It is well recognised that the transition period from medical student to qualified doctor is a particularly
demanding time. However, the life course of a doctor presents its own challenges of equal or greater
significance and the job of a doctor is becoming increasingly difficult (Figley, Huggard and Rees 2013).
Evidence for this relates to organisational, system, societal and clinical factors. Specifically: pressure of patient
through-put; patient expectations; lack of organisational and social support; increasing isolation - no time
to develop teams and communities of practice; and increasingly complex cases and patient co-morbidities.
As doctors progress in their career they become increasingly responsible for the coordination of care in
response to traumatic events and patient outcomes, while also managing outside pressures. Such factors
can lead to an increase in errors (Jackson and Moreton 2013). Errors may be linked to patient diagnosis and
treatment, performance of skills and errors in equipment use. Furthermore, the incidence of errors increases
along with the amount of sick leave, with the performance of a growing number of doctors attracting scrutiny
from the General Medical Council (GMC 2014). The topic of stress management and resilience has therefore
attracted a great deal of attention. This ‘How to’ is a guide to strategies that can be used to relieve immediate
physiological stress responses and when practised assist in the development of your resilience
