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Married to Medicine? Navigating Dating, Relationsh ...
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All right. Hello, everyone. My name is Dr. Stacey. And I'm Dr. Tracy. And we are the twin PM&R sports medicine physicians. Thank you so very much to the Academy for choosing our talk to be able to speak with you all today. And also, thank you to our panelists. We'll introduce them as well. Go ahead. Ladies first. Please. Hi, everybody. I'm Jessica Sullivan. I am a PGY2 at this point, kind of 2.5, at the University of New Mexico. Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for being here. My name is Hedging Clark. And I'm a PGY3 at Stanford. Hello. I guess I'll stand up for the people who can't see me behind here. Eugene Palatula. And I'm a sports medicine physician. I'm on my third years of attending at Montefiore Medicine and Albert Einstein in the Bronx. Happy to be here. And thank you for inviting me. Of course. And I'm currently the PM&R sports medicine fellow at the University of New Mexico. And I'm a second year going into the third year of being an attending at Columbia in New York. And thank you again for coming and joining us today. Our goal is to try to make this very fun and also a very safe environment so that we can hopefully talk about things that may not traditionally be talked about in medicine. We have no financial disclosures. And these are some of our learning objectives for today. Talking about the modern day terms of dating, being in a relationship, and also starting a family, exploring some of the challenges and opportunities with balancing personal and professional lives, and then identifying some of the institutional and organizational resources and supportive traits of colleagues. So with a show of hands, how many people have heard of any of these four terms? Ghosting, FWB, breadcrumbing, and DTRs? Yes, all of us. And we'll talk about some of these terms as well. So here's a short list of some of the modern Gen Z terms of dating, which we had to look up because we don't typically, well, some of these we do know, but other ones we didn't know. So for Riz, Riz is short for charisma. It is the ability to chat, seduce, attract a person who you're attracted to. Situationship, that's more of a romantic relationship that is not yet established, okay? And then you've got the FWB, oh yes? I'm very old. I think it's really important that you let me know if these are good or bad. Oh yes, yes. Great, great, great. So we will also let you know if these are good or bad terms to use. And the point of our talk, please, we want this to be more casual, so if you do have questions throughout, please raise your hand, let us know. And also interactive. Yes, very interactive. So situationship, that's more of, it's not exclusive, it's not established yet. FWB stands for friends with benefits, so that's kind of like a situationship, but there's more of the intimate relationship happening. And to answer your question, it's not, in our experience, we haven't heard that as a positive term. DTR is define the relationship. That's more of when someone, when two people, or three, or more, are trying to define what they're, if they're going to be exclusive, if they're going to be more polyamorous and open relationship, that's just, that's more of a neutral term. It's just trying to get an idea of where are we in the relationship. Breadcrumbing, that's more of a manipulative behavior. This is more of a negative term, or negative, it has a negative connotation, and it's to show interest in someone without having any intention of committing to that person. And so how many of you have heard of Hansel and Gretel? Yes, okay. So one of the ways that they wanted to trace back where they were going home is they would leave breadcrumbs. But, so this is essentially kind of like an analogy to that, you just leave a little bit of, just enough to get the other person still interested, but not enough to fully commit. And then there's cookie jarring. Cookie jarring, it's when you date multiple people at the same time, but it's more of a backup plan. So instead of establishing more genuine connection, you, they're like your second option, so you're putting your hand in the cookie jar. So there's no commitment, there's no exclusivity, it's, you've got multi, you're being polyamorous. Then there's catfishing. Catfishing is when you pretend to be someone you're not, so when you do online dating or go on the apps, you might have a picture of you maybe 20 years ago when you looked a certain way, and then now when you see them in person, or when the other person sees you in person, or vice versa, it's a completely different look. So that's what we call catfishing. Also more of a negative connotation. That's something negative. There's wokefish, which is similar to catfishing. The difference is wokefish, you're more, you pretend to be more woke, or more, having more liberal views, or political views, or social views, but then in, like if you're, you're using your woke views to attract another person, but in reality, you don't believe in those values. So you're, you're trying to pretend that you're, you're having a different personal identity than what you actually are. And then roaching. So roaching is when someone is keeping their involvement from other people. It's more of a secret, and for roaching, it's, you're currently dating someone, and then you are secretly dating someone else, or trying to start a new relationship with someone else, and the way this term got started was because if you see one roach, there probably are other roaches that you are not seeing. So that is what roaching is. That is also very negative. This usually happens if, before the DTR talk, the define the relationship talk, there's a lack of commitment. It can also, if someone is already in an established, exclusive relationship, someone who starts to roach is actually cheating. So definitely negative. Other terms of modern dating. There's a, there's a huge, long list of these, but these are some of the other ones. Ghosting. So ghosting is when you suddenly cut off communication with someone, you're texting, you're either seeing each other in person, and then for some odd reason, now that other person completely goes off the planet, they're not responding to your text messages, to your calls, they're not responding to you on the, the DMs on the dating apps or on Instagram, they've completely vanished like a ghost. That's ghosting. Also negative connotations. Caspering is similar to ghosting, but now they're starting to trickle and fade in a nice way. How many of you guys have heard of Casper the Friendly Ghost? Yes, okay. So that's what caspering is. You're starting to, maybe it takes a few hours before you respond, and then the next message, maybe it's a few days, and then a week or two weeks, and then finally you, you just, or the other person just doesn't respond anymore to any of your contacts. So that's what caspering is. Also negative term. Zombying, just like how a zombie rises up from the dead, someone who can ghost can now zombie, and that's when, and that's when they've completely gone off the face of the earth, and then maybe months or a year plus goes by, and now this person who you were before interacting with, now they come up and they're like, oh, hey, how are you doing? And they send you that text, or they give you that phone call, or maybe they like one of your stories on Instagram, or your pictures. That's what zombying is. They, they rise up from the dead. Also a negative term. Haunting is when someone will continue to follow your social media and will like your photos, but they will not talk to you in person. They will not respond to your texts. It's more of they, they see you, they're kind of there, and they're stalking you, but they're not actually giving any of their commitment to you. Also negative term. Most of these are negative terms. So we, we wanted to group different themes, like in the previous, in the previous slide, you can see that we had all the, the breadcumbing and cookie jarring together. We had the catfish, wokefish roaching together. Now you've got all the Halloween terms together, and then now you've got the benching, cushioning, and pocketing terms. So benching is different. It's when you keep a potential partner more as a backup option. And so you're, you're stringing them along. So they're on the bench. You know, like we're in sports medicine. So if, if someone, you're, if someone is dating multiple people at the same time, and let's say candidate one, what, did