Physician Coaching or Mentoring: What’s the Difference?

An earlier version of this article appeared on this site in May, 2023.

As a physician coach, I am often asked to explain the difference between coaching and mentoring. It’s an important question, because both options are designed to get you from one place in your professional life to another. And sometimes a combination of both coaching and mentoring can be helpful. In this article, we’ll go over the differences between the two, and how each can help you to achieve your goals and dreams.

Coaching vs Mentoring: The Core Difference

The main difference is this: A mentor generally acts as an advisor. Since mentors usually have seniority and deeper experience in your area of interest, it is assumed they will know the right path to take. And mentoring typically focuses on your professional life only.

A coach does not give you the answers, but will collaborate with you to help you find and follow your own path. And coaching is not only about work. Coaching may be profession-focused, but it usually also encompasses your personal goals and well-being.

The Coaching Approach: Discovering Your Own Path

Coaching often begins by defining your own unique values— what sets you apart, what matters most to you, and how you envision your ideal life.

In coaching, the focus is on setting meaningful, actionable goals that reflect your personal values and current life circumstances. Using your values as a guide, a coach works with you to create the steps needed to achieve these goals, understanding that the desired outcome may evolve over time.

Unlike mentoring, where the mentor may have a vested interest in your professional trajectory, a coach remains neutral, providing space for you to explore all possibilities.

The coaching process is dynamic, and it often spans several months, or even longer, allowing for personal growth and adaptation. Coaches provide accountability and support through the stages of planning, commitment, and execution.

Why physicians seek coaching

A physician may seek coaching for a variety of reasons. Some examples include:

• Burnout

• Finding work-life balance

• Time management

• Career transitions

• Retirement planning

• Mindfulness

• Stress reduction

As you can see, these are often complex topics that do not have straightforward or defined answers. The process and outcome will be different for each person, depending on their own unique desires, circumstances, and stage of life.

Mentorship: Guidance from Experience

Mentorship, by contrast, tends to have a more defined pathway. If you seek a mentor, you likely have a specific goal in mind. That might be mastering a complex procedure, advancing to a leadership role, or establishing a successful practice. A mentor often has years of experience in your field and can outline the steps to help you avoid common pitfalls.

Mentors are invaluable, especially early in your career. They provide guidance, often within a hierarchical, career-focused relationship. Mentorship is about learning from someone else’s expertise to follow a clear, predetermined path.

How Mentorship Complements Coaching

While coaching and mentoring are distinct modalities, they are not mutually exclusive. Many physicians benefit from both coaching and mentoring, depending on their specific needs and the phase of their professional life. For instance, someone entering into a leadership role often seeks support from both a coach and a mentor. Or a physician dealing with burnout might seek out a mentor to help with specific aspects of practice management while at the same time choosing a coach to help traverse the complex issues that burnout can uncover.

Key Differences Summarized

• Coaching is about self-discovery and personal growth. Coaches help you set and achieve your own goals, both personal and professional, by empowering you to take charge of your journey.

• Mentorship is about learning from someone with greater experience in your field. A mentor can provide specific advice to help you achieve a well-defined goal in your profession.

Empowering Physicians: The Coaching Experience

Coaching is a process that brings clarity and honors your own values. It’s an exploration of possibilities, and a supportive experience that allows you the space and time to discover your own path.

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If you have questions about coaching and how it might work for you, please contact me through the website, or schedule your complimentary 30 minute discovery session.

If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to stay in the loop for more insights on creating a sustainable, fulfilling, and happy life as a physician, sign up for my newsletter or reach out on my website. I’d love to hear from you.

Coaching for Healthcare Leaders

As a member of the American College of Cardiology’s Physician Well-Being Working Group, I am fortunate to be part of the change that’s happening within cardiology and healthcare in general.

Coaching is increasingly recognized as a way to support and retain physicians, an aid for reducing burnout, and a tool that can improve the healthcare environment for physicians, staff, and the patients that we serve.

The first in a series of webinars put on through the ACC was presented in early 2024. You can watch it here, or maybe take it along with you and listen during your commute to work.

Stop Being So Hard on Yourself: Five Reasons To Celebrate Physicians

If you’re like many physicians, it may be easy to lose sight of your value. Healthcare today faces unprecedented challenges and stressors, and it’s sometimes hard not to take it personally.

Physicians in particular are some of the worst at self-flagellation. It’s common to feel frustrated and disappointed when you feel as if you haven’t lived up to your own ideals, or those that are imposed on you. Some days it can seem as if being a doctor is a thankless task. Doctor’s Day comes once a year, but your work is never done. So I’d like to share five reasons that you deserve to be appreciated and celebrated every day.

