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Vol. 55, No. 3, March 2009, pp.288 - 289.e6
Copyright © 2009 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada
Research |
Exploring family physician stress
Helpful strategies
F. Joseph Lee, MD CCFP FCFP MClScChair and Lead Physician of the Centre for Family Medicine Family Health Team in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont; Site Director of the McMaster KW Family Medicine Residency Program; Academic Director at the Kitchener-Waterloo site of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario; and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Waterloo
Judith Belle Brown, MSW PhD
Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the School of Social Work at King’s College in London, Ont, and Chair of the Master of Clinical Science Program in Family Medicine
Moira Stewart, MSc PhD
Professor and Director of the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario and the Thames Valley Family Practice Research Unit in London
Correspondence: Dr F. Joseph Lee, Centre for Family Medicine, 25 Joseph St, Kitchener, ON N2G 4X6; telephone 519 578-2100; fax 519 578-2109; e-mailjoelinda1{at}rogers.com
OBJECTIVE To explore the nature of professional stress and the strategies used by family physicians to deal with this stress.
DESIGN Qualitative study.
SETTING Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.
PARTICIPANTS Ten key-informant family physicians.
METHODS In-depth interviews were conducted with key informants. A total of 40 key informants were identified, based on selected criteria; 24 provided consent. The potential participants were rank-ordered for interviews to provide maximum variation in age, sex, and years in practice. Interviews were conducted, audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed until thematic saturation was reached, as determined through an iterative process. This occurred after 10 in-depth interviews. Immersion and crystallization techniques were used.
MAIN FINDINGS The participants described professional stresses and strategies at the personal, occupational, and health care system levels. Personal stressors included personality traits and the need to balance family and career, which were countered by biological, psychological, social, and spiritual strategies. Occupational stressors included challenging patients, high workload, time limitations, competency issues, challenges of documentation and practice management, and changing roles within the workplace. Occupational stressors were countered by strategies such as setting limits, participating in continuing medical education, soliciting support from colleagues and staff, making use of teams, improving patient-physician relationships, exploring new forms of remuneration, and scheduling appropriately. Stressors affecting the wider health care system included limited resources, imposed rules and regulations, lack of support from specialists, feeling undervalued, and financial concerns.
CONCLUSION Family physicians face a multitude of challenges at personal, occupational, and health care system levels. A systems approach provides a new framework in which proactive strategies can augment more than one level of a system and, in contrast, reactive strategies can have negative inputs for different system levels.
Related articles in CFP:
- Plaidoyer pour un médecin de famille «juste correct»
- Roger Ladouceur
CFP 2009 55: 238.[Full Text]
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