Join us on a journey through the compelling story of Dr. Beatrice Garrido, a resident physician whose path to pediatrics and global health is as unique as it is inspiring. Listen in as Dr. Garrido shares how her early dreams of becoming a veterinarian led her to the intricate world of human medicine, fueled by a pivotal moment with her mother. Her choice to pursue a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree showcases a commitment to a holistic approach, which she passionately integrates into her practice. This episode promises to enlighten listeners about the profound impact of diverse healthcare roles, including her invaluable experience as a medical interpreter at the NIH, and how these roles enriched her journey as a compassionate caregiver.
From handling the emotional rollercoaster of medical school to navigating the challenging match process, Dr. Garrido opens up about the highs and lows of pursuing a career in pediatrics. Discover how the early struggles and the realization of her true calling shaped her path. Through personal anecdotes, she reveals how mentors provided guidance and support, helping her overcome the hurdles of medical residency specializations. The episode captures the essence of resilience, the strategic pivoting from initial interests in surgery and emergency medicine back to her roots in pediatrics, and the gratifying moment of securing a residency position against all odds.
Peek into the demanding world of a pediatric resident as Dr. Garrido shares her routines, the intensity of hospital rotations, and the strategies she employs to combat burnout. This episode offers a candid exploration of the personal toll of burnout and the techniques she uses to maintain mental health and provide optimal patient care. Learn from Dr. Garrido’s experiences about the importance of self-care, support systems, and staying true to one's passion in the field of medicine. Whether you're an aspiring medical professional or simply intrigued by the human side of healthcare, this episode offers insights and encouragement to navigate the challenges and celebrate the triumphs of a medical career.
Virtual shadowing is an important tool to use when planning your medical career. At Shadow Me Next! we want to provide you with the resources you need to find your role in healthcare and secure your place in medicine.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ashley (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast where
I take you into and behind thescenes of the medical world to
provide you with a deeperunderstanding of the human side
of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
It is my pleasure to introduceyou to incredible members of the
(00:22):
healthcare field and uncovertheir unique stories, the joys
and challenges they face andwhat drives them in their
careers.
It's access you want andstories you need, whether you're
a pre-health student or simplycurious about the healthcare
field.
I invite you to join me as wetake a conversational and
personal look into the lives andminds of leaders in medicine.
(00:43):
I don't want you to miss asingle one of these
conversations, so make sure thatyou subscribe to this podcast,
which will automatically notifyyou when new episodes are
dropped, and follow us onInstagram and Facebook at Shadow
Me Next, where we will reviewhighlights from this
conversation and where I'll giveyou sneak previews of our
upcoming guests.
Today on Shadow Me Next, I am sopleased to introduce you to Dr
(01:07):
Beatrice Garrido, a residentphysician with a passion for
pediatrics and global health.
Dr Garrido has a very uniquestory, both in her path to
medicine and in her journey as apediatric resident physician.
Before stepping into her roleas a physician, dr Garrido built
a fascinating foundation inhealthcare.
She's worked as a clinicaltechnician, assisted in
(01:29):
laboratories and even gainedhands-on experience as a
veterinary tech.
Most impressively, she also hadan incredible experience as a
medical interpreter at the NIH,helping Spanish-speaking
patients navigate thecomplexities of our healthcare
system.
In this episode, we'll talkabout how dreams can change, the
(01:49):
pivotal moments that led her tomedicine, her experiences
working in different healthcareroles and how to care for
yourself as a healthcareprovider.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only and
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
(02:10):
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are
those of the host and guests anddo not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position ofany other agency, organization,
employer or company.
This is Shadow Me Next with DrBeatrice Garrido.
Hey, dr Garrido, thank you somuch for joining me on Shadow Me
(02:31):
Next this evening.
I am so excited to hear aboutwhat you're doing in medicine
right now, and you are pastmidpoint in your residency
journey right now, which is ahuge accomplishment.
So congratulations on that.
But I think at this point, youhave so much experience under
your belt and so many amazingthings that you have learned,
(02:53):
whether they're good or bad,they are amazing and they're
really shaping you as aclinician and they are allowing
you to shape us.
So thanks for being here,thanks for joining us.
I'm just so excited to have you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much.
So first tell us what you do,tell us your title now, and then
(03:14):
, if you can take us back, takeus back to the moment you first
started realizing that maybemedicine was going to be in your
career path medicine was goingto be in your career path.
Dr. Garrido (03:28):
Yeah, so currently my title is I'm Dr Beatrice
Garrido and I'm a DO, so I'm adoctor of osteopathic medicine,
which is just one of the twopathways you can take to be a
physician in the United States.
So DO versus MD, which is thewhat you've traditionally heard
doctor of medicine, we practiceessentially the same.
Our training is just a littlebit different.
Where in DO school doctor ofosteopathic medicine we take
(03:51):
time to learn osteopathicmanipulative medicine, which is
where we work with the body.
So we put hands on the body andwe work with manipulation of
the body to help the body healitself, but we do more of a
whole body perspective.
So I did not always want to bea physician, or I think I didn't
know that I wanted to be aphysician until I graduated
college.
I always wanted to be aveterinarian.
(04:13):
That was my life goal.
I went to college, I did myveterinary medicine courses.
I was pre-vet.
I did get lucky when I decidedto be a physician, because
pre-vet has you do more sciencecourses as requirement than you
do as a pre-med.
So I had all my prereqs plussome more.
