Bulletin board of "good things" at the clinic.
Recently, a patient tearfully confided in me her disappointment when a neighbor reneged on a promise to include her when seeing a particular movie. My patient had saved money from her limited disability income in anticipation of the event; it had been years since she had gone to a movie. Even after 40 years of being a social worker, I was struck in this moment by how the simplest pleasures in life often elude our patients, and how often we, ourselves, take for granted these small joys.
Over the years working at Duke Family Medicine Center, I have said that if you work in my job for two days and you cannot write a gratitude list then your life is truly miserable. My patient’s tears on this occasion reminded me again of how lucky most of us are, despite the stresses of our professional and personal lives.
As health care professionals, we are inundated with recommendations to develop our resilience, but for many who face intractable systems issues those suggestions have a hollow ring. I recently participated in large group meetings, over a series of months, with Dr. Bryan Sexton, associate professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke, to address burnout in social workers and case managers. One of the messages to us was that while we are hard wired to remember the negative experiences of our day, we must retrain our brains to remember and recognize the simple joys and good things that happen.
During the course of those meetings with Dr. Sexton, I went out of town for a weekend to care for an elderly relative. After completing early morning errands, I went to a drive-thru to pick up coffee and was asked “How are you?” by the server. I started to say, “Tired, frustrated, stressed and in need of coffee.” Instead I found myself saying, “Fine. I can’t complain. I have people who love me, a house, a car, a job, and enough money to live on.” In that moment, I felt better after verbalizing that for which I was grateful.
In the clinic, we have an ongoing effort to write down good things that happen during the day and post them on the bulletin board, and it is full of stars and circles with good things written on them. Some may prefer just to recognize and remember in their head their observations.
At a conference in 2017, Dr. Sexton said that “building individual resilience is not the whole answer to burnout in health care, but it can be beneficial while institutions are attending to the structural issues that contribute to burnout.”
The question then is, in an era of limited time, overwhelming demands, and increasingly complex patients, is it possible to find moments of happiness and gratitude to help ourselves and our patients? I am hoping that we can, and wish for all my fellow health care providers that you are able to find time for happiness and gratitude during the busy holiday season.
Susan Kleckley is a licensed clinical social worker for Duke Family Medicine Center. Email susan.kleckley@duke.edu with questions.
Editor’s note: Providers in the Duke Family Medicine Center occasionally guest blog. Blogs represent the opinion of the author, not the Duke Family Medicine Center, the Department of Community and Family Medicine or Duke University Health System.