Editor’s Corner: Let’s Burn Bright Instead of Burnout
A Letter from our Co-Editor-In-Chief, Dr. Amber Robins: Dear Reader, This week I had a plan: I would focus on myself and what I want to do with my life. I know this is a BIG thing to do and led to lots of introspective thoughts. But I wanted to be sure that each step...
Women Doctors, Keep Your Heart Open
"Relax your shoulders and relax your heart. Let go and give room for the pain to pass through you. It's just energy. See it as energy and let it go."Michael Singer, author "The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself How do you handle the sad and disturbing...
Daring Greatly: Vulnerability, Courage and Shame in Medicine
In health care, we are hardwired to do all we can to minimize error and avoid failure. The journey of training and practicing medicine rests on the premise of perfection. And yet, perfectionism and shame are thought to be the two sides of the same coin. As clinicians,...
Why Doctors Should Lobby for Immigrants Seeking Asylum
In about 2005 I learned that if I can properly document scars of torture for someone who is seeking asylum it greatly increases the odds of their being granted asylum. So began my passion for human rights medicine and working to bring justice to immigrants...
Love Should Not Hurt: Break the Silence on Domestic Violence
Love should not hurt. Domestic violence hurts. What is domestic violence? 🖤It is not patient, it is not kind.🖤It involves envy, it involves boasting, it is prideful. 🖤It is rude, it is self-seeking, it is easily angered, it keeps a record of wrongs.🖤It delights in...
The Shoulders I Stand on: A Black Female Doctor Reflects on Dr. Blackwell’s Birthday
On February 3rd we honor and recognize women physicians. This date was chosen as National Women Physicians Day because it was the birthday of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman physician licensed to practice medicine in the United States back in 1849. As a black...
The Day I Lost My Job
After graduating from my pharmacy residency program and securing a clinical pharmacist position in diabetes management, I was so excited to see what this next chapter in my professional life would bring. So, imagine my surprise when I walked into work on January 30th...
7 Tips for Budding Pediatricians
As a young girl, I loved to spend my Saturdays playing “school”. I would line my dolls and stuffed animals up on our back porch, and teach them all lessons using a play chalkboard and school supplies. I could play for hours. My mom was convinced I’d be a teacher when...
I am the Face of Burnout
I am the face of early career female physician burnout. And I fought it so hard Until I realized that in order to overcome this foe, it wasn’t me that was broken. It wasn’t me that need to be fixed. It wasn’t something inherently wrong with me. I was working from a...
Don’t Buy Me a Crockpot for Christmas
I will say this one time: Don’t buy your female doctor friend/cousin/daughter-in-law a crockpot for Christmas. Because this really is a conversation about the invisible workload of women. We’ve come a long way; it’s true. But we have further to go. Women...
No More Guess Work: Gifts that Women in White Coats will Love
Not sure what to give that special lady doctor in your life? Whether she is your wife, your sister, your friend or your favorite doctor, we've got you covered with recommendations that are sure to delight her. We made a list and checked it twice (by polling members of...
Doctoring In My Sleep
We are trained to do this in our sleep. More than ten years out from my residency graduation, I look back at my training and reflect on why exactly it was so grueling and arduous. I remember the innumerable ICU and Trauma rotations, overnight calls and night...
Editor’s Corner: What it Was Like Taking the Physician Burnout Survey
A letter from our Co-Editor-In-Chief, Dr. Archana Shrestha: Dear Reader, Have you ever taken the Physician Burnout Survey? The article we published last week on burnout got me thinking about an experience I had with the survey. Because I work with residents, the...
Identity Crisis: Physician or Family Member?
Am I a physician first or a sister first? Am I a physician first or a daughter first? The first thought continuously haunted me when my cousin (who was like my younger brother) was diagnosed with leukemia. Similarly, I struggled with the second thought. I struggled...
Physician Burnout and the Fashion Industry: Notes from a Former Fashion Designer
“Fashion Is Moving Too Fast, and It’s Killing Creativity," says Veronique Hyland, in an article from TheCut.com where she talks about burnout in the fashion industry. As a former fashion designer turn physician, my curiosity was piqued. If you substituted the word...
