December Burnout

It's nearly two AM on Monday morning, and for the life of me I cannot sleep! I am dreading going back to work in the morning, last week was so terrible!

Has anyone noticed that the holiday season stress totally spills over onto the job? I had quite a few patients last week who were just mean and crabby. (Or for lack of a better discriptive term, just plain nuts.) I try to roll with the punches and not take that sort of behavior personally, but after one encounter I had to excuse myself from the clinic and take a ten minute break.

I KNOW that you should try not to take this stuff home with you, and I know that all I can do is try to give people the best care that I can. I know that some people will never be happy even if you bend over backwards to try and accomodate them. I always try to remind myself of a good interaction with a patient after a bad one. Far better to remember the woman who thanked you for taking the time to answer all of her questions, than the woman who screams at you because the doctor is running behind.

I really do love my job, but lately I'm having a hard time getting excited about it. Anyone else out there with me on this?