Blog

This week was National Physician Suicide Awareness Day, which provides an opportunity to share information and resources for all physicians to have at their fingertips. This is vital not only for each of us but also to support our colleagues and normalize conversations about our wellbeing … during traumatic experiences like this lingering pandemic, and […]

I am grateful to the American Medical Association for honoring me this week with the AMA Inspiration Award alongside such brilliant Women in Medicine. The brief video with the award recipients is here. It has been my privilege and a heartwarming blessing to continue to support and advocate for my colleagues throughout the pandemic. I’m […]

Just as things were starting to get better, the Delta variant changed everything. And this was not the change we were hoping for! Yet, I want us to remember that some things have not changed. Many important things, in fact, remain the same. I believe it will help to recall this when exhaustion hits us […]

This is a brief post to share a few updates, links to recent articles, and upcoming events. First, Gratitude! Earlier this year, I was one of five family physicians chosen to join the multi-specialty national WEL Alliance. As a WEL Scholar, I joined 49 other physician leaders for an 18-month immersion experience exploring three intertwined […]

This summer, I’m working with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) again to offer evidence-based CME covering health issues unique to women. Women’s health encompasses an ever-widening circle of issues, and family physicians are often the first point of contact for health-related moments throughout a woman’s life. Join us via livestream June 9-12, 2021 […]

A few years ago, I was proud to collaborate with the Florida Medical Association as they launched the statewide Healthy Living initiative to provide education and resources for physicians and patients. As always, it was a joy to work with their dedicated and supportive staff, and I felt honored to be asked to contribute to […]

Last month, medical schools throughout the United States celebrated Match Day — that joyful, long-awaited day when medical students “match” into the residency program where they will complete their education. For many students, it is indeed a joyful day, while thousands of their classmates are left to scramble to find a training program, since our […]

This week, we celebrate the 6th annual National Physicians Week starting on March 25th through March 31st, 2021! This year’s theme is #ThisIsOurShot, which goes farther than the needed efforts to minimize the impact of COVID-19 and vaccinate our communities. This is also ‘our shot’ to continue to work together to improve the health care […]

What a year it’s been! As we continue to move forward during this time, it is so encouraging to feel supported and know you are not alone. That is how I felt when I saw this photo posted by the Florida Medical Association (FMA) to celebrate women in medicine. Seeing myself among superb physician leaders […]

One of my favorite conferences of the year is coming up … I’m so excited! It’s always inspiring, equipping, and a lot of fun. And this year, it comes at the perfect time. We all need some refreshing, don’t we? Join us for a conference that is focused on YOU! I’ve been blessed to serve […]

Having experienced signs of “burnout” 7 years into my 25-year medical career, I know what it’s like to feel demoralized despite superb training, loving your patients, and being deeply committed to your vocation. I get what it’s like to be up at night worried about your last admission, the 8-year-old with belly pain in the […]

A much awaited new year is finally here … yet, the way this week is going, to wish anyone a ‘Happy New Year’ seems a bit naive and uninformed. Shockingly, in the United States, it took six days for 2021 to top much of the anxiety the pandemic has caused, leaving us wondering what’s ahead. […]

As I think back to previous New Year celebrations, never had I/we needed the hope of a New Year as in 2020. As I note in the next Moment of Wellness, Lessons Learned, the word ‘uncertainty’ describes much of our experience in 2020, and we gained proficiency at balancing life on its shaky ground. Shockingly, […]

During this pandemic holiday season when celebrations require more creativity, the great outdoors is available to us daily as a beautiful, inspiring, and safer option that invites reflection and feeds the soul. In my latest wellness column published by the Florida Medical Association, I share about a surprising outing with my husband that included the […]

Stirring Hope. Igniting Faith. Inspiring Action. That is the purpose I chose for my original blog, which I started a decade ago. Looking back, it’s amazing how those carefully chosen phrases have fueled my teaching, writing, coaching, speaking, workshops, retreats, and all my work with physicians and medical teams for more than fifteen years. Before […]

As the pandemic lingers, it’s easy to focus on everything that’s going wrong. Yet, reflecting on what’s going well in our lives helps us stay hopeful, energized, and motivated. This was the focus of my latest Moment of Wellness: What’s Going Well? It includes some ideas to consider incorporating in the coming days and weeks, […]

As we all continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, perspective makes a tremendous difference, doesn’t it? The way we filter this experience, how we think, act, and choose to spend our time matter greatly. It’s also essential to choose wisely who we allow to influence our perceptions and our thinking during this time, as this […]

