Love this from @cliffreid CPR is not a treatment for cardiac arrest. Heard this years ago from Cliff and it has transformed my approach. #incrementum2025

Don’t do it. Don't lower your standards because of other’s behavior. Some days you may not live up to your own standards. That's okay. Forgive yourself and do better tomorrow. But a career in medicine can be brutal, and one brutal truth is this: You are not recognized nor rewarded, especially financially, for good, compassionate patient care. It's SO easy to recognize this and lower your standards because "no one is watching" and “no one seems to care." Then little by little, you become cynical. The bare minimum becomes standard. Patients become a box to check. Patients become an annoyance. Patients become… money. It becomes a job. A job you’re stuck in. A job to sustain a lifestyle. A job… you did not foresee. This is burnout. But not the “I’m leaving medicine” burnout. Something worse. Something produced by a system that promotes volume, not value. Something produced by a system perfectly designed to get a product: A machine. A disconnected machine. But you’re not a machine. Neither are your patients. You must strive to maintain the human connection not because of the system, but despite it. You must set YOUR standards and make the system work within them. You may not think this applies to you but if you’re still reading, you know the truth in this. Burnout exists and YOU are susceptible to it. It’s not an explosion. It’s a slow rise to boil that’s easy to miss. So, find your own motivations for providing good, compassionate, bedside care. Find internal ways to congratulate yourself and thrive off small moments of gratitude. Find a job that supports your standards. Share your standards with others and when necessary, use words.