The World Medical Association’s Declaration of Geneva, recited and vaguely remembered by medical students and young doctors in place of the Hippocratic Oath these days, says:
“I will attend to my own health, well-being, and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard”.
How the two segments of this pledge of unarguable logic actually play out with and against each other in daily life and professional practice is difficult to unravel; what is being increasingly recognised though, is that doctors are not always very good at looking after themselves and each other, with their own wellness becoming an issue of growing concern worldwide for its intrinsic importance to the individuals and impact on patient care and organisational effectiveness.
Two studies found that somewhere between 30 to 60% of physicians in Hong Kong suffered from burnout, characterized by a low sense of personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and depersonalization.[1-2] Clinicians in their senior years may also experience unwelcome changes in their own physical health, cognitive function, self-efficacy, and clinical performance. All these call for our attention and a concerted effort in devising the appropriate preventive, monitoring, and remedial measures.
Specialist trainers and trainees, their wellbeing and competency and what they do with it, constitute the very reason for the Academy’s existence. This paper explores some of the strategies that the Academy may adopt in dealing with physician burnout and in supporting clinicians in their advanced years of practice, renewing the pledge that we must look after ourselves and each other so to provide the best care for our patients.
