by Diane W. Shannon | Jul 9, 2021 | Leadership, Thriving
Karen is a 35-year-old physician recently recruited to lead a newly formed department at a large academic health system. She was new to leadership and initially let the prevailing culture dictate the ways meetings were held. There were many tangential conversations... 
by Diane W. Shannon | May 14, 2021 | Burnout, Coaching, Thriving
Toward the end of my clinical career, I didn’t feel like I had control over much at all. The patient safety issues loomed large. We used ridiculous workarounds for broken processes. The constant vigilance to provide excellent care in a suboptimal environment was... 
by Diane W. Shannon | Jan 22, 2021 | Gender, Thriving
In a previous post, I recognized lactation support for women physicians as an equity issue. Many of the women physicians I’ve interviewed have identified returning to work while breastfeeding as a major challenge and a major source of stress. Providing accommodations... 
by Diane W. Shannon | Dec 3, 2020 | Thriving
“I no longer start every day in dread,” Sheila (not her real name) told me as we completed a six-month coaching engagement. Her statement initially surprised me because that’s not how she described her interest in coaching when we began. She had simply and... by Diane W. Shannon | Nov 6, 2020 | Gender, Humanizing Medicine, Thriving
I’ve been speaking with women physicians about the top challenges they face today. I’ve learned there are many—which honestly didn’t surprise me, given that 48 precent of women physicians report burnout symptoms (compared with 37 percent of their male... by Diane W. Shannon | Sep 28, 2020 | Thriving
A few years ago, I stumbled upon what has become a regular practice for me. I refer to it, tongue in cheek, as a hobby, but honestly it may look more like obsession. At least it’s a healthy one, involving no mood-altering chemicals, empty calories, or a high risk of... 