My husband is traveling for work again.
Each Sunday he preps four nights of dinners so the kids and I are fed and cared for while he’s gone.
Love in action 💕
What is something kind you have experienced recently?
Work has always been my drug of choice
Avoid all the scary, uncomfortable, existential things by numbing with productivity.
Looks like I’ll be seeing record numbers of patients this year.
(Lalalalala ignoring the world in clinic today.)
Show me your charts, and I'll tell you about your perfectionism.
Perfectionism is a set of behaviors that help us avoid pain but often (esp in charting) sabotage our progress.
Our clinical excellence is not measured by charting. Done is better than perfect. Close the note in the room and move on.
What a week
I’m going to bed so I’m rested and ready to take care of patients, myself, and my loved ones.
I can’t change the world but I can make a difference in our little world.
Goodnight yall.
As someone who values patient autonomy, patients have access to my calendar 24/7 and can self-schedule appts.
As a physician, I cannot for the life of me remember to schedule my own doctor appointments because that requires me to CALL DURING BUSINESS HOURS.
omg why
it doesn't have to be like this
4. Level expectations and take care of yourself.
You cannot possibly do everything.
You cannot do everything alone.
Choose what is most important and celebrate those wins.
Taking care of yourself (sleep, exercise, nourishment, connection, rest) is not optional.
What would you add to this list?
3. Discern how to spend your time.
We know how to triage and now is the time to do it. The Do/Decide/Delegate/Delete grid will guide you.
2. Block time:
First hour of the week is dedicated to me.
It is non negotiable time for planning, closing out work that came in over the weekend, setting daily priorities that keep me out of overwhelm.
1. Plan ahead with a schedule template
It’s not a surprise that this week/month/season is busy. I need more time to work in sick patients and less time for routine physicals. My schedule template reflects that.
If you’re already fully booked, oops. Correct your template for next winter.
First full work week after the holidays is always very busy.
Everyone is “circling back,” and for healthcare workers, viral season is in high gear.
How I planned ahead to stay focused and sane:
🧵
When you’re ready, we’re here.
Micropractice Mastermind is a community of docs and a roadmap to freedom.
Join us when you are ready to take your first step.
One day, I simply knew that I could bet on myself any day of the week and knew that I could show up for myself.
And when I could not ignore that pull to do things differently, I took the first step to building a sustainable career.
To anyone who thinks, “well, that would never work for me,” I hear you. I thought that for a long time. I wasn’t ready. I had not addressed the guilt of leaving my practice, the fear of trying something new, or the limiting beliefs that kept me stuck.
And then one day I realized, I am the better way.
All of us are. We can decide that we want to build something that serves us AND our patients and go do that.
In residency, I learned about two ways to practice:
Noble academics
and
Money hungry private practice
Neither felt exactly right but I chose a path for 14 years but kept thinking, “there has to be a better way.”
🧵
I agree.
There are so many better ways to measure health.
Thank you for sharing. My practice is full of folks who have been harmed by weight stigma in health care.
I doubt most clinicians understand the racist origins and bias in the BMI.
If we are not actively counseling our patients on alcohol cessation, we are missing a huge opportunity for disease prevention.
And if I see another breast cancer fundraiser that serves wine . . . 🤯
www.hhs.gov/about/news/2...
Hey, #medsky
Have your patients brought these cards to you or asked not to be weighed?
How are you responding to these requests?
How do you manage weight documentation/disclosure in the EMR?
How do you train your staff to respond?
This was the Mondayest Thursday ever.
If you deeply care about your patients, creating a sustainable, burnout-proof career is not optional
You just get to be here.
You belong here.
You are loved."
- Liz Gilbert
Dear Resolution Makers,
"You are not required to justify your existence on earth through constant improvement.
You are not a Fortune 500 company.
You don't have to show increasing profits.
You don't have to earn the right to be here by pulling yourself to higher and higher standards.
1/2
Whether you are ready to take a leap or stay put, there are many things to look forward to in this community in 2025:
I'm glad you're here. Wishing you a peaceful, restful start to the new year
I still have colleagues who say, "Oh, I could never do that," and that's OK because I know they are not quite ready to take a leap into something new.
When they are, they will know that it is possible, as evidenced by people like me and my micropractice community.
The pandemic helped me realize that I could be de@d in a week, and I knew I would absolutely regret spending my career in burnout.
Now, I’m in a purposeful, impactful, restful practice, a nationwide community of docs who are reinventing medicine, with first year med student love of medicine again.
The burnout grind of my former practice was familiar, and the uncertainty of trying something new was scary, so I stayed put for many years trying to make things work.
I have a lot of compassion for the version of me who was doing the best I could to survive in the only version of medicine I knew.
Confused colleagues would ask,
"Why would you build a telemedicine practice?"
"E@ting disorders? So it's a weight loss clinic?"
"Won't you be lonely in solo practice?"
"What if you fail?"
This meme cracked me up because it is exactly how I felt three years ago as I was launching my practice.
It was as if I finally woke up from the matrix, realized I could have control of my life, and I built a life that worked for me.
🧵
This love letter, history lesson, masterpiece memoir is a must read for every clinician.
Thank you Dr Blackstock. I loved hearing your voice share your story with the world.
www.audible.com/pd/B0C4BH4L2...
