Presentation given at the AMEN Australia 2018 annual conference held in Adelaide, Australia, www.amenaustralia.org.

AMEN Australia 2018: Healing, Surviving, Thriving

<p>Presentation given at the AMEN Australia 2018 annual conference held in Adelaide, Australia, www.amenaustralia.org.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Adventist Medical Evangelism Network Australia

Samuel Sidharta

Maintaining Prayer Life When Busy

Father in heaven, we thank you so much for this Sabbath and we thank you for your grace.

As we study about you, may you reveal your great grand plan for our lives.

May I decrease and you continue to increase.

Today in this presentation, I would like to divide into 3 parts.

The first part I would just like to highlight the mental health among the health professionals.

That because that's the overarching theme that we are discussing.

Now I know that we have discussed about this and we have covered about this, so maybe a lot of it will be somewhat repetitive, but I just would like to highlight these new epidemics among the health professionals.

Secondly, I would like to share with you the biblical perspective of wholeness, and particularly I'd like to highlight about the role of Christian character.

And finally, I'd like to share with you my personal reflection in my work as an interventional cardiologist and also some practical suggestion how we can maintain our prayer life even when we are so time poor.

Epidemiology-wise in terms of mental health is a major issue.

The prevalence of burnout among physicians and other health practitioners is ranging from 20 to 80 percent.

When you think about it, that is extremely high.

This was published recently in Lancet 2018.

According to Beyond Blue, 1 in 5 medical students and 1 in 10 doctors had suicidal thought in the past year.

Medical student, how many of you here are medical students or students in general?

How much, you know, do you remember when you got into medical school, how proud you were, how excited you were?

And guess what, the statistics are waiting you.

1 in 5 medical students had suicidal thought.

Male doctors work longer hours and engage in more risky drinking.

However, female doctors think about suicide more often, and young doctors work longer hours, more burnt out, and think suicide more often.

We have a major epidemic in the medical practitioner.

In fact, this graph shows, in terms of high psychological stress, if you are doctors, In Australia anyway, you are twice as likely to experience high psychological stress when compared with average Australian population and could be 4 or 5 times more likely to feel this compared to other professionals.

You kind of make jokes and fun about your patient?

Means that you don't feel as if your job is fulfilling.

I'm sure you all can relate to that in some point of your life.

In fact, the statistics continue that doctors also, in Australia anyway, are more likely to experience suicidal ideation as well.

Now this is not a good statistic that we have.

How about if we break down into various specialties?

Now 1 thing that I find is fascinating about this is that even though, you know, you are a non-patient doctor, in other words, all you do is just administration or what you do is just research-based, you are also still experienced suicidal.

I thought everything in medical profession, the stress comes from the interaction with patient.

It's just the nature of medical work that is highly stressful.

I think this other actually refers to some of us here.

So none of us are actually immune from this.

Now you might be thinking, well you know what, I'm not a physician, I am not a, I'm a physiotherapist, occupational health therapist, the news just is not good for you.

So for instance, there are a lot of research that is being taken.

See, all these things published just in the last 2 years, burned out among healthcare professionals.

This study looks into nursing staff, but also looks into nurse assistant as well as physician assistant.

You're not immune either just because you work from 9 to 5.

There is burned out depression, suicidal ideation in dental and dental hygiene students.

You know, we talk about emergency nurse, systematic review of 25 years of research.

And finally, if you think physiotherapists or allied health staff, You're immune from this, look again, think again.

If you look into this paper published, this is an Australian paper, you will look that the rate of burnout, depression, suicide is also quite prevalent amongst all other health staff.

You know, how are we, as Seventh Day Adventist physician, doctors, medical students, nursing staff, allied health staff, how are we to maintain a mission focus at our work, yet at the same time surviving and thriving in our work?

That is a great question and challenge that we have to address.

Now, obviously in my talk today, I just would like to highlight about the role of prayer and spirituality in our life.

When I use the word prayer here, it is interchangeable with the word devotional life.

You see, Ellen White wrote this in Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 446.

She says, the duties of the physician are what?

You know, I work in a practice that belongs to a corporate international company.

So each year in Cardiology arm itself, in total we see about 3, 000 new consultation, do about more than 6, 000 echoes.

And you know how it is like in corporate world, right?

The top 1 will start doing pressure to the next in line, and the next in line will do what?

Pressure to the next in line and that continues until The bottom rank basically and as physician we are kind of pretty close to the bottom rank we are expected to perform so much in our work and so busy that sometimes the burdens are just too big.

Few realize the mental and physical strain to which he is subjected.

Every energy and capability must be enlisted with the most intense anxiety in the battle with disease and death.

Often he knows that 1 unskillful movement of the hand, even but a hair breath in the wrong direction may send a soul unprepared into eternity.

Might as well you can use that phrase, 1 unskillful movement with 1 wrong prescription or 1 misdosing of medication.

You can almost change it to, you know, 1 lack of empathy, sympathy to your patient.

May send a soul unprepared into eternity.

How much faithful physician needs the sympathy and prayers of the people of God?

Does your church pray for the doctors or nursing staff in the church?

Jesus, how much faithful physician needs the sympathy and prayers of the people of God.

She says, how much faithful physician needs the sympathy and prayers of the people of God?

His claims in this direction are not inferior to those of the most devoted minister or missionary workers.

Deprived as he often is of needed rest and sleep and even of religious privileges of the Sabbath, he needs a double portion of grace, of fresh supply daily or he will lose his hold on God and will be in danger of sinking deeper in spiritual darkness than men of other callings.

And yet often he is made to bear unmerited reproaches and is left to stand alone, the subject of Satan's fiercest temptation, feeling himself misunderstood, betrayed by his friends.

As physician, often I say it's a lonely job.

You don't get thankful when things are right or rarely get thankful and you get all the blame when things go wrong.

Now first of all I'd like to talk about God's will.

How many of you here have ever asked, what is God's will for my life?

I'm sure you have asked that question, right?

Well, you know, I have good news for you.

The Bible says, for This is the will of God, your sanctification.

For God, the first and primary purpose for you and I is your sanctification.

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Maintaining Prayer Life When Busy

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