Dear Interns

Interns! Welcome to the most beloved, heart-stirring , gut-wrenching, beautiful, mind-blowing club on earth: medicine.

I’m so glad you’re here.

A few words of wisdom & encouragement as you begin the journey of healing….

Leadership & Career, Leadership, MedicineGuest UserJuly 4, 2020Comment

My Approach to COVID-19: Open Hands

I am a doctor, small business owner, leader of 12K women physicians, and mother of four. The coronarvirus pandemic has hit me personally in varying ways. As a physician, I’ve had to think about how to give the best care while utilizing the fewest resources. I’ve had to be flexible each day as what I knew to be true yesterday, may not be true today.

Life, Leadership & Career, Women, LeadershipSasha ShillcuttJune 27, 2020 Comments

Women Physicians in the Midst of COVID-19

I am a professor and cardiac anesthesiologist who practices at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. As the majority of health centers across the world, our leaders are working around the clock to treat COVID-19 in our community. We on the front lines are preparing, educating ourselves daily on rapidly changing plans and treatments, and working to keep ourselves, our patients, and our families safe from harm.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttApril 1, 2020 Comment

From a Doctor, To Her Community

"We are doctors. We are used to reading, preparing, studying, and talking with experts before we do anything new or treat you in the best way. But we are currently in a race against time, so to speak, and in the unknown.”

Leadership, Leadership & Career, MedicineGuest UserMarch 21, 2020 Comment

We Are Anesthesiologists: What You Need to Know

Whether you are 1 day old or celebrating your 90th birthday, you are our patient. Which means we have to know a lot about diseases. We have to know about how drugs work, as we have to make sure the therapies we give you do not interact with the medicines other physicians have prescribed to you. No disease exists that we do not have to know something about, because you all are in our care.

Medicine, Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttJune 5, 2019anesthesiologist, physicians, patientsfirst Comments

Fix Us STAT: A Call To Action

You cannot work in medicine today without being inundated with burnout statistics and commentary on your feed, coming to your inbox, or spoken from stages about the state of medicine we are in. The data is dire: we are disengaged, we are making mistakes, we are not heard, and we are not empowered to make decisions.

Leadership & CareerGuest UserApril 19, 2019 Comment

Advice to the Younger Me

As a woman in medicine, where the odds for pay, promotion and leadership are stacked against me, I feel obligated to light the path for younger women who come behind me. It has taken me a while to be comfortable with my style of leadership, own my own voice, be able to regroup after rejection, and tolerate feeling on display and yet often invisible.

Leadership & CareerGuest UserJanuary 7, 2019#womeninleadership, #wellbeing, #womeninmedicine, #womenempowerment #physicianmom #thebraveenoughshow #podcasts #shespeaks #womensupportingwomen #wellbeing #resilience #worklifebalance #burnout #personaldevelopment #womeninmed #womeninleadership #womensupportingwomen #physicianwellbeing #blogger #womenbeingkind Comment

Saying Goodbye

There are moments as an anesthesiologist you can’t erase. No matter how long you go home and sleep, or how many days pass, you won’t forget it. All of these moments involve saying goodbye; while the scenarios change, the message is the same.

Leadership & Career, LeadershipGuest UserOctober 29, 2018#womenempowerment #physicianmom #thebraveenoughshow #podcasts #shespeaks #womensupportingwomen #wellbeing #resilience #worklifebalance #burnout #personaldevelopment #womeninmed #womeninleadership #womensupportingwomen #physicianwellbeing #blogger #womenbeingkind Comments

Can We Count On You

I believe involving women and Under Represented Minorities(URMs)at every level of organization leadership is crucial to the advancement of our societies.

Leadership & CareerGuest UserAugust 31, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadership, #resilience, #physicianwellbeing, #womenbeingkind, #womensupportingwomen, #personalgrowth, #personaldevelopment, #womenempowerment #physicianmomComment

The Gift of Criticism

“Yes, you are like that,” said my husband one night as I was lamenting criticism I had heard about myself that day. “I am?” I asked, shocked, a little hurt, and angry. “You are, “ he replied. “Everyone who knows you knows this.”

Gulp.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttJune 28, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadershipComment

A Healer Lost

I lost a friend this month. She was a surgeon; she was one of us.

We lost her.

So did her patients. All the ones she helped. The ones she saved.

So did her hospital, her nurses, her techs.

So did her family. All the love, coming to a screeching halt.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttJune 21, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadership Comments

My Top 10 Tips for the Young Physician

How do I balance my home life with physician life?

I really want to do a research study. How do I start?

These are a few of the questions I am often asked by junior physicians, or even peer physicians. I thought I’d share with you some the top 10 pearls I share with others, as you may find something helpful.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttMay 11, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadershipComment

Enough

Recently someone asked me how I started Brave Enough. The person, a physician, wondered how I made the jump from safe, traditional academia into the world of social media and blogging about women empowerment.

“Did you have one moment? Did something happen? What was it?”

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttMay 3, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadership Comment

Put Women and Minorities on the Stage

I often speak on stages at conferences. I am often the only woman and sit on what some have called “manels”. I love to teach large groups, and I enjoy medical and leadership conferences.

I used to take pride being “the only woman” on stage.

Not anymore.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttApril 26, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadership Comment

InCrowd: What Does it Mean to be a Woman in Medicine?

I tell them that we need them. We need their creativity, collaboration, leadership and innovation. We need their excellence and compassion. We need their hands and their brains. We need their teamwork, ideas and scientific discovery.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttApril 20, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadershipComment

Medicine Requires Trust

Medicine requires a large number of teams. A physician may spend her day with multiple teams – made up of different groups.

Nurses. Technicians. Pharmacists. Physicians. Physical therapists. Perfusionists. Multiple people, each with different skills, must trust one another to take care of a single patient.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttMarch 28, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadershipComment

White Coat Diary: A Day in My Life

My audience understands the struggle of being pulled in a thousand directions...White Coat Diary on Doximity shared how I spend my days in and outside the hospital. The article details what I do from the time I get up to workout at 5 a.m. to when I (finally) go to bed at 10 p.m.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttMarch 21, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadership Comment

Confessions of an Anesthesiologist

I am on my first week of vacation with my kids since last August. It's nothing I'm proud of - in fact, I'm ashamed of this fact...I'm entering conference travel season, and I've been dreaming of a week away from the hospital for months. Our cardiac anesthesia team is short - getting vacation is like finding a black chevron Chanel mini.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttMarch 20, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadershipComment

Wellbeing: A Team Sport

Physician burnout is an epidemic. For the last several years, 50% of physicians surveyed in the United States report feeling clinical burnout, which entails emotional exhaustion, lack of personal accomplishment, and depersonalization.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttFebruary 21, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadershipComment

#metoo Medicine

In the aftermath of the incredible courage shown by so many women during the #metoo movement, one of the most critical things we must do is to continue the conversation, friend to friend, colleague to colleague, leader to leader.

Leadership & CareerSasha ShillcuttJanuary 31, 2018#medtwitter, #womeninmed, #womeninStem, #womenphysicians, #wellbeing, #girlmedtwitter, #womeninleadership Comment

Resources