Women's Dermatologic Society

By Audrey Jacobsen, MD,  Lori Fiessinger, MD Discussion of physician wellness and strategies to prevent burnout is now more important than ever given the additional stressors of COVID-19. It is probably not surprising to members of the WDS that studies have shown women physicians are more likely to experience burnout than male physicians. Creating a culture of wellness in medicine has to start with making changes for our trainees. To this end, our academic dermatology department has created a Wellness Committee. The committee is a collaborative effort between residents and faculty. I’ll let our resident committee leader tell you more about what we are doing and how we started this important initiative below. We hope our ideas can be adopted broadly in the dermatology community. -  Lori Fiessinger, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

Read featured COVID articles from the WDS Resident Fellow and Young Physicians Committee. Avoiding Burnout During the Pandemic Tips for Running Your Practice During COVID-19 Stories from the Frontline Avoiding Burnout During the Pandemic:  Interviews by Dr. Shari Lipner Dr. Neelam Khan, then a 3rd year dermatology resident at SUNY Downstate, volunteered to care for COVID-19 patients during March 2020, and was redeployed to the COVID-19 wards in April 2020. She related that she worked on a pediatric floor that was cleared out and converted to an adult COVID-19 adult ward. Downstate was vastly under sourced, treatment approaches were not working, and patients were dying daily. She worked long hours and found the experience stressful. Participating in WDS virtual networking events and speaking to other WDS members was one important way that she coped with her experiences. She reported that this time on the wards was the most valuable experience of her life. When I asked her ...

The Practice Advisory Committee has put together a list of pearls to avoid burnout in your practice. Focus on Your Strengths You should spend your day doing what you were trained to do, and minimize the time you spend on regulatory and administrative tasks.  - Dr. Mark Kaufmann, MD Get the Support You Need We hired a coder/biller who reviews our notes after we are finished. She verifies that what we have recorded in the note meets the level of service that we have billed. This has saved me hours of tediously going through notes to make sure I have coded correctly. This has increased my job satisfaction tremendously. Well worth it! - Dr. Sarah Jackson, MD Expand Your Passions Find a passion (or a hobby) outside of medicine. My outside interests in art and design have led me to engage more in my community, travel, and improve the visual state of both my home and office. A happy visual space makes for a place I want to be in. - Dr. Elizabeth...