As physicians and other medical professionals continue to navigate life and work in the days of COVID-19, I’ve been blessed to be able to support my colleagues in many different ways. From virtual presentations, workshops, and webinars to book studies, mentoring, and coaching, it’s been inspiring to nurture meaningful relationships despite the stress and emotional […]

What a month July has been so far, and it’s not even halfway! This weekend has been a blessing, beginning with the first zoom session of our new book study for women physicians of Recapturing Joy in Medicine. We are coming together for mutual support, learning, and to empower one another — and what a […]

This month, I’m looking forward to several  opportunities to gather virtually with physician colleagues for fellowship, learning, and fun! I am thrilled to return as one of the speakers at the Florida Academy of Family Physicians Summer Forum. As the last presenter, I will close out the weekend by considering shifts in mindset and skills […]

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Yes, the pandemic goes on and, yet, we can still meet, have fun, and learn together … virtually! So, I hope you’ll join us July 30 – Aug 1, 2020 for one of the best family medicine conferences of the year! I am thrilled to be one of the speakers and will teach a timely […]

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Like all of us, I continue to live and work in the midst of this pandemic that’s disrupting pretty much everything. Yet, I find this time to be rich with opportunities for introspection as well as meaningful discussions about the things that matter most. As a wife, mother, sister, friend, physician, writer, speaker, and coach […]

My latest article in a peer-reviewed journal published today. As it turns out, it is extremely timely, as organizations and  businesses everywhere continue to adapt and seek to innovate during this global crisis. It is the perfect time to humanize the workplace — the theme of my article, which I submitted before the pandemic! It […]

I am grateful for this special interview with Jennifer Simpson, director of communications for Physicians Working Together. I’d like to preface the interview by sharing some of my story from medical school and beyond. I hope it will encourage every reader, and I also offer it to honor the memory of my beautiful mother. Medical […]

A few weeks ago, I received a message from one of the moms at my children’s school. She wanted me to know her 12-year-old son is 3D-printing “ear savers” for people wearing masks all day, particularly medical professionals and all first responders. From paramedics and firefighters like his cousin to physicians and labor & delivery […]

I have served as Doctor of the Day at my State Capitol every year for quite some time, but 2020 was extra special. This year, I was honored to serve as Doctor of the Day once more but, this time, my husband also served as Pastor of the Day. He offered a powerful and inspiring […]

My friend, colleague, and entrepreneur, Marlene Wüst-Smith, MD, is multi-talented. As a pediatrician in practice for thirty years, she has served her patients and their families from exam rooms in rural America to school clinics to tele-health consults during the COVID-19 crisis. This year, she also merged her passion to protect the patient-physician relationship with […]

Oh my goodness, this video just made my week! Throughout this pandemic, I have seen and heard so many inspiring songs, poems, art, and expressions of courage and love. I am thankful for each of them, and feel like we all need to see or hear at least one a day. Don’t you think? So […]

This week, I had another opportunity to advocate for my colleagues and the entire medical team on an interview with Brian Beute, who’s running for office and surprised me with a question about that, too! Most of our discussion revolved around COVID-19 and my advocacy at the local, state, and national level on behalf of […]

  As our communities, nation, and the whole world continue to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, a moving tribute to medical professionals has warmed my heart. Please click on the image below to listen to this beautiful song and tribute, for which I am deeply grateful. Please note the link to the song includes opportunities […]

This week, I was honored to provide a webinar for physicians on behalf of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians. I am so proud that our Academy surveyed our members and is providing N95 and surgical masks to those physicians who need them — free of charge. Talk about Supporting Florida’s Family Physicians! Thank you, […]

During this unprecedented time, I am grateful to be called upon to support my colleagues in the midst of tremendous stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. Although the challenge we face in health care is tremendous, our resilience, professionalism, and commitment to our vocation — coupled with healthy boundaries, discernment, and sound infection control practices — will […]

What an unprecedented time! We have all seen our lives completely disrupted by the COVID-19 global crisis in countless ways and, yet, I have seen my colleagues rise above the challenge and lead change with grace, and with the same commitment and heart of service that characterizes our calling. I am proud of you and […]

Today is National Physicians Day! As I write about this interview to honor my physician colleagues and help protect them and our communities, so many faces keep going through my mind. I have connected by phone, email, or text these last two weeks with so many physicians to offer support, a listening ear, and ensure […]

