5: The Fear of Burnout Due to the Burden of So Many Patients

Session 05

In this episode, we hear from a premed who feels overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients needing help. She is working in the emergency department and feels overwhelmed by the number of sick patients coming to them who need care. How can you make sure you stay in the moment?

[01:15] Poster of the Week

"I'm a premed that works as a tech in the ER. I'm still learning so there's a lot that I don't know yet. I just got my first foley the other day and it was pretty exciting for me. Lately, I've been having a really hard time with the premed path though. Getting into the hospital and seeing the way staffing can be sometimes and seeing how many sick people have to be taken care of all the time. It just seems too momentous sometimes but there's just so many patients of such a high acuity and it's just hard. I can just see why everyone's getting burned out. I just didn't know if anybody had any advice for once you get there, what's the ratios and things look like as a physician."

[02:30] Being Overwhelmed by the Number of Sick Patients

First off, congratulations on getting your first foley catheter and that's a big accomplishment. It takes a lot to get that done so that's a big deal! On another note, it's good you're already noticing the reason burnout happens even at this stage.

Being overwhelmed by the number of sick patients needing care all the time never stops. It probably only differs in terms of where you're practicing medicine. In an ER department, it's a very busy place. There's a lot going on and a lot of people need care all the time. But if you think about a primary care outpatient office or a urology office, this can feel completely different.

It also makes a big difference geography-wise. Being out in a rural community where there are a few people is a lot different from a very busy urban center. It's going to vary in an academic center as well.

"There's such a huge spectrum in the world of practicing medicine in terms of what the level of acuity is, how many patients are being seen, the kind of care being offered."

If you find that you're more attracted to really busy environments as a premed and med student, this is something to take notice of. You'd want to gravitate to things that would keep you happy as a physician. That's part of how we avoid burnout.

But if you find that you don't like the busyness and the craze of being in an environment with tons of patients all the time, which emergency departments might be, then this may shift your interest over time. You may want to practice in an environment that has a different dynamic in terms of the number of patients.

[05:12] There Will Always Be Patients

All this being said, there being so many sick patients needing care all the time is something you find anywhere you go. By nature, you will always need physicians on this planet to help take care of people when they get sick. Even with electronics and technology, or artificial intelligence, you will always need human beings.

I don't think a computer could ever replace both a human mind in terms of its capacity for knowledge and being able to practice medicine. That said, there will always be patients and there will always be physicians to care for them and this in and of itself can be overwhelming.

"There will always be patients and there will always be a need for physicians to take care for them."

Over time, during my internship, I would find that patients seem to always come back. Initially, I found this to be incredibly frustrating. You would try to work so hard to get someone all the things they needed. But we're people and people get sick so they could always come back. So a mindset change was necessary over this whole thing. You have to recognize this is not the end. The goal...