Hands up if you recognise any of the following psychological traits: perfectionist, overly conscientious, tendency to seek approval ("people pleasing") and need to control others, great sense of responsibility, chronic self doubt, uncomfortable with praise, and ability to delay gratification. It's a given that most people who enter medicine will hold many of these characteristics.

It's not something that happens to us at medical school---although a lot of what happens there does account for later problems---it's what we medics tend to bring with us. It's what attracts us to medicine in the first place. Acknowledging this helps. Acknowledging it early enough, and adopting self caring practices, will help to ensure that we do not burn out and that we remain safe and competent at our jobs, and we may even reverse the trend of seeking early retirement. Most doctors suffer from an episode of depression at some point in their career, and every medical school should include lectures on "burnout prevention" alongside those on anatomy and physiology. According to a recent US conference on physicians' health in South Carolina, organised by the American and the Canadian Medical Associations, we doctors are sitting ducks for becoming burnt out. With thanks to some of the conference speakers, here are five practical tips on how to survive, succeed, and sustain interest in a career in medicine.

Five ways to survive as a doctor