"I'm Uncomfortable!": A Guide to Dealing with Discomfort at Work
By Dr. Reid Waldman This article is meant to follow on the theme of burnout. I chose to write on this topic because I have recently observed increasing rates of moral distress and burnout which I attribute, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has made even the most mundane of activities, like going to the store, “uncomfortable” leaving individuals with minimal bandwidth to deal with being “uncomfortable” during daily practice. “I’m uncomfortable!” Two words that when uttered immediately cast a sort of spell that puts a pit in the listener’s stomach and that serves as a call to arms to rectify injustice. As I enter the final phase of dermatology residency training, I increasingly hear the words “I’m uncomfortable!” echo in my own head and bemoaned by my fellow residents. The scenarios that cause these words to bubble up are seemingly limitless: “I cannot see that many patients in a single half day!” “How could Dr. X not biopsy that obvious skin cancer!” “I can