something wrong or they, they messed up and they didn't go to the date as planned, then now you can bench them. And now candidate two becomes your candidate one. And now you're spending more time with candidate two and candidate three, whereas the other one is now benched, until the benched one now does something very nice and apologizes or does something exorbitant to win your love again. And then now they get off the bench. And then there's cushioning. So cushioning is keeping other romantic options while in a relationship. This is also known as emotional cheating, unless the couple is already known that it's going to be more of an open relationship. So cushioning, also negative term. And then pocketing, you're hiding someone from your world. So just like you put someone in your back pocket, they are not seen in your world. You don't introduce them to friends, to any of your coworkers. And it's, it's also a negative term. Any questions about these terms that we've gone over, or any other terms that you've heard of? I just, I just want to say this has been a lovely trip down memory lane of my dating life in the years. So if I go into a state of PTSD, someone come save me. So these are some examples of online dating apps. The first one is Coffee Meets Bagel, then you have Bumble. There's also, all of these are just some examples of different kinds. And if you've been on the apps, most of the times the way they do it is you create your own profile for yourself. They'll ask your basic things like your age, your height, sometimes they'll also ask about your profession, and what do you like, or what are you looking for. For some people they like only short term, some are looking for more long term relationships. And then there's also different kinds of prompts that they'll ask. So it can either be fill in, it depends on the app, but it could either be a fill in app where you can write in a short answer, like things that you enjoy doing, or sort of prompts. And so this is the way that you create your own profile. And then from there, depending on the app, you'll have access to all the different selections. You can choose them from a variety of locations, how far, like one mile radius versus ten mile radius. And there's just a variety of different traits that you can choose to essentially get your deck of cards, so to say, of like who are your potential partners. And depending on the app, they have different features. So this is just a very broad range of all the different kind of online apps that are available. This is not all exclusive, of course. And for some people who are on the online dating apps, they'll usually do multiple apps just to try to increase their chances of trying to find someone. And even some of the features are also going to be different. For example, for coffee meets bagel, every time at noontime or at lunchtime, then you'll get a certain deck of cards or potential candidates. You'll also earn a certain number of beans, like coffee beans, so that you can essentially use those beans to try to create new matches. And most of these are basic features. And if you want to increase or have better features, so for example, if you want to increase your chances of matching different kinds of things, then they ask you to pay either a monthly subscription. And sometimes they have deals online where if you sign up to do six months, you'll actually get eight months free or different kinds of things like that. So it just really depends on the dating app. And then, for example, the league, so that's the one on the bottom left of the screen. In order to get into the league, you have to apply. You have to send your application in. And then there's this long wait list. They do look at your salary, so that is one of the questions that they ask, and your profession. And then if you meet their requirements, which we all do, then they will send you only three matches every single day. So it's more limited and exclusive. So for those who are wanting to get more people in their deck of cards, then the league is probably not a great option because it's only three people a day. Whereas for Bumble or Hinge or Coffee Meets Bagel or even Match.com, you can swipe right or swipe left on more than three people a day. And each of the apps has a different purpose. So for example, Bumble is more of the female is the one initiating the conversation. And then some of them are more for hookup culture, and then some of the other ones are more for long-term or longer-term seeking of a partner. There are also different ones where it's mainly based off of core values or different religions. So that way if you prefer, you have to figure out, well, what do I prefer? What are my preferences? And so for example, there's different religious ones where if you only want to date someone from a certain religion, then you have that option of doing that, and it's already filtered. And then there's the old school way, which is a very nice way. When you meet people in person, it's great too. So this is just the online stuff, but there's also in-person things as well. So those would be things like going to networking events, going to conferences, anybody who's single, you know, just let us know. But there are other ways as well, and not just online dating apps. And sometimes it's friends of friends, or workout events, different religious events like coffee hour after church or something, or even just friends from friends. Okay, so we wanted to talk about being in a relationship for those who decide that that's something that they want to do. A lot of these things, it's all going to be a personal decision, and it's going to be tailored to who you are as an individual. What are your core values? What are you looking for? What do you like? What do you not like? Different kinds of things like that, so that you get an idea of what your vision is in terms of finding somebody, if that is something that you want to pursue. And a lot of times too, there's, you know, life happens, there is no perfect time to either start or stop, etc. This is all a very flowing event. And the thing too is that we should never feel pressured to try to find somebody if that's not what we want to do. Again, this is a very individualized approach. And the biggest thing about this whole talk, and yes, we're talking about dating, family, relationships, etc., but we also want to emphasize too, this is about self-love. Like how do we best, or how can we best love ourselves and let our energies and our lights shine brightly so that we can either attract somebody else if that's what we want to do, or just let our light shine brightly and just really have that magnet of attraction and being able to share that life with other people as well. And the other thing about the no perfect timing, so us as physicians, we know that we do med school, we do intern year, residency, plus minus fellowship, then begin attending. And there's a lot of, there could potentially be a lot of moving parts. So we may be in one part of the country for a year, and then now we're in a certain place for three years for residency, and then we don't even know where we're going to go for fellowship or for begin attending. So a lot of those factors can potentially play into the love life of physicians. And so that's the other thing, that there's no perfect timing. Even though you might say, oh, I just want to look for something short term, well maybe you might find someone short term, but you might find someone who's willing to travel across country to be with you and to be there to support you for your residency or for your fellowship. So it's a lot of, there are definitely a lot of factors. And even in terms of online dating, if you were to date, let's say, in one part of the country, it might look completely different. The vibe might be completely different in a different part of the country. So for example, we're from Houston, and now I live in New York. And so the vibe and the culture is completely different. So for example, when I was still single, I was also dating in Houston, and I would travel to see her only, of course. But at the same time, because we're very efficient people, it's like, oh, what's the dating scene in New York? So when I would go visit her in New York, I would also go and date other people in New York for the weekend, for the weekend. So that's, and I definitely notice the type of people in New York and the type of people in Houston are very different. And again, that's talking about the different kind of culture, dating culture that are in different parts of the country as well. So the other thing, too, we