Before every shift, FACEM Dr Mark Hussey rises an hour before his family, has breakfast on his own, makes a coffee and lies on his sofa.
This routine is Dr Hussey’s way of preparing himself to deal with what the day and his work will bring.
‘You have to make sure you look after your general wellness. One way of doing this is every day, you should do something a little bit selfish. My morning routine is what I do,” says Dr Hussey, who is Director of Emergency Medicine Training at Wellington Hospital in New Zealand.
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) supports the health and wellbeing of its trainees and members, having recently supported The American College of Emergency Physicians’ Wellness Week.
Dr Hussey is adamant emergency physicians “have got to have a life outside of medicine”.
“It’s a rule that’s been important to me right throughout my training,” he says. “At the end of the day, it is about longevity. If you don’t have a work-life balance, then you are going to burn out pretty quick.
“Everything in life is about balance, and the same goes for work generally.
“Importantly for emergency physicians, we can face horrendous situations.
“And you can’t unsee what you see and occasionally these things pop into your head at random and bizarre times, and if you don’t have that work-life balance, you don’t have ways of dealing with that.
“Looking after your health and wellbeing is key.
“We are too obsessed in medicine with just training about medical facts. And there is a whole lot more to be a good doctor than just knowing facts. At the end of the day, what makes a really good doctor is all the other things – your emotional intelligence, your ability to be calm and not let things get to you – not just medical facts.”
Another way Dr Hussey looks after his health and wellbeing is by being a keen cyclist. He commutes to and from work by bike, and is also involved in competitive racing.
“I spend a lot of time with non-medics, on a bike talking about different things,” he says. “It is a stress release – even just riding to and from work, by the time I get home I have forgotten about the shift, that is really important.”
College support, online discussion forum
ACEM has a number of options to support trainees throughout their training and beyond, and members’ health and wellbeing.
ACEM has also launched an online discussion forum available to all trainees and members which provides an opportunity to share resources to help prevent, identify, and address burnout in oneself, exchange ideas on the way to balance life and work, and connect with co-workers.