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Virtual Scribes Enhanced Relationships Between Patients and Physicians - 02/13/2024

At a time when physicians face burnout often due to administrative stress, two new studies from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital found virtual scribes cut physician burden by 16% and enhanced relationships between patients and 60% of physicians.


“It’s Real. It Happens.” Panel Discusses How Shifting Values Can Shift Physicians Away From Burnout - 01/31/2024

By tuning in to personal convictions and values, physicians can improve relationships with their medical team, patients, and themselves. Given the increasing pressures on physicians, that shift is necessary and possible, medical leadership experts shared at TMA’s Leadership Summit. Read more.


Frontline Defender: Umar Latif, MD, Tackles Physicians' Moral Injury Plight - 08/05/2023

Frisco psychiatrist Umar Latif, MD, applies his expertise in suicide prevention and treatment among military personnel and veterans to another crisis on the home front: moral injury among physicians.


Walk-In Care: Walk With a Doc Texas Extends Physicians' Reach - 06/14/2023

Walk With a Doc is a nonprofit – founded in 2005 by Ohio cardiologist David Sabgir, MD – that encourages physical activity in people of all ages and that aims to reverse the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle. And it has proven to come with so many benefits to physicians themselves and to the patient-physician relationship.


TMB Named “Wellbeing First Champion” for Changed Approach to Behavioral Health - 06/05/2023

A national campaign dedicated to improving health and well-being among health care professionals recently recognized the Texas Medical Board (TMB) for its efforts to destigmatize physicians who seek help for behavioral health issues or other problems that might interfere with job performance.


A Light in Dark Times: TMA Adds Counseling Service to Resources - 04/03/2023

With new causes for burnout arising at every turn, TMA adds a new counseling service to its physician wellness resources to fill a rural gap.


TMA Adds New Counseling Service to Physician Wellness Resources - 03/01/2023

No single thing drives a physician to feel unwell. But physicians in smaller or rural counties may have nowhere to turn when burdens become too heavy. Freshly recommitted to its “Wellness First” mission, and with funding help from The Physicians Foundation, the Texas Medical Association has teamed up with the Texas-based counseling service Anticipate Joy to help.


Wellness First: TMA Recommits to Physicians' Well-being - 11/01/2022

The Texas Medical Association recently debuted its reimagined physician well-being support program, Wellness First, which works in tandem with organized medicine's advocacy at the state and federal levels to mitigate the underlying causes of burnout.


When Physicians Need Treatment, TMA’s PBF Wellness Fund Can Help - 09/23/2022

If COVID-19 or other conditions are affecting your well-being, the Texas Medical Association is here to help you seek assistance.


TMA Puts Physicians’ Wellness First With New Program - 09/21/2022

The demands of the pandemic have heightened a sense of urgency to support physicians' health and well-being. With that in mind, TMA launched it's Wellness First - Supporting Physicians Health campaign during Fall Conference. Check out the CME program line-up and register soon.


Learn the Warning Signs of Physician Suicide - 09/13/2022

This Saturday, Sept. 17, is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day, and with help from The Physicians Foundation and other organizations’ Vital Signs campaign, you can learn the warning signals to look for in a colleague who may be in mental distress.


Physician Wellness the Focus of TMA Fall Conference - 09/07/2022

A pandemic, vaccine hesitancy, economic pressures. With a focus on physician wellness, the Texas Medical Association’s 2022 Fall Conference Sept. 16-17 aims to help doctors cope with the confluence of these and other factors that continue to bear down on them and their practices.


Surgeon General Sounds Alarm on Physician Burnout, Recommends Corrective Steps - 05/27/2022

The U.S. surgeon general is calling attention to health care worker burnout and issuing recommendations to improve well-being for physicians and others.


Your Patients’ Health Depends on Your Overall Well-Being - 05/16/2022

Taking care of your patients is obviously your first priority. But while you’re working to improve the lives of people in your community, don’t forget to take care of yourself, too. After all, you can’t treat patients effectively if you’re not treating yourself well.


Learn About the Harm of the “Resilience” Narrative - 04/05/2022

Michelle Owens, DO, says the term “resilience” “has been thrown around flippantly in relation to the physician community” during the COVID-19 pandemic. She believes the use of the term – and what it implies – is damaging to her profession.


TMA to Feds: Improve Care Environment to Reduce Burnout - 04/05/2022

Federal authorities are looking for input on how to prevent stress and burnout among health care workers. The Texas Medical Association is answering the call – supporting a robust attack on the root causes of that stress while letting health authorities know Texas physicians “are exhausted and are suffering from moral injury.”


Physician Health and Wellness Challenge Winners Highlight Workforce Wellness - 04/05/2022

Five posters summarizing unique wellness initiatives undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic took top honors at the 2021 Physician Health and Wellness (PHW) poster session. The posters were presented as part of the virtual PHW Health and Wellness Exchange last fall, hosted by the Texas Medical Association in collaboration with the Travis County Medical Society.


Social Determinants Undermine Patient Health - 11/02/2021

For many patients, roadblocks like a broken air conditioner neglected by the landlord  are the social determinants of health that impact their well-being and quality of life, and can harm their health. Physicians say the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic also revealed how deeply social determinants disproportionately affect certain populations. For example, due to chronic structural inequities that affect wellbeing, such as safe housing, access to medical care, and certain jobs that carry a higher risk of disease exposure, COVID-19 has disproportionately sickened, hospitalized, and killed people of color and those with low incomes.


Physician Health and Wellness Education Committee - 10/27/2021

TMA Committee on Physician Health and Wellness (PHWC) Ad Hoc Committee on Education


No Escape: COVID-19 Continues to Exacerbate Physician Burnout - 09/17/2021

The malaise in physician practice long known as burnout – a term doctors increasingly balk at – has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as an extensive survey by the Physicians Foundation recently showed. It’s created its own stressors and made existing ones worse.


Medical Burnout: Breaking Bad - 06/23/2021

A recent Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 1,327 front-line health care workers in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that medical burnout has reached epidemic proportions.


Develop a Personal Crisis Management Plan With This Physicians Foundation Tool - 05/26/2021

A 2020 survey by The Physicians Foundation found that 58% of physicians experienced feelings of burnout during the pandemic, but only 13% reported seeking medical attention for a mental health problem as a result of COVID-19’s impact on their practice or employment.


County Medical Societies Develop Local Physician Wellness Resources With TMA Foundation Grants - 05/26/2021

Spurred by the demands and circumstances of delivering care during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas Medical Association Foundation established its Caring for Physician Healers: Mental Health and Wellness Resources During COVID-19 Fund with support from the Pfizer Foundation.


Delegates Tackle Vaccines, Burnout, Health Plan Practices During Virtual Annual Meeting - 05/24/2021

At the second live virtual convention of the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates, physicians carried out their policymaking duties to improve the health of all Texans despite being scattered across the state. Delegates made headway on policies to address vaccine rollouts and nonmedical exemptions; emergency preparedness; postpartum depression screenings; prevention of suicide and physician burnout; health care reform; Medicaid payments; and red tape reductions and transparency in health plan practices, among others.


Physician Wellness at TexMed: Build Your Resilience Toolkit - 05/24/2021

Frustration. Fatigued. Anxious. Sadness. Overwhelmed. Stressed.