wanted to talk about is if starting a family is on, is something that you wanted to do in the future, different kinds of things that we as physicians and also as female physicians that we have to consider. So for example, there's a lot of things of infertility. We work, we live in a high stress environment. Stress we know can do a lot of effects to the body. Most of the time it's negative. And for some people, especially if you're already in training or you're in residency, fellowship, or even as an attending, with a lot of stress, on top of dealing or, you know, handling a personal relationship and then trying to go forth with any kind of trying to start a family, that can also have some effects. So for example, there's, there are different ways that you can go about starting the family. You can either go through adoption process, you can either go naturally, you can also do egg freezing until delaying it to when the right, the time is right for you and your partner. There's also IVF and to have surrogates. So depending on what is best fit for you, again, this goes back to what is your vision and how do you wanna be able to portray and live out your own life based off of your own decisions. But it is important to recognize that there are resources out there depending on whatever choice you do wanna pursue. The hard part is with logistics. So for example, in residency, we all know it's hard to get time off to even go see the doctor. If somebody's trying to go for egg freezing or sperm freezing or anything like that, it usually requires a lot of tests, especially during the last few weeks right before egg retrieval. Now imagine if you're on the inpatient rotation and you may or may not have other residents who are covering, to be able to take that time off to go to your appointments, to get your labs drawn for the ultrasound and then to have the egg retrieval process done. That can take a lot of toll on yourself physically, psychologically, emotionally, mentally, et cetera. But then it also puts a toll on your co-residents or whoever your other trainees are. And then depending on the program, they may or may not be as supportive. So then again, that puts strain on the attendings and then also on the program director and on the leadership. Which is, yes, we are trying to help, take care of the patients, et cetera. But also, we also have to take care of ourselves. But it can put us in a bit of a situation where it's hard to be able to pursue some of those things. So that's one other thing to consider. And then the other thing too is, is it gonna be covered by your insurance? As a resident, as a trainee, or even as an attending. So for example, most of the times when they do egg freezing, it can cost anywhere up to $10,000 to $15,000 before any kind of the fertility medications, which is an additional, say, $3,000 to $5,000. On top of having the time missed or taken from work. So these are just other kinds of considerations to take into account. And for example, in my situation, I'm at Columbia, but when I was in fellowship, I was at the Cornell side. So Cornell, for all their employees, regardless of if they're in training or if they are an attending, they fully cover egg freezing for three rounds. So that's almost 60K, $60,000 worth of this procedure. On the Columbia side, they do not cover it. And even though we are under the same organization under New York Presbyterian, there's a stark difference in the benefits. So I would highly, highly encourage you that if this is something that you are interested in pursuing, double check what your medical benefits are to see if it's more feasible. And I know how Stacey was mentioning that even if someone is interested in pursuing egg freezing, that it might put different challenges on the whole system that should not discourage you from taking care of yourself and being able to make the right decision for you. Because it's, the fact is we are very replaceable. But if you, so whether or not you're here or not, they can ease, maybe not easily, but they can always get someone. But if you're trying to take care of you and your potential future children, you should, if that is definitely a priority, take that into consideration and try to see if there's anything that the program can do to help support you during that time. Granted, we know it's challenging because not all leadership is supportive, which I have experienced. And so a personal story is that I, during my time, I mean, we were both considering egg freezing. I was trying to do egg freezing during my last year as a PGY-4 and I ran into a lot of those situations where the PD, unfortunately, was not very supportive for one of my other co-residents. He was one of my juniors. His wife was currently pregnant and they were expecting. And for him to get time off for paternity leave, he was getting a lot of pushback. And so for me, I was not pregnant and I was just trying to do egg freezing. If that was a response from the PD for that particular, my male individual co-resident, imagine, I knew right away it was not gonna be supportive for me to even take time off. So I essentially tried to push it off until the last few weeks of residency. And then at that point, whenever I went to go to attending for egg freezing, it had to be delayed. So it had to be delayed for another week, which ran into my one week of fellowship. And I knew my program would not be okay for taking the first week off of fellowship. So I had essentially delayed egg freezing from residency. I tried during fellowship and again, logistics-wise, it's very hard to get coverage since I'm the only fellow at the program. So, and then also in Albuquerque, there's maybe one or two reproductive endocrinology, REI, who does the embryo freezing. So the resources were a little bit limited in Albuquerque. So again, it's taking into consideration your own personal journey, what you want, et cetera, and what are the resources and who are the supportive traits of colleagues or even leadership in the program. And then one last thing to note is that there's a difference between egg freezing and then embryo freezing. So for example, in residency for stays, they would not cover egg freezing unless it was due to any condition related to infertility. However, they completely covered embryo freezing. So double check with your benefits if you are already with a partner and you're trying to decide whether or not to do egg freezing versus embryo freezing. And if cost is something that might be, something that you're also looking into, you might want to check about the difference between the egg versus the embryo freezing. Any questions? So here are some other labels, all these acronyms, just because sometimes we may want to have children and there are definitely other people who children are not in their future. And there's no right or wrong answer. It's always a personal preference. For some of my single friends who definitely do not want to have kids, completely fine. They are called a SINK, single income, no kids. Then there's the SINKWAD group or the SINKWOC group, single income, no kids, with a dog or a cat. And then you've got DINKS. These are your double income, no kids. So for example, they're a couple. They are both working professionals and they do not want to have kids. They want to enjoy their life without kids. They are called DINKS. And then if it's a DINK plus a cat or a dog, then they're DINKWADs or DINKWACs. And then the last one is called a DINKWA, double income, no kid, with a house. So they are financially stable. Not saying the others are not, but now they've got enough money to get their house. Which is a big deal, especially if you're living in New York City. So this is just to say, if kids or no kids, there's a lot of these other terminology that you might see on the internet or you might hear, just to be aware of what they are. Okay, so we're gonna do a quick poll, a show of hands. I guess, or if anybody wants to contribute, what are some of the challenges of being a doctor and then also balancing your personal life? Anybody can, I guess we have a microphone. And also again, this is a very safe space. You just want to have interaction from the audience. There's no right or wrong answer. Thanks, Jeremy. I would say the work creep. If you, let's say you get all your notes done by the end of clinic, but then you come home and you have the 20, 30, 100 emails to get to, or you're trying to get through your clinic day and then you want to go see your kid's soccer game, but then you have to do all your notes at home. It's just depending on your practice and especially