I finished college, I applied,or during my third year of
(04:36):
college to fourth, I appliedveterinary medicine.
I didn't get in to veterinaryschools.
I had so much experience.
My whole undergrad was workingat veterinary hospitals being a
veterinary tech.
I had so much experience.
My whole undergrad was workingat veterinary hospitals being a
veterinary tech, doing all thehands-on things.
I love that.
And you kind of start thinkinglike, well, I'm a person who's a
doer.
I'm like, okay, let's go again,go get her.
I said, okay, didn't get in,let's do it again One more year.
(04:57):
I mean, I was devastated, butlet's do it again.
And my mom, being the wisewoman that she is, would often,
toward the end of my collegecareer, she kind of started
pondering.
She'd be like are you surethat's what you want to do?
Are you sure you want to be aveterinarian?
Is there nothing else you wantto do?
Like you sure you want to dothat for the rest of your life?
And I'd be like, yeah, ofcourse I love science, which I
(05:19):
always have.
I've always wanted to be somesort of like a doctor.
But in veterinary medicine Ilike biology, I like how the
body works, like it's justincredible to me.
And I'd just be like, yeah,kind of like blow her off, it's
like nothing else.
And then sometimes I'd be like,well, you know, now that you're
asking, I mean I love kids Likeif I'm not a veterinarian, I
would go into medical school andbe a pediatrician and we would
(05:43):
kind of just like randomly talkthose things.
I never thought it was possible.
Like I thought I couldn't dealwith human medicine and with
kind of just caring for humansbecause it like I didn't think I
was capable of it.
And so that last summer that Ididn't get in, we have a family
friend that had done aninternship for Hispanic college
(06:06):
students and we put them ingovernment agencies to do an
internship.
So I applied for them.
My mom's like apply for that,it's going to be great.
I literally applied a weekbefore the deadline, got all my
letters of rec in and a weekafter the application I get a
phone call saying hey, we'rereaching out to you from the
National Institutes of Health.
You have a pre-interview,because the National Institutes
(06:30):
of Health always does apre-interview with various
people before their interview tosee if you qualify, to see what
they think of you.
And I'm like, ok, I didn't knowwhat the age was, by the way,
because I was in medicine, I hadno idea.
And I'm telling my mom andshe's like do it.
I'm like it's weird, it's in DCand I don't know, it's human
(06:50):
medicine, I don't like it.
And she's like do it.
I said okay, and I get on thephone and it is two wonderful
interpreter women who went toschool for interpreting.
And this is Spanish Englishinterpreting.
I'm bilingual in Spanish andEnglish and they're they're
literally just like drilling me.
They're like all right, we'regoing to have a conversation.
I'm the doctor, she's thepatient and you are the
interpreter.
Go and I'm like so I ranthrough all of that and like
(07:12):
okay, thank you, we hang up.
And then what, not too longlater they called me back, like
okay, you got it.
Ashley (07:18):
So I was like well, I'm going to BC for the summer.
Here on shadow me next, we havea segment called quality
questions, which is where wediscuss some of the most
memorable interview questionswith these amazing leaders in
healthcare.
Keep in mind that there's moreinterview prep, such as mock
interviews and personalstatement review, over on shadow
(07:41):
me nextcom.
There you'll find amazingresources to help you as you
prepare to answer your ownquality questions.
Dr Grado and I did not discussa quality question.
However, her experience withthe National Institute of Health
brings up a perfect example.
A lot of times during aninterview, an interviewer will
(08:01):
ask you tell me about ameaningful experience that you
have had that has led you toyour interest in medicine, and
this is a perfect example.
This was an internship that DrGreedo took and will explain
that actually ended up changingher path from veterinarian to
physician.
These experiences, I understand, can be really hard to come by,
(08:24):
but if you keep your eyes openand your heart willing, then
sometimes these experiencesmight just offer you the same
opportunity.
Dr. Garrido (08:35):
In my mind I was still going to be a veterinarian
.
So I went to the NationalInstitutes of Health that summer
it was in 2015 and I spent twomonths interpreting for them,
and that is where I felt thatcalling to be a physician.
So I'm a Christian and I wentthere and I was, you know, wow,
this is weird.
I'm going for human medicine,but I've always wanted to be a
veterinarian.
Is this those conversations mymom and I used to have about?
(08:58):
Hmm should, do you really wantto be that?
And while I was there, you know, I did lots of pondering, I
mean lots of praying, of course,and I felt a huge, like weight
of this.
This is what you have to do.
And while I was there, I toldthem hey, I, I'd like to see
(09:20):
kids, I'd like to interpret forfamilies with kids and they
would give me lots of familieswith kids.
And it was just mind blowing,wow, the difference that the NIH
made in those families ofbringing people.
I mean, these are people withdiseases that are incurable,
diseases that you'd never heardof, and they come to the
National Institutes of Healthfrom all over the world.
As an interpreter, I wasproviding them the ability to
(09:42):
receive care in a language theyunderstood, without like, like
they were just able to receivecare as if they were home.
And the mission that the NIHhad of bringing these kiddos and
well, all families from allover the world and providing
care for them interdisciplinarywork.
So you had physicians,physician assistants, nurse
(10:04):
practitioners, RNs, and you hadinterpreters.
You have medical students, youhave fellows, geneticists, just
plain PhD researchers comingtogether to work on one family.
