Joy in Family Medicine – Stories & Reflections
Lessons, lightbulb moments, and honest reflections from life inside and outside medicine - served with a side of perspective.
Tags: culture
Showing 12 results:
Team Culture: Boundaries, Generosity, and Trust
For me, Fall is closely associated with sports. College football, one of the primary ones, but also volleyball after years of being a volleyball mom.
I have a few friends who find sports a bit pedestrian, too focused on competition, and something they’ve never really understood the appeal of. I...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Sep 18, 2026
accountability
adaptability
belonging
boundaries
burnout
career
coaching
collaboration
communication
community
competition
confidence
connection
cooperation
culture
development
empathy
flexibility
generosity
growth
growth mindset
healthcare
leadership
learning
medicine
mentorship
partnership
physicians
positive intent
reciprocity
recovery
reliability
residency
resilience
self-preservation
sports
sportsmanship
support
sustainability
team culture
teaming
teammates
teamwork
trust
volleyball
vulnerability
workload
workplace
When an Unexpected Next Step is the Right One
When I began telling people I was considering becoming the Founding Program Director of a new family medicine residency in rural Eastern Washington, the responses were not exactly subtle.
“Are you nuts?”
“Do you need me to say WTF, Tonya?!”
And, perhaps most thoughtfully:
“This doesn’t seem align...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Aug 19, 2026
access
accreditation
alignment
building
calling
career
change
coaching
collaboration
commitment
community
courage
culture
curriculum
decisions
development
discernment
education
faculty
family
gme
growth
healthcare
impact
innovation
intention
leadership
medicine
mentorship
mission
moses lake
opportunity
physicians
primary care
purpose
reflection
residency
residents
resilience
rural
samaritan
service
sustainability
systems
teaching
teams
throughline
training
transformation
transition
trust
washington
workforce
wsu
wwami
The Bump Nobody Warned You About
A webinar this week about the evolution of a rural residency program inspired this week's reflections. In addition to the successes and growing pains, the thing that caught my attention was the sheer number of changes they had both created and endured.
In just 11 years, the program had 4 Chief Me...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jul 10, 2026
acceptance
adaptability
adaptation
agility
alignment
awareness
change
change management
collaboration
commitment
communication
complexity
continuity
culture
endurance
evolution
expectations
flexibility
growth
healthcare
innovation
leadership
leadership development
medicine
mindset
mission
mission focus
navigation
organizational health
organizations
perseverance
perspective
preparedness
puprose
reflection
residency
resilience
rural
stability
stewarship
sustainability
systems
teamwork
transformation
transition
trust
turbulence
turnover
uncertainty
The Hidden Curriculum of a Career
Over the past several weeks, I’ve introduced you to John, a fictional physician whose story reflects common themes many physicians wrestle with.
He’s a mid-career family physician struggling with a career dilemma I hear often: “I’ve never stayed in one job more than x number of years. I feel like...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 06, 2026
adaptation
appreciation
becoming
career
clarity
communication
community
conribution
culture
development
discernment
evolution
experience
expertise
fulfillment
gratitude
growth
impact
insight
intentionality
knowledge
leadership
learning
legacy
maturity
meaning
medicine
mentorship
operations
perspective
physicians
progress
purpose
recognition
reflection
relationships
renewal
resilience
self-awareness
stewardship
sustainability
systems
teaching
teamwork
transformation
wisdom
Don't Game Tape Alone
Last week, I was sitting in a hotel conference room in Chicago at the AMA Precision Medicine Conference listening to Dr. Lara Varpio from the Perelman School of Medicine talk about agency. Not the vague "you have more power than you think" kind, but the research kind.
She offered four of the six ...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Apr 04, 2026
advising
agency
awareness
coaching
collaboration
communication
connection
constraints
conversation
culture
data
development
discursive
education
empowerment
faculty
feedback
growth
guidance
improvement
insight
leadership
learning
meaning
medicine
mentorship
mindset
partnership
performance
practice
reflection
relational
relationships
residency
self-awareness
support
systemic
systems
temporal
transformation
trust
Say It Again
Recently, something happened in a meeting that used to bother me, but now I find it fascinating.