if you don't have a scribe, it's very hard from an eight to five day to see your patients, get your notes done, get all your admin done and come home and be present with your family or your very happy single life, whichever one. Thank you, Jeremy. Anybody else, any challenges of being a doctor and also balancing personal life? Catherine. You just forget. You just forget about your personal life. That's the challenge, I think, for me because my identity is Dr. Kingrey. It's been two years since I've seen an optometrist, which is a problem. Definitely just now. Thank you for sharing. So before becoming a physician, this is my second career. And I never experienced it in my previous one. I was in sales beforehand, so I spoke a lot during the day. But sometimes you're just tired of talking at the end of the day. And the idea of going out on a date, like during the week after a long day at clinic, or you're just like, oh, I don't have it. I don't know if anybody else feels that way. It's like, I'm tired, like emotionally tired. And I think that's something this job can create and you have to manage that's different than some other jobs, even jobs that are extroverted. Yeah. I used to joke with my girlfriend that like instead of a mudroom, I needed like a decompression chamber right inside my front door. Cause like no one in here is probably doing a fellowship in like radiology after PM&R, right? So like we spend our entire day talking to people, being needed, being very present, really tending to people's needs. And so I would joke, I'd be like, I just need to walk in my door and have like a locked door on the other side where no one can talk to me for 25 minutes, you know? I was like, that's a business idea. If anybody wants to create that with me. Well, I'm not a practicing physician as a fourth year medical student planning with my partner currently on potentially when it would be a good timeframe to have kids cause they are also applying to be a resident themselves. How to find that balance of when would be a good time? How would we manage things as residents ourselves of childcare in that planning process is something to have to think about now, especially since we're in our late twenties, having to figure out the timing for that is a little more important or at least thinking about it more. Yeah. And in terms of planning, like for example, if people are trying to get married or have children, having that similar situation of like when is the right time or when is a good time to plan? Oh yes. Thank you. I think like entering into a relationship, like you're navigating what is already important to you in your personal life. And then having that space to invest in another person or bring to that third entity is something that has been a challenge for me in terms of like everything we do at work and wanting that 25 minutes and the things that you already do and you're already responsible for. And now you're trying to navigate coming and being present with a potential partner. Most definitely. Yes. Thank you all so much for sharing. We appreciate you all. And then we'll go off to the next question. Like what are some opportunities for us to help balance our personal and professional lives? I know we talked about some of the challenges and I guess now we want to talk about what are some of the opportunities to be able to do that? Take vacation. Yes. You can take vacation and have time for yourself too. And then it's like, oh, you want to join me? So yes, definitely. Conferences. Yes. And also about vacations, we also have sick time or sick leave. I didn't know that as a resident because I never took any sick days. Actually for my surgery, I took vacation because I didn't know I could take sick time and this went through the chief resident at the time. It went through the PDs. And I told him this is specifically for my knee surgery. Nobody told me about sick time. And had I known that I could have at least used that sick time instead of using my vacation so that I could help, you know, have enough time to have vacation afterwards. But knowing, you know, sick time can be used for mental, physical, emotional stress. It doesn't have to be when you're physically with the flu or having symptoms. If you are just mentally burnt out, take a sick day and don't feel guilty about it. Because we have colleagues who would benefit from a sick day, but because of their institution. So for example, in my institution, there's this whole backlog of if I take a sick day, then all these patients have to be rescheduled or someone has to find coverage. And then I still get messages during my sick day or I'm still having to work on my sick day even though I'm not physically there. But just because of those challenges, don't let anyone guilt trip you that you can't take that time that you are already entitled to. And then there was, somebody also said about conferences. So I know we have some people here who brought their families with them to the conference so that the person can also, you know, enjoy the conference and at the same time also enjoy and explore the city. So that's another way of having like bonding time. For us, this is our way of, I know we're not, we're twins. We also have our own relationship. But we use conferences to be able to get a chance to see each other. And so and also for all of our panelists here, this is also a way for us to see each other. We have a mini reunion and we haven't seen each other for so many years, et cetera, because of fellowship and residency and training. So conferences is another great way to be able to connect as well. All right, thank you so much, y'all. So we did want to go ahead and transition over to institutional resources. What are the things that we are, again, entitled to because of, based off of our contract, ACGME, it's in human resources as well. So we do have maternity and paternity leave. There's also such things as medical leave, FMLA. And again, this is talking about all about the different kinds of benefits that are available, whether it's insurance, retirement. Somebody also mentioned to you about childcare, wellness, and how Tracy was talking about with clinical scheduling coverage and then also with medical accommodations. So a lot of the things, too, is, again, we might not be aware of what is already offered to us or that at our own institution. So some of this can be that we take the initiative to be able to read through our contract. How many sick days do you have? How many days of vacation do you have? When can you use those? Are there any stipulations, et cetera? So being aware of what's already available at your own institution and then also, again, through ACGME and then through the ABPMNR, what is for us. So we do wanna transition over to organizational resources, talking about our family leave policy for the residents and fellows through the ABPMNR. And we highlighted them in red, or boxed it out in red. And then I'll just read it verbatim. And it says that a fellow or a resident trainee must not be absent from training for more than six weeks, which is 30 working days, annually, except in the case that a special leave period is granted. So that's what our policy is. Now, there are other things like who approves the special leave? And a lot of times, that will be your program director. So there can be some, again, politics, depending on the institution that you're at, the program you're at, and how supportive you feel that your program director is, either for or not for the residents. In an ideal situation, it's great for the program director to be very supportive for the residents. In reality, it does not always happen. So I urge you, if you are a program director, if you have any effect on the leadership, that the trainees, the residents, the fellows, we are also human. We also have personal lives outside of medicine. Yes, we are doctors, but we are also other things outside of medicine. And to have some compassion towards the trainees if they are going through something, especially if it's family-related. Again, within our, whatever's available through our ABPMNR for our absence from training. It goes on to say here, again, at the sole discretion of the residency program director, a one-time special leave period may be granted. And this only applies for training, prospectively, planned as two years in duration or longer. So that would apply for anybody who's currently in residency and who is in a two-year fellowship. So for example, most of the other fellowships, like pain, sports, et cetera, are one-year programs. So it would not apply for other people like myself, but