 What's up you guys this is Dana welcome back to my channel. I'm super excited because it is giveaway time. Yes, that is right I told you guys that every month this year. I will be doing a giveaway this month We're starting this giveaway out for my pre-PA students So if you're a pre-PA student listen up because this is for you so in this giveaway I will be giving away a six month subscription to Megushi's GRE prep course along with a subscription to Roche Review's Pre-PA Anatomy bootcamp, so you will be well prepared for when you get into PA school. To enter into the giveaway You simply need to leave a comment in the comment section below telling me why you want to be a PA and where you're at in your PA journey That's it. It's simple as that. The winner will be announced this upcoming Sunday, January 31st So be sure to leave your comment so that you can be entered into the giveaway. For my PA students have no fear I have not forgotten about you. Your giveaway will be next month We will be alternating giveaways between pre-PA students and PA students every month So make sure that you stay tuned so you'll know exactly when the next giveaway is. All right Let's get back to our regularly scheduled video. What's up you guys? It's Dana Welcome back to my channel. So I'm very like always very smiley and stuff But this is a serious topic, so we're gonna be talking about burnout today And I don't know if you all know about burnout or what burnout is but we're gonna define that and we're gonna talk about Physician assistant burnout versus physician burnout And just kind of talking about what that looks like in this video. So let's get into it right now You guys I'm back for you guys So I had a question that was posted to me by one of you all again really really glad that you guys really I mean these comments with these questions because they are great questions. And so this one was from Eddie Whelan or Whelan Hopefully pronounced that right. It said hi. We always hear that physicians have a high burnout rate Do you feel this is the same for PAs? If so, do you have any tips for avoiding that? And so I mean I think that this is a great great question Eddie Because yeah, I mean that is very high on you know, like the radar for Physicians the burnout rate and how like exhausted and tired they get with respect to their profession and their job and job Satisfaction and so I'm for those of you who don't know what burnout is I want to just kind of define that for you all and then we can delve into What burnout looks like for PAs and then kind of like some of the statistics behind that as well It's just doing a quick comparison of the burnout from last year. Obviously, this is 2020 kind of statistics of what burnout looks like for physicians. Okay, so burnout is a Reaction to prolonged or chronic job stress and is characterized by three main dimensions exhaustion cynicism and feelings of reduced professional ability And in under cynicism it says less identify identification with the job And so like obviously, you know, you're a PA or your physician like you know Like it is exhausting like I'm telling you you guys like when I come home after a 24-hour shift If it was a you know a bad shift like I am exhausted. I am tired I always sleep for no less than four hours. Like it doesn't matter what time I go to bed So if I came home, I got home at 10 and if I don't go and take a nap until 2 I will not wake up until 6 like it without fail It's always at minimum four hours because I'm just so Exhausted and you're just really tired and you know, you don't always talk about that I've tried to address it on Instagram So if you haven't already followed me on Instagram go down the PA and do that But I talk about you know, the fact that I'm tired just because being post-call you're on call for 24 hours You're dealing with various different things you're fielding calls from your nurses or you know Traumas are coming in whatever the case may be like it's tough. And so that exhaustion is no joke Synicism you get a lot of that too. I mean you get a lot of that in any healthcare specialty But you'll have like some of these older PAs that are like serious cynics about like the profession and you know The job is a hole and you know your bosses and various different things like that You're like why what is going on? And that's because they are experiencing burnout And then just the feeling of reduced professional ability like what am I able to do right now? You know, like I like I can't even give my all to this and so that is what burnout is as a whole Now the question was asked like do I feel that it's the same for PAs now by no means do I feel it's the same for PAs? I absolutely believe that PAs experience burnout because they do most people in healthcare experience burnout and Especially now because of COVID last year, you know and like the rise of coronavirus There are a lot of people feeling burnout a lot of people were like really exhausted just working long hours and dealing with these Really really intensely sick patients That and and then also like seeing you know Some of them die after you have literally done all that you can do like there's nothing else for you to do You don't know what else to do all this hard work kind of goes down the drain because you lose You know this life that was like under your care. And so that will make a cynic out of anybody But yes, I do feel that a lot of healthcare professionals and PAs in general Experience burnout. Is it the same as physician burnout? I don't think so. I mean our responsibilities are different You know, what we have to deal with is different and at the end of the day, I can leave the job that I don't like And go find another specialty that I might like Or go find another job that I'm more interested in or that another job that is a little bit more Up to my speed at that moment in time in my life where maybe I want to work like just PRN or part-time or You know, maybe I want to go and you know, try another specialty that is not as like intense and as stressful and You know, I don't think I like physicians don't have that luxury like yeah They can leave their job, but it's not as easy for them to now like they can't go to another specialty That's not something that is in their purview to do and so no, I don't feel like it's the same because the the coping mechanisms that I have as a PA to You know address my burnout is Like a little bit more or completely different than that of a physician. So that is my first answer to your question I did want to touch on this. I had this thing that was pulled up That it says it's talking about Just PA burnout in general, okay So it says according to the American Academy of Physician Assistance the average burnout rate for physician assistance in the United States is 32.6% of practicing Professionals and so I just want to go like let's compare that to I mean, I'm looking at medscape. I think they're fairly Okay, but it says this year again. This was 2020 last year