Editor’s Corner: Why We Created the Women in White Coats Heroes Award
A letter from our Co-Editor-In-Chief, Dr. Archana Shrestha, MD, MS, FACEP. Dear Reader, As we open up voting for the Women in White Coats Hero of the Year Award, I take pause to reflect on why this award is so important. The simple reason we put together this award is...
Eight Wellness Favorites For Women Doctors
Happy New Year, to our fellow Women in White Coats! With the new year comes a chance for a fresh start and many of us set resolutions to make wellness, self-care and fitness a bigger priority in life. With that in mind we have put together a list of some of our...
Fellow Women Docs, Live for your Own Sake
It's OK to want a life you like just for your own sake. I'm a firm believer that when you have your life right, it improves the experience of those with whom you interact. Your patients will notice. Your partner will appreciate it. Your kids will feel it. However, you...
Walking the Walk with My Patients
The idea behind not only talking the talk but walking the walk: Daily I have conversations with patients on how to improve their medical conditions by implementing dietary modifications and routine exercise. I try my best to give patients the tools to succeed,...
Physician Suicide Awareness Day
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates in the United States increased more than 30% from 1999 to 2017. More than half (54%) of people who died by suicide did not...
I Am the One Percent – When the Doctor Becomes the (Infertile) Patient
My fertility journey is not typical. I have not spent years “trying”. In fact, I have spent years trying NOT to get pregnant! My husband has two daughters – AND a vasectomy. So getting pregnant was a known challenge. Luckily, I like challenges. We went to an...
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...
Pushing Past a Test Yet Feeling Like A Fraud
For 7 years I have been living a life of shame. I have been fearful that I would be discovered and called a fraud. Constantly feeling inadequate and not worthy of my initials M.D. “Why?” you may ask. Because for almost 7 years I had not attained the title of “Board...
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...