You Want to Do Good in the World

Medical practice is a field that naturally attracts individuals who are both highly intelligent as well as driven by a desire to impact the world positively. But wanting to do good and actually doing the work are two very different things. You do the work. Although your efforts may not always be acknowledged, your actions, big and small, directly affect the health and well-being of your patients and your community.

You Do Hard Things Every Day

Physicians face an array of challenges daily, from navigating complex medical and social issues to making life-saving decisions under pressure. On top of that, societal, economic, and administrative pressures may add levels of frustration that test your empathy and determination. The work of a physician requires an extraordinary level of resilience and fortitude, especially when, despite your best efforts, things don’t always turn out as you’d hoped or expected. It is no exaggeration to say that this level of commitment and grit far exceeds that of most other professions.

You Are Passionate About Your Work

Passion is the lifeblood of innovation and motivation. Physicians often pursue their profession because of a deep-seated passion for healing and discovery. This enthusiasm is often what spurs you to continually learn, grow, and push the boundaries of what is medically possible. Even on days where you feel less than enthusiastic, your years of focus and commitment drive you to do your best work.

You Come from All Walks of Life

Each physician comes to the profession with a unique array of backgrounds and experiences. Whether you come from a rural town or a large urban community, from a US metroplex or a country thousands of miles away, each physician carries a distinctive set of perspectives and skills. This diversity enhances your ability to connect with and care for a wide range of patients with a rich mix of cultures and viewpoints.

You Are a Change-Maker

Physicians are often at the forefront of change, not only in their clinics or hospitals but also in the broader context. Collectively, you have the power to initiate significant health policy reforms, improve patient care standards, and lead community health initiatives. What you do makes a difference in ways, big and small, that ripple out into the world.

As a doctor, you are not just a healthcare provider or a widget in a faceless system. You are a resilient, passionate, and dedicated professional committed to making the world a better place, one patient at a time. Most importantly, the work you do matters.

If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to stay in the loop for more insights on creating a sustainable, fulfilling, and happy life as a physician, sign up for my newsletter or reach out on my website. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’d like to schedule a complimentary introductory meeting with me, click the link below.

Why Should Healthcare Systems Invest in Coaching?

Changes in the administration of medical care have accelerated at a frenetic pace over the past decade, amplified by changes in practice ownership, healthcare law and COVID-19. With a few exceptions, the time of the solo practitioner, or even the single-specialty group practice, is well past. A recent report from Avalere Health noted that by January 2022, nearly three quarters of all US physicians were employed by hospitals or corporations, with a 19 percent increase over the preceding 3 years.

This consolidation of care comes with important benefits, including cost savings, ease of quantification and other metrics, and streamlining of care. Yet whether they intended to or not, large healthcare systems have also taken on an enormous responsibility for the satisfaction and well-being of their employed physicians.

Although healthcare administrators are a diverse group, and many have some background as healthcare professionals, they may not fully understand or embrace the qualities that lead individuals to pursue the life of a physician.

In general, physicians are highly intelligent, extremely motivated individuals. That’s individual with a capital I. Physicians are typically empathetic yet driven perfectionists. Many see their profession as a personal calling. While admirable, this may put them at risk for exploitation, since physicians with this mindset may find it difficult to say “no” to added responsibilities.

Recognizing these character traits makes it all the more concerning that in a recent survey, nearly half of physicians reported burnout in 2022, compared to about 25 percent in 2000. COVID is partially to blame, but so are systemic changes in healthcare, including less autonomy and greater documentation demands.  

Clearly, our healthcare systems bear a substantial responsibility for the amelioration and reform of many of these underlying factors. This includes workload, clerical and documentation burdens, and leadership culture.

How can coaching help?

Coaching is not the answer to burnout, but it’s an important tool. A study from the Mayo Clinic found that after 6 coaching sessions by credentialed coaches, the rate of burnout decreased by over 17 percent. In the control group, burnout actually increased by nearly 5%. And rates of emotional exhaustion dropped by nearly 20% in the coached group but increased 10% in controls.

Beyond addressing burnout, coaching can help physicians navigate the challenges of daily practice. Discovering the underlying causes of inefficiencies and working through time management practices with coaches may help physicians stay more organized and reduce wasted time. This in turn can improve quality of life for physicians as well as foster patient engagement, staff satisfaction, and timeliness of medical records.

