I requested this book as my daughter is in her 2nd year of a medical degree and I wanted to know how I could support her. This is areally valuable book and gives a great insight into the stresses and strains that can overwhelm those who work in the healthcare profession as well as strategies to support them. It wasn't a difficult read or too academic. Well recommended.

For someone who works in healthcare, I cannot recommend this book and the advice for self care enough. 2020 was insane and almost all healthcare workers dealt with burnout so it's important even more now than ever before.

The Wellbeing Toolkit for Doctors is a reasonable self-care support guide aimed at healthcare workers by Dr. Lesley Morrison. Released 8th June 2021 by Watkins, it's 192 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a well written, sensible, layman accessible guide to well-being and self-care aimed at healthcare professionals. The author is a retired clinician with years of experience both in practise and as an educator in the medical field.

Nobody can possibly say that the last couple of years haven't been extremely stressful and exhausting. This is especially true for front line workers for whom the workplace became more comparable to a chaotic battlefield and less like a reasonable professional environment. In the midst of a crisis, we go into survival mode, both physiologically and emotionally, but over an extended period of time unresolved trauma can have lasting effects.

This guide groups different aspects of the daily work of healthcare professionals into relevant sections: communication, compassion, kindness, empathy, psychological support and network, resilience, hope, family support, teamwork, different roles in life for one individual (she refers to these as "hats"), finding (and using) our voices, improving our working environment and relationships with colleagues, and other pertinent issues. She gives relevant and practical advice in honest pared down plain language. It felt more like a one-on-one conversation with someone who really understands the issues and constraints of being a healthcare professional, because she *is* one.

Although the bibliography and chapter notes are full of good academic resources and links to follow up, the language of the book itself is not obfuscated or convoluted in any way. I'm not a clinician, I work as a bioengineer in a histopathology lab, so I don't have any patient contact at all, but I found a number of good takeaways relevant to my professional interactions with my colleagues and others, as well as many well presented ideas for self-care.

Five stars. This would be a good selection for medical professionals, academics, families of front-line workers, and should be on recommended reading lists for students of clinical medicine and allied fields.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This book was an eye opening read. I was aware of high rates of suicide and depression of physicians but this really was a heartbreaking read. Everyone needs to read this book.

Physician burnout and suicide is a huge concern. Many people do not know an estimated 300 physicians die by suicide each year and physicians lead the risk of suicide out of all professions. In a profession that devotes themselves to caring for others they often ignore their own needs until it is too late. According to ACGME suicide risk triples in those who suffer from burnout, Drivers of burnout include workload, work inefficiency, lack of autonomy and meaning in work, and work-home conflict. Additionally, among physicians, risk for suicide increases when mental health conditions go unaddressed, and self-medication occurs as a way to address anxiety, insomnia or other distressing symptoms. Although self-medicating, mainly with prescription medications, may reduce some symptoms, the underlying health problem is not effectively treated. This can lead to a tragic outcome.
Due to <b>stigma, risk of job loss, and lack of resources</b> the majority of physicians will not seek help or treatment of underlying depression, anxiety, chronic pain, PTSD, alcoholism, and other chronic conditions. This needs to be addressed! Physicians are human-beings just like everyone else yet many have had serious employment ramifications if they are found to have a mental health diagnosis. This perpetuates increased risk of suicide.

In a Call to Action written by advocates of Prevention of physician suicide an important risk factor that is somewhat unique to physicians was identified. “Medical training encourages stoicism. From medical school on, physicians are taught there is no room for error and are expected to perform to exacting standards. Physicians are trained to put patients first—often to their own detriment.15 Trainees may believe they will be faulted for showing vulnerability, and thus avoid asking for help. This self-imposed isolation virtually guarantees burnout. Additionally, Although mental illness can impair an affected individual’s insight, the culture of medicine also plays a role in this phenomenon. Stoic training environments <b>normalize stress and distress as inherent or even requisite components of physician identity. Sleep deprivation and long hours are viewed as badges of honor. Physicians and trainees are encouraged to see their peers as competition, instead of support. </b> As a result, physicians may feel alone or even like imposters. This lack of social support then correlates with greater burnout. Isolated within competitive training environments, trainees often learn to ignore signs and symptoms of burnout, depression and suicidality. Thus the medical profession sustains a dangerous “culture of silence” and the perfect storm for high rates of suicide.

Read more here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6690303 Physician Suicide: A Call to Action

This book or toolkit is an excellent resource that should become a mandatory core principle in med school. The first term of medical school a required “Physician Wellness” course with this book as one of the texts would be a good start to helping future physicians as they begin their journey. Additionally employers would benefit from using this resource to help their physicians avoid the trauma of burnout.

This is a must read for all physicians.