‘How do you fill your tank?’ For women physicians, start with self-care
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Women physicians have high rates of depression, anxiety and burnout.
- Small acts of self-care, reflection and seeking support from other women can help change the culture of medicine.
CHICAGO — Busy women physicians have much to gain by seeking out small moments of self-care, reflecting on ways to make positive change and sharing their personal stories with other women to build a more connected community.
Women in medicine continue to confront high rates of burnout, depression and anxiety, often without needed support, according to Beatriz R. Olson, MD, an integrative endocrinologist with Integrative Endocrinology and Metabolism in Middlebury, Connecticut, who spoke about how women physicians can redefine their agency in medicine at the Women in Medicine Summit.
“There are simple steps women can take that can begin to nudge the medical system to consider a much-needed culture shift,” Olson told Healio. “We must tell each other’s stories. Through our stories, being vulnerable and sharing our experiences, we connect with others and empower them to act on their own behalf. If we tend to our own well-being, we can help patients with greater abundance.”
Healio spoke with Olson about why women are more likely to leave medicine, combatting burnout and fatigue, and the importance of taking a “timeout” to assess a new way to move forward.
Healio: What does it mean to “redefine your agency” in medicine?
Olson: Women must think differently at this time. Medicine has changed. Both patients and clinicians are sick, for different reasons. There are systemic problems that begin during medical school. In the process, we have lost the humanity in medicine, which is what we all went into this profession for.
We have been following a paternalistic system in medicine. In the process, women get hurt. Because the system is not prepared for women, 40% leave medicine 6 years after training. Women get paid 70% what men get paid. Part-time options for women in medicine are scarce, and if you take a part-time opportunity, your potential for professional growth is compromised, because you appear less serious. There is internal bias and judgment toward women. Women are powerful, in terms of what we can offer to the world. We are the people who give life and are life-giving in our work. Yet, the system does not engage with us in the fullness that we have to offer. We have acquired mindsets along the way that limit the way we think and we begin to lose our potential.
Agency is something we create in our own lives. Someone can give us external agency to go to the post office and deliver a letter. But it is up to us to create an attitude for others to believe in us, to nurture us, so we do not feel somehow “less than” or isolated.
We as women are often in the service of others, and that can disenfranchise us from truly knowing what it is we need for ourselves and then acting on it. We do not want to ask for help. Because of that, we have large numbers of women physicians with depression, anxiety and burnout.
Healio: You said something very powerful, which is: Agency is something you create. How can women physicians do that?
Olson: When you come from a place of scarcity, you cannot offer people the fullness of what you can give. How do you fill your tank? You include yourself in your circle of care.
So, this all begins with acts of self-care. Once we begin to create moments of self-care, we can take time out to ask ourselves: What do we want? What is blocking us from getting to where we want to be? And, is it true that what we think is our truth; are there other options that I have not considered? What is the price we are paying for accepting what is and what are the potential next steps we can brainstorm to make change?
Then, we must reframe our thinking to begin to do things differently. Overcoming the fear of criticism is also important. Many people in the world have been under severe circumstances but have held onto their values and attitudes. That can lift us up.
Healio: How can women physicians uplift other women physicians?
Olson: We must tell each other’s stories. Through our stories, being vulnerable and sharing our experiences, we connect with others and empower them to act on their own behalf. If we tend to our own well-being, we can help patients with greater abundance.
There are systemic problems and personal problems — both are contributors to our lack of well-being as women. We must never compete with each other. We must support each other and know that each one of us brings incredible wisdom. We are brilliant, imperfect and wise at the same time. If we can see each other with greater empathy — see each other as sisters in the big work — we can create well-being and bring humanity back to the medical system.
We bring the energy of our maternal line. People tell us to be more resilient; we are resilient. The real question is: How can we become anti-fragile? We must develop personal skills and self-compassion to fully help someone else. What if all of us truly valued each other and worked together and told our organizations that changes need to happen right now? How can you make change? How would you help a colleague or resident who was treated poorly by an attending?
Healio: What inspired you to do this work?
Olson: I am an immigrant from Cuba and I grew up in a house where I did not know when my parents were going to come home, but I knew they were fighting for freedom, fighting against the authoritarian communist system. The government took away our agency and belongings, but not our values. We made it to the United States and today I am a researcher, I worked at the NIH, I am an academic.
There was a time when there was a change in administration at NIH and I lost my support. Then, my husband was sent on a military operation on short notice, leaving me to raise two young children. I felt shame that I felt so weak and vulnerable that my husband was away. I had negative thoughts, and I had to take care of two little girls. That was my first transformative choice point. I took myself to the nail salon and I began to think: Timeout; I need to do things differently. I need to get some therapy and change my thinking about how I would live my life. I was going to create my own choices and respond when other people made changes and not simply react.
In the last 5 years, my work has been about physician well-being, but I also have a daughter who will be entering emergency medicine next year. ED docs have the greatest amount of burnout. How can I, through my work, inspire change? Today, I have a successful practice and a fullness in my heart. There are different ways of practicing medicine where we honor our families, we honor ourselves, and we can still make a difference for patients.
For more information:
Beatriz R. Olson, MD, can be reached at beatrizmd@snet.net.
Collapse
Olson BR. Breaking Barriers: Women Physicians Redefining their Agency in Medicine. Presented at: Women in Medicine Summit; Sept. 12-14, 2024; Chicago.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts