Twenty years ago, when Dr. George Ford was an idealistic, young physician working for Southwest Medical Clinic – now IMED Internal Medicine – the burden of being responsible for his patients' well-being became too much.

"I felt emotionally exhausted," says Ford, whose wife, a former nurse, became ill at the time. "I nearly burned out. Patients expect wisdom from you, but they want more than that, too. After a period of time you begin to see people who have other issues that can't be fixed by a pill—you're not prepared or trained to do that. When you add it all up, it can feel like more than one doctor can give."

Ultimately, it was Ford's faith that brought him back.

"When I went to our pastor he referred me to a Bible commentary. The touchstone of my life turned out to be scripture," he says, referring to the Golden Rule stated in the Book of Matthew: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto to you."

Now, Ford is using that principle to address burnout in the medical profession, and is offering physicians and nurses a place to turn through a monthly group called Oasis for Clinicians. It allows them to address "the 800 pound elephant sitting in the room that no one wants to talk about," he says.

"It will involve nurturing the health care clinician's soul through narrative, reflective reading and writing, and mindfulness – very engaging material," Ford says.

Time management, exercise and support groups can also help. Of course, the real value of any support group is the realization that you are not the only one.

The purpose of Oasis for Clinicians is to prevent doctors and nurses from leaving the medical profession, or worse. "There are not all that many places in North America that are doing this," he says. "Past endeavors – in Ottawa and Vanderbilt, for example – were started after the suicide of one of their colleagues or attempted suicide. We want to prevent that from happening."

Any local doctor or nurse reading this can probably attest to the high level of stress of working in health care and the burnout that sometimes accompanies it. Studies show that medical professionals have a 30 percent to 60 percent burnout rate, a higher rate than most professions.

Ford defines burnout as loss of vitality and idealism—superimposed upon decay of physical and emotional well-being.

"It is sort of like slogging through the snow," says Ford, referring to the demands of being a doctor or nurse. "There is so much to do—you set out wanting to change the world and then realize you can't do that."

Another factor that contributes to burnout is a high degree of perfectionism in medicine. "We're not very tolerant of mistakes and we are workaholics," says Dr. Ford, who works for IMED. "Like a guppie, you have to work hard not to feed him too much—or he will die. Well, doctors and nurses will work themselves to death."

Ford credits CEO Dean Alexander and COO Jeannette Skinner of Methodist Stone Oak Hospital for allowing the monthly meetings to be held at the hospital. "The opportunity we have with this new hospital is fantastic. It is new – a fresh start. We have the chance to make changes."

"The goal is to get back to why we do it," Ford explains. "I want to breathe back that essence, why you got into medicine in the first place. It is a wonderful profession but a horrible business. If we are happier, we will do a better job and patients will be happier."