And family would get care, fromdental care to physical rehab
(10:26):
to genetics conversations, andthey would spend a week or
months, depending on the trialthat they were there, just
receiving care for free tofigure out what they had and how
we could develop treatments forthese patients.
And I was like this is it?
I was like this.
Ashley (10:47):
This is it.
That's amazing.
What an incredible story.
First of all, I just want tohighlight the power of your
mother and her voice, becauseyou know, we all need voices
like that in our lives, voicesthat support us literally no
matter what, but that alsochallenge us to see perhaps
another angle and to see otherthings.
And we might write them off,like you said earlier, we might
(11:09):
just listen to them, becausethey are our mother, but at some
point, I think the Lord justopens up a door for us and we
recognize what's in that doorbecause of some things that
somebody, one of our mentors,one of our loved ones, has said
to us in the past.
And you know, I believe inspeaking truth over people, even
before they realize it is theirtruth.
(11:30):
And that's like literally whatyou are just describing, which
thank you.
I'm so glad you're in humanmedicine.
Veterinary medicine isincredible and I think it
probably has set you up to bethe most compassionate
communicative pediatrician,because I go to my vet's office
(11:51):
and they are amazing.
I leave there feeling somotivated to be a better
clinician and to be moresympathetic to my patients
because they just sit on thefloor with my dog who's so
nervous and they just love himand they're offering medical
care.
They are, but they're offeringcomfort first.
And my dog who's so nervous?
And they just love him andthey're offering medical care.
They are, but they're offeringcomfort first.
Yes, and I think that's soimportant, especially for you,
especially working withpediatric patients, but you are
(12:14):
also working with their parents,right, very intimately, very
intimately.
So, so thank you to your mother.
And what an incredibleopportunity.
The NIH.
I'm going to include somethingabout that in the show notes
because I think that is such aninteresting outlet for some
people that maybe might beinterested in doing something
similar.
Not necessarily that, but youknow there are opportunities out
there to really help exactlywhere you are, and it can be
(12:38):
life-changing, as it was for you.
Let's get back to being aveterinary technician, because
this is the first time I'veheard of somebody who started
off pre-vet and then shifted anentire species to humans, which
I think has been so good.
But your path to medicine?
So you mentioned a couple ofthings a clinical technician, a
(13:00):
veterinary technician, which isanimals, and then a medical
interpreter also.
We've known how that has ledyou to medicine.
But are those things, thosehistorical things, still
impacting the way that youpractice right now.
Dr. Garrido (13:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's funny I mean you touchedon it already with going to your
veterinarian's hospital, to theveterinarian business.
I would say it's kind of likeone of my first building stones
patient care, but also customercare because in veterinary
medicine we are making sure that, one, the pet, which is our
patient, is comfortable.
(13:36):
And because they're scared,they don't know what you're
doing, they're like who are you?
You're a stranger.
The caregiver, which is aparent, also feels comfortable
and, like you, care for theirpet and like you know what
you're doing.
And three, they don't speak toyou.
So you know a lot of ourpediatric patients.
(13:56):
They're obviously on theyounger ones.
You have to treat symptomsreally often and you have to be
a detective on what is happeningand you have to rely on the
parent and caregiver history topiece together your puzzle, to
see okay, well, one, what arethey telling me?
Two, what does that mean?
(14:17):
Three, like, how am I going totreat or what am I going to do
about it?
Am I going to treat it assomething treatable?
Also, again, you're mostlyinteracting with the caregiver
and with the parent and I didlearn a lot of customer care and
you know dealing with people.
You know we're not the easiest.
You kind of have to die toyourself a little bit and you
(14:39):
know that pride has to go down.
And so, excuse me, you like Ilearned to to as the years pass.
This is something you learnwith time to be a listener and
my background in veterinarybeing a veterinary assistant
they're you know.
They know best.
They're with their child 24-7.
(15:00):
When they come in and say Idon't know they're not walking
right, the walk may lookinsignificant to you but it's
not to them.
So you have to listen to themand you have to take everything
they say as something serious.
And so I did start to learn.
Like that kind of gave me abuilding block on listening.
Ashley (15:17):
Which is it's something that's so.
It seems so elementary.
Of course we listen to ourpatients, but I think the more
we practice and I'm so glad youmentioned kind of that dying to
self, that humility, because itis a morning reminder every
single day that we've alreadystarted thinking about when we
(15:44):
see the patient description onthe computer when they arrive,
put all of those aside andlisten first, listen first.
I love in PA school they tellyou to give the patient their
five minutes of fame.
So they say, right, you justlisten for five minutes.
A lot of patients want morethan five minutes and a lot of
patients need five minutes orlonger.
But but you know we have to bereminded to listen.
(16:08):
So I'm so glad you brought thatup.
And I think that veterinarymedicine because your animals,
unless you're interacting with avery cool parrot, they're not
going to talk to you.
I think that is so cool and Ithink it's such an incredible
introduction to patient care andhow to interact with others.
So I think that is so cool.
(16:30):
Now let's go back to medicalschool.
So you went to DA school andyou briefly explained a little
bit about that Overall bigoverarching theme.
How was medical school for you?
Was it a walk in the park afteryou'd taken all those science
classes?
Was it still pretty challenging?
Dr. Garrido (16:46):
Yeah, it was the most challenging educational
experience I've ever had in mylife.
It was really tough.
And so, also to get to medicalschool, I ended up doing a
master's program.
So my medical school offeredthat master's program for
pre-med students who hadn't goneinto med school initially or
(17:06):
wanted a gap break to see ifthis is what they actually
wanted.