it would apply for PEDS, yes. And then the special leave period is for a trainee is permitted up to four weeks of additional, four weeks of additional consecutive time to occur as a single event. So for example, this will be that extra four weeks if somebody needs to say, take paternity leave or maternity leave only one time during their residency or if it's a two-year fellowship. So again, this is one way for us to educate ourselves about what are the policies out there through ABP Menar and again, through our own institution. Okay, so another fun part. What are some of the traits of supportive colleagues? Anybody in leadership, your co-residents, chiefs, et cetera. How do you feel like they foster that culture of care per se? Checking in with you, yes, definitely. How are you makes a big difference, especially for some of the trainees. Just being present, listening, and always being there to be a sponsor for you when you can't navigate the next steps. I'm referring to this awesome guy next to me. Oh, great, yeah. So that's talking about mentorship, having that open communication, being able to feel valued and heard and respected, and especially being able to open up to somebody who's in the program, either they're above you and share how you're feeling. Anything else? Okay, oh yes, Abby. Thanks, Tracy. Yeah, so I'm a fourth year medical student and on one of my away rotations, one of the upper level residents, she made consistent time for us to take care of ourselves. She would say, nobody gets burned out under my watch. Go to the bathroom, drink water. Do you need a snack? You need a snack? You need a snack. Go get one. That was really great. That's amazing to have an upper level like that. I was just gonna say, I also think it's really important to remember, too, as we become like leaders in this field, that one of the things that, you know, is going to resonate with people that are in training is our ability to show our own vulnerability and speak to the challenges and the ways in which we have been stretched through our training because we have, there is so much subversive conditioning in medicine and in medical training that we are just supposed to be these machines that keep going and going and going and I think it's like that is a top-down phenomenon of leading through example where if you are willing to share with your trainees and show your own vulnerability, it will help them like, you know, find the acceptance to do that with themselves, even in their own being. That's true, yes. And so the other question is like, how is our mental health impacted by balancing our personal and professional lives? We kind of touched on this earlier, too, that yes, we have a very busy schedule professionally and then also personally it can be challenging to balance that. So again, burnout, that can be another aspect of getting burnt out. But does anybody have any other things that they wanted to add? Or how can we help shape the culture of medicine? I know Jess was talking about it, too, like leading from the top down and also leading by example to be able to show that vulnerability and to share what we personally have gone through, what we have learned from other colleagues or leaders in the field and to be able to share that with our trainees, etc. To be able to create and cultivate that culture of care. Yes, we are people, too. Okay, so I know we talked about like relationships, dating, all that stuff. Self-love, again, we wanted to highlight and emphasize it as well. I hope that after this talk, if you haven't already done it, you can also do it again later on, but to figure out what makes you happy and however you define happiness or success or purpose, what gives you that drive to be able to get up in the morning, to be able to continue doing what you enjoy doing? And then in terms of like your relationships, what are your non-negotiables? What are your negotiables? What do you want to see in a future partner if you want to pursue a future partner or not? And what are some things that restore your soul? So for example, a lot of when, like before you go into a relationship, it's really good to really know who you are. There are a lot of times when we just jump into one relationship to the next or date multiple people at the same time, and we kind of get lost in a different persona or different, you're having different relationships with different people, so then you're having this emotional fatigue. But then when you want to love yourself, that's the first person who you should love, because how can we love other people without us loving ourselves first? And how can we really devote that time and energy with another person before we even dedicate all that time to us? Because at the end of the day, who were we spending the most time with? Us, ourselves. We sleep with ourselves, we wake up to ourselves, and if we don't love ourselves, if we don't have that confidence, if we don't have that self-worth, we can't expect to have or to gain those words of affirmation from someone else. So it's like learning to find out, well, what do we enjoy? What can I do to help give my soul and my being life? And then how can I do exercise? How can I eat great food? How can I enjoy time with others? How can I go to these events? And then how can I be by myself to just re-energize? So we wanted to go ahead and transition over to our Q&A with our amazing panelists. They introduced themselves earlier, and they can go ahead and introduce themselves again and talk about their story, what are some of the lessons they learned and advice. We're also going to, again, have this more very interactive, so if you have any specific questions, who to reach out to, etc., depending on what your personal journey is, please feel free to ask. And we did want to introduce them again. Again, we have Dr. Jessica Sullivan. She's our PGY-2 from the University of New Mexico. We have Dr. Hajen Yoon-Clark, PGY-3 at Stanford. And then we have Dr. Jean-Luc Banks. He wanted to be here today, and he actually has his personal information there as well. He asked us to reach out. He unfortunately had a family emergency, so he was not able to join us today, but he does send his regards and very much is here for us, especially from the LGBTQ community. And then we have Dr. Eugene Palatulan from Assistant Professor at Montefiore Medical Center and also from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. And we have all of their Instagram. He said if you wanted to talk to them again after the talk or if you wanted to DM them. So if anyone wanted to go ahead and take a picture of this slide, we would highly recommend it before we move on to the next slides. You have to define DM, by the way, for some people. Yes, Instagram on direct message. Or email, email or phone. That's great, too. And then we wanted to go through each of the different slides. So this is Dr. Jessica Sullivan. We asked each of our panelists to share a little bit about, you know, who is important to them, etc. Hi, everybody. So I guess a little bit on my background. I've been in medicine for a long time, but I also have a doctorate of oriental medicine. After working in Western medicine when I was younger, ran a family practice, was an EMT, all the things. And then decided to pursue my MD following that and looking to eventually come into some sort of, you know, integrative world. I also started off in surgery and loved surgery, loved being in the OR. Did not love the lifestyle or the culture of it, especially after becoming a mom. And was blessed, beyond blessed, to find PM&R, which I did not have much exposure to in medical school. And so made a very drastic left-hand turn very late in one of my years. And luckily had made a good enough name for myself that a lot of phone calls were made. And I got to continue on my journey in PM&R. So proud of that life choice every day. I just wanted to mention a couple things. This is my lovely family. My son is now three in a couple months. When I told my husband I was gonna be a panelist on this talk, he said, oh, do you want to FaceTime me in so I could talk to everyone too? Which is hilarious. But he is amazing and incredibly supportive and is tired of going to dinners with all my medical colleagues. So, but in that, I just wanted to say a couple things. I, you know, because I feel like I've been in school for a million years and I went to school later, and I am a woman, so all the things that we talked about, like egg freezing, I just want to remind everyone as well. You have a lot of time. It is not talked about very regularly, but I also want to remind people