A New You!
Thriving in a Survivor World
Charlene M. Dewey, M.D., M.Ed., FACP
Associate Professor of Medical Education & Administration
Associate Professor of Medicine
Debbie Smith, M.A.
Life Strategist & Consultant
Sponsored by: This program is provided by the Center for Professional Health, The Faculty
and Physician Wellness Committee and the Center for Women in Medicine.
Conflict of Interest
Sponsored by Vanderbilt School of Medicine; Department of Office of
Teaching and Learning in Medicine. Vanderbilt School of Medicine is
accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical
Education to provide continuing medical education for
physicians. Vanderbilt School of Medicine designates this educational
activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 2 Credit(s)TM.
Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of
their participation in the activity. It is the policy of Vanderbilt School of
Medicine that participants in CME activities be made aware of any
affiliation or financial interest that may affect the planner’s involvement
and speaker’s presentation(s). Each planner and speaker has
completed and signed a conflict of interest statement; these
relationships will be disclosed to the audience.
Charlene Dewey and Debbie Smith has NO
financial relationships to disclose.
Goals
♀ The overall purpose of this series is
to assist women faculty and
employees with focusing on their
wellness and prioritizing themselves
to the top of their “to do” list as part
of their new years resolution.
♀ Four-part series – focused on YOU!
Objectives
During session 1 participants will:
♀ Self-reflect on the challenges I face as a woman
including prioritizing my personal well-being.
♀ Identify with the analogy of the thriving plant.
♀ List the areas I feel I can focus on for the next 12
months.
♀ Discuss the evidence for the need to care for my
personal well-being.
♀ Recognize what I can take control of in order to
improve my personal well-being.
Agenda
♀
♀
♀
♀
Introduction
Review of what’s known
Thriving or surviving
Summary & evaluations
Please select your
appropriate title or position
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Physician
Scientist
Nurse
Administrator
Employee
Other
52%
16%
12%
8%
8%
4%
1
2
3
4
5
6
How much training have you
had on creating and
maintaining your personal
36%
well-being?
32%
lo
t
A
So
m
lit
t
e
16%
le
16%
A
None
A little
Some
A lot
No
ne
a.
b.
c.
d.
On a scale of 1 (lowest) – 9 (highest),
where do you prioritize your
personal well-being?
23%
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
19%
15%
15%
15%
8%
4%
0%
1
2
0%
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
On a scale of 1 (not satisfied – 7
(completely satisfied), how satisfied
are you with both your personal and
work-life?
29%
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Not satisfied
x
x
x
x
x
Completely
Satisfied
21%
21%
14%
11%
4%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I can discuss the risk factors
for stress and burnout.
67%
1. True
2. False
3. I don’t know
33%
tk
no
w
Id
on
’
Fa
ls
e
Tr
ue
0%
I am currently at burnout.
48%
1.
2.
3.
4.
48%
Strongly agree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
4%
0%
1
2
3
4
Overall, on a day to day basis,
rank how you are doing?
45%
a. Near crashing
b. Barely surviving
c. Well-balanced if
there are no
emergencies
d. Thriving
38%
10%
7%
a.
b.
c.
d.
“The first wealth is
health.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mind Body
Soul
Stress & Burnout
♀ Stress can be defined as:
•
d : a state resulting from a stress;
especially : one of bodily or mental tension
resulting from factors that tend to alter an
existent equilibrium <job-related stress>
Webster’s dictionary
♀ Burnout can be defined as:
•
a : exhaustion of physical or emotional
strength or motivation usually as a result of
prolonged stress or frustration b : a person
suffering from burnout. Webster’s dictionary
Stress & Burnout
♀ Stress and burnout occurs
for different reasons in
different individuals.
♀ Work load ≠ level of stress
or burnout.
♀ Multifactorial
Burnout
“In the current climate, burnout thrives in
the workplace. Burnout is always more
likely when there is a major mismatch
between the nature of the job and the
nature of the person who does the job.”
~Christina Maslach
The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It.
Maslach & Leiter pg 9; 1997
Six Sources of Burnout
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Work overload
Lack of control
Insufficient reward
Unfairness
Breakdown of community
Value conflict
Maslach & Leiter, 1997. “The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations
Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It.”
Symptoms of Burnout
The first signs of burnout:
1. You become chronically exhausted
2. You become cynical and detached from your
work
3. You feel increasingly ineffective in your job
4. Leads to: Isolation; Avoidance; Interpersonal
conflicts & High turnover
Maslach & Leiter, 1997. “The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations
Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It.” pg 17
Risk Factors for Burnout
♀
♀
♀
♀
♀
♀
Single
Gender/sexual
orientation
># of children at
home
Family problems
Mid-late career
Previous mental
health issues
(depression)
♀
♀
♀
♀
♀
♀
Fatigue & sleep
deprivation
General
dissatisfaction
Alcohol and drugs
Minority/international
Teaching & research
demands
Potential litigation
Puddester D. West J Med 2001;174:5-7; Myers MJ West J Med 2001;174:30-33
Gautam M West J Med 2001;174:37-41
The Truth About Women in
Health Care
Women in Health Care
♀ Women make up the majority of the
health care industry4
♀ Women physicians more prone to anxiety,
stress, depression in the workplace2,3
♀ Women MD more likely to commit suicide1
♀ Women ≠ Men:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P77JnDHUw6g
1.