So I did that program whichgave me guaranteed acceptance to
medical school.
Now that was like a nine monthlike fast paced learn all the
sciences.
But it was such a good buildingstone for me because I had, by
that point I had been out ofcollege for two years and
(17:27):
honestly, my study habits werenot very good Like high school
and college.
Like I was very.
It was easy for me to learn andget through but I wasn't very
applied.
And so going through thismaster's program made me meet
people who already had reallygood study habits and it kind of
just gave me that buildingblock on how I needed to study
(17:48):
for medical school.
Medical school was still hard,like it was still hard, but I
knew what to do.
I came in with a good knowledgeLike I had my anatomies down, I
had a lot of immunologysciences down and histology,
kind of embryology, like basicsciences down, that were super
helpful.
But I think that the hours thatyou have to put into medical
(18:11):
school, the amount of time youhave to put into studying and
the amount of time you kind ofhave to again die to yourself
because you're giving up yourtwenties to study and you are in
school most of the time.
It's lectures, exam labs, gohome and study Lectures, exam
labs, go home and study.
(18:32):
Four, four years, well, twoyears of just didactics but just
classroom learning.
Those were really tough, andthen two years of clinical
learning, which I liked muchbetter.
It was a sigh of relief formyself once I got into those
clinical years.
Ashley (18:47):
Yeah, I mean as a people person.
It makes sense too.
At that point you're startingto apply that knowledge that
you've worked so hard to learnover the last two years and you
really start to see the finishline.
At that point I mean it's stillvery far away, but you do see
the finish line At least you'reusing your knowledge to improve
the lives of others and it doeshelp.
There's still a lot to do, butit does help.
(19:09):
So at that point you graduatefrom medical school and from DO
school and you have obviouslybeen interested in pediatrics
from the beginning.
You apply for a pediatricresidency.
Is that how that works?
Dr. Garrido (19:23):
next, apply for a pediatric residency.
Is that how that works next?
Well, another plot twist,because while I was in medical
school I went in initially likeokay, I like kids, I'm going to
be pediatrician.
But while I was preparing to goto medical school, I was
working.
I worked in an operating room.
I really did like that.
As a veterinary technician.
(19:43):
Before all of this, I got to doa lot of hands-on work and I
liked using my hands.
I was like I like surgery, Ilike fast-paced, I like the
hospital.
I don't want to be in a nine tofive, I don't want to be clinic
.
So I went into medical school,kind of just like with the uh,
I'm open.
Through medical school Istarted to think like, well, I
like surgery, but I would onlydo it with kids.
(20:08):
And then I had a long period oftime where I was like, well, I
like emergency medicine, butwith kids, and I just wanted to
do the fast-paced, the hard, thehands-on, immediate
gratification.
And by my fourth year I thoughtI was going to apply to surgery
and I really thought about it.
So surgery is a five yearspecialty.
(20:28):
So a five year residency,that's general surgery.
And then you have to apply anextra for an extra two years
after that to do pediatrics ifyou want to do kids, and so it
would be seven years at leastfor pediatrics, you need
research in the middle.
So you know, a gap year plustwo years kind of.
It works kind of that way and Iwas like I didn't have the best
(20:50):
grades, which honestly I'mthankful for.
Now.
It's given me a lot of humilityand I struggled through medical
school.
I have so much, you know,compassion for people who are
struggling too, and I applied, Igot an audition so for in your
third and in your fourth year ofmedical school, once you start
applying you have to go throughthis system similar to your
(21:10):
medical school application page,and you go through the system
and you apply to the specialtiesthat you want and to the
programs that you want.
But a big thing is doingaudition rotations where you go
in person and you act as anintern kind of and if you
similar um, and you basically doa life as a resident for a
(21:31):
month and, and so I didn't domany of those and I had one set
up for surgery and like prettymuch about a week into it with
talking with one advisor I didour school did like mock
interviews for us, and I wasdoing one mock interview for
surgery.
It went fine.
But looking at my scores, mymedical school grades and my
(21:55):
actual desire to just be apediatric surgeon, I ended up
deciding no, that's not going towork.
And so I ended up only applyingfor pediatrics.
And so I ended up only applyingfor pediatrics and so I put in
a bunch of applications forpediatrics and I didn't get in.
By the end of all of thisapplication system, my anxiety
(22:15):
was off the roof pretty muchevery medical student because
you feel like, oh my gosh, if Idon't get a residency, my life
is over.
I have debts, crazy debts, andI have nothing to do with this
degree because you really don'tin the United States.
You have nothing to do withyour degree.
And so I freaked out.
When it got to what we callmatch week, which is at the end
(22:37):
of the application cycle in thespring.
Everybody gets a letter thatsays hey, you got in somewhere
or you did not get in anywhere.
And I got the letter or theemail that said I didn't get in
anywhere.
That was extremely devastating.
That day I spent that matchweek doing back-to-back kind of
(22:58):
like like.
What is it like rapid fireinterviews with programs that
hadn't filled all of their spots, and so I basically, the same
way you apply initially, youapply for what this is called.
This is the SOAP, soSupplemental Offer of Acceptance
Process or Program, not sure.
And I did this week of where Iapplied to all of the open
(23:22):
pediatric specialties and Iapplied to some family medicine
specialties because my advisorstold me to I was not interested
in that but I want a job, right,and I did all of that I had.
