AAHPM Spring Quarterly : Page 13ACHIEVEMENT BALANCE CHALLENGES HOURS INSPIRA COMPENS W ORK -LIFE SPRING 2012 PERSONAL DEVEL COLLEA TION PA ATION TIENT OPMENT GUE INTERA GRO RELA WTH CTION TIONSHIPS PERSONAL A U PROFES INNO TONOMY SELF-ES VA SA TION SIONAL POSITIVE TISF ADMINIS TEEM ACTION DEVEL MORALE MEANINGFUL TRA OPMENT TIVE 13 SKILL RESPONSIBILITY W ORK COLLABORA W ORK RESEARCH REC OGNITION TION INTERES TS VOL. 13 MOTIVATION “I would not say that caring for dying patients is not stressful. But it’s the work I want to do,” says Sarah Friebert, MD FAAP FAAHPM, who directs the Haslinger Family Pediatric Palliative Care Division of Akron Chil-dren’s Hospital in Akron, OH. Dr. Friebert, who advises other palliative care programs through the CAPC Palliative Care Leadership Center at Akron Children’s, says, “Pallia-tive care can be sustainable and rejuvenating, but if you’re constantly fighting for full-time equivalents and no one is listening, no amount of journaling will help with that.” She finds tremendous personal and professional satisfac-tion in her work with young patients and their families and says her hospital is supportive of the work she does. But as any program grows, it becomes harder to manage competing demands and to achieve a satisfying work-life balance. Hours are long for many palliative care program directors, but for her, it’s not as bad as when she first started. “It was just me, 24/7/365.” Dr. Friebert also worries about a new generation of pallia-tive care physicians, who come straight from residency and 1-year fellowships, rather than via mid-life career change. “They are being asked to come in and build programs and be administrative leaders, but with no management or leadership experience. That’s a recipe for burnout.” Charles Wellman, MD FAAHPM, CMO at Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland, OH, says that although long hours and occasionally unrealistic expectations from patients and families can be stressful, the rewarding nature of the work helps relieve burnout. “There’s imme-diate gratification because most patients come to you with symptoms that are not fully relieved. If you can take away the patient’s pain, stop vomiting, and relieve dys-pnea right away, you’ll earn immediate gratitude from the patient and family.” As a medical director for VITAS in the greater Philadel-phia region, Joseph Straton, MD MSCE, is tasked with growing the program to ensure greater access to hospice services for patients with complex medical conditions. “The main reason my job is so extremely satisfying is that I leave feeling that I have improved our specialty’s ability to address the critically important needs of patients and families that are often left unmet by other areas of the US healthcare system,” he says. IT’S A SOURCE OF AWE AND WONDER THAT PEOPLE LET ME IN, BUT THE FACT THAT I CAN COME IN AT THESE TIMES AND POTENTIALLY MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR THEM IS INCREDIBLE. COMMUNICATION INDEPENDENCE PATIENT VISITS REWARDS STABILITY BENEFITS STRESS Publication List Using a screen reader? Click Here |
