
DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220049

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   80 lines

WORKSHOP HELPS PHYSICIANS REGROUP

DR. SUZANNE LOVE is constantly trying to balance her challenging job as emergency room physician with the demands of mothering two teen-age boys.

Add night classes two to four times a week at Eastern Virginia Medical School for a master's degree in public health, and you have a woman on a collision course with exhaustion. Love, who is married to a lawyer, is acutely aware that at the end of the day she rarely has anything left to give her family.

``I want to be able to balance things better so I'm not serving my family leftovers,'' says Love, who works at Virginia Beach General Hospital. ``Medicine is not a job you can just leave. There is a very high stress level.

``I need help.''

That's why Love is attending a first-of-its-kind workshop aimed at physicians, called ``It's a Madhouse Out There! Taking Back Control of Your Life and Your Practice'' on Nov. 1 and 2 by psychologists Esther Lerman Freeman and Patricia Ondercin. The workshop, which will be held at the Virginia Beach Resort and Conference Center, is endorsed by the Medical Society of Virginia.

People who take care of others need to start taking care of themselves, says Freeman, who sees several health care professionals in private practice. She describes many doctors as stressed out, burned out, time-starved, overburdened and frustrated. Unchecked, emotional stress can lead to depression and substance abuse.

``It's hard to find a physician who is not feeling some form of stress or distress,'' Freeman says. She is married to a neurologist, has two children and leads a psychology trauma team at Virginia Beach General Hospital. ``People are miserable - they're not sleeping, they're really worried.''

Why is that?

The increase in managed care and stringent health insurance regulations, especially in the past five years, have left physicians with little control and more anxiety, she explains. Health insurance companies have increased intrusiveness and decreased autonomy among doctors, who feel that they have lost control of their practices and, subsequently, their lives.

``The third-party payers have become a wedge between patients and physicians,'' Freeman says. ``Patients need to get approval to see a specialist; the primary care physicians needs approval for that patient to see the specialist. ''

One of the problems doctors face is owning up to their own mortality. Always looked upon to help others and to heal, doctors who are in crises often deny they are having difficulties, or simply don't see the signs. They're not supposed to be hurting.

``It is very hard for them to go for psychological help,'' Freeman says. ``A lot of mental health practices are big groups. Doctors don't want their patients to see them in the waiting room.''

Freeman and Ondercin created this workshop after Freeman found out that while the state has a program for impaired physicians (those abusing alcohol or drugs), there was nothing aimed at prevention. The two agreed that doctors need to know there are better ways to deal with stressors. The workshop combines lectures, discussions and experiential techniques to achieve that goal.

``At this conference we hope to give people the opportunity to feel better about what they're doing,'' says Freeman. ``We can find out how to salvage the best parts about the practice to reconnect with the sense that there is something very sacred about being a healer.'' ILLUSTRATION: STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot

Esther Lerman Freeman, a clinical psychologist, will lead a workshop

helping physicians deal with stress.

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

What: ``It's a Madhouse Out There! Taking Back Control of Your

Life and Your Practice'' workshop for physicians

When: 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 1 and 2

Where: Virginia Beach Resort and Conference Center, 2800 Shore

Drive

Cost: $250 ($175 extra for a spouse), includes breakfast and

lunch both days. This class counts as 10 continuing medical

education credits of the Physician's Recognition Award of the