that women, which is becoming ever so, like, more noticeable, especially thanks to Cameron Diaz, women can have babies up until, you know, their late 40s, even into their 50s, naturally. And there are a lot of things that you can do to naturally support your fertility. If anyone needs, wants, you know, some advice on that, I have tons of resources. And you have a lot of time. I think one of the most detrimental things we can do, especially as physicians, is put so much pressure on ourselves that we have to stay on this certain timeline and don't have the capacity to kind of breathe into the trusting nature of how our lives are unfolding. So that's just one. And, and two, I did not end up meeting my husband until I was in my mid, mid to late 30s. And, and it was really the amazing part of having a child a little bit later, especially when you're in medical training, is that you really get a chance to, like, know yourself at such a deeper level. And when I had a kid, my priorities definitely shifted a little bit, but it shifted in a way that it made me just, it made me deeply grateful that I get the opportunity to be a physician, to practice medicine, to give to other humans in this way, and to feel really fulfilled in what I'm doing. And, and so it just feels better to be a little older, becoming a mom, because I'm so much more grounded in who I am. So the demand of being a mother is, like, it just falls in a different way. So, and if anyone, my email was not up there, but please come up to me. I'm happy to give out my information and talk to anyone about, about that, about, you know, the ever-evolving, everything unfolding a little bit later, and how it'll, it'll be okay. Beautiful story, Jessica. I'm Hedgen. Again, I'm with Stanford, and I think I'd give a little bit more of the newlywed perspective. I was just married four and a half months ago, and my wonderful husband is front row center. Not my husband, who's not in medicine, actually, but just to give a little bit of background. So I also took some time off before med school. I was in the, working with the media, with CBS Evening News, and also worked with UNICEF USA, and came to med school a bit later, in my, like, mid-20s, and in my 30s now. But that being said, I think I had my time of being single, and when I did my match, like, I wasn't attached to anybody, so I can go anywhere in the country. So where did I end up? Back home in California, where I met my husband a day before my intern year, and so I told Andrew, my husband, that I'm not gonna be able to see you for the next three weeks, because I'm about to start this thing called medical residency, so I'm gonna be in an inpatient unit, and mind you, he's not in medicine, and so I was very upfront about, kind of, like, my expectation to tell him that I'm not ghosting him, if I'm really behind, if I'm kind of gonzo for a while. Maybe I'll zombie back on, but that being said, I think having a supportive partner, who, even if it's not in medicine, I think, who understands and work with your schedule was really important to me. I know a lot of you guys in the room already have partners or married, but, so I might be speaking to the choir here, but I think just being able to dance with each other, because my husband's in finance, so he's also, he's very busy as well, so to have very, two people who are very driven and demanding careers, how can we still make time for each other during that journey, and in terms of timeline, like, I thought I was gonna get married after, like, residency, but I ended up wedding planning all throughout my PGY2 year without a wedding planner, but very supportive family, so if anybody needs wedding planning advice during residency, I'm your girl, but that being said, I think just having that great communication and really prioritizing what's important to us, what can, you know, not be in the wedding menu, you know, because people don't always remember food, so I think that's really important to just have those priority talks and just setting an expectation and knowing that residency is a very demanding time in your life, but that's not forever. We're probably not gonna be in calls forever, I think it's a finite amount of time, so I think having that kind of temporality, just having that expectation if your partner is not in medicine, I think it's really important, because they're gonna be part of the journey, and I think they have a very, I, how do I say this, because it serves that we go through, like, the trauma of medical school and residency, but they also go through trauma, too, with you. My husband, it's, you know, when I'm on call, like, he does get woken up at 2 in the morning, so sometimes I get demoted to the couch, right, and so you gotta work with your partners to kind of go through that journey together, so happy to talk more about, like, being, I guess, relatively new newlyweds and also, like, wedding planning and how to kind of navigate relationship throughout residency. And then just briefly for Jean-Luc, so he's married, he's been married to his husband for about eight years, and this is some of their pictures from their travels, etc., and again, we have his contact information from the first slide, so if you wanted to reach out to him about the LGBTQ perspective about how he was able to go from his dating to his relationship and then now getting married. Is it okay if I just move over here? I'll just move over here, that way I'm not blocked by that computer. Man, this is really cool to see this. Jeremy, can you take a photo of this and send it to me? I gotta give a shout out to my wife, absolutely, and thank you for inviting me. I'd be too far from you guys. So, yeah, this is kind of like, I'm definitely getting hit by imposter syndrome here, like, you know, I don't know if I'm an expert at this, but let me just talk to you guys about my life experience that, you know, I'm a second-career person. I was a high school biology teacher in the Bronx for seven years before I went into medicine. It was always a dream to become a physician, and then in my seventh year, it was kind of like, you know, time is ticking, you know, it's now or never kind of thing. At that time, I was even a, I was also a high school basketball coach, so it was like, it was a tough, you know, after like a full day of teaching, coaching the team, and then by the time I'm done, I'm like spent, like, you know, really tired. Six o'clock, I hit the library, study for the MCAT, and basically I'm saying all that because, you know, it's a journey, you know. Medicine is a journey. We've all, like, put in so much already, even if, you know, wherever we are in our training, it's, you know, it's really a journey of finding and a process. Oh man, I'm a Knicks fan, so I hate to say trust the process. All you Sixers fans out there, you know, it's true, though. It's trust the process because, you know, you signed up for it, and a lot of times, you know, medicine is like this profession that so much delayed gratification, right? You know, we all sacrifice so much while a lot of our classmates and, you know, from undergrad are like maybe went into investment banking or, you know, some other lucrative profession, and then here we are, like, you know, spending our time in the library, and then getting into residency, sometimes getting verbally or physically, mentally, maybe, hopefully not, like, you know, some, you know, that we shouldn't be taking from people anyway, but, you know, it happens. But yeah, you know, it's a process, so I, you know, I'm very appreciative of the whole process, and definitely my wife for, you know, all the support that I've gotten. That's definitely one of my strongest and biggest recommendation is to find a partner that is very understanding. There's no way I'd be here right now without my wife and, you know, gotten the MD and everything else that, you know, that's happened without a very supportive, understanding partner, so definitely very important. So all of those match, you know, like sites, I guess they, it's all about compatibility, right? And, you know, I think it's really good, actually, of so many friends that have gone through and got married through those match sites, and, you know, they think it's the best because it's really about compatibility. So not to say that, you know, true love can't be found in conferences and, you know, and just regular meeting. And one thing that I've been asked a lot, though, is that when is the right time to have kids? So here I'm at, that top picture right there, Albert Einstein. We also went to medical school. You get to bring your kids, you