Taking Back Control | June 2023 Conference Re-Cap August 24, 2023 Activities and Events Taking Back Control: Practical Strategies to Reduce the Administrative Hassles of Daily Medical Practice Conference Re-cap by Irene Lo, MD CONFERENCE RECORDING What a fantastic conference! I had the pleasure of attending the recent conference organized by the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association (ACCMA) and the Bay Area Physician Wellness Collaborative. The conference aimed to equip physicians with practical tools and skills that they could apply immediately to their medical practices. And the conference delivered! I learned so much and am excited to apply my takeaways. Dr. Paul DeChant, the Event Chair and Keynote Speaker spoke about how healthy workplaces equal healthy physicians and how we must make healthcare workplaces healthy places for physicians to practice. Dr. DeChant discussed how the WHO ICD-11 describes burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” and is composed of three dimensions: exhaustion, depersonalization, and inefficacy. By exploring these dimensions, we can confront burnout drivers and discover opportunities for improvement. Dr. James Hanson also led an interactive workshop that helped to drive these important points home. In this workshop, conference attendees broke out into small groups to explore pain points of practice and to collaborate and come up with new ideas and solutions to combat the administrative burdens that physicians face daily in practice. I also had the pleasure of moderating an amazing panel of speakers that included Dr. Edmon Soliman, Dr. Pamela Laesch, and Dr. Anastasia Coutinho. These wonderful physicians spoke about their personal experiences as a physician, how their practices are reducing administrative burdens for physicians, and where there are still areas for improvement. The quotation that our keynote speaker, Dr. DeChant, shared from Gandhi rings so true. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Together, as physicians, we must work together to improve the practice of medicine for ourselves, our colleagues, our staff, and our patients. We must restore joy to the practice of medicine! If you missed it, check out the conference recording so you too can learn from our productive discission. I hope you will join us for future events where Bay Area physicians can gather to put their heads together and create practical solutions to real practice problems.