ER Doctor Jay Baruch & The Resignation That Never Went Into Effect

Greeting Stewards,

You may recall Jay Baruch—emergency physician, medical educator, novelist, and keynote speaker from our 2022 Symposium (he delivered a wonderful talk about the intersection between medicine and art and how it could aid us in a deeper understanding of health and healthcare stewardship).

In this opinion article, Jay speaks about his experience as an ER doctor feeling burnt out and overwhelmed during the pandemic surges in 2021. But his decision to leave medicine gave him a reason to stay and hooked him back in. At first, Jay only saw leaving as a way to escape the negativity he was experiencing. However, he had overlooked all of the moments that made him love his job in the first place: “… a laugh with a patient. Supporting a young man guilt-ridden about an opioid relapse. Securing insulin needles for a patient with diabetes lost in the system. . . . Exchanging snarky comments with nurses and staff members I respect dearly.”

He further writes, “Now, more than 20 months after writing my resignation letter, I’m still asking each shift to show me why I should come back tomorrow. Surprisingly, such moments are often staring me in the face, which is not to say they’re necessarily easy to see.”

We hope you check out the article for the full story and are moved by Jay’s words and story. Not only is it a great article with amazing insight from the point of view of a provider struggling to get through the pandemic, but it highlights an urgently important issue of our times, which is physician burnout.

Warmly,

Asheanna