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: education
Showing 6 results:
Learning As We Go
We’re in the thick of our Washington build, and I’ve lost count of how many times the plan has had to change on a dime.
Not many major ones. But what feels like a near-constant set of pivots. Inspection corrections. New ideas. The domino effect of one decision making another no longer feasible.
A...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Apr 24, 2026
adaptability
adjustment
ai
awareness
balance
change
coaching
cognition
consistency
decision making
development
education
efficiency
flexibility
framework
future
growth
improvement
innovation
insight
iteration
leadership
learning
medicine
mindset
planning
problem solving
progress
reasoning
reflection
residency
resilience
skills
strategy
teaching
technology
thinking
transformation
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
Marine Survival Weekend (From the Archives)
As a faculty member of the Alaska Family Medicine Residency program, I had my share of teaching during our infamous Wilderness Medicine Weekend excursion. In January, it involved snow cave construction, and in May, it involved marine safety. The first spring, I participated with 2 other faculty m...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Feb 23, 2026
accountability
adaptability
alaska
awareness
education
embarassment
experience
growth
humility
insight
leadership
learning
medicine
mentorship
perspective
professionalism
reflection
reframing
residency
resilience
responsibility
safety
teaching
teamwork
trust
wilderness
wisdom
What’s Your Fuel Level?
It’s the start of a new year, and for many of us, change is on the horizon.
Sometimes that change is self-initiated. Sometimes it’s suggested by others. Sometimes it’s formally required. In medicine and academic life, change often shows up wrapped in goals, milestones, improvement plans, or feedb...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jan 09, 2026
academia
agency
alignment
autonomy
behavior
beliefs
change
coaching
compliance
confidence
defensiveness
discipline
education
emotions
feedback
fuel
goals
growth
identity
importance
integrity
leadership
learning
meaning
medicine
motivation
needs
ownership
process
purpose
readiness
reflection
reframing
resistance
sustainability
thinking
transformation
values
Quiet Quitting, Nike’s Reframe, and the Real Risk in Medicine
Quiet quitting is no longer just a workplace buzzword. A new study in Family Medicine described how residency leaders are seeing disengagement, professionalism concerns, and strategic “time protection” among trainees. The authors traced this disengagement back to multiple causes: generational shi...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Sep 13, 2025
burnout
challenges
collaboration
commitment
communication
cringe culture
discernment
disengagement
education
efficiency
effort
faculty
frustration
generations
growth
mentorship
motivation
patient care
professionalism
quiet quitting
rebranding
reflection
residency
selectivity
sustainability
systemic pressures
time protection
trainees
trust
work values
workplace
Laughs and Confidence, Story and Reflection
I was recently discussing confidence in the lecture setting with a few faculty physicians, and it brought up some memories.
One of the first didactics I taught as a new faculty member was 9 years out of residency. (Actual photo around that time of me as new faculty, 2007-2008 above.) I was presen...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 10, 2025
adaptability
authenticity
confidence
connection
courage
credibility
didactic
education
expertise
growth mindset
humility
humor
identity
imperfection
imposter-phenomenon
insecurity
learning
mentorship
partnership
presence
presentation
reflection
relatability
resilience
self-acceptance
support
teaching
teamwork
transparency
vulnerability
Joy in Family Medicine – Stories & Reflections