrovert and more conscientious, and reported greater self-esteem.
Hobbies for doctors
- Playing musical instruments improves motor performance, integration of multimodal sensory and motor information, coordination between eye and hand, spatial visualization, intense concentration, low reaction time, efficient mental rotation. These neurological factors also play an important role in improving the surgical efficiency of the doctors.
- Painting and singing are hobbies that involve imagination, innovation and creativity. These factors are also useful for doctors for developing the best treatment plans for their patients.
- Beekeeping, breeding, pedigree dogs are some great leisure activities for the pet loving physicians.
- Promoting poetry, writing and reading novels, and dramas or acting are some great stress busters. Japanese believe that these hobbies are very effective in slowing down the brain aging.
- Occasional tourism to distant lands and cruising can also be an excellent break from the stressful routine of a doctor.
- Running, exercising, and yoga have bonus benefits of keeping your mind and body healthy.
- Drawing could be a good hobby for the art loving doctors. A recently published article on “Art classes for doctors may teach what medical schools won't” has really resonated doctors. Dr Irwin Braverman, a professor at Yale stated that art might help them collect and relay visual information.
- Physicians should not live by medicine alone. Hobbies, apart from practising medicine, keeps a doctor well rounded and intellectually stimulated. Doctors should indulge in hobbies and activities to prevent burnout and have a greater sense of contentment.
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