Work-Life Balancing: Challenges and Strategies

BACKGROUND: Balancing the personal and the professional is an ongoing struggle for most professionals, and palliative care clinicians are no exception. A sustained lack of balance can lead to feelings of frustration, inadequacy, and guilt. Palliative care physicians may find this balance particularly difficult due to the nature of their work: caring for patients and families who are often suffering and in crisis. DISCUSSION: In this article, we describe challenges to work-life balancing and strategies that may promote balance, including "timeshifting," goal setting, cognitive reframing, and self-care. We argue that the search for balance is a lifelong endeavor that entails self-reflection and continuing examination of one's values and goals.