The vanishing moxy of Medicine!

A few days ago, I was talking to one of my colleagues about his clinic. At some point, he said something that stayed with me :

( I think I lost my moxie for medicine )

He did not describe himself with burnout in the traditional sense. He is still competent, responsible, not exhausted, and doing his job. But he lost the excitement, which indeed could be an early stage of Burnout !!

We talk frequently about health professional burnout. There are countless studies measuring stress, workload, depression, and dissatisfaction. But how can we measure or even describe how doctors lose their enthusiasm for their profession?

To make it clearer, a simple question can open our eyes to our surroundings. How many talented colleagues are spending money and time on non-clinical courses and qualifications, hoping to move to administrative positions? How many surgeons or operators seem increasingly reluctant to operate?

Those example, they do not express their burnout clearly, and if they apply, the score or the screening tool will be negative.

I do not think there is one simple answer for why the passion and enthusiasm have slowly faded.

Perhaps increasing protocols, pathways, bureaucracy, and targets make doctors gradually lose the freedom they once had to practice medicine according to their professional judgment.

Also, we lost the immediate connection between our work and its impact on the patients, which a lot of us belive that is the aim of our presence, but in modern practice a lot of physicians feel their day in the hospital is disconnected from its purpose.

I do think if we ask this question: how much do doctors still enjoy being doctors? We may discover that the problem is much bigger than burnout, as simply a lot are not exhausted, but they are losing their moxy!!!

The issue is that the practitioner may not reach the level of burnout where everybody can recognize and intervene, or at least help them step down and leave the practice. People of losing the joy of medicine are still working, do their clinic, calls, and round procedures as required, but with no sympathy, no improvement, and no training of their juniors. This, over time, will affect the outcome of the practice and the patients.

If we understand this, we will know why we are losing some of the talented people, and the highly trained practitioner who remains deeply engaged in their speciality might become rare and lost in a lot of hospitals.

I have described the problem without offering the solution! It is something fundamental that many people, not only physicians, are struggling with: contentment.

Instead of focusing on achieving more, changing roles, and pursuing the next opportunity.

Contentment can bring back the joy we have lost in our work, family lives, and ourselves.

It is not a pill or a course. It starts with being honest with yourself, understanding what truly matters to you, and learning to find meaning and satisfaction in it.