2.
3.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml
Health of Faculty in Academic Medicine, 2009
http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics
4. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, 2008 Annual Averages and the
Monthly Labor Review, November 2007.
Vanderbilt Resources
Abbrev.
Program
Focus
Contact
Number
FPWC
Faculty and
Physician Wellness
Committee
All issues of
professional
health
Charlene Dewey
x6-0678
FPWP
Faculty and
Physician Wellness
Program –
Work/Life
Connections EAP
Treatment &
counseling for
faculty and
employees
Mary Yarbrough
X6-1327
CPH
Center for
Professional Health
Training
physicians
Bill Swiggart
x6-0678
VCAP
Vanderbilt
Comprehensive
Assessment
Program for
Professionals
Fit for duty
assessments
and treatment
Reid Finlayson
X2-4567
CPPA
Center for Patient
and Professional
Advocacy
Identification
and assistance
Jerry Hickson
X3-4500
The Truth About Burnout
“The twin goals of preventing and building
engagement are possible and necessary in
today’s working world. These goals cannot
be easily achieved by an individual. Rather,
people have to work together to make them
happen. And if we all commit ourselves to the
long-term process of organizational progress,
we will be rewarded with workplaces that are
more productive and resilient as well as
humane.”
~Maslach & Leiter, pg 127
Thriving in a Survivor World
Living is like gardening
Thriving in a Survivor World
Who will be the
SURVIVOR?
The Cycle of Survival
Anxiety about future
Expectations/responsibilities
from others
Exhaustion/Feel
trapped
Scrambling to
perform
Anxiety about performance
Thriving in a Survivor World
“Leaders rise to power in our society by
operating very competently and
effectively in the external world,
sometimes at the cost of internal
awareness…I have met many leaders
whose confidence in the external world
is so high that they regard the inner life
as illusory, as a waste of time, as a
magical fantasy trip into a region that
doesn’t even exist…
Thriving in a Survivor World
“…Of course, leaders are supported in
this by an American culture that wants to
externalize everything, that wants…to
see the good life as a matter of outer
arrangements rather than of inner wellbeing.”
--Parker Palmer
Thriving in a Survivor World
Self-Awareness
“Self-awareness means having a deep
understanding of one’s emotions, strengths,
weaknesses, needs, and drives. People with
strong self-awareness are neither overly
critical nor unrealistically hopeful. Rather,
they are honest – with themselves and with
others.”
“What Makes a Leader?” by Daniel Goleman, Best of Harvard
Business Review (1998)
Thriving in a Survivor World
Investing Life
vs.
Spending Days
Thriving in a Survivor World
Where Are You?
Surviving……………..Thriving


Thriving in a Survivor World
What is Thriving?
Embracing the truth of who you are so
that you can freely receive, give and
hope, regardless of your circumstances.
--Debbie Smith, M.A.
Thriving in a Survivor World
A New You Overview
♀
♀
♀
♀
Tending your core (Desires & Gifts)
Weeding the garden (Beliefs)
Cultivating strong roots (Values)
Receiving nourishment in every
season
Thriving in a Survivor World
Tending your “core”
Desires/Dreams
Gifts/Motivated Abilities
Thriving in a Survivor World
Thriving in a Survivor World
Thriving in a Survivor World
Motivated Abilities
Natural abilities which come easily, are
enjoyable to do, and result in a sense of
inner satisfaction and meaningfulness.
--Nick Isbister
Thriving in a Survivor World
Motivated Abilities
♀ You come alive
(creating life)
♀ You are moved to tears
(destroying injustice)
Thriving in a Survivor World
Motivated Abilities
♀ Skill – can be learned/acquired
♀ Motivated Ability – natural, no one ever
taught you to do it
Colors
REDExercise
BLUE WHITE
YELLOW GREEN
PINK RED GREEN
WHITE PURPLE RED
GREEN PINK GREEN
ORANGE RED BLUE
RED YELLOW WHITE
GREEN RED PINK
Thriving in a Survivor World
Motivated Abilities
“Vocation does not come from
willfulness. It comes from
listening…Vocation does not mean a
goal that I pursue. It means a calling
that I hear. Before I can tell my life
what I want to do with it, I must listen
to my life telling me who I am.”
--Parker Palmer
Thriving in a Survivor World
Desires & Motivation
INTENTION
vs.
REACTION
Thriving in a Survivor World
Motivated Abilities
♀ Life stories – things you DO…
-Sense of ease
-Enjoyment
-Satisfaction/meaningfulness
Thriving in a Survivor World
Summary
“The quest for balance lacks the
notion that life is to be given to
something bigger than ourselves.”
--John Ortberg
Thriving in a Survivor World
Summary
Balance – focuses on external
world
Congruence – focuses on
connecting inner world with
external world
Thriving in a Survivor World
Chinese Symbol for “Busy”
“Heart” and “Killing”
Thriving in a Survivor World
“Above all else guard your heart,,
for it is the wellspring of life.”
--Proverb
Thriving in a Survivor World
Thriving in a Survivor World
< Beautiful Blossoms
< Free from weeds
< Well-nourished
< Awareness of “core”
< Strong roots
Session 1 Summary
♀ Women predominate in the health
care system
♀ You are unique and need to focus
your priority on you first.
♀ Continue your reflection and
planning to take actions to thrive and
not just survive.
♀ Session 2 is planned for April 2010