Prioritizing Self-Care for the Medical Professional

A couple months back, I went to see my physician to get cleared to travel overseas. We were going to Paris for vacation and they required a negative COVID-19 test to enter the country. Unfortunately, I tested positive the month prior and I needed a physician’s clearance to travel because I tested positive within the prior 30 days and would likely still be positive.

I am sitting there chatting with my primary care physician, who I really like and is close to my age. We were catching up for a bit and when I told him the reason for my visit he mentioned how he wants to travel but never has time. I asked him to clarify and he said he never schedules vacation time to be able to travel. I asked him how he schedules the following work year when he starts planning in December and he looked at me like I had two heads. I spent some time talking with him about how to plan his schedule to be able to take vacation time, finished my office visit and went on my way.

I was thinking later about him and all the other medical professionals I work with from physicians to nurses, social workers, respiratory therapists and members of the leadership team. People in the medical professional are some of the most caring and giving people I know. They spend countless hours caring for the sick and providing support to family members. However, medical professionals are usually terrible at taking care of themselves. They go and go until they cannot go any longer.

Nurses, and I am married to one, also struggle when it comes to the practice of self-care. I cannot tell you the countless times my wife went to work during the pandemic because she knew there was no one else there to care for the patients. She was burned out, stressed out and overwhelmed. But she sacrificed at her own expense to be there for patients. I could tell other stories of nurses who sacrificed to care for patients. The point is nurses give and give until they are empty.

Social workers are another profession in the medical field who struggle with self-care. They give for patients. They use their strong empathetic skills to connect with patients and families in order to serve them. Many give until they have nothing left to give and become burned out or bitter.

It is vital that medical professionals learn self-care. Self-care is not being selfish. Self-care does not mean you sacrifice the needs of others for your own needs. Rather, self-care provides the ability to better care for patients and families.

Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.

Parker Palmer

Here are a few key actions any medical professional can take to better their self-care.

MEDITATION

Meditation is a simple habit that can be practiced any time during the day to help you refocus and recenter. It is as simple as going to the bathroom for 5 minutes and practicing a simple breathing and focusing technique. Personally, I meditate for 15 minutes every morning. It is the first thing I do when I wake up and get to my office. I do not check my phone. I do not turn on my computer. I turn on some ambient playlist and just meditate.

Meditation is taking some time to be silent and practice breathing. You can use an app that provides guided meditations, which I recommend when you are first getting started, or you can just set a timer and sit in silence for 5, 10 or 15 minutes (or longer if you wish) and focus on your breath. There are times that you will feel very focused and meditation will be great. There will be times it is hard and you feel like you get nothing out of it. However, just like any exercise, you must repeat it regularly. As you do, you will begin to notice subtle changes in yourself.

JOURNALING

Journaling is another practice to increase your self-care. As with meditation, journaling can be done in just a few minutes. If you have not written anything beyond a grocery list or post on social media since school, it is going to feel awkward. Give yourself 5 minutes to write down what you are feeling and thinking. It can be full sentences or it can be bullet points. Here are some things you can write about:

What are you grateful for?

What made you happy today?

What made you sad today?

What was the highlight of your day?

Any one, or all, of these prompts is a great starting place. Give yourself some grace as you start out. It will feel awkward. But you can do it! Do not give up.

QUIET TIME

Think of this like an adult time out! Sit in your favorite chair and give yourself just a few minutes to be alone without any outside distractions. Yes! That means put away your phone. Place it in another room. And then just sit and enjoy the quiet. Enjoy being alone with yourself. As with journaling, give yourself just 5 minutes to practice this habit. 

BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELF

These are simple but powerful tools to get you started on the self-care path. As with any new habit, it will take time for your new habits to take root and you to see the fruit. But be patient with yourself. It took years to develop the habits that lead to poor self-care so it will take time for meditation, journaling and quiet time to become new habits. If you miss a day, do not be hard on yourself. However, if you begin to see you are skipping these habits on a regular basis then examine yourself and see what minor tweaks you need to make to reprioritize.