I don't even know like I had alot of interviews within four
(23:42):
days where you just get hey, youget a phone call from a program
director, hey, we're interestedin you, our program needs a
couple of spots to fill.
Can we talk at 1 PM?
And it's like you know noon orsomething, and you're like, oh
my gosh, so you have zoominterviews, you have phone calls
it's cold calls, everybody'scalling you so for three days.
And then on at the end of thosethree days, I got a, I got
(24:05):
offers.
So you get offers from theplace.
That that's.
It's kind of like the sameprocess, just condensed.
Speed dating, yeah, Totallyspeed dating with prospective
programs.
And so I got multiple offers.
I got some family medicineoffers and I got some pediatric
offers and of course that's whenI chose out of the few
pediatric ones where I am.
Ashley (24:26):
I am so grateful that you shared that experience this
is a story for a lot of peopleand it is terrifying.
Dr. Garrido (24:36):
It's terrifying.
Ashley (24:38):
And last episode, I just spoke to a man who works with
students a little bit of adifferent thing, but works with
PA students who have failedtheir board exam.
So they went, they went throughtwo years of school.
They have to pass this boardexam in order to use their
degree and they have failed andthey have failed, and they have
failed and they're on theirfourth failure and they're
(25:01):
panicking because, like you said, you have debt and you have
dreams I forget about.
And they're panicking Because,like you said, you have debt and
you have dreams.
I mean, forget about debt for asecond.
You have dreams, and it's hard.
And hearing these successstories and you are in this
incredible position right now,despite all those challenges and
perhaps because of thosechallenges oh, it's just so
(25:21):
great.
So thank you for sharing that,because I know that's going to
resonate with people deeply.
It resonates with me deeply.
Tell us about a day in yourlife.
Now you have arrived, you arefulfilling your dream, you're
working with your patients andtheir caregivers.
I'm sure every day it isexactly what you want to do, but
I'm also sure that there arechallenges.
So walk us through a day inyour life as a resident
(25:42):
physician, walk us through a dayin your life as a resident
physician.
Dr. Garrido (25:44):
So a day in my life depends on which rotation I
am in.
So in residency, depending theresidency that you're in.
But because there are so manysubspecialties with every
medical specialty, residency islike a general let's get you
prepared for everything and kindof, you know, get you prepared
for everything that you may wantto do.
(26:04):
But we need to make you a goodgeneral practitioner as well.
And so, depending on therotation that I am, um, my day,
my day, varies.
For example, I talked to youabout, like my roughest rotation
.
That's when I'm in the hospital.
So when I'm in the hospital wejust do the general pediatric
service and this is just like,hey, when kiddos are sick, they
go to the hospital.
It could be anything as simpleas just a really rough cold,
(26:27):
they've got the flu, they haveto be in the hospital, or RSV
for babies and or something youknow as complicated as hey, car
crash completely you know, kiddo, all of these things, and we
see that spectrum of patientsfrom super healthy to really
critical condition.
So in the general pediatrichospital floor my day starts at
(26:51):
545, 550 am and we work 12 hourdays 5, 45, 5, 50 AM and we work
12 hour days and so I am thereuntil six, six thirties, which
ends up being 13, 14 hours,right, and we do this for five
to six days at a time and whenwe're in that hospital and
(27:12):
that's that month.
So I basically I mean I snoozeto the end.
Oh my gosh, I'll go to bed,grab my coffee and get to work.
When we get to work, thepractice is to sign out.
So the hospital has coverage 24seven.
So we have the night residentswho are there taking care of the
patients overnight, and youhave the day residents.
If you are in the day team, youget in right before 6am.
At 6am sharp we start signed outand the sign out is just a
(27:36):
brief kind of just who thepatients are one by one and what
happened during that shift orsignificant events that happened
during that shift and whatneeds to be done during the
coming shift.
So we talk about that.
That takes about, depending howbusy the services between you
know, 15 minutes to an hour, itjust depends how busy the
services.
And after sign out is done,then we have teams.
(27:59):
So you have senior residents,usually one senior per team, one
senior resident, one or twointerns, so that's your first
year residents, and you may havewhat we call off services, so
residents from family medicineor emergency medicine that have
to do the rotations with us, andyou may or may not have med
students with you rotating.
(28:19):
So the senior resident which isthe second year or the third
year resident, leads that team,divide all my patients up and
say, okay, you're seeing thesepatients, these patients, divide
them up between the team andthen you sit down and start
reviewing all of your patients,who they are, what is happening,
what do we need to do?
Because you're a physician,right?
Your job is to make thedecisions and call the actions.
(28:41):
So this is the time when you'repreparing yourself for meeting
with your attending, which is,you know, your head doctor for
the team.
So during all that time I'mtaking care of learning the
patients, but I'm also answeringphone calls from the nurses and
, you know, running to each roomto see what's happening if
there's an issue, right.
So it's a really hectic timebut it can also be a really calm
(29:04):
time, it just depends on theday.
But that's that morning part.
And then at around nine o'clockgenerally, you meet with your
attending and you go see all ofthe patients again.
So between 6 30 to 9 AM you haveto review all of your patients,
decide what you're going to dowith them, prep all of those
(29:25):
things, answer phone calls, youknow, send prescriptions that
weren't sent right, go see allof those patients that you just
reviewed, listen to them and doa physical exam, listen to the
parents, because that's veryimportant, and then be ready for
your attending.
And at 9 am we meet ourattending and we do the same
thing again.
