06/23/2023

Friends of Franz Podcast S2 E22: Doctors Have Fillings Too with Dr. Hamza Gaj

According to a 2022 Gallup World Poll, 60% of employees reported being emotionally detached from work, with 19% stating that they were miserable. Job dissatisfaction and unhappiness are truly multifactorial states brought about by several facets ranging from systemic-wide issues to extraneous phenomena that could occur in an employee's personal life. With the commencement of the pandemic, burnout and unhappiness in the workplace were evidently recognized within the medical sphere. In fact, in 2019, the National Academies of Medicine published "crisis" level burnout rates among healthcare professionals, specifically up to 54% of physicians and nurses. How can one tackle stress overload in the workplace? What do we do if we are no longer happy with our jobs? What are the signs of a toxic work environment? How can healthcare workers navigate their careers amidst the heightened rates of burnout and moral injury?

We are joined today by Dr. Hamza Gaj, a board-certified dentist from Austin, Texas, and the Host of the Hanging Out With Hamza Podcast. With his previous experiences with job unhappiness, being subject to racism, and a lesson-filled heartbreak, we delve into a conversation discovering the importance of preserving our mental health, developing modalities of self-care, finding purpose in our careers and in the workplace, accepting emotions that we feel during painful life seasons, and expressing vulnerability to our patients as healthcare providers.