Category Archives: Family Medicine Stories

Staying Present in Chaos

Posted on May 29, 2014 by | 5 comments
Sarina Schrager, MD, MS

Sarina Schrager, MD, MS

My house is full of 7th graders; it’s a big party to say goodbye to my son’s friend who is moving away. As I begin to fall asleep over my computer in the home office, I think about the chaotic nature of my job.

Earlier that day I was awoken at 1 am with the news that an obstetrics patient was ruptured, and the resident was going to start Pitocin. Great, I thought, now I won’t have to worry about her anymore and stress out about the planned induction for next week that I probably was not going to be able to go to because of clinic and after-school activities.

I couldn’t sleep after that call, so I went to the hospital at 5 am and worked in the call room until I had to come home to prepare for the 19 children coming to my house after school—all before my patient delivered.

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Posted in Family Medicine Stories, Women in Family Medicine Collaborative

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But I Don’t Want to Be a Mini You. I Want to Be a Better Me.

Posted on February 27, 2014 by | 1 comment
Margot Savoy, MD, MPH

Margot Savoy, MD, MPH

I never got up the courage to say it out loud to the senior physician leader who had declared he was now officially my mentor. Not exactly the way I usually start off a mentor-mentee relationship, but my leadership coach said be curious and go with it.

We met for my semiannual check-in. I came prepared to share what progress I had made over the past months since we last met and had some goals I wanted to get his advice on. He started with “How have things been going?” and within the first 30 seconds he had interrupted me and taken over the conversation. Over the next 45 minutes I never got more than a sentence in before he started talking again. He wrapped up by telling me what I needed to work on before our next meeting while escorting me out of his office. (I have to say, if that is how we make patients feel during office visits, shame on us!) It was an unsatisfying encounter leaving me feeling disappointed, frustrated, and angry.

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Posted in Faculty Development, Family Medicine Stories

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“You’re a Pharmacist?” How the Emerging Leaders Fellowship Helped Me Define My Role in a FMRP

Posted on December 13, 2013 by | 3 comments
Jennie Broders, PharmD

Jennie Broders, PharmD

The question was innocent but threw me off guard. “You’re a pharmacist? I thought they locked you in the basement!”

I assured my recently admitted COPD patient that we pharmacists are often granted relief from our mysterious pharmacy lairs to spend time with our patients. She laughed, “Now I don’t feel so bad for you.”

As a clinical pharmacist, I find that I am a valued, but not always an understood, part of the team. Traditionally patients have thought of pharmacists as simply counting pills behind the counter at the local drug store—a friendly resource. Physicians may have a broader experience with pharmacists, particularly as interns relying on the pharmacist to call when they are less sure of medication choice and dosage but similarly jaded by longstanding stereotypes of centralized pharmacy models. This feeling of uncertainty on my part was only exemplified as I prepared to take on my role as a junior nonphysician faculty member in a family medicine residency program (FMRP). This time, it was me who was hesitant of my role and how to bridge my resident experience with my future career. Luckily, a fellow faculty member in my FMRP introduced me to the STFM Emerging Leaders Fellowship, a perfect support for new faculty and anyone transitioning into leadership. At the time, he was completing the fellowship and thought I may be a good fit for the program as a mechanism for better understanding the role of a faculty member and in turn setting goals for future professional development.

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Posted in Education, Faculty Development, Family Medicine Stories, Leadership, Residency

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