A Review of Dr. Nicole LePera’s "How to Do the Work"
In medicine, it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine and lose sight of our higher purposes. So many of us got into medicine, our calling, in order to help people. But who helps us when we lose our way? The answer lies in rediscovering how the mind, body, and spirit are interconnected. If one of these areas becomes dysregulated, it can affect the other two. If we can devote time to healing one of these areas, it can likewise affect the other two and allow us to find ourselves and our true passions again.
There are moments in life when we are given the opportunities to learn, reflect, and grow. These opportunities can find themselves in places of patient care, friends, colleagues, family, and loved ones.
Half a decade ago we stood on the precipice of a pandemic that would change the world as we knew it. Where we once took the daily practices of medicine and healthcare for granted, we found ourselves faced with an ominous unknown. What the future held was never guaranteed, but now we faced an illness that baffled even the experts. Our daily lives were interrupted with a new challenge to what we were to do to curb this outbreak. Between the expedited search for a vaccination along with social distancing we pushed our society into doubt, isolation, and fear.
Healing the Clinicians: Risk Stratifications of Burnout and Declaration of Self-Advocacy
Burnout among clinicians is a topic that has often been met with animus, yet clinicians must be aware of it to proactively manage it in the best way possible. Whether you work as a resident trainee, an early-career provider, or a veteran practitioner, the risk stratifications of burnout, which threaten the very fabric of healthcare, must be implemented to avoid any implicit complications.
Practicing medicine in both the outpatient and hospital settings has allowed me to see patients in the best of health and at their worst. What I find inspirational are the patients that cross my path who are facing their worst fate and yet they look at the world with optimism and not despair. Many of us find ourselves wanting to gravitate towards people who have an optimistic look at their own life and the world around them. Looking to embrace that optimism, I went in search of resources to help see how that optimism can be a prescription for health and well-being both personally and professionally.
What It Sounds Like on the Other Side of the Stethoscope
As I sat there, having started the day like any other with the hustle and bustle of hospital medicine and residents and making sure every ‘I’ was dotted and every ‘T’ was crossed, I was quiet. Listening and yet not quite hearing, feeling the stillness between each of my breaths as my mother was working her way through a lengthy explanation of her medical journey over the past month to get to – “I have cancer.”
Finding Balance and Healing: A Physician’s Guide to Ho'oponopono
In the demanding world of medicine, where the weight of responsibility and the pressures of caring can sometimes lead to unintended harm or emotional strain, finding avenues for personal wellness and healing is essential. Ho'oponopono, an ancient Hawaiian practice centered on reconciliation and forgiveness, offers a profound framework that physicians can integrate into their lives to restore balance and cultivate inner peace.
In my quest to hold everything together I had forgotten how to take care of myself. In medicine it is often considered a badge of honor to realize at the end of a twelve-hour shift that you haven’t gotten a chance to use the restroom or eat. I learned to question the notion that not attending to normal bodily functions was somehow honorable. I learned to confront the culture in medicine many of us were brought up in; a culture that leads us towards burnout.
As I walked into the lecture hall, I spotted my not-so-assigned seat. Familiar faces greeted me while I made my way to the familiar space and time. The standard set up ensued, making room for bags, snacks, and books. That day, I had brought in special banana bread with nuts and chocolate chips to support the appetites and nutrition of my lovely friends and colleagues, who always met me with smiles. I would “break bread" with those in the shared row who quickly became a chosen family.
One of the things I have begun to do more of over the past few years is to take the extra few seconds to show gratitude. Whether it be with friends or colleagues, it costs almost nothing, and science suggests there are many very real and measurable benefits both to the one expressing gratitude as well as the recipient.
As we begin a new year, many of us will think of new beginnings. We don’t need to wait until January of every year to start fresh. Popular poet, Juansen Dizon, wrote “I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.” We can write new chapters every day, and our story can take a new course any time in the year, not just on January 1.
