"Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." 

Over the last few years, the issue of physician wellness has taken center stage. Initially, personal resilience received the greatest attention. A backlash followed focusing on difficult institutional factors as the cause of physician burnout. Regardless of the lens used, one aspect seemed consistently and conspicuously absent- spirituality. The Coalition for Physician Well Being embraces the spiritual aspect of healing and the part it plays for the healers.

Physicians often view their job differently than many others have. Doctors often feel extraordinarily called to serve others with and through their healing art. Frequently, they sit with their patients or their families through ‘dark nights of the soul’ when fear of impairment, pain and death envelope the room. There is sacredness in this profession we rarely discuss.

An emergency medicine colleague once said, “What we do is important, but it takes a little piece of us.” Today burnout, depression and suicidal ideation are at high levels within the house of medicine. We need to remember that our life’s purpose and our connection to others can make all the difference in our lives. These words, written by Paul of Tarsus, were chosen as a reminder of this.