Safe space for recovery
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Picture yourself relaxing with your colleagues after work. Why is it that no matter how hard you try to avoid it, the conversation always circles back to work?
The truth is, our work lives are a significant part of who we are. Whether you're tackling big projects, dealing with challenging situations, or striving to make a difference in your field, these experiences shape us daily. Now imagine that for physicians, nurses, PAs, and NPs, who spend their entire days making risky decisions about people's lives, sometimes life and death ones, next to each other all day.
It's natural to want to share and, sometimes, vent about these moments (HIPAA-compliantly of course). Moments that might have brought you to near tears, actual tears, or punched a wall in that corner family bathroom nobody ever uses.
For many of us, these gatherings become a safe space to unload about stressful decisions, mistakes, and frustrating conversations. They're also a great place to celebrate wins, share funny stories, build camaraderie, and obtain much-needed support. There's nobody to talk to about these things besides the people you work with. Outsiders won't get it, and with medicine, honestly, a lot of it makes people squeamish.
Preventing burnout and building resilience comes from a workplace that values support and growth of its workforce personally and professionally. That's exponentially more true for people who practice medicine, which is why Grapevyne believes in driving job matching through physicians who understand and trust each other. Through a physician-driven referral process, those who apply are likely a better fit inherently, assuming they are equipped with all the information they need about the organization, an area we also tackle through our transparent job postings.
We believe healthcare systems and independent practices should provide clinicians with a safe space to talk when they need to, be alone when they need to, and have the right psychological/emotional tools to keep thriving and growing in their practice. Instead of midday yoga nobody can or is in the mental space to attend, or the 3rd room-temp pizza party of the year, teach mindfulness, journaling, and host debriefs and roundtables that encourage learning from mistakes supportively instead of what I witnessed in med school during M&Ms (morbidity & mortality conferences) - residents presenting slides to talk about their mistakes and getting psychologically wrecked for those mistakes in front of an audience of their peers at 7:14 AM. Be aware of impactful events that happen in the workplace, the surrounding community, and the world at large. Be proactive about offering support when they happen in as individualized of a way as you can.