We just go one by one, each ofthe patients on our list, see
(29:48):
them, present them to ourattending, so tell them what the
patient is and what we want todo with them.
Your attending may or may not dosome teaching, depending on the
day.
I love it when they do doteaching, because that's what
I'm here for, right.
I'm here to learn, and I reallydo love it when they take their
time to teach us.
And then you go inside you seeyour patient.
The attending says, okay, Ilike your plan, or actually that
(30:11):
plan.
I think that we should dosomething different today.
And you move on to the next oneand you do that until lunchtime
and then around 12 or one wedon't have scheduled lunchtimes
because we're in medicine,healthcare providers usually
don't and you just have to go.
So we are really good aboutjust like making sure we go grab
lunch, but we usually bring itback to our workstations and
(30:34):
just write our notes.
So you have to sit down andkind of just document the events
of the day for each patient.
You're still answering phonecalls from orders and nurses,
but you're also receivingpatients that are being admitted
through that day.
So the rest of the afternoon isjust paperwork, phone calls and
(30:54):
rechecking on patients that youneed to check on and admitting
new patients, and that's kind ofjust divided between you know
the whole team.
It's quite the long day.
On those hospital days Now,depending on our year, first
year you have five maybehospital months which are
different specialties.
(31:15):
You do some nights.
If it's nights you kind of dothe same thing but you don't
meet with your attending.
We rotate through the neonatalintensive care unit.
Those are really long days too.
Those are 12 hour days, reallysimilar to what I just explained
.
We rotate through alsooutpatient emergency medicine.
So the emergency room it's alittle less structured just
(31:36):
because of the nature of theemergency room.
And then we do outpatientrotations.
So we have clinic.
Clinic days are just generaloutpatient, you're.
You know, 845 to 5 PM.
You see patients for theirgeneral yearly well child checks
or some kiddos who've got thesniffles or viral infections.
You see them, we see those andwe talk to our attendings who
(32:02):
are overseeing everything we do.
And then we also havespecialties or electives.
So our electives are the bestones.
We call some of them like ourvacations, because you're not
expected to know the ins andouts of a medical specialty, of
people who have done fellowship.
So you are genuinely there tolearn.
So they're, they basicallytreat you as they're like hey,
come here You're my apprenticeand they bring you with them and
you do their work hours,whatever their work hours are,
(32:25):
and you do either a lot ofshadowing or a lot of just like
a history and physicals, andthen you present to your
attending and then they tell youwhat they're gonna do and you
take that time for learning.
So it varies a lot.
Ashley (32:39):
No, I'm so glad you were so comprehensive with that,
because I think people thinkpediatric residency or just in
clinic all day.
You are literally learningevery element of pediatrics
Whether that's gonna end upbeing what you choose to do
after residency which I knowthat there are certain
fellowships that you can go anddo after this and further
(33:01):
specialize, depending on like wejoked about earlier, depending
on if you want to make educationa career at that point.
Right, I mean, how long do youwant to be in school?
But your education is socomprehensive and everything
that you are doing is soinvolved and so varied.
This is a hard subject to talkabout in any element of medicine
, but I can't imagine notgetting burned out and not
(33:26):
getting worn down and worn outat the end of those 14 to 16
hour days, five to six days aweek.
What tell me about that?
What does that feel like foryou?
Dr. Garrido (33:38):
Tired it is.
It is very tiring and I'm goingto tell you this like
pediatrics is one of thespecialties that has a better
work-life balance.
Not every specialty does that,but burnout is real.
We do have a lot of like.
I guess for me, like I see it,a lot in irritability, and not
just myself.
But a big sign of burnout for alot of medical professionals and
(34:02):
residents is irritability,cynicism and you start to have
lack of interest, so things thatused to give you passion.
You just don't care anymore.
And you know sometimes yourpatients come in and every
patient is different, but youmay have seen 15 patients with
the same complaint that you.
You know your last one iscoming in and, because you've
(34:24):
been there for five days, todayis day six of 12 hours.
Now you're seeing this onepatient with the same thing
Again.
The parents are even moreworried and they're upset
because their child hasn't beentaken care of in the amount of
time that they wanted them to betaken care of, just doing all
the things at once and you startto get cynical and you start to
(34:44):
get irritable and I don't thinkthat that's conducive to
patient care.
I really, really hate that andso I see that a lot in myself.
I try and do my best not to beirritable with my patients Like
you go in and it's a freshpatient you've seen for five
hours and you go in with thesame smile because they don't
know that you just saw that 5million times before.
But I see that in myself.
(35:07):
You have a lot of anxiety andyour anxiety gets worse, lots of
worry, and that can cloud yourjudgment.
So you can see judgment cloudingas well, and we have decision
fatigue, and so towardeverything a physician does is
to make decisions.
So you're making decisions, youhave the final say.
So everybody's going to you tomake a decision, and it can be.
(35:29):
You know, hey, can I give thispatient Tylenol?
But you're so tired that you'resitting there like who is this
patient?
Why don't they have Tylenol on?
Do they have a reason for menot to give Tylenol?
Those are things you have tothink through, as simple as
Tylenol may sound, but you wereso tired that sometimes you
don't want to think about it.
(35:49):
And that's a simple decision.
What if you have a patient thatcomes in with a surgical issue
that you have to talk to?
Surgery Burnout can lead you tonot think properly on how to
take care of this patient.