know, into the stage when you're graduating. And our second there, Emma, was born March 1st, and then the graduation was May 23rd. So she was two months, well Elise was two years old, and yeah, so we got to carry them into the stage there. So yeah, there's no good time to have a baby, but, you know, the best time is, you know, when you guys think it's right. Again, like, you know, I was a second-career person, so we were already in our 30s when I was in med school, and yeah, my wife was like, when is it gonna happen? Sometimes I joke around that she put a gun into my head, and I was like, you know, but that's not true. Hopefully this is not recorded. It's not recorded, hopefully. Oh wait, no, it's recorded, no! Cut that out! No, it's actually, it's not true. I'm sorry, I'm talking so much, but uh, yes, there was a time that, you know, my wife asked, like, when is it gonna happen? You know, we're in our 30s now, and you know, you don't want to get into that realm of, like, high risk. And so, yeah, and I was at the time, I guess, studying for my Step 1. Step 1 was scheduled May 30, May 30th, and then, not she, May 28th, and then Elise was due May 30th. So when I went into my Step 1, I was like, please don't go. Right before I turn off my phone, please do not go. And then I turned it back on, I was like, I was like, yes, no text. Yeah, so yeah, no, no, no good time, but the best time is when you're ready, yeah. And the other good, the other thing, too, about Dr. Paolo Tulan is that when he was a fellow, he was at UPenn, and family was back home in New York, so they were doing long distance for a while, for all the fellowship. Probably the toughest time of my life was fellowship year, when my wife and kids, actually, we had a third baby, by the way, during the pandemic. He's not up there. Oh, no, he's right there. Eli. And fellowship year was, yeah, like, I was at UPenn, so Philadelphia. We, you know, we really debated whether we move the whole family, but the idea was probably more than likely we're gonna go back to New York, more than likely, you know, either Columbia or Montefiore again to work. So we're like, yeah, you know what, let's just stay here, and I basically commuted Monday morning down to Philly, and then Friday afternoon back to New York, so. But you can, this is another recommendation or tip. You can do anything for a year, so yes. And then Tracy, she has the single perspective, being bachelorette, and then newly engaged. So any other questions from the audience for our panelists? Yes, we have some questions. Hi, my name is Kate, I'm a fourth-year medical student at NYT, Common Arkansas State University. Thank you all so much for your perspectives. I know hindsight always is something that we now see now, you know, haven't seen, excuse me, see now, and it's, you know, what she kind of had. So what was, what is like the biggest piece of advice like you wish that you knew like either starting in medical school or residency or fellowships that you wish that you knew like at this stage of our careers, whether it's like starting a relationship or a family or newly married or anything like that? Thank you. I think when I was in medical school, I purposely chose not to date anybody actually for four years because like I knew I was going to probably get out of, I went to med school in Chicago and I thought I was going to probably get out and my parents done long distance for 20 plus years from South Korea to San Francisco and it works for them, but I knew I can't do long distance and my husband knows that because I told him like when I was moving from San Francisco down, like just 40 miles out to Mountain View, I told him anything that's greater than 15 to 20 minute drive in residency is long distance. So I gave him no choice but to move down right across from me and we weren't even like engaged or anything at that point, but we got engaged shortly after we moved down there. But I think, especially as a medical student, I think intern year was like the toughest year personally for me. I did like 10 years of, 10 months of inpatients, that was really tough and I told myself like I don't know if I want to date during intern year because like that's a really rigorous time, but in hindsight, I think it was one of the best time today because Andrew seen the worst of me. Like I was like, I think I came out at night and he like drove me home because I couldn't function and drive. So I think you really bond in ways that maybe like if everything is happy camper, like you may not seen somebody. So if somebody can love you through that season of life, then he's a keeper. So I think there is never a good time, there's never not a good time, never a right time. I think the right time is now, honestly, sometimes you just got to go for it and if it works out that during that season, great, but if not, then I guess there's another season and take opportunity in that. And even with my, I guess my wedding, like I, we got engaged like October of my PGY2 year and we got married at the end of my PGY2 year. So I had to work with my chiefs because I didn't want my entire program to know quite yet, like it was like a personal preference because I don't want people like in jeopardy where they have to cover for me. So I kind of talked to my chiefs, like I would like to get married at the end of my PGY2 year and also go on a honeymoon because I know a lot of people don't get to go on honeymoon in medicine because wedding can take up a lot of time, but we get to do a beautiful week in Kauai because I was able to work with my program and be like, okay, I'm going to move all my vacation days around and maybe find a friend who I can switch my calls with so we can make that day possible. So I think really definitely if you choose to get married during residency, I think definitely your programs are hopefully supportive of that and if not, then that's a different story. But I think working with your chiefs to kind of work around the schedule so you can have that dream wedding and a honeymoon because I think you only, hopefully the goal is to marry only once, so you want to do it right the first time around. So advocate for yourself, I think even as a resident because our PTOs, there's not very much, but you can make that happen. I also think one of the important messages around the idea of like there not being a right time is just that, especially when it comes to having kids, is just that there isn't ever a right time because it's such a large shift. You just figure it out. You make it work. Someone gave me great advice and said, you know, if I had to choose when to have a child, oh, I would probably aim for my fourth year instead of like intern year and I took that, my husband and I took that into consideration. And so I ended up having a baby my fourth year. But then of course, you know, in the context of that, I was then breastfeeding and pumping through all of my sub-I's, okay, in surgical sub-I's. And then my surgical intern year, you know, my son was one. So I did three months of night float spread out throughout the year. And so that also pumping, breastfeeding, all this stuff. But whatever challenges, you know, that come along, you really just figure it out. And even that, and also intern year, like we were having our roof replaced and it flashed monsoon and our house flooded and we were immediately homeless. So with two dogs, a baby, it was great. And in that experience, what I learned, which speaks to your question more than anything, is really understanding that even as a resident, okay, when you match into residency, you have job security. You are likely not going to lose your job unless you intentionally kill someone, okay? Even if you unintentionally, like speaking from surgical experience. But so you have job security. And remember, you are a contracted employee. And in that means that you have rights in that contract to create really healthy boundaries and really take care of yourself in the context of that. And when it comes to health and relationships, health and family, health with your kids, that is really important to remember that like, you know, what Stacey was talking about, if you need a mental health day, if you need days, like, you know, people may give you pushback for that, but ultimately remember that holding those healthy boundaries to take care of yourself is really important. And also, just being really, setting realistic expectations in your relationships are really important too. Like in a marriage, just being like, oh, you know, I'm on this hard rotation. Theoretically, I should get home by six, but please don't