Nathalie Martinek PhD Profile picture
May 11, 2018 17 tweets 4 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
#FridayNightMusings
The end of my week involves reflecting on my week and what I've learned from my experiences & conversations with others. Topics in my awareness are gender inequality in medicine, physician burnout, abuse in healthcare & sharing/oversharing our stories 1/
There are those here who strive to inspire peers, provide a space for connection & rally for change through the various discussion threads. It's clear to me that there's a lot of passion & desire to do great things in the world by those who I follow/see in my feed. 2/
I can also feel the collective frustration/anger/angst/sadness/resignation/sympathy/name that heavy emotion when any of our efforts aimed at success & liberation from system constraints appear to be blocked by injustice, abuse, ineffective strategy or poor communication. 3/
These feelings inspire discussion threads of activism & solidarity and thus, connection. It's wonderful when we discover our peeps - it's reassuring to know we're not going through our stuff all alone. It helps us feel validated & seen. With every positive there's also negative 4
Due to our desire to experience a different reality, ie HCPs can do their work & end their shift with more energy than when they started or everyone feels respected & valued or women have the same opportunities as men or emotional sensitivity is seen as an asset & so on, 5/
we start to focus more on the problems & injustices. We see examples of inequality, sexism, racism, bullying & all forms of abuse play out daily at work & other areas of life. Indeed, it's important to acknowledge the causes to personal, professional & existential harm. 6/
Yet, these represent one reality that's unfolding simultaneously to other realities. Those other realities also include expressions of equality, fairness, kindness, compassion, resolution, leadership, respect & cooperation. If these are the components of the reality we want 7/
then we need to shift our gaze to see them hidden in plain sight. We need to talk about the moments when we caught a glimpse of that reality more often & share ideas of the tools we're using to see it. Then we'll start to discover that those moments increase in frequency 8/
and stretch into hours into days into a culture that looks and feels like the reality that we've wanted all along but believed wasn't there. It will all seem so normal, until the next challenge appears to get us to refocus on our vision & purpose once again. 9/
We can't wait until we attain positions of leadership or those appointed to positions of 'leadership' for change to occur because we're still giving our power away to someone else to be the saviour & giving it away to some mythical position or status that finally gives us 10/
permission & perceived security to take action toward beneficial change. There is no saviour or authority in charge of creating the reality that already exists. Each of us is the authority, leader & changemaker who can use our minds, actions and voices to focus 11/
on what's working well & how to to do more of it. We might need to work with models who can mentor us in leadership skills so that we can express the qualities that we so badly want to see in medical/healthcare culture with skill in an effort to create that new way, 12/
even if others aren't. And when others aren't, it's so easy to drop into cynicism to mask our underlying disappointment & a weapon against potential disappointment that leads to blaming others/system for not living up to our expectations & fulfilling our desires to experience 13/
our ideal reality. This is the pedestal effect.

Each of us is responsible for seeing the good that's already there. Be the change & be it even when no one else is because you never know who's watching & seeing you as their model for leadership, hope & change in motion. FIN .
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More from @NatsforDocs

May 24, 2018
I mentor & coach physicians on their wellbeing & how to use their energy wisely.

Just as there are people called to work in healthcare, it's my calling to serve those who help people in their most vulnerable times & phases of life to continually have the capacity to do it.
Somewhere along the journey to becoming a physician, students started believing that they should be able to handle everything they're exposed to & developed messy coping habits that impact on their ability to connect with others & self in healthy ways.
Healers need healers otherwise they will fail to recognise how their own suffering can become a source of wisdom to apply in their work with patients & in supporting their peers/colleagues. Instead, personal suffering or denial of it, can take one's mind into dark places.
Read 10 tweets
May 15, 2018
THREAD:

Being an entrepreneur comes with a sense of freedom & none of the institutional limits on creativity. Yet unless I'm consulting within an organisation or connected to community, it can feel lonely & isolating. Online communities are great for support but it's not enough.
I've seen the negative effects of people investing all their time/energy in networking online & draining group dynamics. I realised that one of my values is to participate in collaborations that involve physical meet ups or at least in the potential of physical meetups. 2/
What can I say? I derive inspiration from in person experiences. So it's not surprising that I notice changes in my thinking patterns & emotional landscape when my interactions are more virtual than physical. It's de-motivating & raises mental health alarm bells 3/
Read 20 tweets
May 8, 2018
This is my commentary on #twitter #movements. Before I go I want to preface this with a statement: I love humans. We're amazing creative & powerful beings. I'm fascinated by human behaviour and the hidden motivations underlying our basic need to belong. 1/
I've observed some movements taking off on Twitter. Some for #MedEd, raising awareness, knowledge sharing, inspiration and sharing failings, wounds & triumphs. Generally they support creative expression in 280 characters. Awesome! 2/
As these movements gain momentum, more people want to join in b/c #belonging. I'm seeing a disturbing trend of sharing experiences of patients/clients to promote how deep & human they are. Some are purely intended, some not. 3/
Read 21 tweets
May 1, 2018
I’m going to pitch in here. A lot of what’s considered burnout is actually compassion fatigue. Poor understanding of either which affects types of interventions, prevention & support available. Let’s also remember how boys are socialised to be ‘men’.
Depersonalisation: shut down of empathy to cope. Emotional exhaustion: too much empathy & absorbing emotional burden + vicarious trauma thrown in. Both contribute to compassion fatigue-looks like burnout but isn’t.
Burnout is related to untenable/unsustainable work conditions rather than emotional labour. Burnout is the signal that your ideal life doesn’t match your reality & you’re working hard to maintain what you have rather than make choices that move toward ideal. Energy sucking life.
Read 9 tweets
Apr 27, 2018
Some thoughts: There seems to be an assumption in #medicine that patients receive the best care based on best evidence, where evidence usually means quantitative research (my assumption). Yet quality of care is dependent on personal characteristics of each health professional 1/
Knowledge derived from evidence is insufficient to translate into behavioural changes that support the 'best care' intention. Science-based evidence must be channeled through unquantifiable characteristics expressed by each individual health professional to provide best care 2/
These characteristics include: empathy, kindness, unconditional positive regard, non-judgemental attitude, empathic listening, intuition, warmth, encouragement, hope and so on. If we're touting science-based medicine, it must also include practice-based evidence 3/
Read 11 tweets
Apr 18, 2018
Wellbeing preservation in healthcare (within your control)

1. Stable & trusting connections to others
2. Connection to self - meditation, self-reflection, self-examination ie. quiet time
3. Connection to your environment/Nature

#medtwitter #phdchat #MH4Docs #womeninmedicine
1/
4. Connection to your purpose (your Why) & desire to serve wellbeing of others
5. Peer support & group reflective practice w/ agreements to preserve confidentiality, respect, non-judgement & openness
6. Mentoring by someone who has qualities you want/admire & skills you need

2/
7. Therapy with someone who can see in you what you can’t ie. your strengths, growing edges & blind spots)
8. Have a life & interests outside of your profession
9. Trust your intuition by listening to it and following through. If something feels ‘off’ it is.

3/
Read 5 tweets

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