Well, I think it's somethingthat's scary and that really
needs to be worked on in allfields of medical training and
(36:12):
the severity of the specialty,the severity of burnout
increases and the riskassociated with your burnout
increases.
Ashley (36:22):
I think that is so hard, and cynicism in medicine is not
fun.
Patients can read, they readthat.
They see that they feel thatNot being patient with your
patients is a big one too.
We've spoken with a lot ofguests on the show who have
experienced this.
This is not rare.
This is not just in residency,this is throughout medicine.
You know, and we develop waysto overcome this.
(36:45):
And tell me about some of thethings that you do.
When you're feeling anxietysetting in, when you're feeling
cynicism setting in, how do youtake that breath and how do you
get clarity?
Dr. Garrido (36:58):
I'm going to be really transparent.
In medical school toward theend, I was getting really burned
out.
I was having a lot of anxietyover my board exams.
I take medication, so I take anSSRI for my anxiety, but I also
did therapy while I was inmedical school.
So I did both in combination,which is also proven by research
that the best way to handle anyyou know anxiety or depression
(37:21):
or is in combinationpharmaceutical and therapy.
And so I went to therapy.
I learned a lot about lookinginto myself and learned about
how to not just understand wherethis anxiety is coming from,
but also how to deal with it dayto day.
What are you going to doKnowing?
Yeah, I know where my anxietycomes from.
But what if I'm right here infront of my patient and I'm
(37:44):
anxious, like, what am I goingto do right now?
Right, and I learned a lot ofbreathing exercises, grounding
yourself.
I don't do them in front of mypatients all the time, but those
are things.
Taking breaks was a big one,even if it's a literal one
minute or 30 second break,because that's all you have.
It's a 30 second break to sitdown and do what you know,
(38:06):
what's called like a breathprayer or you know where you
just say, okay, I understandthis is hard, but I can do it.
Or you just come up with yourown, and these breath prayers
are really important.
I think that that's been a bigkey.
Yes, my pharmaceutical therapyhas been incredibly helpful.
(38:28):
I was on the scale of anxietywhere I was having the thoughts
of you know doom, like somethingterrible, and initiating you
know pharmaceutical therapy forthat has really helped me do
like a reset.
That's kind of what I call itAmazing.
But having the skills fromtherapy have helped me stay able
(38:48):
, like stay calm or cope withwhen I'm feeling anxious and so,
like I mentioned, just taking aminute, stopping what I'm doing
.
You can set a timer if you wantto, because I've done that
before and no nothing.
Sit down and breathe for thefive seconds or 10 seconds, and
(39:10):
sure, it's not the most idealand it's not going to fix all
your problems, but it's going tohelp you get the next thing
done.
Ashley (39:16):
Exactly, that's exactly right, and thank you for that
transparency, because so oftenpeople expect our physicians to
be super women and superhero men, and we are also still human
and unfortunately, as apediatric physician you
mentioned, you know feelings ofdoom.
(39:37):
Sometimes there is doom in thenext room for you, you know, and
in order to manage that, youhave to take care of yourself,
and this is just.
This is not just for medicalproviders, this is for humans in
general.
We have got to take care ofourselves and we've got to pour
(39:57):
in to our own health and to ourown physical health, mental
health, emotional health and wealso have to recognize when
they're becoming unhealthy,which is a lot of therapy.
A lot of therapy is identifyingthings that are going to
negatively affect our health,and not just mental health.
(40:17):
So I'm so glad you brought thatup, because this is something a
lot of physicians struggle with.
This is something a lot of PAs,nps all of them struggle with.
I think that's so important.
We would all really Burnout,would be far less if we could
take a six-week vacation to oh,I don't know Provence, france,
and wine and dine our way downyou know the beautiful coast.
(40:39):
But we can't.
We'll do our 30 minute breathprayers and that will get us
there, and we'll just watchYouTube videos of Provence,
france.
Oh, dr Greedo, I you have justgiven so much insight in this
conversation and, I think,really have shown that you can
(41:03):
be desperately passionate aboutwhat you do and also recognize
that it is very hard and thatyou are working impossibly hard
some days, but there's an endgoal that is bigger than you and
me and the hospital that you'reworking for or the practice
that you're working for, andthat end goal is other people
(41:23):
and improving their lives.
What would you say to a personwho might be interested in
medicine and they hear thesestories about burnout, about the
challenges, about the risks,about maybe not getting accepted
to the program you want ormaybe not passing your board
exams.
What would you tell them on theother side of all of this,
where you're at right now?
Dr. Garrido (41:44):
Yeah, it is difficult for sure, but I think
that it's worth it At least inmy experience.
It's worth it.
It's worth the experiencethat's worth it.
It's worth the like.
Make sure you don't lose thatcore of why you're, why you went
(42:06):
into medicine, and it's people.
It's taking care of people,providing health for them, even
just teaching people abouthealth and about taking care of
themselves and giving healthliteracy, but just helping them
navigate their health, theirbodies, and helping them get
better when they don't feel well.
I think that I like research, sofor me, I think that also
really important and like a bigthing in medicine that I really
(42:28):
do love and I keep going forwardis new breakthroughs in
medicine and ways to treatdiseases or challenges that we
just don't have treatments foryet.
But if you are interested ins inmedicine and ways to treat
diseases or challenges that wejust don't have treatments for
yet, but if you are interestedin going in medicine, make sure
that that's the only thing youwant to do, that's the only
thing that you are going to behappy doing, and really look
(42:49):
into yourself and say, well, ifyou would rather do something
else, try that something elsefirst, because if not, you're
always going to think well, whatif?
