By “Mam, where’s our patient?”
The operating room nurse calmly explained the reasons why our patient was not yet on the table as scheduled.
I could feel the frustration building.
“Excuse me,” I said.
I quietly walked back to the empty OR dressing room. I threw a one-two punch and a high kick into the air, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and sat there for a moment.
Then I grabbed my hospital coat.
I went to the patient’s room, talked with the patient, and tried to fix whatever I could so the procedure could still happen later.
I did all of that with the warmest smile I could manage.
Inside, I was looking for answers.
Am I still happy doing this despite everything that comes with it?
Stories about burnout, declining mental health, and dissatisfaction among healthcare workers have become increasingly common.
Burnout is not simply being tired after a difficult day. The World Health Organization describes it as a consequence of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed — involving exhaustion, increasing distance or cynicism toward work, and a reduced sense of professional effectiveness.
For many healthcare workers, this definition feels familiar.
But burnout is rarely just an individual problem.
Healthcare workers do not practice in isolation. We work inside complicated systems — hospitals, policies, workflows, financial limitations, administrative demands, and human expectations.
The system we work in eventually affects how we work, how we think, and sometimes how we feel about the profession
I am not ignoring the larger problems affecting healthcare.
Many causes of burnout are structural. Healthcare needs systemic solutions, and we probably needed many of those solutions years ago.
But while organizations and leaders work toward those changes, healthcare workers still return to the wards, clinics, operating rooms, and emergency departments every day.
We are left with a more immediate question:
How do we continue doing meaningful work inside imperfect systems?
A colleague once asked me:
“How do you find happiness in this kind of workplace?”
It sounded cynical.
But hidden inside that frustration was still a search for something better.
Finding happiness at work is not about ignoring the problems around us. It is about finding enough meaning to continue working while trying to improve them.
Sometimes it means noticing the few moments that remind us why we still show up.
A patient conversation.
A difficult case completed.
A colleague who helps.
A moment where the work still feels connected to why we started.
System changes matter. Healthcare leaders need to address the conditions that make good people exhausted, disconnected, and eventually leave.
But until those changes reach the people doing the work every day, many healthcare professionals continue searching for ways to protect meaning inside the profession they chose.
Maybe that search itself is important.
Because the people trying to improve healthcare are also the same people trying to survive working within it.
References:
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25521.
- Shanafelt TD , Balch CM , Bechamps GJ , et al . 2009. Burnout and career satisfaction among American surgeons. ASurg 2009;250:107 15. doi:10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181ac4dfd
- Rosales, Rheajane & Labrague, Leodoro & Rosales, Gilbey. (2013). Nurses’ Job satisfaction and Burnout: Is there a Correction?. International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies. 2. 10.14419/ijans.v2i1.583.
- Jabonete, Fritz Gerald & Dayrit, Aubrey. (2018). Reported Work-related Stressors among Staff Nurses in Metro Manila, Philippines.
- #HCLDR. (2019, December 5). Reconnecting To Joy in Work [Blog post]. Retrieved from <https://hcldr.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/reconecting-to-joy-in-work/>
- Credit: Image by Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems from Pixabay
Last modified: July 8, 2026
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