Burned out, dissatisfied, and disconnected physicians are more likely to leave healthcare, which is expensive and disruptive for the system. According to the American Medical Association, it may cost anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million to replace one physician. And burned-out physicians may increase healthcare costs and decrease patient satisfaction. Ultimately this results in lost revenue and loss of social currency. More importantly, quality of care may also suffer and medical errors increase.

As hospital and healthcare systems navigate the years ahead, retaining high quality, satisfied, and engaged physicians will become increasingly important. An investment in coaching is a tangibly supportive and mutually beneficial use of resources.

Coaching alone won’t solve the problems facing healthcare. But when used as part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance physician well-being and streamline efficiency, coaching may ultimately improve patient care and satisfaction, enhance teamwork, and foster a happier, healthier medical staff.

An earlier version of this article originally appeared on this site in August 2022.

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If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to stay in the loop for more insights on creating a sustainable, fulfilling, and happy life as a physician, sign up for my newsletter or reach out on my website. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’d like to schedule a complimentary introductory meeting with me, click the link below.

Coaching for Physicians: A Guided Journey to Goal Setting, Overcoming Obstacles, and Finding Fulfillment

If you’re curious about physician coaching, and want to know more, this article is for you. As someone who loves getting outdoors, I like to use the metaphor of a hike or journey when describing my coaching process. In this coaching journey, I serve as your experienced companion, providing support, insight, and encouragement, helping you navigate both familiar and new terrain, and celebrating with you as you discover your destination.

1. The Trailhead: Preparation and Goal Setting

 Just like preparing for a hike, the first step in coaching is to understand where you are right now and where you want to go. This involves an in-depth assessment of your current professional and personal landscape, identifying both the peaks (successes) and valleys (challenges) you face. Whether you’re dealing with burnout, challenges with time, professional transitions, or finding the right work-life balance, together we’ll set specific and achievable goals. You can think of this as choosing the right trail that aligns with your current fitness level and hiking experience. Don’t worry if this is all new to you. You may be surprised at the ways your strength and endurance will naturally grow along the way.

 2. Gathering Gear: Equipping for the Journey

After setting the goals, the next step is to equip you with the necessary tools and skills. This includes exploring techniques for time management, stress reduction, and effective communication. Similar to choosing the right gear for a hike, these tools are personalized to fit your unique needs and circumstances, ensuring you are well-prepared for the journey ahead.

3. The Hike Begins: Embarking on the Journey

With goals set and tools in hand, we begin the coaching journey. This phase is about action and moving forward. Regular coaching sessions serve as checkpoints, where we assess progress, celebrate achievements, and address any new challenges. The journey may involve steep climbs and unexpected obstacles, but with guidance and support, you keep moving towards your goals. 

4. Difficult Terrain: Navigating Challenges:

Just as a hiker encounters rough patches along the trail, you may face challenges in your professional journey. Burnout, difficult workplace dynamics, and balancing personal life are common terrains we navigate. Together, we develop strategies to overcome or get around these obstacles, building strength, creativity, and adaptability, much like a seasoned hiker learns to navigate through challenging paths.

 5. Scenic Views and Rest Stops: Reaching Milestones

Along the way, it’s important to recognize and celebrate milestones. These are like the scenic views or rest stops on a hike, offering a pause to appreciate how far you’ve come, recharge, and reflect on the journey. Although it’s tempting to keep pushing forward, these waypoints are crucial for maintaining motivation and perspective.

 6. The Evolving Trail: Continued Growth and Adaptation

The journey doesn’t end at the first summit. Like a trail that changes with the seasons, your professional life will continue to evolve. Ongoing coaching can help you adapt to these changes, develop new goals, and continue growing. The journey is continuous, and as your coach, I am there to guide, support, and celebrate with you every step of the way.

 7. The Lookout Point: Reflection and Forward-Thinking  

As you reach significant milestones, we’ll take time to reflect on the journey. From this vantage point, much like a lookout on a hike, we’ll assess the path taken, lessons learned, and obstacles overcome. From there, we’ll plan for the next phase of your journey. Together we’ll chart out the travels ahead, including strategies for keeping burnout and inertia at bay. As you move into the future, you’ll be empowered and well equipped to stay engaged, inspired, and energized.

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If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to stay in the loop for more insights on creating a sustainable, fulfilling, and happy life as a physician, sign up for my newsletter or reach out on my website. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’d like to schedule a complimentary introductory meeting with me, click the link below.

Physician Stress and Burnout: How Mindful Coaching Can Help

Physician burnout is not a new phenomenon, but over the past several years, it has become a true epidemic. In 2021, 930 academic papers were published on the topic, compared to 129 in 2011. In 1984, the year I started medical school, a total of 4 articles can be found in the PubMed archives.