expect me home at six. And saying things like that, and then being like, oh, if I make it home at five, it's like a bonus, you know? It's better to kind of err on the side of, you know, and then, and having really supportive partner. But you'll figure it, like, you'll figure it out because that's kind of what having, you know, having a family is at any point, even without being a physician, so. And I really have so much respect for women in medicine, so can we just clap for all the women in medicine, please? I want to give a shout out to Dr. Chavado over there, my colleague. Yeah, because you guys go so much, go through so much and, you know, like, so thank you. If I was, you know, looking back, fourth year medical school and, you know, just, man, I hate to use the term again about, but I'm going to change it to enjoy the process from just the process. It's kind of difficult, you know, when you're in the thick of it, you know, going through all the studying, you know, the, like, being here, like, you know, trying to hustle and meet PDs, program directors. It's tough, man. It's really tough. But you know, I look back at it now and, you know, I guess hindsight is always 20-20, right? And, you know, like, I wish I kind of just, you know, maybe relax a little bit because, you know, I did kind of, like, really put in the work. Like the talk, you know, like, you know, really, you know, self-love is so important. Like, you know, I wish I've taken, like, a mental health day because, like, there was definitely times in, you know, residency and medical school where, like, you got tough, you know. Challenges is going to hit you, but, you know, you get back up and, you know, that's a, there's this thing called growth mindset, you know. Everything that you, you know, that you end up seeing or you face an obstacle, that's an opportunity for growth mindset, you know. So it's a chance for you to learn from it and grow from it. So that's really good to keep that in mind. And then when, there's something I really wanted to say, forgot already. But yeah, so you really enjoy the process and, you know, because when you look back at it, you know, you may be like, man, I should have just really, you know, take it easy a little bit sometimes. And speaking of mental health, I think a lot of residency programs, at least Stanford offers like a counselor that you guys can talk to if you are going through a really tough time. Because I think whether your partner is in medicine or not, what we deal with on a daily basis, I mean, we, during intramural, I saw a lot of people die at the ICU and that's, you know, it doesn't hit you until later. Oh, is that on? No, no, no. Oh, okay. Sorry. Sorry. And so I think using like a counselor that's provided at your residency, you kind of talk about those things instead of like, because it's easy to lash out to, I think, when you're living with somebody you love and you come home and you're just hired. So I think kind of bucketing those things has been helpful for me personally in residency so far. Therapy is the best form of, and couples therapy. The best form of preventative medicine that exists in our world. Yes. Agreed. Thank you so very much to our panelists. So we talked about all of our learning objectives. And then again, thank you to AAP Menard and our panelists. We just wanted to be respectful of everybody's time. We will be available. Oh, yes. We do have a question or comment. Comment, yes. Do you want the... Thank you. I'll try and be brief, but I had no idea what to expect coming here. But I do, I'm perhaps a little older than some people here. I'm about to turn 60 and I have a 25 year old medical student son and a 19 year old in college. I'm a vice chair at Rusk in Manhattan, in New York. And I do feel this generational gap. And I didn't understand any of those terms until you explained them. And I'm just starting to sweat a little less because they were frightening. And I just wonder if I'm saying or thinking or doing the wrong thing and never want to do that. But I think there is a gap. And I think this is an incredible session. I think this is one of the best sessions I've ever been to. I really mean that. Thank you so much. Well, thank you guys so much. I've learned so much here and hearing all of your comments and thoughts. And I think you've got to take this to a broader audience because I think the academy needs to hear your voice. The academy is really invested in making sure that medical students and residents and early career physicians are happy and on the right trajectory. We need to understand you as you need to understand us, but this has really been helpful and such an important topic. So I really want to congratulate you. You've presented it beautifully. I could even see you doing, you know, we don't need to pay Dr. Glockenflecken or we don't need to pay them all that money. We could just have you guys up on the stage and present just like you've done now because that's going to bridge gaps. This was incredible. You've got an amazing voice, all of you. And you know, both on an academy level and on a departmental level, we need to hear this and understand because we're really invested in your well-being. I believe that, but I also know some people are not. Their just heads are off in a cloud, but we need to hear your voice. So congratulations. Amazing. Keep the conversation going and think about asking to do a plenary session. You would rock it. Thank you so very much. Thank you so much. Thank you again for everyone. Again, if you have any questions, our panelists will be here. That was very wonderful and very motivating and it's wonderful to hear that we have some support from all stages of our different careers. So thank you again. And thank you to all of you for attending as well. We hope you learned something. We're here again as a resource, not just only for today or over the weekend, but also again, if you see any of us or hopefully any of your colleagues who you find as supportive, please feel free to reach out to them again. Thank you so much. And a big round of applause to Stacy and Tracy for organizing and follow them on social media. Just a quick plug. We do fun dance videos and also advocate for our patients with disabilities on Instagram. So we hope you can find us. Thank you again. Thank you.
Video Summary
Dr. Stacey and Dr. Tracy, twin physicians specializing in PM&R sports medicine, led a session with the Academy, featuring panelists Jessica Sullivan, Hedgen Clark, and Eugene Palatulan, focusing on navigating personal and professional lives within the medical field. They discussed key topics including modern dating, relationship challenges, and family dynamics, particularly for those in demanding careers like medicine.<br /><br />The presentation covered modern dating terms like ghosting, breadcrumbing, and situationships, explaining their meanings and potential impacts on relationships. They highlighted the importance of defining personal preferences and boundaries in relationships and stressed prioritizing self-care and personal fulfillment.<br /><br />A significant portion of the discussion addressed balancing work with personal life and family planning challenges, such as egg freezing and understanding institutional resources like maternity and paternity leave. They emphasized researching and utilizing benefits like sick leave, vacation, and mental health resources to mitigate burnout and stress.<br /><br />The session also emphasized the role of supportive colleagues and leadership in fostering a work environment that respects personal needs. They encouraged setting boundaries, advocating for oneself, and using available resources effectively.<br /><br />Through personal stories, the panelists shared insights on maintaining relationships, planning families during medical training, and integrating wellness into their professional lives. Audience participation highlighted concerns about timing for family planning, maintaining identity outside of work, and balancing demanding medical careers with personal aspirations.<br /><br />The session concluded with encouragement to prioritize self-love, understand personal values, and continuously assess what brings joy and fulfillment, both within and outside professional life. The event stressed open communication, vulnerability, and adaptability in personal and professional pursuits.
Keywords
PM&R sports medicine
modern dating
relationship challenges
family dynamics
self-care
work-life balance
egg freezing
maternity leave
burnout
supportive colleagues
personal fulfillment
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