I have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest

2018 Most Over-used and Misused Words

Wheelhouse

“Wrap my head around”

Optics

Yeet

Collusion

2018 Most Over-used and Misused Words

Wheelhouse

“Wrap my head around”

Optics

Yeet

Collusion

Burn Out

Burn-out

Burnout

• 40% of physicians admit to Burnout symptoms

• 25 to 30% of U.S. citizens describe Burnout symptoms

• Most common explanations are system related:• Emphasis on productivity

• Loss of autonomy

• Spending < 20% time doing “meaningful” work

• Documentation, EMR

• Another manifestation of our mental anguish?

Signs of Mental Distress in U.S. Society

• Adults - 18% suffer from mental illness• Suicidal ideation 4.04% (up from 3.77%)

• Children – 12.6% suffer from Major Depressive Episodes

• Civility declining and Anger increasing

• Physicians:• 40% screen positive for depressive symptoms

• 400 commit suicide each year

Optimizing Joy in Medicine

“Joy is much deeper than happiness.

While happiness is seen as dependent

on external circumstances, joy is not”

-Desmond Tutu

Bongo Board

Success Happiness

Success Happiness

Lyubomirsky et al. Psychological Bulletin 2005 Meta analysis

“Now that is a TOB” *

* Thing of Beauty

“Top 10 Reasons Why General Surgery is a Great Career”

Rick Thirlby, Western Surgical Association 2006

Archives of Surgery 2007

Thirlby’s Reasons for Gratitude

• Training is fun, and it never ends

• You have job security

• The pay is not bad

• Your mother will be proud of you

• There’s spirituality if you want it

• You will change patients’ lives

• Patients will change your life

“Happiness is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how

good things really are.”

-Marianne Williamson

Resuscitating the Canary

The Coal Mine or the Canary?

Mindfulness and Surgery

Feasibility of Formal Mindfulness-Based Stress-Resilience Training Among Surgery Interns: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Lebares CC et al. JAMA Surgery, Oct. 2018

• Feasible

• Perceived as valuable

• !2 month follow-up showed persistence

Happiness vs. Joy

Happiness happens to us. Feeling happiness is not entirely a choice that we make. Happiness is fickle.

Joy is an attitude of heart and spirit, present deep inside us. Joy can share its space with other emotions –sadness, shame, or anger. Happiness cannot.

Compassion International

Joy

•Our essential nature of women and men

•Our goal – return to the state of joy

•Everyone can realize through cultivating skills

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

“Happiness is not what makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy”

– David Steindl-Rast

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

Humor

Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

• Intention

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

• Intention

• Leadership

Joy Through LeadershipIf you’re not the lead dog…

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

• Intention

• Leadership

• Teaching

Chicken or Egg?I ordered a chicken and an egg on

Amazon today.

I’ll let you know

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

• Intention

• Leadership

• Teaching

• Compassion

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

• Intention

• Leadership

• Teaching

• Compassion “A Surgeon’s Reflections on Love”

Am. J. Surgery 2015

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

• Intention

• Leadership

• Teaching

• Compassion

• Community

Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy

• Gratitude

• Humor

• Intention

• Leadership

• Teaching

• Compassion

• Community

• Coaching

Finding Joy - Summary

•Acknowledge our gratitude

•Positively re-frame our perspective

•Harness our capacity for compassion

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