Mental Health and Burnout, Part 2

The DEI Shift

We're closing out Mental Health Awareness Month with the 2nd part of our discussion of burnout. Join us as we learn from Dr. Anand Jagannath, a clinician-educator hospitalist who experienced burnout as an early career physician, and then learned strategies that individuals and institutions can implement to better recognize and combat burnout.

The DEI Shift team will explore the concept of imposter syndrome and how this can lead to burnout due to feelings of inadequacy, which lead to heightened stress levels. Furthermore, physicians may overwork themselves in an effort to compensate for what they perceive as their lack of competence, thereby exacerbating burnout.

Sit back and enjoy, The DEI Shift’s ‘Mental Health and Burnout, Part 2’.

First, listen to the podcast. After listening, ACP members can take the CME/MOC quiz for free.

CME/MOC:

Up to 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ™ and MOC Points
Expires May 29, 2027   active

Cost:

Free to Members

Format:

Podcasts and Audio Content

Product:

The DEI Shift

The DEI Shift's mission is to create a podcast series on diversity, equity, and inclusion (D.E.I.) in medicine that sparks discussion and provides practice-changing data and stories for a physician, student, allied health professional, and health care leader audience. Listeners will be able to gain useful information to improve their practices and environments, to gain empathy, cultural competency, and humility, and to learn more about emerging D.E.I. concepts. The DEI Shift will discuss issues related to gender, race, sexuality, religion, ability, socioeconomics, and so much more.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Learn and be able to recognize potential sources of burnout.
  2. Learn various individual methods one can use to combat burnout.
  3. Identify various methods institutions can implement to help mitigate burnout among their students, employees, and faculty. 

[00:00-00:53] Introduction of Co-Hosts and Episode Topic

  • Introducing co-hosts, Dr. DJ Gaines and fourth-year medical student, Braden Barger

[00:54-02:14] Introduction of Dr. Anand Jagannath

  • Dr. Anand Jagannath is an educator and hospitalist at the Portland VA in Oregon, affiliated with Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU).
  • After finishing medical school at Tufts University, he completed an internal medicine residency at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.
  • Dr. Jagannath transitioned from a career in medical device design to medicine, focusing on clinical education and reasoning.

[02:15-9:00] Dr. Jagannath’s experience with burnout

  • Dr. Jagannath reflects on experiences of burnout throughout various stages of his medical career, acknowledging its prevalence and impact across all levels of training and practice.
  • He highlights how the transition into becoming an attending, particularly as a teaching role, brought about a distinct form of burnout centered on feelings of inadequacy as an educator.
  • Dr. Jagannath details his struggles with feeling uncertain in front of his learners, a feeling that persisted due to the constant and inevitable stream of unfamiliar situations in medicine.

[9:01-16:54] How Dr. Jagannath managed burnout

  • Dr. Jagannath sought support from his personal and professional networks to address burnout, but found conventional advice insufficient in addressing the root cause of his stress.
  • Introducing Growth Mindset principles and revisiting literature on effective teaching, Dr. Jagannath developed strategies to manage uncertainty, including embracing vulnerability and modeling adaptive behaviors for his learners.
  • Branden highlights how the pervasive culture of perfectionism and imposter syndrome within the medical profession has perpetuated feelings of burnout among healthcare workers.
  • As a teacher, Dr. Jagannath describes how seeing his trainees' achievements keeps him motivated and combats burnout. 

[16:55-21:46] How to prevent reciprocating the burnout cycle

  • Dr. Jagannath emphasizes the importance of role modeling cognitive processes and sharing personal thought patterns as effective teaching tools.
  • Drawing from his recent work, Cognitive Apprenticeship and Intellectual Speaking, Dr. Jagannath highlights the value of openly discussing uncertainty and cognitive strategies as a means of mitigating feelings of inadequacy and combating burnout.

[21:47-25:48] Systemic changes to avert burnout

  • Dr. Jagannath advocates for managing expectations within medical education and practice environments to mitigate feelings of inadequacy and burnout among trainees and attendings.
  • He describes the notion of being "ready for independent practice" may sometimes be misleading, highlighting the need for a nuanced understanding of what it means to be on a learning journey.
  • Dr. Jagannath underscores the importance of clinical and academic institutional support.

[25:49-28:46] Focuses Outside of Work

  • Dr. Jagannath highlights the importance of investing time in both a personal and professional community.
  • He emphasizes the value of seeking guidance from mentors with similar career trajectories, who can offer relatable insights and support tailored to specific challenges.
  • Dr. Jagannath expands the concept of mentorship beyond academics to encompass personal well-being and community.
  • In fostering reciprocal mentorship relationships, he underscores the responsibility of both mentors and mentees to share experiences and support one another in navigating the complexities of their respective career paths.

[28:47-29:28] Closing Remarks and Conclusion

  • Dr. Jagannath expresses gratitude for the opportunity to share his experiences, noting the therapeutic value of discussing burnout openly and reflecting on personal growth.

[29:29-31:24] Outro

Mental Health and Burnout, Part 1 episode.

Contributors

Pooja Jaeel, MD, ACP Member –  Co-Executive Producers

Anand Jagannath, MD - Guest

Dirk Gaines, MD, ACP Member– Co-Host

Branden Barger, MD – Co-Host

Maggie Kozman, MD, ACP Member – Co-Executive Producers

Tammy Lin, MD, MPH, FACP – Executive Producer

Nilgoun Farhadi, ACP Student Member – Production Assistant

Leyna Nguyen – Production Assistant

Reviewers

Tammy Lin, MD, MPH, FACP – Stock: Abbott Labs, Cybele Microbiome

Marianne Parshley, MD, FACP

None of the contributors or reviewers for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.  All financial relationships have been mitigated.

Release Date:  May 30, 2024

Expiration Date: May 29, 2027

Accreditation Statements

CME Credit

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the American College of Physicians and the DEI Shift.  The American College of Physicians is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American College of Physicians designates each enduring material (podcast) for 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Points

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to .5 medical knowledge MOC Point in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program.  Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

How to Claim CME Credit and MOC Points

After listening to the podcast, complete a brief survey and multiple-choice question quiz.  To claim CME credit and MOC points you must achieve a minimum passing score of 66%.  You may take the quiz multiple times to achieve a passing score.