Experts use art, ‘micro-habits’ to combat burnout, draw attention to physician suicide

As part of the ongoing challenge to achieve work-life integration, experts are pursuing creative endeavors and practicing decompression to provide outlets for physicians struggling with burnout.

During a panel at the Ending Clinician Burnout Global Summit, speakers described creative ways to draw awareness to physician suicide and help provide means for overcoming burnout.

Drawing awareness to physician suicide

Data show that around 400 doctors die by suicide each year — a statistic that prompted Justin Kovarsy, creative director, and Jeremy Rosario, associate creative director, both at the ad agency FCB Health New York, to create art that “put a spotlight” on physician suicide.

“That [statistic] really stuck with us,” Kovarsy said during the panel. “As we dug deeper, we found out that it’s normal for people to work over 80 hours a week, it’s normal for people to work 30 continuous hours in the health care space [and] it’s normal for 75% of all workplace assaults to occur in the health care sector.”

In a series of portraits called “The Disposables,” Rosario and Kovarsy gathered disposable medical items from hospitals to produce artistic representations of physicians who died by suicide. The goal was to “dial up the emotion of when you give your heart and your passion and ... long hours to a profession [in which] you feel like you can end up being discarded by not having the right support,” Rosario said.

Rosario, the lead artist for the project, specifically used items that the physicians would be touching with their hands throughout a single day, using light, colors, hues and volume to emphasize certain areas of the portraits.

“The use of light does multiple things: It helps shine focal areas where people prefer not to look,” Rosario explained. “This spotlight helps reveal cracks by placing people around the object [to] inform of the many things that are really hurting deeply and wounding our physicians. But light can also provide hope in a new beginning, as we foster new growth.”

In one physician’s portrait, Rosario used surgical gloves to create angel-like wings in the background. In another, he used linear objects to create a halo-like background. He also made the hair for one physician’s portrait by using an oxygen backpack.

The campaign ultimately led to policy change in Ohio, Kovarsy said. Two weeks after the exhibit’s debut, the state changed its medical licensing requirements by removing difficult mental health screening questions from licensing applications.

“The event that we did in Ohio was important because we worked directly with the [Ohio State Medical Association] to help remove the mental health screening questions that so many doctors are challenged by, both when looking for a new job, but also all the way through their lives,” Kovarsy said.

“So many things in health care are designed to be disposable ... [but] our doctors can’t be one of them,” he added.

‘Micro-habits’ for decompression

During the second portion of the panel, Ayman Mukerji Househam, described the use of “micro-habits” for decompression — small practices that can be completed in 30 seconds to 2 minutes each day. Househam, a neuroimmunology researcher and clinical social worker, is founder of the startup Jivika, which teaches micro-habits of wellness for individual caregivers, health care workers and in communities to reduce burnout.

After previously working on Wall Street, Househam realized she was not someone who could stop her day and meditate for 15 minutes or longer, leading to her practicing micro-habits.

“I decided what worked for me should work for many others who are scientific-minded and rather skeptical,” Househam explained. “So, I broke down mindfulness into tiny neuroscience-backed habits.”

The program allows users to practice micro-habits through an app. Physicians and health professionals are given prompts to be used in short huddles that allow them to reflect upon their day, giving answers in no more than a sentence. The program also features decompressing reminders that can be considered before going home for the day.

“The four questions we asked were basically saying, just reflect ... on your day,” Househam said. “Start with the bad, because you want to end with the good. [For instance,] what are you looking forward to tomorrow? Because you still have to come to work, you have to train your mind to like your work.”

These “deliberate slowdown” methods are important because a lack of decompression is one of the biggest risks for burnout, according to Househam, adding that recent survey results have shown that among 2.2 million health care workers, the top problem underlying burnout is the lack of decompression at the end of the day.

She said that “creativity comes from a state of flow,” and these micro-habits provide a means for “tapping into our creativity in a more practical way for those of us who were not born that creative.”

“Habit science shows that it takes about 60 days to build a habit if you did it 5 days a week,” Househam said. “So why wait? Start some micro-habits.”

Reference:

• The Disposables. https://www.disappearingdoctors.com/. Accessed Aug. 28. 2024.