Career Takeaway Themes: Part 2 - Fulfillment and Joy

I’m continuing to highlight the takeaways from the Careers in FM Blog Series over the past four months. Last week, I highlighted two major themes – Career Trajectory and Mentorship. Under the heading of finding/creating fulfillment and joy, we find the following themes throughout the 15 fulfilled family physicians’ foundations:

Connection with Patients. Most family physicians (and physicians in general) find a real richness in connecting with their patients. Here are a few quotes from the series. Note that the manner of connections look different depending on the practice. But the theme is very strong.

“(Important for me) are my continuity patients and creating those long-term relationships with multiple generations of families, understanding socio-dynamics, and being there for them when they got sick, when they got better, and when they lost a dear one.”

“I get to take care of patients across the lifespan and can see them as often as they need to and without productivity-dependent time constraints.”

“In the room were four generations (after delivery) of this family, all of whom were under my care. We laughed and told stories all throughout the labor.  This is the beauty of family medicine!"

“I have found that my desire for continuity is also fulfilled by working at a community hospital as we have many chronically ill patients that we care for repeatedly- we get to know them and their families quite well. In fact, I just saw a patient I had discharged a week ago in the hallway visiting his mom, who is now hospitalized.”

“(I’ve had) patients who have been with me for over twenty years!”

“The joy of medicine is in the relationships you foster with patients and their families. I find joy in my job by leaning into my relationships with the people I interact with every day. The more I feel like I know the people I care for (not just their disease processes), the more fulfilled I feel through the workday.” 

“Low bureaucratic burden, high patient contact, minimal influence from the many perverse incentives of our health care delivery and payment system.”

“(I find) interacting with colleagues and patients really helps me feel happy at work. Taking extra time to get to know patients beyond their acute medical problems is something that really fills my cup and helps make this job more satisfying.”

Connection with Colleagues and the Power of Teams. Several of the family physicians I highlighted really emphasized connecting with colleagues as a strong component of their professional fulfillment.

They pointed to the support network of family physicians in their practices, subspecialists, and the network of colleagues outside of their local practice (both in their communities and around the world) as a great source of both clinical and non-clinical support.

Connection within their teams of office, hospital, residency, and clinical support staff was highlighted as rewarding, and maintaining it, as a priority.  They said things such as “lucky to work with a great team,” “always willing and constantly volunteering to help support one another during challenges,” and “a sense of family within our department.”  They attributed it to “feeling happy at work.”

They acknowledged the effort – whether as a team, building friendships at work, creating a family atmosphere, or networking with colleagues in the community. It takes intentionality.

The power of problem-solving as a collaborative team was expressed as, “joyful relief to know it isn’t about me having all the answers.”

Bottom Line: For most of us, connection is key. Heck, relatedness is one of the three fundamentals of psychological fitness. Connecting with patients, whether episodically or with continuity, inpatient or outpatient, with or without various layers of bureaucratic burden, is highly important in our profession. Connecting with colleagues inside and outside of our practice and within all of our clinical teams is also crucial. We must find ways to navigate this key element in today’s healthcare climate, where pressures exist to skip this vital component.

Coaching Reflection: On a scale of 1-10, what is your feeling of connection A. with patients B. with colleagues C. within your team(s)? If you’re below a 7, what ideas do you have that may be simple to begin to build the connection? Refuse to listen to your brain’s first-order answer if it’s “I don’t know” or “I can’t.” Remember to point your brain in the direction you want it to go and get out of its way. You’ll be amazed.

Other themes, JUST as important, were woven through the many career journeys that added fulfillment and joy:

• Aligning Career with Your Core Values
• Finding and Meaning & Purpose in Work
• Being part of Something Bigger
• Asking for What’s Needed
• Cultivating Your Passion & Joy at Work
• Attention to Mindset & Mindfulness
• Reinvigoration via Professional Development, Contribution, Teaching, Leading, Advocacy, and Fun at Work

Instead of diving into those more deeply next week, I will highlight the advice for first jobs and job pivots, from the well-earned wisdom of the diverse careers of the family physicians in the series.

Until then, have a joy-filled week!  Tonya

My Enjoy Life and Thrive in You Career coaching course for individual physicians walks you through detailed steps of ditching unnecessary suffering, protecting and increasing your energy, and fostering your ideal future. I'm happy to chat with you about it.