Current ASA recommendations for physician well-being focus on the body.1 What of the mind and soul? These elements confer our unique essence as human beings. Why are they relegated to the background? Why does the promise of wholeness evoke discomfort? Does being in sync with these invisible parts of ourselves matter?
Talbot and Dean2 wrote “Physicians aren’t ‘burning out.’ They’re suffering from moral injury.” Moral injury was first characterized in combatants during World War I. It arises from “perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.” It has been likened to “a deep soul wound that pierces a person’s sense of morality and relationship to society.” At a time when the health care industry and federal regulations are frequently at odds with the practice of medicine, “failing to consistently meet patients’ needs has a profound impact on...
