When you care for yourself you will inevitably be in a better state to care for others more effectively.
It is a common mistake that people in the caring professions for example doctors, forget how important it is to look after themselves. They may well be perfectionists and believe also that they must always put the care of others in front of caring for themselves. This frequently means that they never find the time to do things for themselves.
Does this apply to you?
If you feel guilty when you say to yourself, “I am going home now,” and try to keep going while there is demand on your services, however late that may make the ending of your day then it’s important to make some changes.
However many hours you work, and however much you do, there always must come a point at which you stop. This may be either because you’ve finished all the tasks that need to be done, all you feel so exhausted that you are unable to do even one more thing. Unfortunately, what stops some doctors in their tracks is finding they have developed an illness and need to take some time away from work.
Perhaps only then they come to realise that they are not indispensable and that it is really important to work efficiently as a doctor but also have time away from medicine too.
When you fail to look after yourself and are unable to decide when it’s time to stop then you may find that the quality of your work deteriorates because you take longer to do routine tasks and become more likely to make mistakes.
When you start to make mistakes that’s when you may become a liability. Doctors who don’t look after themselves may be more likely to prescribe the wrong treatment or the wrong dose with subsequent serious effects both for the patient and the doctor him or herself.
Make a promise to yourself that you will start to look after your own needs much more than you have in the past. Decide what you are going to start doing that will contribute towards this. Perhaps you’ll decide to walk for half an hour in the middle of the day, or to cycle to work. Maybe you’ll look at the sort of food you eat, resolve to take a break for lunch and spend a few minutes or even half an hour away from the patients, the wards and the computer.
Susan
Thanks ever so much.
I sense that e mail should not rule your life nor should the mobile phone nor should indeed anything……..
Gd wishes clive
All good advice indeed but………………..
I sense that the way forward is small steps – very small steps.
For myself I am currently struggling with an ovewhelming volume of e mails which I perceive need answering NOW whereupon the other emailer thinks that I think he or she needs an instant response.
E mail is not easy to prioritise but there is no reason why it is impossible to prioritise.
I need to think about how to do this…….even with a work provided BlackBerry…….
Gd wishes
What you could try is: 1. set up ‘rules’ in your email programme so that certain emails go into separate folders.
2. Set 2 or 3 specified times to deal with emails rather than each time they arrive in your inbox (this is one I struggle with too!)