Healthcare Administration Bringing down stress by taking care of Business
Doctors and Medical Professionals are a vital part of society, and, they’re looked to as a source for health and answers against diseases. Even though they willingly fulfil this role, an honest question with a difficult answer may be: Do doctors practice what they preach? To what extent do business functions such as Healthcare Administration decrease their quality of life?
In society, a big reason why people visit doctors, is stress
- In America
- 18% of Mental Illnesses are Anxiety Disorders (National Institute of Mental Health)
- 77% of people regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress
- 33% of people feel they are living with extreme stress
- In UK
- Almost 1 in 5 adults experience anxiety or depression
- South Africa
- SA ranks as the second most stressed out nation, with Nigeria being first (Bloomberg)
- With stress as a great contributing factor, 21 South Africans commit suicide daily
Doctors needing doctors
As with any other person with responsibilities and goals and challenges, stress is a part of a doctor’s life.
- A 2011 study found that 87% of respondents in a study done on physicians, felt moderately to severely stressed on an average day
We also know that not all stress is necessarily bad. Stress is the starting point of:
- Warning system which provides the fight-or-flight response
- Enhances performance of our sense to help in dangerous situations
- Can motivate us to reach goals
- Help us meet daily challenges
However, too much stress can become detrimental. Ongoing emotional stress (then classified as bad stress) has negative influence on the body. It can hinder functioning by having debilitating effects:
- Headaches
- Problems sleeping
- Breathing problems
- High blood pressure
- Stomach ache
- Pounding heart
- Depression
- Body aches
Being a doctor is a high-stress daily task, also joined with these stressors unique to doctors:
- Seeing disturbing things
- Mistakes may result in harm to another human being
Doctors’ physical state is a vital part of how they will perform their job (e.g. in the operating room, Healthcare Administration). This calls for effective management of stress in their lives.
A second opinion
Answers to stress may sound trivial, but also logical
- Diet
- Exercise
- Sleep patterns
- Lifestyle changes
- Breathing exercises
- Talking about it
- Laughter
- Music
Do we want the effects of stress to take its toll? Should it not be attended to for the benefit of the physician as well as the patient?
To ensure ongoing functioning as a doctor, as well as ensuring the best for patients, the handling of this prevalent problem is vital. The responsibility lies both with the medical community – making sure doctors attend to their own problems as well as their patients’.
The starting point would be to admit and realise the problem.
How are you feeling today?
How stressed are you? If your answer to most of these questions are yes, an attempt should be made to assess and attend to the problem.
Do you:
- Get upset about trivial things?
- Experience overbearingly negative feelings?
- Experience Breathing difficulty?
- Experience Difficulty to “get going”?
- Over-react?
- Feel shaky (e.g. legs)?
- Find it difficult to relax?
- Feel anxious from time to time?
Point in fact, there are a few options to follow which may alleviate problems.
Your prescription
Many approaches attend to physical health of the physician. However, taking away certain stressors and attempting a lifestyle change, is a dynamic way of impacting the cause of stress. It is in this area that Data Spot-On plays a role, taking away a big part of the day to day Healthcare Administration stress of Medical Professionals.
This is just one way in which a doctor’s life can be enhanced. For more information, feel free to contact us.
Sources:
– Static Brain, ADAA, The Guardian, AAOS, Mail & Guardian, U LifeLine, Psychologist World, Health Line, Kevin MD
