c

Making stress your friend: how to cope as a sessional GP or locum

13th July 2019 by Kate Little

Making stress your friend: how to cope as a sessional GP or locum

With ever mounting workload, increasing patient complexity and rising patient expectations and complaints, work is becoming increasingly stressful in the NHS.

Life outside work is more stressful too. Notwithstanding stresses that we may have in our home life, we are now living in a 24/7 on-demand, fast-paced culture that lacks stop cues as we consume countless Netflix and apps on our phones. We have so many distractions at our fingertips all vying for our attention. We have multiple choices for pretty much everything. Not great if you are a maximiser, who sets high standards in decision making.

According to Dr Mithu Storoni, we no longer have the natural stress buffers in our day that previous generations have had. For example, in the past we had to physically move for daily tasks like answering the phone, or doing the shopping. We connected with others face-to-face which would have required movement on at least one person’s part. That activity and connection would have provided a natural way to de-stress. In order to survive and thrive in the 21st century, we have to create conscious buffers to get the balance back.

What is stress and what causes it?

Read more

No credit card details needed – it takes two minutes.

Join free trial

Login

Already a member? Login to view this content.

Login

Related content

"I first found LocumDeck when looking to help retain GP locums in the area. I have since moved my own practice in my final years to work as a locum. I was so impressed with the ease of booking and control it gives. Ease of billing, help with NHS pension contributions, and end of tax year summaries are an enormous bonus for GP locums. As an NASGP Locum Chambers member I am supported as a GP locum in a way that would not be possible otherwise. "

Dr Mick Watts, GP locum, Frimley

Dr Mick Watts, GP locum, Frimley

See the full list of features within our NASGP membership plans

Membership