In oncology, the ‘burden of care' or sense of loss that clinicians sometimes experience, is often dismissed as something that doesn’t matter very much or as something that we will eventually get around to thinking about later. In the short term, this approach might work, but in the long run, it is likely to fail, often resulting in job dissatisfaction, psychological difficulties, such as depression or anxiety, and even burnout. Learning how to look after yourself so that you can continue to enjoy the job that you do is essential.
‘Your self-care tool-box’ is based on cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) principles, designed to help clinicians and teams implement strategies to improve their sense of well-being and prevent burnout or compassion fatigue. In this presentation, a number of individual and team based psychological strategies will be outlined, including maintaining realistic expectations about your role, identifying when you need to reach out for support, especially when a particular case 'lingers' or worries you, and debriefing. 'Remembrance', a practice that we developed at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute more than 10 year ago, to remember patients who have died and their families, will be modeled. This session will invite participation from the audience about dealing with the death of their patients within the context of provider or clinician self-care.