Burnout

When summer students joined me to learn medicine, we'd have lunch together and work like a team. And as much as I wanted to, I knew I couldn't skip the conversation topic of burnout, that to sweep this burnout issue under the carpet was to behave like an ostrich. It's a hot topic among our colleagues. And there is also the nettlesome question of whether our medical interns are getting less enthusiastic near the end of the term (translation: June) - that's an imperfect but perfectly human behavior, too.

Truth be told, I don't want to show these to an aspiring medical student. That's too frightening. If all doctors and doctors-in-training talk about losing their sense of empathy with time, burnout becomes synonymous with getting old. Everyone gets old and everyone has burnout. It's only a matter of time before you will.

Perhaps, but not necessarily.

Because grumbling begets more grumbling, the importance of teaching the spirits exceeds the importance of the textbook knowledge. So I tell my students everything that has helped me along the way. I wish I had a secret recipe I could pass on, some formula that has enabled me to go to work on a daily basis and still as happy as a kid going to the carnival. Is there a magic key? Maybe there is one, maybe not. But I hope there's one way for my student to find out.