Words of advice from a chief resident

"If you're unhappy in residency, you just need to adjust your expectations." Internal medicine physician and coach Marion McCrary, a former chief resident, asks whether that is good advice, bad advice, or both. She walks through four expectations residents can change, from being the absolute best at everything to the arrival fallacy, and asks whether work-hour limits, wellness programs, and yoga have done enough for resident burnout. ⏱️ Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:38 Primary care and physician coaching 1:27 Why coach on top of primary care 2:25 A typical week as a physician and coach 3:35 The tweet behind the article 4:37 Good advice or bad advice 5:53 Residency and the feeling of no control 7:00 You don't have to be the best at everything 8:40 The arrival fallacy in residency 9:35 Keeping what makes you happy 10:55 You don't have to follow the plan 12:15 Has enough been done about resident burnout 13:54 Wellness programs and coaching for residents 16:42 Take home messages About this episode: Marion McCrary is an internal medicine physician in North Carolina who practices primary care full time, coaches physicians, and works as a well-being champion for physicians. Her KevinMD article, "A word of advice from one chief resident to another," began with a Twitter conversation with a former intern, now a program director, who remembered one of his chief residents telling him that if he was unhappy in residency, he just needed to adjust his expectations. She asks who is really responsible for a resident's happiness, and recalls making the full schedule for the whole year before her interns arrived. The article challenges four expectations: that residents must be perfect, when B-minus work is fine for some tasks though probably not patient care; the arrival fallacy that it will all be better as an attending; that there is no room for what makes you happy, when 20 minutes of exercise three times a week may still count; and that residency must follow the plan. She was a chief resident the year the work hours change happened, and someone told her, "You can't yoga your way out of burnout." In this September 2021 episode, she describes the mandated wellness piece in graduate medical education, programs using coaches for residents, and attendings trained in coaching skills, and says COVID has been devastating for trainees. Her take-home message: You can change your expectations, and you don't always have to follow the rules. 🤝 Partner with me on the KevinMD platform: With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Let's work together to tell your story. ➡️ PARTNER WITH KEVINMD: https://kevinmd.com/influencer ➡️ SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST: https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast ➡️ RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD: https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended #Residency #MedEd #PhysicianWellness