Why would I want to see a physician coach?

A physician coach is a trained professional who is outside of your support circle and can provide you with tools, resources, and a new perspective on both, professional and personal challenges.

What is the process to begin working with a physician coach?

Send a text or email to coordinate an initial meeting. That’s it.

Are the meetings with a physician coach confidential?

Yes. All meetings are confidential and there is no paperwork – other than an agreement – that is kept. In cases when coaching is part of a behavioral plan, very limited and general information might be provided to the referral source. Information will only include times met, and compliance with any specific goals. Details and content of the session will remain strictly confidential. The only exception is when there is a duty to warn.

Is there a fee to see a physician coach?

No. This is a resource offered to physicians and APPs in our medical staff.

Do I need to commit to a specific length of time?

No. The time is based on specific goals designed in collaboration with your coach. Because coaching is voluntary, you could discontinue at any time.

How is coaching different than counseling through the EAP?

Counseling through the EAP is time limited – 6-10 sessions – and often involves discussions about current and past events as a way to process through and obtain appropriate referrals for specific issues. In addition, counseling through the EAP could involve family members. Coaching is not constraint to a specific number of meetings, it’s focused on current and future events, and it’s solely focused on the individual.

What if my issue is not personal but more related to my practice/department?

A physician coach can also work with you and your team to improve the practice/department through a variety of means. This could include but not limited to: interviewing specific team members, providing training and development of team members.

What are the benefits of learning about physician wellness?

  • Reduce burnout
  • Increase compassion and empathy
  • Reconnect with the joy and purpose of practicing medicine
  • Improve physical & mental health
  • Less staff turnover
  • Increase patient satisfaction
  • Fewer medical errors
  • Improve work environment

Besides these benefits, why is it important for me to look at my wellness and burnout state?

Overall, physicians also have a higher risk of suicide than the general population despite similar risks of depression and anxiety. For male physicians, the risk of suicide is up to three times higher than the risk of suicide for age‑matched non‑physician controls. For female physicians, this risk increases to five times that seen in age‑matched controls.

What is resiliency?

Resiliency is often defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity and difficulties. Resiliency is not just something you’re born with or something that you either have it or you don’t Resiliency is better viewed as a skill on a continuum and that is fluid based on the context of the difficulty. You may find it easier to deal with some challenges better some days than others. Think of resiliency as a tool belt that contains different tools you can use to recover or deal with certain challenges. Resiliency usually improves with experience and knowledge.

What steps can I take to improve my resiliency?

There are several steps you can stake to improve your resiliency. However, we all know that change, any change, requires commitment AND consistency. At the Wellness and Resilience Program we recognize the importance of enhancing this trait and we would like the opportunity to show you more details on how to improve it. Some steps you can take on your own are proper nutrition and sleep, regular exercise, and meditative approaches such as journaling, prayer, and mindful meditations. Obtaining a mentor and/or a coach is also an important step as well as peer group interaction.

What are the common sources of burnout in the medical profession?

It is important to distinguish between feeling burnout and being burnout. Feeling burnout is a transient state that every medical provider, as well as other professionals, experience at least once in their career when they are major changes. Being burnout is a more chronic state that diminishes your ability to perform at optimal levels and begins a cascade of other states that often involve anxiety, depression, and a sense of helplessness. Burnout is a continuum and it is important to take time and see where you are on the continuum. Burnout is often associated with three domains that are presented below and each includes three statements taken from the Abbreviated Maslack Burnout Inventory. It can be helpful to see how often these are true for you on a scale of “never” “a few times (a year/month/week)” or “every day.”

  • Emotional Exhaustion:
    • I feel emotionally drained from my work.
    • I feel fatigue when I get up in the morning and have to face another day on the job.
    • Working with people all day is really a strain for me.
  • Depersonalization:
    • I feel I treat some patients as if they were impersonal objects.
    • I’ve become callous towards people since I took this job.
    • I don’t really care what happens to some patients.
  • Sense of Low Personal Accomplishment:
    • I don't deal very effectively with the problems of my patients.
    • I don't feel I’m positively influencing other people’s lives through my work.
    • I don't feel exhilarated after working closely with my patients.
If you find yourself agreeing with some of these statements “more than a few times a year,” you might be approaching or already are in a state of burnout. Please reach out to one of our coaches if you’d like a more comprehensive assessment and/or to obtain skills and techniques to get back to wellness and overall satisfaction in your career.

How can I tell if I am burned‑out?

A useful self‑assessment is to ask yourself: “How often have these statements felt true to me in the last year?”

  • “I feel less enthusiastic about my work than before.” (evidence of possible emotional exhaustion)
  • “I have become more insensitive toward people since I took this job” or “I have become more callous over time in my current role.” (evidence of possible depersonalization)
  • “I can’t remember why I wanted to become a doctor.” (evidence of possible loss in sense of purpose)

If your answer is “more than a few times a year” for any of these statements, you are more likely to fall into the relevant sphere of burnout in a formal assessment. The third domain of burnout, low sense of personal accomplishment, is more difficult to measure and there is no single question that can give insight into this domain.


If you are a practicing physician, another option is to use the seven‑item Physician Well Being Index developed by Dyrbye and colleagues. A score of greater than or equal to four positive answers on the Index correlates with lower mental quality of life, a lack of well‑being and other markers of physician distress. The Index takes very little time to complete and the information obtained from answering the questions may be useful as a personal reference point. You may also consider using the validated mini‑Z questionnaire on an organization‑wide level to reliably measure staff burnout. Regular measurement and response to burnout should become an institutional best practice, a “vital sign” for organizations.