It says 42% of physicians reported that they are burnt out down from 46% Five years ago, which is actually pretty good But you can see that still like over a 10% difference. So and that's a lot of practicing professionals So me turn this back up so you guys can see that my phone is dying So hopefully we'll get through this you guys But it says 32.6% of practicing professionals now emergency medicine physician assistants Have the highest percentage of fulfillment At 72.3% and the highest percentage of burnout at 34.5% which makes sense Because they're seeing a lot they're dealing with a lot and they're seeing a lot of things It says of all the specialties pediatrics a subspecialties have the lowest Rate of burnout at 20.2% followed closely by primary care internal medicine and Surgical subspecialties. That's where I land It says interestingly enough women experience greater stress and ultimately greater burnout So I and I just want to touch on that aspect of things in a minute But I want to go to the the physician aspect of it And it says specialties that have been among the top in burnout over the past five years include critical care Makes sense very intense emergency medicine again makes sense high acuity You're dealing with lots of life-and-death situations, and then it says family medicine internal medicine neurology and urology Okay, and so I just wanted to kind of touch on that for all of you guys But let's talk about the the part where it talked about women having a higher rate of burnout Now for me obviously like there's some things to look into that right so first and foremost the PA profession is highly like women driven the amount of Female PA's versus male PA's is like Astounding okay like in my class there were like maybe six guys out of the 30 students Okay, so if you're just kind of looking at what that may be that's like a five to one ratio And it's I think it's typically around there like four to one So that is it's of course We're gonna have a greater burnout rate But at the same time something that you have to keep in mind as well is the gender disparities that are just prevalent in our You know economy and in our world and so as a female in the medical field Typically you will get offered less money You have a lot more that you have to deal with because you're like, you know I think you're looking at like hey do I want to start a family if I If you don't have a family like how's that gonna work with my job? Am I gonna get fired or not if you do have a family? You're like well, you know What can I do? You know how can I spend time with my family and so there are a lot more things that are revolving around you That you're concerned about with respect to increasing the stress in your life Then your male counterparts that have their wives or their girlfriends to kind of accommodate for those questions that you would typically have And so those are some of the things that you want to think about and then the pay disparity as well I said like you typically get paid less. You're gonna get offered less Just because you're a woman, which I mean you're doing the exact same thing But because of your gender you get paid less and so those are things to look out for and those are reasons why I would absolutely Say that some of that is true in terms of why females have a higher burnout, right? But again just to answer your question on how does that work with respect to like the physician or the PA? Do I think it's the same though? I don't think it's the same now for your second part of the question Which you're talking about like some coping mechanisms Absolutely, I think that it's important to take your vacations take your allotted vacations and time off You want to be able to speak like step away from the profession or step away from the environment and like unplug Okay, you guys from those things that cause you stress I like I'm very much. Oh my gosh, like it's no skin off my back Like it's gonna roll like there are some things that kind of irritate me, but then I'm like, okay. Well, I'm only here for like eight more hours Or I'm only here for 12 more hours, you know and then I get to decompress for two or three days and so that is how it is with me and the current schedule that I have For you a coping mechanism that you can also do is making sure that your schedule fits something where you have built in time To decompress and spend with family. So there are various different models that you can work with 312s for 10s You know, you don't always have to work 8-5s you can do 324s in a 14-day period as I do Or you can do 424s in a 14-day period However, you want to structure that you find those jobs that will give you that built-in time Also, I suggest that you go and you like seek help, you know, like if you are Feeling burnt out, you know talk to someone about it go to a therapist and talk to some because it's okay It's okay to speak about, you know, the various different stresses in your life So absolutely engage in that Because it is essential to make sure that you are not only healthy Via your like work life, but your spiritual life and your mental life Right, your mental health should be strong as well But those are a few things that I definitely think that you should do and then just kind of in a sense. I'll also like just Working out like conflict like having good conflict resolutions because a lot of times Burnout comes because maybe, you know on top of being exhausted like you're dealing with other stressors on the job And you cannot effectively have like a good conflict resolution And so you allow that to really like build up inside of you and then and just kind of irks you even more And then you become cynical and then it's just like, okay It's just like a downward slope So if you're able to kind of touch on those things and know and realize alright What are your trigger points and you remove yourself from those positions that trigger you or You have a good way of doing some conflict resolution Then I think that that will be beneficial in helping reducing the burnout and then Last but not least, you know, you can always find another job as a PA you can go and find another specialty another job You know plan your have your exit strategy plan that and know exactly where you want to go and what you want to be You know in terms of like the person that you want to be on the job and what job will allow you to do that Okay, so hopefully this answered your question. Thank you so much for asking it was a great question And you know to be honest, I think it's something that we're all gonna either deal with or have dealt with At some point in our career, so definitely Definitely good question. Please continue to leave your comments in the comment section below if you have any suggestions About how to relieve stress or reduce burnout leave that in the comment section below as well Like this video follow me on Instagram at a down the PA and don't forget to subscribe Thank you guys. I will talk to you guys next time