Today burnout is out in the open. But the tools to manage and prevent burnout remain elusive.

The term “burnout” itself may sound a little nebulous, but there are methods to measure and define it. The Maslach Burnout Inventory defines burnout as “a psychological syndrome” that “occurs among individuals who work with other people”, with symptoms including:

• Emotional exhaustion, feeling unable to give more of yourself

• Depersonalization, resulting in negative or cynical attitudes towards patients

• Reduced sense of personal accomplishment, meaning a tendency towards negativity towards your own accomplishment.

It’s important to understand that burnout is not a psychiatric disorder, but rather it is “ a normal response to a chaotic and stressful environment”.

Many of us have experienced these feelings from time to time, and that’s completely normal. But when these feelings are persistent and overwhelming, then it’s likely that you’re dealing with burnout.

In a 2022 survey, Medscape found that 47% of physicians reported burnout, up from 42% in 2021. Not surprisingly, Emergency Medicine and Critical Care reported the greatest burnout (60% and 56% respectively), but Ob-Gyn (53%), Infectious Disease (51%) and Family Medicine (51%) were close behind.

Women reported more burnout (51%), perhaps due to competing responsibilities at home which were aggravated by the pandemic. But more than a third of men were also affected.

The contributors to burnout reported in the survey are not surprising to anyone in healthcare. Topping the list:

• Bureaucratic tasks

• Lack of respect

• Long hours

• Lack of autonomy

These features are nearly identical to the six factors associated with workplace stress that were identified by the British workplace health and safety regulatory agency:

• High work demands

• Low control over workload and process

• Inadequate support from management and colleagues

• Poor workplace relationships

• Lack of clarity regarding professional role and responsibilities

• Poor management of change within the organization

Beyond making you miserable, stress and burnout affect your quality of life, your self-confidence, your relationships at work and at home, and perhaps even your patient care.

Sometimes it feels as if everyone is talking about stress and burnout, but nothing is being done about it.

Although mindfulness has been shown to be effective in mitigating the symptoms of stress and burnout, it feels disingenuous to tell physicians to get a grip by practicing yoga and meditating.

Clearly, we are not going to yoga our way out of this mess. And hospitals and healthcare systems need to do more than offer lip service. But in the meantime, a little mindfulness may help. Here’s how:

First let’s start with a simple definition of mindfulness. As a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, I’ve been fortunate to learn from Sean Fargo, a former Buddhist monk and gifted teacher. Sean defines mindfulness as “paying attention to the present moment with curiosity and non-judgment”. In other words, simply being present.

This sounds nice, but how can it possibly help you overcome the powerful forces that lead to stress and burnout?

As it turns out, there have been a number of studies in recent years that were designed to answer just this question. A meta-analysis of six high quality randomized controlled studies of mindfulness interventions for medical students, published in 2020, reported substantially lower stress indices in students who participated in the programs.

These programs incorporated interventions that included

• Body scanning

• Awareness of thoughts and emotions

• Breathing exercise

• Walking meditation

• Sitting meditation

• Coping with stress

Most programs were once weekly group sessions, while one used a mobile app.

Not only did stress scores improve in the short term, compared to controls, but studies that reported six-month follow-ups found that the benefits of mindfulness teaching persisted.

Coaching is another effective strategy for physicians at all stages of professional life. Although it is no substitute for system-wide change and mitigation of the issues that lead to burnout in the first place, coaching can help physicians gain traction and make decisions that help them to reclaim their connection to the profession.

That can range from important changes that create a better work-life balance in the current setting to a move to a new position or workplace. In some cases, a coach may work with a physician who decides to leave the profession altogether.

Research supports the role of coaching as a powerful tool for physicians at all stages. A small study from Duke University included primary and specialty care physicians ranging from first year residents to more senior physicians with leadership roles. The program focused on coaching for physician well-being, and reported improvements in coping strategies, resilience and stress.

Regardless of the specific modality or focus, physician coaching as an intervention has clearly been linked to improvement in well-being and resilience. A 2019 randomized controlled trial of primary care physicians in the Mayo Clinic system looked at the effects of 6 telephone coaching sessions on

• Burnout

• Quality of life

• Resilience

• Job satisfaction

• Engagement

• Meaning at work  

After 6 professional coaching sessions by credentialed coaches, the rate of burnout decreased by over 17% in the coached group but increased by nearly 5% in the control group. And absolute rates of emotional exhaustion dropped by nearly 20% in the coached physicians but increased about 10% in controls.

