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MAY 2022 |
VOL 5 ISSUE 9
In this issue:
- Becoming the Change
- Financial Wellness
- Great Teams
- Houston Happenings
- May Flowers
- MS4 Advice
- SPOTlight
- Tasty Recipes
- Thrive at UT
- UTHealth Wellness Connection
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The Well is a monthly newsletter that serves to
positively impact the well-being of the McGovern student community
by highlighting a myriad of wellness-related content.
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Click here to share your thoughts on The Well!
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April showers bring May flowers.
Maybe we should try giving those flowers to someone to show our appreciation.
It is much easier to focus on what someone has done wrong than what they have done right. In our education and even in portions of our medical education, we’ve learned of the efficacy of positive reinforcement. We’ve learned of ways in which medical teams work better when problems are addressed with learning in mind as opposed to a punishment. Yet, for some reason, we often move in fear and avoidance of what could go wrong, criticize each other for making mistakes, and minimize the great parts of our journey here. We focus on the rain rather than the beauty that it brings about.
In a time during which ‘dunking on’ and ‘trolling’ each other seems to be in vogue, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. Our generation is pretty good at not waiting until we're older to have fun experiences. The argument can be made that we should not wait until we are older to give out flowers and show appreciation, either. There are many reasons to give someone their ‘flowers’—a period of in-depth focus without phone usage, self-care, altruism, diligence—all of these are hard to keep up with in medical school. Maybe we can let each other know more that we notice and appreciate the beauty brought about by their hard work. Maybe, just maybe, it will make the rainy days hurt a lot less because we have a beautiful flower to look forward to.
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For those of us aspiring to become the next generation of healthcare leaders, we must consider the kind of professional environment we want for ourselves, our colleagues, and most importantly, our patients. Much of medicine becomes maligned through rumors of toxic work cultures, where higher-ups berate their juniors, and those juniors pass on that animosity to any other unfortunate subordinates who happen to be around on that particular day. And while that last sentence was rather dramaticized, these “rumors” sadly are true in certain cases, where the culture persists for much longer than a single day. Yet, the solution to toxic environments can be very simple. It won’t always be easy, but it certainly is not a complex idea for each of us to empower one another throughout our daily lives.
Encouragement, positivity, and support for each other can go a long way in changing the culture that often seeks to bring others down. Because if you were the one who happens to make an honest mistake in your career, how would you like to be treated? Wouldn’t you like to be met with grace during your struggles? Wouldn’t you want other perspectives to understand your own? It’s on us to be the change we want to see in medicine. It can start by something as small as recognition of those around us, intentionally seeing and calling out the good in others. We are the ones that need to set the tone and establish how we build each other up in medicine, not tear others down the first instance we can. We owe it to our patients and the physicians who will come after us to build the kind of encouraging and nourishing environment that’s worth preserving.
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What Makes a Great Team Great |
Medicine, like many other fields, functions from a team standpoint. We need that reliable healthcare team to help us best care for our patients. No physician has power to single-handedly organize and execute everything required for patient care. And so, when we consider what it means to be on a team, there are certain elements that separate the great ones from the good ones.
Good teams simply tolerate each other, while great teams have chemistry. Great teams exemplify the corporate buzzword of all corporate buzzwords: synergy. When you have a group of people that can come together and are able to bring the best out of each other, to the point that each individual of that group could not accomplish the same things the group accomplishes as a whole, that’s when you have synergy. But it’s not so easy to just throw together a group of humans and expect them to immediately click. Egos, personal agendas, and selfishness are always looming and lurking to bring the purest intentions all crashing down.
So how will we, as future physicians, build the teams we want to be on? How do we build the teams that our patients deserve? It starts from the top down. Physicians that treat their fellow team members with the respect they deserve and the compassion they require will see those efforts returned. Respect must flow on a two-way street; there isn’t a way to demand respect without also giving it freely. This is all to say that our May theme of empowering each other goes way beyond just making one another feel better about themselves. It can shape the way that we see our roles in healthcare, and hopefully can help us make great teams, not just good ones. After all, how many more rings would Shaq and Kobe have won had they figured out their personal feuds? Refuse to let your own future healthcare team not realize their maximum potential because of the pitfalls of human nature; be the one that quells disputes and the one that perpetually builds morale.
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El Topo | Award Winning Western restaurant and Infamous Food Truck serving hand made staples in the Mexican, Cowboy, and Southern traditions
Gyro King | your one-stop Mediterranean restaurant serving a variety of hearty, delicious Mediterranean food, available for lunch and dinner.
