Needle Safety

Check Your Needle Patency

Many biopsies and surgeries are performed in dermatology. Before sticking the patient, check the patency of your needle. Occasionally, the bore is not open. You will be squeezing the syringe hard, but nothing will go into the patient. This will require you to change the needle and stick the patient again.

Debbie Adams Hauser, MHS, PA-C
Winston-Salem, NC

Quick, Informal Research

If I know that I am seeing a patient with a rare syndrome soon, I like to look up their condition on Wikipedia before I see them. I do not research these syndromes in detail, never spending more than 2 minutes. But when I see the patient, the little bit of knowledge makes the patient and family think I know more than any other doctor they see.

Alan Fleischer Jr, MD
Winston-Salem, NC

Avoiding Burnout

To become a physician takes a highly motivated individual, and we are trained from a young age to do more, more, more. However, there is a big diff erence between action and accomplishment. Just because you are doing something does not mean you are getting anything done that is meaningful to you, and that puts you at greater risk for burnout.

The most important way to avoid burnout is to know yourself. I know I am happiest when I am busy. As I have grown and hit various milestones in my life, I have learned that by being efficient, and especially by being organized, I can get through a lot, learn faster, and accomplish more with less effort. This leaves me more room to participate in a variety of activities, which also keeps me interested and at lower risk for burnout. I love seeing patients and that is at the core of what I do—it always comes first. Around doing so I write, have a radio show, participate in ad boards of my choosing where I learn about and have access to products before they are available to the public, and speak at meetings. I also do all my own posting on social media. What I have learned about social media posting is that it is not as hard as you might think, and I also find my posts are more sincere and better received when they are in my own voice.

I see the different components of my interests as puzzle pieces, not as stressors, and I find ways to make them all fit together in a way that works for me—most of the time. If one piece does not fit, I either do not do it at all or I put it aside as something to consider for another time when it fits better. Another important component of avoiding burnout is to allow yourself time to decompress. For me, I love reading a good book and my walks to and from work every day. I sometimes listen to music while I walk the almost 2.5 miles each way, but mostly I just let my mind wander as I walk, which is refreshing and relaxing. I also leave myself space on the weekends or when traveling to have quiet time, and I try to leave time to work out. The final message, and I think the most important one, is to be present. If you can be fully in the moment and not always thinking of where you must be next or all the things you have waiting for you to do, you will get through so much more and find that it gets done more efficiently and with greater joy. The goal is to enjoy the process more than it is just to reach the goal for the sake of it.

Doris Day, MD
New York, NY