A Solution to Burnout – More Vacation?
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This survey of US physicians found taking more than 3 weeks of vacation per year was associated with lower rates of burnout, while spending 30 minutes or more per vacation day on patient-related work was associated with increased burnout.
Source
Vacation Days Taken, Work During Vacation, and Burnout Among US Physicians. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Jan 2;7(1):e2351635. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.51635.
For Christmas – Can You Have Your Cake and Eat It Too?
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In this spoof BMJ article, some of the delightful Christmas desserts on the Great British Baking show actually have ingredients that might be good for you. The authors' conclusion: "This Christmas, if concerns about the limitations of observational nutrition research are set aside, you can have your cake and eat it too." We wish you a Merry Christmas!
Source
Association of health benefits and harms of Christmas dessert ingredients in recipes from The Great British Bake Off: umbrella review of umbrella reviews of meta-analyses of observational studies. BMJ. 2023 Dec 20:383:e077166. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-077166.
How to Help Hurting Colleagues – Suicide Risk in Healthcare Workers
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This cohort study of 1.8 million US healthcare workers (HCWs) found that registered nurses, health technicians, and health care support workers in the US were at increased risk of suicide relative to non-HCWs.
Source
Suicide Risks of Health Care Workers in the US. JAMA vol. 330,12 (2023): 1161-1166. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.15787
How to Lower Your Mortality (And Your Patients) – One Step at a Time
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There is a nonlinear inverse dose-response trend between daily step count and all-cause death and cardiovascular disease, with progressive risk reductions starting at as few as 2500 to 2700 steps/day, independent of sex. Walking faster provided additive health benefits.
Source
Relationship of Daily Step Counts to All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2023 Oct 10;82(15):1483-1494. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2023.07.029. Epub 2023 Sep 6.
Regret, Strain, Infertility – Building Families as Physicians and Medical Students
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Growing a family while also navigating medical training is associated with delayed childbearing, and many physicians on this path experience regret, infertility, relational strain, and specific stresses associated with the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART).
Source
Psychosocial Burdens Associated With Family Building Among Physicians and Medical Students. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Jul 24:e232570. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.2570. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37486671.
Leaving So Soon? Why Women Are Retiring from EM Early
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On average, female EM physicians leave clinical practice 12 years younger than their male counterparts, after fewer years of practice, and the amount of time spent in the workforce is decreasing over time. We need to identify and implement systemic fixes to stop this.
Source
Emergency medicine physician workforce attrition differences by age and gender. Acad Emerg Med. 2023 Jun 14. doi: 10.1111/acem.14764. Online ahead of print.
Teamwork – It’s a Matter of Life and Death
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There was an increased number of patient deaths on ICU shifts with low nurse-to-nurse familiarity.
Source
Nurse-to-Nurse Familiarity and Mortality in the Critically Ill: A Multicenter Observational Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023 Apr 15;207(8):1022-1029. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202204-0696OC.
Resident Physician Work Hours – Association with Harm and Occupational Injury
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Working extended duration shifts (≥ 24 hours) and > 48 hours/week were associated with an increased risk of medical errors, adverse events, MVAs, occupational exposures, percutaneous injuries, and attentional failures regardless of experience level in a large nationwide prospective cohort study.
Source
Impact of work schedules of senior resident physicians on patient and resident physician safety: nationwide, prospective cohort study. BMJ Medicine 2023;2:e000320. doi: 10.1136/bmjmed-2022-000320
Pregnancy and Residency – Laboring for Equity
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Though incremental progress has occurred over the last several decades, inequities loom for people that wish to become pregnant during medical training.
Source
Pregnancy and Residency - Overdue for Equity. N Engl J Med. 2023 Mar 16;388(11):966-967. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2215288. Epub 2023 Mar 11.
Verbal and Physical Violence in an Urban ED Setting
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Violence directed at healthcare workers (HCWs) is common in the ED setting. Studies have demonstrated workplace violence is underreported and can have long term effects on HCWs.
Source
Exploring verbal and physical workplace violence in a large, urban emergency department. Am J Emerg Med. 2023 Jan 27;67:1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2023.01.036. Epub ahead of print.