Medical students and residents, especially those in family medicine, are constantly coached that to be a good doctor they must strive to demonstrate compassion, empathy, respect, professionalism, and confidence all while applying medical knowledge to determine a diagnosis or treatment plan for their patients. For seasoned family physicians, maintaining a meaningful physician-patient relationship is the very hallmark that sustains their passion for the specialty.
However, in effort to make authentic connections, physicians are left wondering – how vulnerable can I be? How vulnerable do I want to be? What is safe and ethical to share and what is crossing the line? Where does vulnerability fit into the equation? Finding balance between expressing empathy and self-preservation will be the focus of the next session of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians’ Wellness Wednesdays series.
Set for Wednesday, June 21, at 12:15 p.m., free registration is open for members and their care teams to participate in the “Power of Vulnerability” webinar. This is the fifth session in an eleven-part webinar series dedicated to teaching healthy techniques and practices that will help family physicians become more focused on their own personal wellness.
“Many family physician’s got into their specialty because they wanted a direct relationship with their patients and consider their pathway in medicine as a profession of human wellness,” said Nelson Heise, clinical director at the Ohio Physicians Health Program and the facilitator of OAFP’s Wellness Wednesdays program. “It’s easy to fall into an emotional trap that in order to deliver optimal care, you have to desensitize or compartmentalize yourself. The effects of that thinking is unhealthy and could have devastating consequences in the long term,” continued Heise.
Participants in the Power of Vulnerability webinar will learn how to recognize the three golden rules when opening up personally to patients and colleagues and understand that being vulnerable is not only a virtue in medicine but also a necessity for a healthy life.
“Wellness Wednesdays” is a structured, monthly webinar series that focuses on enhancing professional and personal wellness through the joy of medicine. The series is facilitated by a licensed professional clinical counselor from the OPHP, is offered free to physician members, and takes place the third Wednesday of each month over the typical lunch hour (12:15 – 1 p.m.) Participants will start each session with a brief overview of the discussion topic and then led through a practical exercise that helps the participant learn through self-exploration and personal awareness. Participants will have the opportunity to share their own insight at the end of the 45-minute program and make connections with their peers who are also interested in wellness and professional satisfaction.
Archives of the previously recorded sessions and resources can be accessed on the OAFP website.
If you have questions about the Wellness Wednesdays program, contact Deputy Executive Vice President Kate Mahler, CAE, or call 800.274.7327.