Happy New Year’s. Through the years, I’d like to think that I’ve consciously made professional and personal decisions that created positive growth at work and at home. The new year gives us an opportunity for self-reflection and a chance at a fresh start.
Many New Year’s resolutions are about breaking bad habits (complete paperwork, exercise, eat better), but here are some for your consideration that are meant to be positive and forward thinking and will compliment your role in the emergency department. My challenge to you is to pick one that you think may lead to growth at work and at home.
Resolutions
Take some time for a Career Timeout –This does not mean quit your job but rather take time to explore your values and priorities. There are books and executive coaches to assist with this. Is your job satisfying and does it align with your values and priorities? Most of us will spend our whole careers as an emergency physician—it’s challenging, well paying, and rewarding. And I’m not suggesting that we should quit our jobs or find nonclinical jobs. But it’s important to understand how your job supports the rest of your life. Maybe the burnout you feel is related to our specialty. Though possibly the feeling of burnout can be reduced by being in different environment or changing your hours. If you’re able to couple your “timeout” to an extended vacation or sabbatical, you also may come back to work recharged and with a new passion for emergency medicine.
My wife has a lot of hobbies. I have friends with some cool hobbies. But what I’ve realized over the last few years, is that I lost many of my hobbies. As part of the time reflecting on our values, we may find that we need to consciously improve our work-life balance. Now is the time to find a hobby or even a new hobby. But most importantly, schedule time into your week to do something that you enjoy. A balanced life promotes long term job satisfaction and happiness and by scheduling it into your week, you can reduce the chances of overworking.
Invest in yourself —You’ve invested a ton of money and time in becoming a physician, but you still should be investing in yourself as your career progresses. This could be time or education. It’s okay to spend money on yourself that may make you better at your job, less stressed at your job, or open new doors to future jobs. This could be a formal program such as an MBA or a certificate in healthcare management, though it could be a great course on ultrasound, airway, or pediatric critical care, or one of the courses geared towards physicians to generate income in areas outside of clinical medicine. Online courses and workshops make this easier than ever.
Learn a new skill — It could be taking a cooking class or learning to make beer (yes, could also be a hobby), but it could also mean learning to make pivot tables, learning to manage a project or a committee at work, or really mastering a clinical skill like ultrasound or becoming the local champion in your department about the management of opioid withdrawal syndrome. Learning a new skill can increase your confidence, create a sense of purpose, and stimulate your brain, all of which improves your mental health.
Find a mentor at work—We can all benefit by having a trusted confidante in our specialty who can help provide career guidance, offer advice on navigating difficult situations and cases, and can serve as a model for professionalism and work life balance. Mentors don’t put out advertisements but with some forethought and networking, you should be able to connect with someone that can fill the role.
Build your network—Opportunities often come to people through their contacts, not by looking at job postings. Try to make one new professional connection each month. Consider inviting a contact out for lunch or drinks to pick their brain about their area of expertise. Join LinkedIn and update your profile. About a month ago I realized that social media was stressing me out, so I’ve snoozed or dropped many of the groups I was following. With that said, LinkedIn may be less stressful than other social media platforms. And if you want to do something in person and meet others, join a professional organization and go to a local, regional, or national conference.
Improve communication skills—Whether it’s with patients, nurses, colleagues, or family, active and empathetic listening, will improve relationships. If patients get the impression we’re not listening, it can increase their frustration with the care process which often gets taken out on our nursing colleagues, which then increases their burn out.
And if we’re not really listening, we can miss key things that impact care, or it could lead to unnecessary testing, which can prolong length of stay. Clear communication can reduce errors and improve patient outcomes while fostering a supportive work environment. Therefore, we should focus on active listening, concise handoffs, and providing constructive feedback to colleagues and support staff.
Enhance your emotional intelligence — Unlike IQ, which is considered fixed, your emotional intelligence (EQ) can be enhanced and improved. EQ is the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. This means recognizing and managing our own emotions as well as the ability to be empathetic by understanding and managing other people’s emotions. In a cognitively demanding field like medicine where everyone has a high IQ, leadership and workplace success is more closely tied with having a higher EQ. There’s plenty of books and online tests to help you understand and improve your own EQ.
Work Related Resolutions
I don’t want to completely ignore resolutions that may directly impact your workplace so here’s a few to consider.
Reassess your ED — Almost every director I talk to reviews the same flow metrics I do. If you have a place with phenomenal patient flow, please share your secret. But most of us could benefit from taking a fresh look to see if there is one project that can improve the team’s workflow. I would ask you to consider dividing potential projects into things we can directly control and things we can’t control. This may mean reassessing for opportunities to have a provider in triage, create a rapid assessment zone, or a vertical care area compared to working to reduce boarding hours or radiology turnaround time. The latter two are critical to ED flow but are not in the direct control of the medical director.
Team with nursing leadership — Relationships can be challenging, but the partnership between the ED nursing and medical directors is vital for the department’s success. With the New Year, we have an excellent opportunity to review and establish shared goals and priorities for the ED. Since many nursing directors don’t work clinically like medical directors often do (their non-clinical role is a topic of its own, but generally, I understand and support it), scheduling time for joint rounds—team rounding—can be highly beneficial. By rounding together on staff, the leadership team can gather consistent feedback from front-line nurses and provider teams about challenges and successes. This approach fosters improved communication and alignment within the leadership team, enhancing both strategic planning and department outcomes.
What can you do to make your workplace safer? Healthcare workers face workplace violence far more frequently than those in other industries. Everyone deserves a safe workplace. While much of the solution may lie beyond the direct control of the medical director (unlike projects on patient flow), being a champion for workplace safety in your hospital is critical. Start by gathering data, reviewing best practices, and regularly discussing safety with your c-suite and security director. This isn’t an easy resolution, but with focus and commitment, you can implement interventions that make your ED safer for staff and help reduce violence against healthcare workers.
Work to retain your team — Our provider teams are our greatest asset and one of our key areas of focus as directors should be on retaining our staff. Turnover is expensive and time consuming, so what can you do to help retain your staff? Where are the frustrations your team experiences (what shows up on team rounding) and how can you reduce them? There’s always something we can do to remove the “pebbles from the shoes” of our provider team. This is the perfect time of year to schedule “check in” meetings with your team. These can be done virtually or better yet, take each provider out to lunch to see how they’re doing. Spring is just around the corner and facilitating a group outing can also be good for morale.
This last one actually is about breaking a bad habit and doing better at work. I can’t count how many department chairs have shared their frustrations about providers who consistently fail to respond to emails or complete their charts. So, here’s a potential resolution for everyone: answer your emails and complete your charts. It’s an essential part of the job, and it needs to be done.
When I turned 40, I resolved to get off the couch and get in better shape. I went out to jog a mile. Eight months later I ran my first half marathon. And then I completed my first marathon. Big things can happen by taking that first step. Life is a journey that thrives on active participation. The New Year is a perfect time to jumpstart your personal and professional growth. While none of us can predict exactly where we’ll be in five years, the experiences and progress we make along the way can open incredible possibilities. Wishing you a fulfilling and successful 2025!
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