Coaching is a powerful tool. Mindful coaching may help physicians manage and overcome the effects of the sometimes-overwhelming forces that impact them and, indirectly, their patients on a daily basis.

But most importantly, addressing and repairing the underlying sources of burnout and stress is paramount. This is a commitment that needs to come from the highest levels of our healthcare systems.

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If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to stay in the loop for more insights on creating a sustainable, fulfilling, and happy life as a physician, sign up for my newsletter or reach out on my website. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’d like to schedule a complimentary introductory meeting with me, click the link below.

References

Berg, S. (2021). Q&A: Clearing up confusion on physician burnout and depression. American Medical Association

Christensen, A. J. et al. (2023). Addressing Burnout in the Primary Care Setting: The Impact of an Evidence-Based Mindfulness Toolkit. Military medicine, 189(Suppl 1), 64–70. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usad277

Drybye, L.N. et al. (2019). Effect of a professional coaching intervention on the well-being and distress of physicians: a pilot randomized clinical trial. Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine

Garcia, C. L. et al. (2019). Influence of Burnout on Patient Safety: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Medicina

Hathaisaard, C. et al. (2022). Mindfulness-based interventions reducing and preventing stress and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Asian Journal of Psychiatry

Health and Safety Executive. (2019). Tackling work-related stress using the management standards approach

Kane, L. (2022). Physician burnout and depression report 2022: stress, anxiety, and anger. Medscape

Maslach, C. et al. (1997). The Maslach Burnout Inventory Manual

Schneider, S. et al. (2014). Physician coaching to enhance well-being: a qualitative analysis of a pilot intervention. Explore

What the Failure of the ER Match Says About the State of Health Care

And How Physician Coaches Can Change The Story

When I was in medical school, the cool, smart kids went into ER medicine. It was a hotly competitive residency, and there was no guarantee that you would match. Now things are entirely different. Over 550 residency spots went unfilled by US med school grads in the residency match this month. Some centers had zero applicants match to their programs. Compare this to 2021, when only 14 ER residency spots were not filled.

The reasons? Just about any physician in the US can tell you:

• Disrespect fueled by social media personalities and irresponsible "news" outlets

• Dangerous working conditions

• Overloaded ERs being used as a source of primary care, often because people lack insurance or access

• Corporatization of medicine with a focus on numbers of patients seen and metrics that often don't relate to patient care

• Management of physicians by business people and those with less responsibility and training

• Intrusive, redundant, and burdensome EHR requirements

• Lack of adequate support staff

Some of my best friends are ER physicians. They are some of the hardest working people I know. These are the doctors who will save your life at 2 am, no matter who you are or whether or not you have insurance. And they are also the doctors that are tasked with waking up their colleagues at all hours of the night to request a consult or hospital admission. Most manage their work with grace, strength, and courage.

The steep decline in the desirability of ER residencies is a really scary trend. It’s easy to say that doctors can be replaced with mid-level care providers, but the truth is that the expertise, skill, responsibility and knowledge that an ER physician provides requires years of education, training, and commitment. Mid-levels can reduce some of the burden of less complex patients, but they are no substitute for a physician.

This sudden and shocking shift should be a call to action for hospital directors, ER directors, and the corporations and private equity firms who own and manage many of these practices.

As we wait to see how this recent revelation will impact the decisions and practices that affect ER physicians, it’s important that physicians take steps to stand up for ourselves and our profession. This is a new way of thinking about medical practice, but times have changed irrevocably. By learning how to work within the systems we now have, we can start to make important changes from the inside out. Ultimately, such changes will benefit not only physicians, but also their patients and indeed the very institutions and corporations that currently control our healthcare systems.

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 How can coaching help? Well clearly, coaching will not fix the problem. Coaching means working with one physician at a time, very much like patient care. But coaching will help you clarify your goals, identify your frustrations and obstacles, and give you the tools to create your way forward. Will that be

• Negotiation, understanding your own value?

• Creating a streamlined workflow that will allow you greater efficiency?

• Acquiring new skills to make your time more effective?

• Courage to make a lateral move to a new facility?

• A switch to a different type of practice altogether?

• A change in working hours?

• Reframing conflicts so that you are able to create a more positive working environment?

• Honing interpersonal skills?

• Advocating for change in EHR management?

Regardless of your specialty, the healthcare world is shifting. The work you do matters. By recognizing your own worth and power, and by taking action that is beneficial to both you and your patients, you will be able to create a happier and more sustainable life.

If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to stay in the loop for more insights on creating a sustainable, fulfilling, and happy life as a physician, sign up for my newsletter or reach out on my website. I’d love to hear from you.