9 things I shouldn't have stopped doing

So I was standing in line at the grocery store over the weekend when I saw the following article advertised on the cover of Cosmopolitan:

"50 Things You Shouldn't Have Stopped Doing"

Now, I admit that I read my last Cosmo over a decade ago.  I also suspect that the 50 "things" on their list are rather different than where my thoughts started to go after seeing that phrase. 

Residency education is a curious field.  For my type A-ish personality, a main source of stress is knowing that my "to do" list will never be finished.  I follow up on my patients' labs, fill out their paperwork, and field their phone calls and e-mails just like private practice family docs.  (And my hat is truly off to those of you who do that for 100% of your week and not my measly 30%!)  My academic duties* are the ones that truly consume me, though, and with our move out-of-state little more than three months away, I have a ton of projects to wrap up and duties to hand off.

So between that work and the effort of finding a new house, selling our current house, getting a new state license, and applying for privileges in a new hospital, here are a few things that I shouldn't have stopped doing:

Connecting with in-town and out-of-town friends
Listening to (and loudly singing along with) Broadway showtunes
Driving with the windows open and the radio off
Eating at the dinner table
Reading for fun
Running
Sleeping in on the weekends
Going on dates with my husband
Blogging

I am quite grateful to that article headline for the self-reflection it prompted.  In the four days since, I have managed to run twice, sleep in once, and even go to the park with my husband.  I'm not fooling myself - life won't really achieve any level of normalcy until we're settled in to our new home in our new state with our new jobs - but at least I'm starting to feel like myself again.

So, what's on your list?

* For those of you who are curious or looking for a great way to induce sleep tonight, here's the list of my current responsibilities that I recently compiled for my program director:

Maintenance of own patient panel: 3 sessions/week

Outpatient precepting

Tues & Thurs afternoons
“Fill in” prn (average 2-4 additional sessions/month)

Inpatient teaching service supervision 4-6 weeks/year

 

Assistant Medical Director of our outpatient office

Coordinator of weekly “Core Content Series” educational time for residents

 

Ongoing support for outpatient EHR issues

2 Hospital committees

Management of Point of Care device policy for incoming residents

6 EHR Committees

Medical Decision Making course – assistant session leader

Provide feedback to presenters (and support fellows doing so) when lead faculty not available

Assist lead faculty with developing annual curriculum and canon of articles

 

Faculty Development Fellowship activities

Presentations: advanced precepting skills, precepting with the EHR, presentation skills, writing skills

Support for fellows at regional and national meeting
1-on-1 preceptor training

Support for residents’ presentations at regional and national meetings

FMEC
STFM

NAPCRG

Faculty advisor for 7 residents - biannual reports on & quarterly meetings with each advisee

Coordination and team-teaching of weekly tech curriculum

Recruitment

                        Tuesday afternoon FHC tours

Fill in for interviews as needed

AAFP National Conference in KC

FMEC (formerly NE STFM Region) Conference