Let’s “Yz”-up! No One Should Care Alone … Ever
“Why is it important to swim with a buddy?” Our local YMCA swim instructor
One of the inspirations for the PeerRxMed process was the YMCA youth swimming program and in particular, their “buddy system” for swimmers. I learned to swim at the “Y”, and prior to the pandemic, was a regular fixture at our local branch. Before a children’s swimming class gets in the pool, the instructor always asks, “Why is it important to swim with a buddy.” The most common answer is an enthusiastic “So somebody is watching out for you!”, often followed closely by “So you don’t drown!” and “Because it’s more fun!” There is great wisdom in all 3 of these answers.
On January 21st, Medscape released the results of their annual “Physician Burnout and Depression Report.” They chose to subtitle this one “Stress, Anxiety, and Anger,” which certainly caught my attention. However, what really caught my attention were some of the survey results. Beyond the ongoing and tragic epidemic of professional burnout (47% overall – up from 42% a year ago), there were some other numbers that were quite notable and very relevant to the PeerRxMed movement. For instance, the question, “How do you cope with burnout?” had more colleagues answering, “Isolate myself from others” (45%) than “Talk with family members/close friends” (41%), and almost 25% said they use alcohol to cope.
It gets worse …. To the question “Has burnout had a negative effect on your relationships?”, 68% of our colleagues answered “Yes.” In addition, 21% said they felt depressed and 5% indicated they believed they were clinically depressed. For those experiencing burnout or depression, half indicated “I can deal with this without help from a professional.” And this survey was completed in September of 2021, before the worst of the delta and omicron surges!
So once again we must ask, “What’s up with this!?” Medscape doesn’t explore that question, but my own experience and the evidence would suggest it is because our professional bias toward independence, isolation, and aversion to help-seeking is built into the culture of medicine – it’s what we’re selected to do, trained to do, socialized to do, programmed to do, expected to do. In many ways, it’s our “badge of honor.” Somehow, we’ve come to believe that as long as we “armor-up” we are magically invulnerable to the tragedy and suffering we’re surrounded by each day.
PeerRxMed was created to help break down the many barriers the culture of medicine has created which interfere with our fundamental human need to connect with and support each other. The past 2 years have only brough into finer focus the need that existed before the pandemic and will be here after. So let’s be sure to regularly check in with our colleagues to ensure that none of them are trying to “swim” without a buddy. Doing so in the face of the statistics above is just reckless … and lonely. Let’s “Yz”-up. No one should care alone … ever.