Rising to the Challenges of COVID, Burnout, Turnover, and Exhaustion with Amanda Termuhlen, MD

We are excited for another Faculty Factory reunion episode today as we visit with Amanda Termuhlen, MD. Dr. Termuhlen is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, in the Office of Faculty Affairs at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She also serves as Professor in the Department of Pediatrics.

Reunion episodes will be popping up a lot this season on the Faculty Factory Podcast where we will be visiting with past guests and friends of our community. To learn more about Dr. Termuhlen, please make sure to check out our previous episode with her, by visiting this webpage: https://facultyfactory.org/what-keeps-us-awake-at-night-in-faculty-development/ 

In the 2.5 years since Dr. Termuhlen first joined us for an interview in June 2019, the world is completely different. Much of our daily lives at work and home are hardly recognizable from what they were in the summer of 2019.

Today’s chat with Dr. Termuhlen is raw, honest, and emotional. Dr. Termuhlen also discussed the impact of George Floyd’s murder in May of 2020. A horrific event that took place just a few miles from her institution’s Minneapolis campus.    

Even optimists can sometimes find it difficult to find the silver linings in the most challenging of times.

“When the clinical systems are stressed, everyone is stressed,” she said.  

With a surging pandemic, burnout, and levels of staff turnover rising rapidly, the emotional and physical exhaustion can take its toll. It might be easy to want to give up, but these challenges can be dealt with and that’s the theme of today’s interview with Dr. Termuhlen.

“There are things we can do. Our clinical system has been working overtime on staffing, hiring, and getting people the support they need,” Dr. Termuhlen said.