The pandemic is stretching everyone in multiple directions simultaneously.  It is terribly inconvenient and disruptive.  It is stressing mental health, threatening livelihoods, altering futures, and taking lives.  It is affecting everyone in so many various ways.

How are you coping?

There is no right or wrong way to deal with this unprecedented global stress.  The important thing is we find a way to endure it and remain mentally and physically intact.

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When I bring up feelings and emotions with residents, I can almost sense the suppressed cringe.  It’s actually very easy for me to imagine it, since I had that very same cringe whenever one of our didactics was on, let’s say, ‘softer topics.’  As a resident, I was there to learn straight up clinical medicine - not touchy-feely things. 

It’s actually really interesting that it’s common among physicians to equate emotions with...

When you have many raw veggies, but not enough of any one type - this is a delicious, no thinking plan.

Dice them all up, mix with olive oil, salt and pepper, minced garlic and any spice that seems to go with your meal or even no additional spices.

Place them on pan on top of parchment paper or a silicone roasting mat in single layer, roast at 425-450 degrees F in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Then, flip them and  roast another 10-15 minutes or until done to your liking.

Most...

I have friends and colleagues that naturally grew up with the mindset of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.  I’m not sure why I didn’t, but I used to often assume the worst about others.  I didn’t even see it as a problem until I was in training. 

Thankfully, I began to learn to give patients the benefit of the doubt during training. By way of example, I experienced my fair share of narcotic seekers and manipulating who wanted to either abuse...

Stress, Burnout, and Moral injury in healthcare

I recently listened to Brené Brown’s podcast on Burnout with Emily and Amelia Nagoski, twin sisters, who wrote the book Burnout: Unlocking the Stress Cycle. If you haven’t listened to it, I recommend it: Podcast link (summary tips at the end of my blog).

As I do more often since I’ve been coaching, I reflected how poorly we as physicians process emotions in general. I plan a future blog devoted wholly...

Can we talk about all things feedback? Feedback can be beneficial for doctors to gain awareness of strengths and opportunities for improvement.  As physicians who went through innumerable tests and critiques before and during medical school, we can fall into some unhealthy patterns around evaluations throughout training and in ongoing board certification and quality measures.  The impact of any feedback actually depends not only on the methods and the giver but on how it’s...

My latest Vlog on exercise and movement as busy physicians.

Pro tip: Don't add it to your "should do" list - add it to your "I get to list" and then commit to it but allow flexibility and self-compassion.  

Start low and build up slowly if it's been awhile.

I've been asked to tell how I ended up in this physician coaching space a few times over the last several weeks. So, I decided to do some reflective writing about my journey.

Four major experiences overlapped and culminated in the creation of Joy in Family Medicine Coaching Services®.

First, my own personal burnout story reached the pinnacle in March 2015. Mine was mid-career in timing (16 years in). I was absolutely loving academic medicine and all the many hats I had to...

Self-care can consist of many things.  Good nutrition, exercise/movement, mindfulness, meditation, prayer, reading, spiritual practice, connection with others, gratefulness, giving, setting boundaries, getting out in nature, relaxing, play, restorative sleep, pampering, goal setting/prioritizing, vacations, scheduled alone/downtime. Basically, self-care means taking time to improve and prioritize your physical, spiritual, and emotional/mental health.

Many of the...