I trained before resident work-hour restrictions. During one stretch of residency, my car broke down. I dropped it at a mechanic at 5:30 AM before call, took a cab to the hospital, worked a full day, stayed overnight, rounded the next morning, and f...
Spring has arrived in the Midwest, and recently I’ve spent a good chunk of my Saturday blowing leaves, trimming back deadwood, and preparing the yard for the growing season. I love getting my hands dirty. Our yard is a bit of an experiment. We grow...
Author’s Note: As a pediatric cardiologist, a medical educator, and a coach, I’ve sat on every side of the table. I’ve interviewed anxious premeds, shepherded fellows through subspecialty training, served on promotion committees, and now lead an aca...
The Operating System I walked into medical school orientation in shorts and a T-shirt. Everyone else had business casual. I had showed up dressed for the wrong century. At some point that first morning, the facilitator asked us to go around the room...
Excellence is not a destination. It is a lifelong journey. And for physicians, that journey often begins with purpose, gets distorted by performance, and is restored through truth. We started with purpose. Maybe it was the optimism of youth. Maybe a...
You spent years mastering your clinical skills. You crammed for exams, fretted over simulated patient encounters, and stayed late to learn from the “interesting case” that was admitted during sign out. But, surprisingly, at some point the clinical w...
Physician Development: Growth Never Stops It was a hot August day. I walked into my first day of medical school orientation wearing shorts and a T-shirt, flanked by two roommates. One roommate I had known through all of undergrad, the other I met ju...
Series: Part 1: System Transformation | Part 2: Provider Solutions | Part 3 In this final installment of our three-part series, we shift the spotlight to patients and communities. The American healthcare system spends more than any other country yet...
Series: Part 1: System Transformation | Part 2 | Part 3: Patient Approaches In the first article of this series, we explored how systemic dysfunction, high costs, and poor health outcomes fuel burnout among the people who deliver care. Nearly half o...
Series: Part 1 | Part 2: Provider Solutions | Part 3: Patient Approaches Editor’s note: This post is the first in a three-part series examining the burnout crisis in U.S. health care and outlining a blueprint for system transformation. Part 2 explor...
