Tag Archives: medicine

Mentoring Female Residents

Sarina Schrager, MD, MS

Sarina Schrager,
MD, MS

There are many unique aspects to being a female physician. Being a female faculty member brings with it another layer of complexity to the relationships with female residents. As a mentor and role model for female residents, we have a unique responsibility to help shape their future.  Like it or not, our residents look to faculty as not only teachers of medicine but teachers about life as a physician. And, a female physician at that.

The female residents in my program often seek me out to discuss issues not related to their education in family medicine but related instead to how they want their lives to look after residency or how they can balance residency with their current lives.

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Is It OK if Our Residency Graduates Work for Walmart?

Joseph Scherger, MD, MPH

Joseph Scherger, MD, MPH

I attended a health care forecast conference recently and learned a sobering new reality. In the near future, Americans will be getting their primary care services in many different locations.

Walmart has announced that it soon will be offering comprehensive primary care in many of its stores. Walgreens, already the largest provider of immunizations outside the government, will expand its Take Care clinics and manage four common chronic diseases: diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and asthma. A longtime colleague and family medicine educator recently went to work for Kroger’s new clinic system, The Little Clinic. Large employers are setting up workplace clinics to provide common health services while keeping their employees on the job.

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Be Conscious of What the Big Rocks Are in Your Life

Julie Schirmer, LCSW

Julie Schirmer, LCSW

On May 3, 2012, I officially become the director of the STFM Behavioral Science/Family Systems Educator Fellowship, on top of many other commitments and responsibilities. As I approach this, I ask myself, “How will I ever fit the responsibilities of this position on top of everything else that I have to do? How do I prioritize? And, finally, what’s really important to me (ie, why am I doing this)?”

To me, the last question is the easiest to answer and was something I considered before accepting the position. I want to hang out with energized, impassioned faculty who are dedicated to nurturing our next generation of behavioral science faculty leaders. It’s part my desire to be inspired and challenged by others and part generativity.

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