Unconventional, Story and Reflection

Many of you know that my husband and I had our kids during training. It was most definitely not common in the 90's to do so, especially with both of us in medical school and residency. But, hey, we embraced the unconventional.

Our girls learned to march to their own tunes as well. Especially the youngest pictured above. There were many, many 'adventures' 😉 along the way.

I recall one evening, after having prematurely fallen asleep post-call, I awoke to the tugging of my four-year-old. She smiled proudly as she handed me a plate of Triscuit sandwiches with a marshmallow in the middle of each one. She excitedly unroofed one to showcase her innovation. Each marshmallow had been hand-filled with canned spray-cheese. (Yeh, we use to only invest in the highest nutritional content foods for our family. 😂)

I was in a partially sleep-deprived, delirious state, but I was pretty certain I didn't want to eat them. And yet, there she beamed, the caretaker in her had provided me much needed sustenance. Oh, the things we do for our kids...

My mind searched for words to decline more as I began choking the first one down. But, let's be honest... I was starving and disoriented. They were salty, crunchy, sweet, and cheesy. I ate them all. 🤦🏼♀️.

The fascinating thing was that she didn't hesitate to create something unique or offer her creation without second-guessing if it was "good enough." Self-doubt hadn't been programmed into her.

Think of what's possible if we continued into adulthood that way.

In the current state of medicine, especially in training, I believe we have to tap into

1. Curiosity (what's not working as well as desired and why)

2. Creativity (unconventional approaches)

3. Courage (trialing those ideas in lower-risk arenas to start, then refining and progressing).

I don't have the answers, but many of you reading this will have some of the next-level approaches to elevate the training of the next generation of physicians. Many of you are already implementing innovative processes.

Reflection: What needs a redesign? What outside-the-box approaches can you imagine? Who can you volley ideas with to refine them? What are you willing to do in order to discover, test, and model what is possible - even if it's unprecedented and unorthodox?

Don't worry, I no longer keep canned spray-cheese and marshmallows on hand -- though I'm always up for combining various savory or cheesy foods with a hint of sweetness. And my daughter remains fearless in her innovations and experiments.