I signed up for yet another program in my relentless quest for self-improvement (and perhaps recovery from decades of physician hood). This one features Dr. Lisa Lahey, co-author of Immunity to Change.
This is my second encounter with the book (when the student is ready the master will re-appear?) in which she and her co-author, Robert Kegan, lay out a model to uncover “the disjunction between understanding the need for …
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In my self-righteous youth, I bristled at the thought of physicians unionizing. Certain our collective altruism and professionalism would prevail. Unions were for oppressed laborers, not well-regarded, well-paid professionals. Reading the recent paper in JAMA and 30-plus years in the field have caused me to think again. That, and recently having provided support to a young physician couple with a newborn.
There is nothing quite as messy, all-consuming, and awe-inspiring as …
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Since writing a cathartic post about being burned out, I’ve received supportive messages as well as concerned calls from friends and former colleagues. Some were worried about my well-being. Others agreed with the sentiments.
One note in particular resonated. It named cognitive dissonance as part of the problem. This dissonance is pervasive in society. The gap between what we say we stand for and what we actually do …
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Tuesday, at the podium in a small auditorium, I realized that my time was finally up. Even as an educator/administrator (non-clinical) physician, I was done. Preparing to give a canned talk — a requirement of my current career strategy — facing a group of anonymous medical students, the only thought going through my head was, “Why don’t we blow through these slides and get out of here?”
Normally, I relish public …
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