The Support Group: Connection, Hope, and Healing for Patients and Providers

In the medical community, it is not just the patients that need help.

Physicians can succumb to alcoholism, suicide and depression due to the tidal wave of administrative work, patient complications, and constant pressure from administration to meet impossible demands with limited support, culminating into a phase of life termed "burnout." One doctor commits suicide every day in the United States, the highest suicide rate of any profession. These impossible expectations to evaluate, examine, decide, schedule, and document quickly while creating a bond and dedicating time to the patient create frustration as inevitably most providers fall short.

Patients, on the other hand, are struggling with complications and challenges in the aftermath of surgery or illnesses.

In her own practice, Dr. Blackmon discovered that survivorship is a team sport. Most surgeons would never consider creating a focus group of their own patients to routinely review all of their postoperative events, listing their own complications like badges of honor at the beginning of every meeting like they were in Alcoholics Anonymous. Support is the story of how Dr. Blackmon decided to do exactly that. She put everyone together in a room to meet and help each other. Most of the people who had complications from surgery came to the Support Group because they needed a lot of support, even when things went well. The surgeon needed support too, and so did the healthcare team. Blackmon's in-person "support group" system solved a recurring stressful problem which led to a life-changing experience not just for her patients but for her and her practice. Learning from that initial trial support group allowed her to take that knowledge and experience to another level and create a virtual support group that monitors patients and their symptoms and helps physicians know when something is wrong, focusing more of their limited time on managing symptoms that are severe and allowing patients to get the care they need.
Support mixes memoir and self-help and brings everyone together to get well.