Defying gravity: moving from a scarcity mindset toward sustainability

Medical education and clinician educators find themselves in a time of scarcity, with increasing threats to academic medicine, higher educational demands and expectations, and decreasing resources. A scarcity mindset can lead to distress among both educators and learners, inhibiting the learning environment. However, the objective remains the same: to develop the next generation of high-quality physicians. How, then, can clinician educators themselves and the institutions they work for promote sustainability in a time of scarcity? This "scholarly perspective" outlines both individual actions and institutional initiatives that can mitigate the current scarcity mindset and promote efficient use of the resources already held. At the individual level, clinician educators can adapt their mindset and focus on the decisions that are within their control, knowing that many of the challenges they face require system-level changes. Additionally, they can automate tasks, set boundaries for themselves, and stay in touch with the "why" that drives their work. At the institutional level, greater interinstitutional collaboration in curricular development, broader teaching-workforce development in both undergraduate and graduate medical education, and better use of educational specialists could improve efficiency and allow clinician educators to work to their full potential. Finally, it is critical for educators to build strong relationships with institutional leaders and to maximize their leadership potential to advocate for the importance of clinical education as a cornerstone of academic medicine worthy of resource investment.