A Series by Kathryn Lawson, PhD
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Challenging Ideas of Work as Worth
Much of our suffering comes from efforts to avoid suffering. Or, in the words of Carl Jung: “What we resist, persists.” Overwork can be one of the ways that we resist distressing emotions. Sometimes it can be harder to spot than other maladaptive coping mechanisms because work, and often overwork, tends to be praised and…
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Intimate Partner Violence in the Medical Community
Though this is frequently unacknowledged, physicians experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at a rate consistent with or higher than the national average (Reibling, et al., 2020). Some progress is being made, but there are still a number of significant barriers to reporting this experience. Physicians and other healthcare professionals may be reluctant to seek medical…
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Psychological Safety and Acknowledging Error
At first glance, healthcare teams that work well together seem to have higher rates of error. But when we dig just a bit deeper, we can see more accurately. In fact, teams in which there is a high degree of psychological safety are more willing to acknowledge error, paving the way for a continuous learning…
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Upstander Intervention in Bullying and Incivility
Bullying and incivility are serious issues in healthcare. These behaviors have been associated with distress, anxiety, posttraumatic reactions, medical errors, and even patient death. There are some effective strategies you can use if you are the target of bullying or incivility. And while they are less widely known, there are also some effective strategies you…
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Addressing Bullying in Healthcare
Bullying and incivility in healthcare do more than cause pain to the individuals experiencing them (although that pain alone is a significant issue). These disruptive behaviors have been linked to medical error by 71% of physicians and nurses surveyed, and to patient death by 27% of those professionals surveyed (Lewis, 2023). Using effective conflict resolution…
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Conflict Resolution In Medicine
Conflicts are an inevitable part of human interaction. Whether the conflicts are addressed or hidden, acknowledged or denied, they are present in both our personal and professional lives. Although conflicts can be distressing, there is nothing inherently wrong with them. Conflict is not the same thing as bullying (bullying is bullying). Conflict by itself is…
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Using Emotional Regulation for Effective De-Escalation
For many physicians and other healthcare professionals, the threat of workplace violence is something that they feel underprepared to manage. Statistics consistently show that there is an epidemic of violence in hospital and healthcare settings. In fact, if you use the metric of nonfatal illnesses and injuries, healthcare is the most dangerous profession there is.…
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Reducing Risk of Violence with Situational Awareness
Back in 2016, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article referring to violence in healthcare settings as “ubiquitous” (Phillips, 2016). In 2018, healthcare workers accounted for 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses due to violence, more than prison staff, police officers, and other occupations that may typically be considered more “dangerous”…
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The Weight of Error
Suicide risk for physicians is elevated when facing a malpractice case or licensure restriction, or dealing with other career concerns. These are obviously significant stressors, and they deserve attention and intervention. But what about the distress associated with making a mistake, even if that mistake doesn’t lead to external consequences? The weight of error can…
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Suicidality and Hope for Physicians
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and September 17th is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day. Every suicide is an unspeakable tragedy, a loss that ripples outward in waves of pain and grief. The Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine estimates that up to 400 physicians take their own lives every year. While estimates of…