For weeks, I have done all I can to educate my community so they understand the importance of staying home so we may “flatten the curve.” This is the only way we can slow down spread of COVID-19, a highly infectious novel coronavirus. “Novel” means this virus is brand new, never seen before until now, […]

This morning, I was asked by a national physician leader to share the letter I sent some church leaders to provide medical guidance regarding church services these next 2 weeks (effective immediately as of March 14, 2020). Please feel free to use it as appropriate in your communities. As you know, as a physician, I […]

I woke up to the amazing news that my book, Recapturing Joy in Medicine, is a # 1 Best Seller in its category on Amazon today!!! I am so thankful for the growing interest in the book, the book studies being started in residency programs, and the impact it’s having on people’s lives. In particular, […]

I am excited to announce I’ve been invited by the Psychiatry Residency Program at UCF College of Medicine to present Grand Rounds on February 27, 2020. I will discuss physician and team wellness in a different context than you’ve likely heard it talked about. I’ll explain what I call the Triple Whammy and how it […]

This month, I was interviewed on the radio on Lake County’s WQBQ. A big thank you goes to Suzanne Lynn, who is so easy to talk to and insightful. We discussed so many topics, including: The state of healthcare and how it contributes to clinician “burnout” and much more The need to grasp burnout is […]

This is a quick post to share the exciting news that Recapturing Joy in Medicine is now on the shelves at Barnes & Noble stores! This is a hard-to-achieve wonderful endorsement of the work, since they review thousands of books each year for shelf placement. I am SO grateful to know this well-researched, unique, practical […]

“You’re Not Alone, Doc!” That is the message I want to help spread, especially to medical students, residents, and young physicians who are new to our challenging yet deeply rewarding profession. Over twenty-five years in medicine, I’ve learned the importance of community. Physician isolation is more common than it used to be, and grassroots organizations […]

From the Beach to the Desert to San Antonio’s River Walk! Are you a physician in need of inspiration, fellowship, and some R&R? Are you looking for a meaningful conference that won’t stress you out but will leave you rested and refreshed? I know what you’re thinking … this is obviously not a physician conference. […]

Last month, I wrote about my colleague and friend, Dr. Katherine Gantz Pannel, whose love and concern for her patients led her to start Crocheting for a Cause. The movement began with a simple idea to bless her patients with dementia who struggle with anxiety. This makes them fidgety, and she noticed they appear to […]

As a new year approaches, I like to end the year with intention by giving thanks and counting my many blessings from 2019. As always, the richest blessings involve people, and this year brought me new friends as well as deepening of special friendships. I am so grateful. Top 10 Blessings from 2019 Our oldest […]

I have spent the last decade, and especially the last five years, teaching about the state of healthcare in our country. In particular, I raise awareness about how the busine$$ of healthcare is dismantling the noble profession of medicine and attempting to destroy the central patient-physician relationship that drew physicians to medical school in the […]

What a joy it was to travel to Minnesota last week to make new friends, learn from fellow experts in wellness and burnout prevention, and provide the closing keynote at a physician wellness conference! It was lovely to be greeted by the daughter of a physician friend from  Florida. She drove me around breathtaking landscapes, […]

I am thrilled to be traveling to Minnesota the first week of December. Yes, you read that right; it will be awesome to visit Minnesota this winter! I used to live in Wisconsin and have wonderful memories of driving to Minnesota to visit the Mall of America, one of our children’s favorite destinations at the […]

This week, I had the heartwarming opportunity to speak with pre-health students at Florida Southern College. It was so inspiring to hear their enthusiasm for pursuing a career spent helping others. Their questions were insightful and their curiosity, refreshing. As usual, I painted an accurate picture of what medicine is like in 2019 while imparting […]

Last week, I had the privilege of speaking as a panelist at A&M College of Law. At this year’s Women’s Law Caucus Annual Legal Tea (I just love that name!), we spoke about wellness, mental health, and ways to avoid burnout in highly demanding careers like Medicine and Law. Our moderator, Professor Broussard, shared her […]

This week, the Florida Medical Association published my article, The Power of Physician Advocacy. It is an excerpt from my latest book in which I share some of my story as an outspoken advocate for patients, high standards of medical care, patient safety, and physicians. Medicine is increasingly complex, and physicians need more support than […]

