68 | EYEWORLD | AUGUST 2019
I
N THE PRACTICE
by Liz Hillman
EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer
"A few years ago, my colleagues would ad-
vise me to go away and leave my smartphone at
home. I think nowadays, that's unrealistic. Most
questions and inquiries now come by email
rather than phone, so they can be dealt with at a
time to suit the doctor," Dr. Gerlis said, ex-
plaining that he dedicates 30 minutes to an hour
each day he's on vacation to addressing emails.
"This may simply involve forwarding them to
a colleague or to an administrator to deal with
them.
"I prefer taking vacations now [compared]
to the old days when I would return from a
2-week break to find a pile of letters, some
of which may be quite urgent, to greet me,"
Dr. Gerlis continued. "This was actually quite
stressful, and being able to deal with matters
on the move enables one to return to work in
a good mood and get on with the important
things, rather than catching up with a backlog."
T
aking time off from practice might
not only be good for physicians from
a personal, mental health standpoint,
but it could have professional bene-
fits, such as avoiding burnout, as well.
There are, however, some consider-
ations to prepare one's practice, staff,
and patients for planned absences.
"Recharging my batteries gives me a chance
to refresh, renew, and bring fresh insight to ev-
eryday care," said ophthalmologist Satish Modi,
MD. "In addition to vacations, our doctors
frequently do volunteer work in other countries.
Not only is this recharging, it is rewarding and
fulfilling. Sometimes this is even better than a
resting vacation."
Laurence Gerlis, MD, a general practi-
tioner who specializes in diabetes, said that it
can be easy to become stale and cynical in your
profession if you don't take time off. Preparing
your practice and colleagues and setting proper
expectations for the time when you're
out of the office can help ensure
you return recharged.
Taking time off
Important personally and professionally
Contact
information
Bashour:
mounirbashour@gmail.com
Gerlis:
DrGerlis@samedaydoctor.co.uk
Modi: smodieyes@aol.com
About the doctors
Mounir Bashour, MD
LASIK MD
Montreal, Canada
Laurence Gerlis, MD
Chief executive
Same Day Doctor
London, United Kingdom
Satish Modi, MD
Seeta Eye Centers
Poughkeepsie and Fishkill,
New York
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