Do you begin each day with a clean slate? What if you could?
How different would the new day be if you weren’t picking up where you left off—with the stuck energy, the stale energy, the energy of being drained at the end of the shift, at the end of the day?
What if, as we walked out of the hospital, office, or clinic, that energy was left behind, and instead, we embraced peace, ease, and flow?
Wouldn’t that change the way we show up for our family, children, and loved ones waiting for us as we walk through the front door at home?
Just imagine if that new energy gave us a second wind so we could be fully present to help with homework, prepare a healthy dinner, or simply sit on the couch and watch an episode of our favorite TV show—rather than having the TV watch us.
I think about that. In fact, during residency, I developed a routine around it.
On the commute home from the hospital, I picked a point where I’d dump it all. I dropped it off. I released the stress, worry, and concerns of patient care at the side of the road and focused on peace for the remainder of the drive home. There were days when I was spot on. On other days, it was a struggle, and the struggle won out.
Before I arrived at the “dumping point,” I gave myself full permission to ruminate over the shift:
- Did I complete the H&P and write all the orders for the five admissions overnight?
- Did I present well at morning report?
- Did I cover all the salient points on the physical exam?
- Was the differential diagnosis robust?
Oh, those days! How I remember those days.
But once I reached the designated point, that was it! Peace was invited to sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the ride home.
What if each new day brought with it a clean slate where you begin again?
Start over.
What would you create for maximum impact for you, the patients, and the team?
Which parts of the clinical experience are keepers?
Which ones stay with some tweaking?
Which ones need to go?
There are parts of medicine that are true keepers—parts that lend themselves to the impact we desire to make.
For me, it’s when I get to teach a family about a normal variant on their newborn’s physical exam and shift their perspective from seeing the baby as abnormal to understanding they have a healthy baby with a minor difference that doesn’t impact his overall health.
The opportunity to support them, answer their questions, and give them more information to help in decision-making—yeah, that lights me up.
Being a physician speaks to the inner teacher in me. Teaching the junior members on the team means I’m planting seeds for the future of medicine. Expanding their knowledge allows them to provide even more comprehensive care to patients.
It’s why I went into medicine.
Yes! This is a keeper.
The clean slate approach means no longer dreading the 3 a.m. call, stressing that it signals a pending crisis. So, I put it to the test. Here’s what happened when I used the clean slate approach:
- I practiced present-moment awareness and showed up as my best self.
- Delegating became easy. I trusted the team to operate in their zone of excellence.
- I focused on gratitude as team members supported one another.
There are many places in clinical practice where the clean slate approach makes for better outcomes. How can the clean slate approach enhance your relationship with medicine?
Stephanie Wellington is a physician and can be reached at Nurturing MDs.
