Full Transcript Sponsor Messages and Podcast Introduction 0:00 This episode of the Burnout Recovery Podcast is brought to you by MIGA, your medical indemnity partner. 0:06 Whether you're starting out in your career or have decades of experience, Miga helps you thrive with support that goes beyond insurance. 0:14 Enjoy travel benefits like complimentary travel insurance and Qantas points on your membership, plus education, medical legal support, 0:23 access to career coaching and wellbeing resources. 0:26 Visit miga.com.au to learn more. 0:30 Insurance issued by Medical Insurance Australia, which has not taken into account your objectives or situation. 0:34 Before you make any decisions about our policies, please read our PDS and consider your needs. 0:37 Call us for a copy or visit migo.com.au. 0:39 Busy day, quick question, no time to dig. 0:42 Heidi Evidence brings the evidence to you. 0:45 Clear answers with citations you can trust. 0:48 Completely ad free, unlimited and region aligned. 0:52 Find evidence in the chaos. 0:54 Search heidehealth. 0:56 com. 0:58 Welcome to the Burnout Recovery Podcast, a guiding resource dedicated to healthcare professionals on their journey to overcoming burnout. 1:05 Spearheaded by Dr. 1:06 Jo Braid, certified professional coach and rehabilitation physician. 1:12 Hello and welcome back to The Burn Out Recovery podcast.
Time Poverty and Lunch Break Boundaries 1:16 I'm Dr Jo braid, your host and a medical doctor with over 20 years in healthcare. 1:21 Today, we're tackling something I know you're feeling right now, time poverty. 1:27 That crushing sensation that there are never enough hours in the day, that you're constantly behind, constantly catching up, 1:34 and constantly choosing between patient care and everything else that matters to you. 1:41 If you've ever felt like time is your enemy rather than your ally, this episode is for you! 1:46 We're going to explore why healthcare workers are uniquely vulnerable to time scarcity and, more importantly, what you can do about it. 1:56 So right now I'm working a rehabilitation locum and I am living this time poverty challenge in real time. 2:03 The ward is busier than usual. 2:05 We haven't even got into winter yet. 2:07 And instead of the typical post-joint replacement patients, we're seeing complex medical patients who require much more time and attention. 2:17 Ward rounds that used to take a couple of hours are stretching out to three or maybe four. 2:21 Documentation is more complex, and every patient interaction takes longer because of their medical complexity. 2:29 And it would be so easy to fall back into that old pattern of working through lunch, staying late, letting the work expand to fill every available moment. 2:40 But here's what I've learned from my own burnout recovery journey. 2:44 I've made it non-negotiable that both the intern and I take our lunch breaks every day, every single day. 2:53 Even when, and most importantly when the task list feels endless. 2:59 And you know what I have noticed? 3:01 When we come back from those breaks, we have better cognitive clarity than I ever remember having when I used to work through my lunch in my early career years. 3:11 We make decisions faster. 3:13 We're more efficient with our documentation. 3:15 And we actually get through the outstanding tasks more effectively. 3:21 And this isn't just an observation, it's also evidence-based. 3:24 But it took me years to truly understand that protecting time isn' t about being lazy or uncommitted.
Research on Time Scarcity in Healthcare 3:31 It's about be ing sustainable and effective. 3:35 So I remember one particularly hectic day last week, and the intern looked at me apologetically and said, should we skip our lunch today? 3:42 There's just so much to do. 3:44 And I said especially today, we need our The patients will still be here in 30 minutes, but we'll be better doctors for them if we take care of ourselves first. 3:55 And that's the mindset shift that changes everything. 3:59 Understanding that time protection isn't selfish, it's strategic. 4:04 We're living in what researchers call time poverty, having insufficient time to meet both work demands and personal life. 4:14 It's not just about being busy, it's about losing agency over your own life. 4:20 So let's talk about the research. 4:22 The research on time poverty in healthcare is sobering. 4:27 A 2023 study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that healthcare workers report feeling time pressured 73% more often than other professionals. 4:40 It's not just about working longer hours, though we certainly do that. 4:45 Dr. 4:45 Christine Sinski's work with the American Medical Association revealed that for every hour physicians spend with patients, 4:53 they spend nearly two hours on administrative tasks. 4:57 Think about that, two thirds of our professional time isn't even direct patient care. 5:04 But here's the crucial insight from behavioral economics research. 5:09 Time poverty creates a scarcity mindset that actually makes us less efficient. 5:15 When we feel constantly behind, our cognitive bandwidth narrows. 5:20 We make poorer decisions. 5:21 we're more reactive. 5:23 And ironically, we waste more time. 5:27 The neuroscience backs this up. 5:29 Dr. 5:29 Sendal Moulanathan's research shows that when our brains perceive time scarcity, We enter a state of tunneling, and that's hyper focusing on immediate
