calling all doctors who have had or have burnout

[stoppingtothink]

I'm a hospital consultant. Last week it was suggested I have burnout. TBH I wasn't really surprised, in fact to hear it was a bit of a relief. However, I haven't been asked to stand down from clinical duties . I don't think this is covid related, its been building over a while and the stresses of home schooling have been the final straw. I struggle to keep on top of things clinically and administratively, and I enjoy my job less and less. I haven't given up, yet, because on one level I enjoy the sense of purpose that it gives me, and it also gives me financial security, but we don't need the money. I'm seriously considering my future. I think if I take a break (say 2-3 months) i'll deskill further and won't want to go back, but then what would I do? Wanting to hear from people who have had burnout and recovered and gone back to clinical practice and also people who have had burn out and left.

Can you take some time off (on sick leave if necessary) - it will give you time to consider your future. Don't make any decisions for a few weeks if possible. It's easy to make a rash decision about throwing the towel in when in burn out. A years sabbatical might be an option of your trust will agree to it and you can afford it.

I'm not a doctor, although I am a psychologist and have changed roles and reduced hours because I felt I was burning out at one point. It was a horrible feeling. Firstly, I would say, maybe seek some professional supervision ( not line management) to discuss the psychological impact of your work. Or perhaps work based counselling support of psychological supervision isn't available. I also came on to say that this happened to my cousin. Ex-paeds consultant at a large London hospital. She took some leave, I think with a view to going back to the same role after a few weeks/ months. Turned out, she didn't miss her job nearly as much as she thought, although she went through lots of ruminating about loss of professional identity/ status. She now uses her transferable skills in a very different way now, as a trustee of a national charity and also working for another charity supporting families affected by disability. She loves her new roles and looks so much more like the joyful girl I grew up with again. Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Wasn't officially diagnosed but yes - I knew. Take sick leave if you need it - I know this is hard for doctors, but you owe it to yourself, your family and your patients to give yourself time to recover.

What worked for me was completely separating my clinical and non-clinical roles. So I went from being a GP partner to working in a non-clinical role part-time and doing my clinical work as a locum. That was transformative. I started to enjoy clinical work again because I no longer had to juggle management and running the practice at the same time.

If you are on Facebook there is a group called 'Tea and empathy' for doctors, you can post anonymously, lots of good advice given on there.
I have no advice (I'm very junior!) but wishing you well.

Thank you.
@MrsNoah, I’ve worked as a locum before and it was much more manageable, but where we live now I’d have to travel much further to get locum work.....but at the same time the pay is easily double so I could work less hours.
I don’t mind taking time off......I just genuinely think I’d probably not go back.
I think the main problem is that since having children I just don’t seem to have any time for anything. I know I can do the job, but only if I rarely see my DH, DC or have any me time.......and I just don’t think I like it that much.

maybe reduce your hours in the short term and see how it goes? If you're overworked then of course you will struggle with finding love for it. If you cut this down a bit then it will give you more of a chance to see if you can manage better and enjoy it more with a better work life balance. NB not a dr but a working single parent in another career whose life improved immeasurably from working less!

I don’t mind taking time off......I just genuinely think I’d probably not go back

That might be the burnout though. Until you have a proper break and are well again, you just can't tell. You have probably been working flat out since you were about 15 - first school exams, then med school, foundation years, the grind of CT/ST etc. Mat leave (assuming you are a woman) does not count as time away from medicine, as you get no head space when doing it and are coping with the adjustment to parenthood.

You need a proper break to recover, before you decide whether to walk away. Please consider talking to your GP and - if you get a shit one (mine just told me how much harder he'd had to work than me - thanks ), see another. Most of us would bend over backwards to support a colleague in your situation.

www.medicalforum.com/ Try these guys- aimed at doctors in just your position (disclaimer, not a doctor) & found it very helpful, though not actually made my change yet found it very helpful to identify other goals and priorities that i was otherwise struggling with.

I was burning out. Got referred to occ health. They basically told management that either I worked fewer PAs or they'd advise me to go off sick. Went down to 10 PAs, had a better work life balance, and managed to drag myself back out of the hole.

I'm at the other end of things as I'm an FY1, but had a bit of a breakdown early this year - nothing to do with work tbh - more home stuff - marriage in a really terrible place, child with ASD not coping well so existing on about 3 hours sleep per night, ill parents, moving house then discovering loads of work to be done and no money to do it - general life shit. Was clinging on by my fingernails then I got glandular fever and it was the proverbial straw - I basically spent 3 months lying on the sofa staring at the ceiling . Still coping with lingering fatigue and brain fog. I know it's not the same at all as I have none of the same responsibilities, but I'm back at work now and was really surprised how quickly I got back into it despite having been off work almost as long as I'd worked previously. I can't imagine at consultant level you'd deskill in 3 months. Also can definitely say the 3 months off gave me a big break mentally - when I got ill I genuinely thought I'd never go back. Even though work itself was mostly fine, coping with it alongside everything else just seemed utterly impossible. So you might find that even if you feel at the beginning you won't go back you might change your mind. And if you don't, you'll know you're making that decision after months of rest rather than while exhausted and at the end of your tether.

Hesitant to post as being so junior it's not really a comparable situation, but just wanted to say I hope you manage to get a bit of headspace, somehow .