Ramadan Notes #23: Turn to the Qur’an to Burnout-Proof your journey of service

As-salamu’alaykum,

One of the harsh realities of the current healthcare delivery landscape is the competing allegiances that providers especially have to grapple with in addressing the needs of the patients and their families who are at the center of this complex web of healthcare services.

Drs. Talbot and Dean, in their article “Physicians aren’t ‘burning out.’ They’re suffering from moral injury” wrote about this increasing tension that is driving physicians (and other related healthcare workers) towards burnout; “In an increasingly business-oriented and profit-driven health care environment, physicians must consider a multitude of factors other than their patients’ best interests when deciding on treatment. Financial considerations — of hospitals, health care systems, insurers, patients, and sometimes of the physician himself or herself — lead to conflicts of interest.” 

…Recall that patient that needed a surgical or a procedural intervention for an indication that was apparent to the providers but was denied insurance authorization to proceed or the obese patient that kept dropping their oxygen saturations at night that raised concern for Obstructive Sleep Apnea but the system design required that a formal sleep study be completed on outpatient for the patient to formally qualify for a home CPAP machine…

Scenarios like these eat into the sense of autonomy, confidence in clinical mastery and result in a phenomenon of moral distress where there’s an ethical and moral disconnect with the altruistic and service foundations of the clinician. Repeated moral distressing incidents over time aggregate to establish a state of moral injury. 

Solutioning for this is obviously multifaceted and requires deep systemic changes. What is an inherent driver of these issues - serving multiple masters - is not one that I see a clear path forward to even with sweeping systemic changes. This is where the Qur’an comes in.

Surah Az-Zumar Q39 v29: “Allah sets forth the parable of a slave owned by several quarrelsome masters, and a slave owned by only one master. Are they equal in condition?1 Praise be to Allah! In fact, most of them do not know.”

 Allah SWT teaches us about a similar tension in the verse above which scholars explain to us is contextually referencing the case of disbelievers versus those who believe in Allah, the Most High. 

It is tough to serve many masters and in the current healthcare landscape, we are often having to do this significant ramifications for the mental health of clinicians on hand and like we talked about yesterday - translates into poor clinical decisions and health outcomes for those being served.

The Qur’an offers a God-centric lens for us to process our decisions and always strive towards taking the high road in the service of the patients and populations that we cater to in healthcare. 

The Qur’an directs us to seek the pleasure of Allah, the Most High and serve only one true master and by so doing, better serve humanity.

This profound grounding can eventually be channeled into leadership efforts that can help to reshape the healthcare landscape and better align incentives even in the business-heavy healthcare industry.

Let’s turn to the Qur’an often in our healthcare journeys for deep insights that drive to execute our calling with Ihsan (excellence) and provides a mental framework and mindset that helps to burnout-proof our healthcare careers.

May Allah SWT guide us to reflect upon the Quran often to unlock insights that transform us everyday of our service to humanity and May He allow us to reach Laylatul Qadr. Amin

Sincerely,

Sulyman

P.S. Join like-hearted #HealthCareWorkers on Zoom this Thursday for the final Ramadan weekly check-in at 4.15pm CST/9.15pm GMT/10.15pm WAT . Register and join with this link.

P.P.S. What other suggestions do you have for me and others in this regard? Share in the comments section or reply to [email protected]

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