Strategies for Protecting Time 5:40 demands while losing sight of the bigger picture. 5:42 Does that sound familiar? 5:45 This explains why you might spend 20 minutes looking for a form you could have printed in two minutes or why do you stay late to finish notes instead of 5:55 developing systems that would save you hours each week. 5:58 So how do we break free from time poverty? 6:02 Let's share my framework, sleep, support, mindset and movement, but with specific time protection strategies. 6:10 Sleep. 6:12 I invite you to start with time boundaries, not time management. 6:16 So identify your non-negotiable time blocks. 6:20 For me, it's 10 p.m. 6:22 to 6 a. 6:23 m. 6:23 That is my recovery time, full stop. 6:27 I've had clients who protect their Sunday mornings. 6:29 Another client protected his drive home. 6:32 Absolutely no work calls and no thinking about tomorrow's cases or ruminating on the cases from the day. 6:39 Support. 6:40 Time poverty thrives in isolation, so I invite you to share the load. 6:46 This might mean finally asking your colleague to cover that committee you dislike or hiring someone to clean your house. 6:54 I had a client who realized she was spending six hours a week on grocery shopping and meal prep. 7:01 She started using a grocery delivery service and gaged back a quarter of a day every week. 7:08 Mindset. 7:09 Challenge the martyrdom narrative. 7:12 You're not required to sacrifice your entire life for your profession. 7:16 I know this feels radical, but your worth as a healthcare provider isn't measured by how much of yourself you give up. 7:24 Practice what I call time sovereignty, the belief that you have the right to protect some of your time for yourself. 7:33 When you feel guilty about leaving on time, remind yourself, I am modeling sustainable practice for my colleagues and ensuring I can provide quality care tomorrow. 7:43 And finally, movement. 7:45 This isn't just physical movement, it's moving away from reactive time use towards intentional timeuse. 7:53 Try the time audit exercise. 7:55 For one week, just track where your time actually goes in 15 or 30 minute blocks. 8:01 And most people will be shocked to discover they're spending two to three hours daily on tasks that could be streamlined or eliminated completely. 8:12 And here's a strategy that may well help as well, the time protection protocol. 8:17 Before saying yes to any new commitment, ask yourself these three questions. 8:22 Does this align with my core responsibilities? 8:26 Can someone else do this? 8:28 And what will I stop doing to make room for this. 8:32 Reflecting on what we've talked about today, identify one hour in your typical day that you can reclaim. 8:39 Maybe it's that meeting that could be an email or those 15 minutes you spent looking for supplies or something or other because your workspace isn't organized. 8:48 Reclaim that hour and use it for something that really feeds your soul. 8:52 Read a chapter of that book. 8:54 Call that friend. 8:55 Sit in your garden. 8:56 Take a bath. 8:57 Remember who you are outside of your stethoscope or scrubs. 9:02 And here's a reflection question for you. 9:04 If you had an extra hour every day, what would you do with it? 9:08 Don't think about work. 9:09 Think about you! 9:11 Think about the person before you were in healthcare. 9:14 The person you still are underneath all those responsibilities. 9:18 I want you to share this insight with one other person this week.
Reclaiming an Hour and Closing Reflections 9:21 And maybe it's a colleague who's also drowning in time poverty, or maybe someone in your personal life who needs to understand why you've been so absent. 9:31 Remember, protecting your time isn't selfish. 9:33 It is essential. 9:35 You can't pour from an empty cup and you cannot provide sustainable care if you're running on empty. 9:41 Join me for my newsletter which comes out fairly regularly for more evidence-based strategies for burnout recovery and connect with me on social media. 9:51 Links are in the show notes and until next week, be kind to yourself. 9:55 You deserve to have an amazing life outside of work. 9:59 This is Dr. 9:59 Jo Braid and Ready to take the next step in your burnout recovery journey? 10:09 Visit drjobrade.com for free resources, all 150 plus podcast episodes and information about my keynote speaking. 10:21 Links are in the show notes. 10:23 Your wellbeing matters. 10:25 Protect the asset that is you. 10:29 You know those moments where you're between patients, everything's moving fast, and you just want to double-check something without falling down a rabbit hole? 10:38 Heidi Evidence helps you to get to a clear answer with citations you can see, pulled from trusted guidelines, research and even your own uploaded docs. 10:47 It's completely ad-free, no sponsored results, No weird ranking, And it's unlimited, region-aware. 10:54 and fits into the workflow you're already using. 10:57 It supports your clinical judgement. 10:59 You stay in control. 11:01 Find evidence in the chaos. 11:03 Search HeidiHealth.com. 11:05 Be your best you. 11:06 Rely on MEGA for your protection and support. 11:09 Serving doctors for over 125 years through insurance, education, medical legal advice and member benefits designed to help you thrive and succeed. 11:20 Insurance issued by Medical Insurance Australia, which has not taken into account your objectives or situation. 11:24 Before you make any decisions about our policies, please read our PDS and consider your needs. 11:27 Call us for a copy or visit migo.com.au.
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