WHAT DOES PHYSICIAN HAPPINESS LOOK LIKE? FINDING YOUR WAY BACK TO PLEASURE AND PURPOSE
by Dr. Allan Peterkin, author of “STAYING HUMAN DURING RESIDENCY TRAINING-HOW TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE AFTER MEDICAL SCHOOL” (University of Toronto Press, 2017)
Date: February 16, 2018
Psychiatry Grand Rounds -10:30 a.m. – Noon, 18th Floor Auditorium, Mount Sinai Hospital
All Are Welcome! Over the last 30 years, the field of physician health has moved from a model defined by stress and burnout and helping the impaired physician to one that emphasizes well-being, engagement and resilience. Scholars are even looking at what might constitute physician happiness and joy! Still others have distilled key concepts of awareness, reflexivity and narrative competence as correlated with engagement and satisfaction in work and life.
The psychologist Martin Seligman, known for his work in positive psychology, talks about two key elements of human happiness: PLEASURE AND PURPOSE. This Rounds will address how both can be assailed for the individual practitioner and then look at how institutions (medical schools, hospitals) either foster or hinder a culture of meaningful encounters, creativity and happiness. Learning Goals:
1) to trace the emergence of physician health as an area of concern and study.
2) to track perceptions and expectations of “a medical life” over time, while naming contemporary influences on physician identity and satisfaction.
3) to explore ways for individuals and institutions to find their way back to caring for self and others. Examples include new influences in medical education and practice such as mindfulness, narrative medicine and the growing field of medical humanities.