I was catching a colleague up who had missed the previous meeting. We had left one decision unresolved: where to place a particular talk. I mentioned the option we had discussed and asked for her take...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Mar 13, 2026
alignment
attention
awareness
behavior
clarity
cognition
collaboration
communication
complexity
culture
curiosity
decision making
distration
dynamics
focus
grace
group
hearing
inattention
information
insight
integration
leaders
leadership
learning
listening
management
meetings
message
messaging
miscommunication
neuroscience
patience
patterns
perception
processing
psychology
reflection
reinforcement
reminders
repetition
signals
strategy
teamwork
understanding
workplace
The Emerging Choice: Staying for the Long Game or Moving On Gracefully
And just like that, it’s 2026!
The perfect time for the final piece in a five-part series exploring what helps when you care deeply about something, your influence no longer influences, and meaningful change seems unlikely.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve shared a few different approaches to ha...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jan 09, 2026
abundance
academia
agency
alignment
calling
choice
clarity
coaching
commitment
completion
culture
departure
discernment
equanimity
fulfillment
hope
identity
influence
integrity
leadership
legacy
maturity
meaning
medicine
ownership
patience
physicians
purpose
renewal
resilience
scarcity
stewardship
sustainability
systems
timing
transition
values
wellbeing
wisdom
Structure Creates Culture: Lessons from Launching the Alaska GME Council
Culture doesn’t just “happen.” It’s shaped — often by the structures we choose. That was clear to me during the recent launch of the Alaska GME Council, a 3½-hour sprint where structure set the tone for team identity, purpose, and action.
(And yes, it also showed up in my sleep — a classic sign o...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Sep 28, 2025
action
adoption
agreements
authenticity
charter
connection
coordination
culture
decision-making
design
energy
engagement
foundation
funding
identity
layout
leadership
meeting
officers
outcomes
ownership
principles
priorities
purpose
reflection
structure
subcommittees
team
vision
voice
Lessons in the Messy Middle Reflection
“Celebrate the abundance within troubles.” – Will Miller, MD, Annals of Family Medicine, 2010 📸 Thanks to Jay Fetter for the reminder and this powerful slide in Atlanta last week where the year long STFM CBME pilot project wrapped up.
The CBME pilot participants showed us what it looks like to le...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 19, 2025
abundance
adaptation
breakthrough
challenge
change
clarity
complexity
courage
culture
curiosity
design
discovery
experimentation
failure
growth
innovation
insight
leadership
learning
meaning
momentum
optimism
persistence
progress
purpose
reflection
resilience
tension
transformation
uncertainty
How We Think Shapes What We See: Story and Reflection
When I mentioned last month that I was heading to Las Vegas to see the Eagles play in the Sphere, more than one person responded with a look of surprise, post-Super Bowl: “You’re going to a football game?”
That moment—a simple case of mistaken reference—got me thinking about how our assumptions a...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 12, 2025
alignment
assumptions
awareness
beliefs
clarity
coaching
communication
culture
development
dynamics
evaluations
expectations
feedback
frustration
growth
insight
interpretation
mindsets
modeling
perception
reflection
reframing
support
trust
understanding
The Power of a Smile: Story and Reflection
During the half-day virtual faculty development workshop that I co-led this past week, one thing stood out to me: my co-presenter, Dr. Rae Wright, was always smiling and actively present. Her smile looked so genuine—like she was truly enjoying hearing me speak and appreciating how I was presentin...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 12, 2025
appreciation
attentiveness
attunement
authenticity
belonging
co-facilitation
confidence
connection
culture
encouragement
encouragement culture
energy transfer
grace
light
micro-affirmation
nonverbal communication
positivity
presence
psychological safety
renewal
small gestures
smile
smile power
support
validation
warmth
zoom fatigue buffer
Residency 2.0 Story and Reflection
As most of you know, though my full-time work is in coaching within residency programs, I’ve stayed clinically active—filling in both at the Alaska Family Medicine Residency and Anchorage Neighborhood Health, our local FQHC.
Since 2007, I’ve had the privilege of watching over 200 residents grow, ...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 12, 2025
affirmation
appreciation
belonging
calm
calm contagion
community
connection
continuity
culture
emotional contagion
gratitude
groundedness
healing environment
intentionality
joy in medicine
kindness
leadership
legacy
mentorship
organizational health
ripple effect
role modeling
support
systems thinking
workplace culture
workplace wellbeing
Joy in Family Medicine – Stories & Reflections
