Practice Makes Perfect

At a recent retreat I led for doctors on the brink of total burnout, all hands went up when I asked if anyone had lost a colleague to suicide. All but one hand was raised to confirm having considered their own suicide. Many in the room had signed up for this weekend hoping to learn how to avoid becoming the colleague behind someone else's raised hand.

I’ve been in practice for 20 years and have never lost a patient to suicide. But I have lost colleagues, friends, and lovers – ALL male physicians—to suicide. I have a long list of answers to the question, “Why?” Maybe the most fundamental answer is that doctors are human..

A seasoned family physician remembers the day she met her mentor, Dr. McLarty—- a 70-year-old cowboy who was eating Metamucil wafers while puffing on a pipe. He wore Wrangler corduroys and a crew cut with some gray hairs shooting through. With his thick Texas twang, he slurred his words together around southern slangisms and medical anecdotes. .

Raised in a morgue, I worked alongside Dad, the city medical examiner. Over fifty years, he amassed a huge collection of medical artifacts…

Don’t worry guys. No large vaginal speculum is required.

A cardiologist looks in. Startled by my emotion, he says, “You must be a new doctor,” then disappears down the hall.

“Evan, here’s the deal: most people hang lower on the left..."

Change your name. Don't friend patients. Delete your Facebook account. This is official social media advice for today's medical students and physicians. What fuels physician Facebook phobia?

Pamela Wible, MD, contributing blogger and a pioneer in community-designed healthcare settings, offers her simple observations on the imbalance between these numbers.

Tired of assembly-line medicine? Don’t wait for politician-saviors. Convene with your neighbors.