Dizzy in the Sauna!

I was excited to find that the hotel I was in last night had a sauna.

A rooftop one at that too!

GP Synergy chose the Mercure Hotel for the rural doctors flying in the for their supervisor's training day.

I had gone out to dinner with my sister Annabel and her husband Jaryd to Golden Century Chinese.

The food was excellent food and I had two Tsing Tao with Jaryd.

Coming back to the hotel, I decided I would check out the sauna.

We have one in Mullumbimby — Kiva Spa — but it been some months since I got to go there.

So, it was around 9 pm.

Luckily the sauna and pool area were open until midnight.

So I had a shower and jumped into the sauna.

It smelt like all saunas do — that pine tree smell of the wood.

I jumped up onto the high seat because I wanted to sweat!

But after about 5–6 minutes, I started to feel a little dizzy.

Nothing too severe, but it was definitely there.

Admittedly I have been pushing it pretty hard lately — flying to California for a workshop and my sleep has been disturbed by the jet lag.

But there I was with a decision to make — what do I do now?

And unlike the past, I was clear that I was getting the heck out of there.

While I might have benefitted from a bit longer, perhaps, what was very clear that if I passed out I risked burns and dehydration and generally poor outcomes.

This is a change from even a couple of years ago when I would have pushed on.

Now, the risk of bad outcomes just did not justify the potential benefits and I was out of that sauna quick smart, drank some water and jumped into bed to sleep.

What I am learning at 42, (finally!) is dumb risks aren’t worth it.

And those risks are not just from being over fatigued and sitting in a sauna alone, but in a whole range of issues, I face as a doctor.

As I go through my work and my day, I can now ask myself… is this worth it?

What about if it goes catastrophically wrong?

Is the potential benefit worth it?

Risk management is a critical part of being a doctor.

There is no escape from the fact that we are balancing risks all day long in our work and better tools and processes help reduce the bad risks and increase the good outcomes.

If you are interested in learning how better thinking and tools can make a difference to you as a doctor, then like this page and then head over to https://www.graduatemedicine.com for further resources, now.