Jennifer Shaer is a pediatrician.
My practice is about to change to a new electronic health record, and I can’t help but feel dread. The last time we did this, it was so stressful. I really don’t want to go through it again. What do I do? How do I prepare? Here is what I’m doing to get ready. I think it’s a good strategy for managing change in general, and I hope it helps …
Real doctors see patients. For years, I have held this thought as a truth. But it’s not a fact; it’s a belief, and it is no longer serving me.
I’ve been questioning this belief for a while, but this weekend at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, I gained some clarity. There, I met, heard from, and spoke with so many fascinating physicians—physicians who are doing all sorts …
If you are a practicing physician, then you have definitely come across patients who want something that you feel is unnecessary. Sometimes those conversations escalate and become contentious, and sometimes you reluctantly give the patient what they request even though you know it’s not “best practice.” These demands and interactions can weigh on us and leave us emotionally drained.
In the pediatrics office, that can look like this:
The visit is winding down. You’re getting ready to go, hand on the doorknob, saying goodbye. And then you hear, “Doc, one more thing.” Or perhaps you’re more familiar with the patient who has a laundry list of issues all to be addressed in the fifteen-minute appointment slot.
These visits have in common that they are both certain to back you up. Have multiple in the day, and you are …
How many times have you wished that you had more time? Do you feel like you’re too busy? Feel frazzled, rushed, and stressed?
No matter how much fame and fortune we may have, time is one thing that money can’t buy. One constant for every single one of us. Whether you are Jeff Bezos or a frenzied physician, we all only have 24 hours a day, seven days a week, …
In residency, we are trained to follow our intuition. In pediatrics, this translates into learning how to recognize a sick kid. Of course, we are taught what to look for on the physical exam and the labs and what protocols to follow, but we are also taught how to listen to our instincts. When our gut tells us we have a sick kid, we don’t overthink; we set into action. …
Recently I was scrolling through posts from a physician leadership Facebook group. I came upon one that caught my eye. It said something like, “Does anyone have information I can share with my radiologists to show them the impact of working through lunch?”
I was happy to see a post that focused on physician well-being. A leader who cares enough and wants her physicians to take a break. And then …
One summer a few years ago, I went to pick my son up from camp. He was attending a week-long specialty day camp where the kids spent a week with an expert in some area of interest. The camp offered everything from basketball, soccer, and tennis to acting, magic, and chess. It was the first time I was going to pick him up, and I wasn’t exactly sure where to …
Physician suicide rates are unacceptably high at baseline and go even higher during the holidays. The holiday increase in suicide rates is not unique to physicians, though. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), A 2021 survey showed that 3 in 5 Americans feel their mental health is negatively impacted by the holidays.
And suicide is a problem that goes beyond the …
In April, I lost my dad to COVID-19, and this Father’s Day will be very difficult. As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that many people out there suffer the same fate. Each death is not just a statistic. Each number represents a person with a family. My dad was an amazing father, husband, uncle, grandfather, and friend, and he will be missed.
As difficult as it was to …
Until recently, I didn’t really understand the meaning behind the Black Lives Matter movement. I was one of those people who felt, “of course, black lives matter; all lives matter.” I mean, that’s exactly why I became a doctor in the first place. To help people. All people. I would venture to say that with my rose-colored glasses and white privilege (that I didn’t know I had), I was even …
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