Physicians' sense of powerlessness and being a cog in a wheel

<p>"Toward the end of my clinical career, I didn’t feel like I had control over much at all. The patient safety issues loomed large. We used ridiculous workarounds for broken processes. The constant vigilance to provide excellent care in a suboptimal environment was exhausting. I didn’t see anything I could change. Based on my work with physicians as a coach, I think that the sense of powerlessness and being a “cog in a wheel” is now at an all-time high.</p> <p>While on an uninspiring stretch of road on a recent family trip, a realization came to me: There are many, many system issues over which physicians have little control. But physicians do have control over three things:</p> <ul> <li>How they lead in both formal and informal leadership roles</li> <li>How effectively they advocate for change</li> <li>Who they show up as every day"</li> </ul> <p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianewshannon/" target= "_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Diane W. Shannon</a> is an internal medicine physician and physician coach and can be reached at her self-titled site, <a href="https://dianeshannon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer">Diane W. Shannon</a>.</p> <p>She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "<a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/06/the-sense-of-powerlessness-and-being-a-cog-in-a-wheel-is-now-at-an-all-time-high.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The sense of powerlessness and being a cog in a wheel is now at an all-time high</a>." (<a href= "https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/06/the-sense-of-powerlessness-and-being-a-cog-in-a-wheel-is-now-at-an-all-time-high.html">https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/06/the-sense-of-powerlessness-and-being-a-cog-in-a-wheel-is-now-at-an-all-time-high.html</a>)</p>