5 Tips to Maintain a Healthy Attitude

As a physician, your attitude influences all segments of your professional world:  your staff’s fellowship, collaboration and performance; the follow-through of your patients; and the amount of your goals that will be accomplished.  It also influences personal response when you face new challenges, handle setbacks, and recover from mistakes.

 

No one can control your attitude unless you voluntarily surrender that control.  People can affect your attitude by misinforming you or making repetitive errors, but no one else “makes you angry.”  You make yourself angry when you surrender control of your attitude.  What someone else may have done is irrelevant.  They merely put your attitude to the test.  If you choose a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, or disruptive, then you have failed the test. 

 

Here are strategies to follow when you find your attitude declining:

 

Recognize when you are having a bad day. Everyone can have a bad day, even a physician. If you feel you are about to explode, leave the situation.  Step into your office for a few minutes, and let your nurse or assistant cover for you until you return. Be kind to yourself and the well-being of your patients and practice.

 

Recognize before you are burning the candle at both ends. Behaviors typically decline when you don’t get your personal needs met, like getting proper rest, or when the amount of commitments and problems are larger than your energy, time and resources to handle them. Taking time off, putting work in perspective, and ensuring that you have a fulfilled personal life will automatically lift your attitude.

 

Recognize your practice is a team. You are both leader and member of a team with integrated systems to ensure that everyone can accomplish their job smoothly. You rely on your staff to keep the practice going so you can deliver quality patient care. Hold yourself to the same team standards that you require of your staff.  Not only will your staff and patients benefit, but so will you.

 

Recognize there are several solutions to any situation. Many physicians can be high-strung, dominant personalities that overpower with their opinions, attitudes and aggressiveness. Remind yourself that team work requires team effort and team input for staff buy-in on office changes.  The effective team leader allows others to shine for a brighter team and better results.

 

Recognize when to let go of control. Control can kill your energy, time and flexibility. When you delegate a responsibility, let go of your need to control and influence. Instead, empower your staff with sufficient information and space to expand their potential.  You both win.

 

Maintaining a healthy and positive attitude is a basic requirement for success. The combination of a sound mission, personal philosophy and positive attitude about yourself and the people you work with provides you an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of your life. 

Take the fear out of malpractice lawsuits

Being an excellent clinician is no guarantee against malpractice claims. An article in the American Medical News last month reported that even though most physicians will be sued at least once during their career, the majority of cases are without merit. According to a study issued in the New England Journal of Medicine, 7.4 percent of physicians experience a medical liability claim each year, while 1.6 percent of those sued make payments to plaintiffs.

Whether this information is good news or bad news is in the eye of the beholder. It is a fact that being sued causes a tremendous amount of stress on the physicians, costs money regardless whether they win or lose the case, affects their self-esteem and their confidence in practicing medicine, and determines their decision how much longer they will sustain their medical career.

Reading this could almost mean that you are susceptible to your patients decision to sue without having any influence. But this is not the case. Research has also proven that malpractice lawsuits can be avoided or minimized, and here I mention two suggestions:

1. Stress control and self-care
Research and experience have shown that increased fatigue and sleepiness were associated with increased odds of reporting an error. Whereas an increased quality of life was associated with a decrease in the odds. Taking good care of yourself, controlling stress in your life, and being content with life have a lot to do with how you show up in your practice and how focused you are with each patients. The more you live in the present moment without any distraction, the less likely you will cause errors that lead to major complications.

2. Be an excellent communicator
Malpractice insurers and attorneys have long said this, and researchers from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine have proven that there is a strong link between the number of patient complaints filed against doctors and their bedside manner. In other words, nice doctors get sued less. Open and direct communication, empathy, and being present with your patients and their families during visits builds a strong partnership and can dramatically reduce your susceptibility to lawsuits.

Even though patients do what they do and many times you have no control over their actions, you do have control over how well you take care of yourself and how effective you are in the communication with your patients.

Iris Grimm is the creator of the Balanced Physician programs. She provides physicians a comprehensive support system to meet their unique work, life, and leadership challenges. For more information visit www.BalancedPhysician.com.