This week, the peer-reviewed journal Family Practice Management published my article, Incivility in Health Care: Strategies for De-escalating Troubling Encounters. The timely article has stirred up a much-needed conversation about what it’s like to practice medicine in environments we don’t trust, whether from a rise in threatening or toxic behaviors, unsafe settings, and/or unresponsive leadership. […]

Leave your pride, ego, and narcissism somewhere else. Reactions from those parts of you will reinforce your children’s most primitive fears. (Henry Cloud) The above quote by the co-author of the Boundaries series was written in the context of parenting, but its message applies to all relationships. Like children, adults react negatively to pride, ego, […]

Phew! It’s been a very full time since the publication of my 4th book, Recapturing Joy in Medicine. It’s also been fun and so meaningful, since I’ve had the opportunity to speak to my colleagues in various settings. Here’s an abridged summary of what I’ve been up to these last two months, some of what’s […]

July 1st is a deeply meaningful day for physicians in the United States. Today is the day when new physicians embark on a long and demanding journey to become specialized within a field of medicine, a process that takes years and thousands of hours of supervised, hands-on clinical training. Although physicians know the road is […]

Today, an excerpt from my latest book, Recapturing Joy in Medicine, was published on KevinMD.com. The excerpt is from chapter 4, which is titled “Leading from Full Hearts.” In this chapter, I share personal stories that highlight the importance of investing in yourself throughout your training and career, not only as a leader but especially […]

Some years ago, I traveled to Washington DC for a weekend of advocacy that turned out to be pivotal in my work for physicians and patients. Expecting to learn mostly by watching others, we spent several days learning from one another until the opportunity came to make a difference with policymakers right then. For several […]

I just returned from one of the best conferences I’ve attended in 25 years in medicine. Hundreds of physicians gathered at the Sonoran Desert in Phoenix to grow together, recharge, and focus on ways to do better as physicians and as human beings in the chaos of modern medicine. This was a practical conference with […]

MEDICAL STUDENTS, RESIDENTS, FELLOWS, ATTENDINGS, FACULTY MEMBERS, and EVERY PHYSICIAN in PRACTICE: THIS IS FOR YOU! My latest book, Recapturing Joy in Medicine, is NOW AVAILABLE!!! It’s been a tremendous privilege to research, write, and work on this project for years, including pursuing further training (beyond being a Board-certified family physician) as a health and […]

Many physicians are exploring alternatives to the frustrating status quo in healthcare, with so many middlemen, inefficiencies, and regulatory burdens. Direct primary care (DPC) has emerged as an attractive model for physicians wanting more face-to-face time with patients, greater autonomy, and more meaning in medicine. Beyond these tremendous benefits, it turns out DPC practices are […]

In the May-June issue of Family Practice Management, one of the poems included in my latest book, Recapturing Joy in Medicine, was published. I am thrilled this poem has resonated with thousands of physicians across the country. I was inspired to write it after becoming a patient and experiencing the “other side” of healthcare. Like […]

This week, I was honored to be featured in the first article of a new series, Physician Outlook on Health, that highlights physicians active in advocacy for our patients at the state and national level. We have stepped out of our comfort zones to educate the public and empower one another to advocate for patient […]

Last year I was honored to be among the faculty and presenters at the first-ever AAFP Physician Health & Well-being Conference in Naples, FL. It was an inspiring, informative, and practical conference focused on supporting physicians so we may care for ourselves, our families, and the people we serve more effectively while also addressing inefficiencies […]

What a weekend! I spent most of it with physician colleagues, reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, and sharing strategies and pearls about leadership and physician wellness from the main stage. I also enjoyed the opportunity to address residency program coordinators and had the unexpected blessing of reconnecting with someone from residency I hadn’t […]

Connection.  Courage.  Hope. More than ever, physicians need all three. With more than 70% of physicians now employed (i.e., not independent), many of us are afraid to speak up in the workplace or too exhausted to do so, remembering what happened the last time we tried. We are or feel isolated. And for many reasons […]

Relax, Learn, and Enjoy the Sunshine! Join me and our colleagues next month, May 3-5, 2019, at the upcoming Family Medicine Spring Forum in Orlando, FL. I’ll provide a main stage presentation for physicians, residents, and medical students and discuss tested strategies that contribute to physician wellness and effectiveness. You will also learn how to […]

From the Beach to the Desert! You thought that said dessert … no worries! I’m sure we’ll have a bit of dessert along with plenty of learning and fun this summer in Phoenix, Arizona. Join us for the 2nd ever Family Physician Health & Well-being Conference coming up June 5-8, 2019. I cannot wait to […]