New Years Resolutions.... Take thirty-something

Each year the majority of us vow to become thinner, smarter, better....essentially perfect. By February though, the new calendar year is so last month, the gym gets less crowded, and the boxes of candy hearts on store shelves weaken our wills. But anyone who has ever achieved anything knows that persistence is the key to reaching your goals, be it losing ten pounds or getting out of debt.

As a professional with a mound of student loans standing between me and financial freedom, I'm obsessed with frugality advice on financial blogs. (I also just came back from an amazing two week vacation with drink prices in the double digits, hence the hiatus.)

Like in this post, Irina gives tips for each month on how to avoid mindlessly blowing cash, like cutting back on eating out and booze. Keeping a spending diary to figure out what you overspend on is also a good idea. And you can never go wrong with a GroupOn.

Also if you're Netflixer, consider parting with your cable bill and investing in a Roku instead. My sig other introduced me to this wonderful little device over a year ago and you can basically watch anything you want anytime if you have internet access. Limited selections are free, but you can subscribe to live streaming services that run about 1/8 of the price of cable. (That means Hulu and Netflix.)

Pet friendly politics

An 8o hour work week kept me tragically behind my news and media gossip, so last year my fiance decided to take matters into his own hands and fill the void in my life with a People magazine subscription.

(You too can have your very own!)

 Anyway with the latest political climate brewing with accusations, anger, and way too much exaggeration, I highly appreciate a story that is the polar opposite, and I'm prompted to share this little page filler in one of the latest issues.

In the tradition of allowing non-homosapien candidates in the polls, the town of Rabbit Hash Kentucky, elected a rescue dog by the name of Brynneth Pawltro as its four-legged mayor. Votes cost a dollar and proceeds went to restore the towns 185 year old general store, which was devastated by a fire in February.

And to that I say, don't dogs have better instincts anyway?

You go girls! Female doctors make better doctors according to research

As a female physician walking into a newly admitted patient's room for the first time,  the favorite question is, "Are you a nurse?" I've been asked this so many times that the question is now permanently embedded in my radar of what to expect with a new patient encounter. Female colleagues, including an orthopedic resident who was once a boxer, an emergency room attending who pulls bullets out of people and throws tubes down their throats to resuscitate them, and a dermatologist donning 6 inch heels, have all battled the stigma of the XX genotype in having to field this question. Welcome to a gender role obsessed society, right?

This is why I was so excited to see this study:

Researchers at Harvard (thank you, Harvard) published a study in Jama concluding that patients who were taken care of by female doctors in a hospital setting were more likely to live longer after getting discharged and were less likely to get readmitted within a month of discharge. The abbreviated version: 1.5 million patients were analyzed. Diagnoses and hospital location as well as other external factors were controlled. The only thing that varied was the sex of the doctor. The outcome favored the ladies. 

And for the icing on that cake, Harvard findings confirm results from prior studies like this one on measures of quality. Women are more likely to use evidence based medicine, be more patient centered, and as redundant as it may seem to state this as someone in this biz, care. 

So now if quality of care is the new black, why are we still getting paid less than our male counterparts?

Ref: Tsugawa et al. Comparison for Hospital Mortality and Readmission Rates for Medicare Patients Treated by Male vs. Female Physicians.  JAMA Internal Med. Dec 2016

For the Love of gingerbread men ...

Here is an idea for a fun get-together... A Gingerbread Village party.

Last week our little clique of doctors rolled up their sleeves and got down and dirty building houses. Gingerbread houses, that is (or as one of us hashtagged it, Habitat for Gingerbreadmen.)

Since our time is kind of limited (as in we tend to sleep an average of 4 -5 hours on hardcore rotations), we purchased kits similar to these from JoAnn's. The cool thing is that the kits come with all the ingredients and components that you need to make a gingerbread house already (just add water!), including the plastic utensils and the candy decorations so it was super-easy. The only surprise that came with these was that the houses had to be put together and chilled 2-3 hours before the decorating.