Main Chick | True hot chicken without needing to travel to Nashville. Red hot strips of chicken are made into saucy sandwiches and served atop a bed of fries for a fiery meal.
Oh My Gogi | Funky food truck offering creative Mexican-Korean eats such as kimchi quesadillas.
Tacos Tierra Caliente | Low-key, mobile truck serving Mexican fare such as tacos & tortas alongside breakfast.
Tasty Arepa | Columbian and Venezuelan street snacks including cheese-filled tequenos, choriperro, and more.
Twisted Grilled Cheese | Grilled cheese sandwiches with a twist with options like the 5-cheese pepperoni pizza sandwich, the smokehouse brisket, and the halal Philly grilled chicken.
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I did not imagine my future self as a psychiatrist. I started medical school after working as a medical assistant at a family clinic for 3 years. I was determined to practice general medicine from “cradle to grave.” Looking back, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the incredible guidance and support from family (shout out to my hubby), friends, and faculty (shout out to Dr. Findley). I am proud of my journey and love my medical school, so I want to share some advice that was crucial to my growth here.
1. Comparison is going to happen, but how you approach it matters.
There will always be someone smarter/better than you, and that's awesome! Life would be boring if we couldn’t learn from one another. There are so many talented yet kind and humble individuals at McGovern, so surround yourself with those who uplift you.
2. Live life outside of medicine.
You make time for what is important. If your future success is important to you, then prioritize your wellbeing. Make friends, read leisure books, play games, watch a new TV show, visit family, go for a run, etc... Fill your life with love and fun. Success is rewarding when you have others to share it with.
3. Finally, you can be happy in multiple specialties.
This is my favorite piece of advice from one of my mentors, Dr. Fairbrother. It brought me peace when I had my identity crisis switching from Med-Peds to Psych. Whatever specialty you choose, it will be the best choice because you decided it will be.
| Karen Slater, MS4
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Hot Topics
Click on a topic for tips on tackling the issue
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Azteca Farmers Market
Pick-it-yourself Berry Farms
04.29-05.12 | Houston Grand Opera - Romeo and Juliet, Brown Theater
05.01-02 | James Arthur, House of Blues
05.06-07 | J Balvin, Toyota Center 05
05.06-07 | Miranda Lambert with Little Big Town,
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
05.07 | The Menil Collection and Aurora Picture Show Bring Your Own Beamer
05.08 | Coldplay, NRG Stadium
05.08 | The Who, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
05.12-13 | Olivia Rodrigo, 713 Music Hall
05.13 | Dave Matthews Band, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
05.14-15 | The Eagles, Toyota Center
05.14-15 | Russ, Smart Financial Centre
05.17-18 | Caifanes, House of Blues
05.19-20 | New Kids on the Block, Toyota Center
05.20-30 | Houston Ballet - Pretty Things, Brown Theater
05.20-21 | Jesse James Decker, House of Blues
05.27 | Candlelight: A Tribute to Adele
06.02 | Kenny Chesney, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
06.10 | Machine Gun Kelly, Toyota Center
06.14-15 | Backstreet Boys, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
07.16-17 | RuPaul's Drag Race, Smart Financial Centre
07.29-30 | Dude Perfect, Toyota Center
07.29-30 | Third Eye Blind, White Oak Music Hall
08.03-04 | Leon Bridges, White Oak Music Hall
08.04-06 | Kevin Hart, Toyota Center
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Financial Wellness Resources |
Financial Wellness @ McGovern
- https://med.uth.edu/admissions/wellness-resilience/financial-wellness-2/
Student Financial Services
- Newsletters | https://www.uth.edu/sfs/newsletters-and-information/
- Website | https://www.uth.edu/sfs/
- YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrdQD4Kixa5GUWD_Lu8YHRQ
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| Ombudsperson
Are conflicts or concerns causing you undue stress? Contact the Office of the Academic Ombuds. Robin Dickey, PhD, MA, LPC, is available as a listener, mediator, and coach for all members of our UTHealth family. Make an appointment today! https://www.uth.edu/evpara/academic-ombuds.htm
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Thrive at UT is a free app designed to enhance UT student well-being and help busy students live their best life. Thrive helps you make small changes in your routine that have powerful long-term impacts. |
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| UTHealth Wellness Connection |
UTHealth Student Counseling Services has introduced a blog bringing mental health and wellness resources to you. Click the link below to read the latest! |
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Brought to you by the McGovern Student Wellness & Resilience Committee
Questions, Comments, or Contributions to The Well,
please email MS.Wellness@uth.tmc.edu
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