We ordered a few pizzas, made a salad (we're in the healthcare industry after all), popped open some bottles of wine and got down to business.

We started out with these:





Here are the hyperglycemic results:

We made it a contest...the pieces of paper are entry numbers!

Now if you have the time and the baking gene, you can go al natural and make your own Gingerbread from scratch, like here. Either way, whether in the G-rated (sans alcohol) or in the adult version gingerbread house building can get your creative juices flowing and is an awesome holiday inspired team building exercise. Clean up was super easy too: we just chucked the plastic tablecloth and were left with adorable (and edible) homemade holiday decorations.

Unicorn Hot Chocolate!

How magical is this hot chocolate ? Thank you Huffington Post for finding this gem!

White hot chocolate is dyed pink, touched with vanilla and piled with marshmallows, sprinkles and whipped cream. The sugar load may be intense, but rumor has it that unicorn horns can heal the sick..... so perhaps sometimes a little sugar is just plain good for the soul...

Ms. Joanna Czikalla, pretty please send it over the rainbow to this snow-covered NYC?

Instagram: cremeandsugaroc

Caution: may cause daydreaming!

Wait, what happens in the call room?

With all the gatherings surrounding non-medical family and friends during the holiday season, there is enough eggnog and wine to go around to loosen inhibitions, which in my circles leads to open curiosity about what it's like to be in medicine. After all, medical TV shows sexed up this career ad nauseum.

1. Let's talk about call rooms
If I had a dime for every ’So what really happens in the call room?’ , my student loans would be paid off. These are your average call room contents:
- an old dorm room like mattress covered in sheets that you hope were changed sometime that month
- a phone on a wooden desk typically encased in dust that may or may not work
That is it. (Unless you count the expired roach in the corner) The only event that takes place in a call room (other than repeatedly being jolted from an hour long nap by a pager) is the occasional murder of a moderately sized insect that attempts to crawl its way over to sleep with you.

2. When we leave the office early....
.... we probably a.) ruptured an appendix or 3) lost a parent. Most likely c.) all of the above. 

3. The whole, 'Wait, so you're a doctor, are you loaded?' has got to go.

Half my salary goes to taxes, the other half to student loans. If your kids do not have a trust fund and want to go to medical school, I highly recommend setting one up. 

4. How doctors charge for what they do when you stay in the hospital
We don't. Your friendly billing department of whatever hospital you were in does. They will itemize everything (including the pain pills, the Jello on your tray, the extra night in the hospital) and send a bill to your insurance company who will decide what to reimburse. The rest is up to you. The only thing docs have power over and are responsible for is well....your life. 

5. Do you guys all sit together in the cafeteria?
Sit while you eat? I mean, who does that?

Think Pink

Welcome to this doctor meets life blog! You can find my stuff here.... themodelofhealth.com, but since I'm in the process of making an effort to keep the original site a little more medicine-y, here we go.....

Reposting a site post in an effort to smoothly transition....

.......I was grateful for the splash of pink in my snooze-worthy jeans and sweater ensemble, when I ran into the queen of pink herself. She blends pastel pinks with poise like a pro, and somehow manages to strike a fine balance between femininity and sophistication.

Not all of us are lucky enough to pull this off with such ease. I was blessed (errr, cursed) with a Bambi face so wearing pastels in my professional life strikes up the age conversation quite quickly (…. in a I-better-have-ID-when-I’m-purchasing-rosé-while-wearing-rosé kind of way.) But there are ways to pull off pastels even when you’re running with the wolves.

Like this dress..... by ALEXIS… I love the Renaissance inspired sleeves coupled with modern length

Ellena dress. V-neck, Soft peasant sleeves, A-line skirt.

…… Also, If you’re looking for some pooch friendly stocking stuffers, check out Giggy's line at Vanderpump Pets!