What if?
And you may end up notcompleting your training because
it is very hard and it is verydifficult to do.
It's going to be the mostchallenging years of your life
to get through this training.
You are going to be beat downnot just by patients, but also
(43:12):
by preceptors.
You have to have enough of adesire to be a physician, but
also a really good supportsystem to get through this.
Make sure this is the onlything you want to do to make
sure you have a good supportsystem to get you through this.
This is something you shouldn'tdo alone.
Ashley (43:32):
And that is exactly our goal here at Shadow Me Next and
why I am so grateful for you, drGr, and the challenges that
(44:00):
have brought you here is justinvaluable to students who might
be looking for that, or evenfor patients who are thinking
you know, I want to get to knowmy healthcare provider a little
bit better.
I want to know why my clinicianis doing what they are doing,
because that's important to meas a patient to understand where
they're coming from.
So I think that that is sogreat and I'm so glad for shadow
(44:23):
me next, for you guys joiningus and sharing your stories.
I mean, it's it doesn't get anybetter than this.
Thank you so much for takingthe time.
I want to go back in time andbe a pediatric patient and jump
on your schedule, because I justthink you bring so much joy and
light into what you do and Iknow your patients love it.
(44:47):
But, more importantly, I knowtheir caregivers feel the
support that they areexperiencing in the room with
you.
So thank you for what you dofor us at Shadow Me Next, for
pre-health students by sharingyour story, but more importantly
, for the field of medicine.
It is wonderful.
Dr. Garrido (45:02):
It is.
It is a wonderful field.
Ashley (45:05):
Thank you so much, absolutely Thank you.
Thank you so very much forlistening to this episode of
Shadow Me Next.
If you liked this episode or ifyou think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday, as always.
If you have any questions, letme know on Facebook or Instagram
Access.
You want stories you need.
(45:26):
You're always invited to ShadowMe Next.
Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast where
I take you into and behind thescenes of the medical world to
provide you with a deeperunderstanding of the human side
of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
It is my pleasure to introduceyou to incredible members of the
(00:22):
healthcare field and uncovertheir unique stories, the joys
and challenges they face andwhat drives them in their
careers.
It's access you want andstories you need, whether you're
a pre-health student or simplycurious about the healthcare
field.
I invite you to join me as wetake a conversational and
personal look into the lives andminds of leaders in medicine.
(00:43):
I don't want you to miss asingle one of these
conversations, so make sure thatyou subscribe to this podcast,
which will automatically notifyyou when new episodes are
dropped, and follow us onInstagram and Facebook at Shadow
Me Next, where we will reviewhighlights from this
conversation and where I'll giveyou sneak previews of our
upcoming guests.
Today on Shadow Me Next, I am sopleased to introduce you to Dr
(01:07):
Beatrice Garrido, a residentphysician with a passion for
pediatrics and global health.
Dr Garrido has a very uniquestory, both in her path to
medicine and in her journey as apediatric resident physician.
Before stepping into her roleas a physician, dr Garrido built
a fascinating foundation inhealthcare.
She's worked as a clinicaltechnician, assisted in
(01:29):
laboratories and even gainedhands-on experience as a
veterinary tech.
Most impressively, she also hadan incredible experience as a
medical interpreter at the NIH,helping Spanish-speaking
patients navigate thecomplexities of our healthcare
system.
In this episode, we'll talkabout how dreams can change, the
(01:49):
pivotal moments that led her tomedicine, her experiences
working in different healthcareroles and how to care for
yourself as a healthcareprovider.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only and
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
(02:10):
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are
those of the host and guests anddo not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position ofany other agency, organization,
employer or company.
This is Shadow Me Next with DrBeatrice Garrido.
Hey, dr Garrido, thank you somuch for joining me on Shadow Me
(02:31):
Next this evening.
I am so excited to hear aboutwhat you're doing in medicine
right now, and you are pastmidpoint in your residency
journey right now, which is ahuge accomplishment.
So congratulations on that.
But I think at this point, youhave so much experience under
your belt and so many amazingthings that you have learned,
(02:53):
whether they're good or bad,they are amazing and they're
really shaping you as aclinician and they are allowing
you to shape us.
So thanks for being here,thanks for joining us.
I'm just so excited to have you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much.
So first tell us what you do,tell us your title now, and then
(03:14):
, if you can take us back, takeus back to the moment you first
started realizing that maybemedicine was going to be in your
career path medicine was goingto be in your career path.
Dr. Garrido (03:28):
Yeah, so currently my title is I'm Dr Beatrice
Garrido and I'm a DO, so I'm adoctor of osteopathic medicine,
which is just one of the twopathways you can take to be a
physician in the United States.
So DO versus MD, which is thewhat you've traditionally heard
doctor of medicine, we practiceessentially the same.
Our training is just a littlebit different.
Where in DO school doctor ofosteopathic medicine we take
(03:51):
time to learn osteopathicmanipulative medicine, which is
where we work with the body.
So we put hands on the body andwe work with manipulation of
the body to help the body healitself, but we do more of a
whole body perspective.
So I did not always want to bea physician, or I think I didn't
know that I wanted to be aphysician until I graduated
college.
I always wanted to be aveterinarian.
(04:13):
That was my life goal.
I went to college, I did myveterinary medicine courses.
I was pre-vet.
I did get lucky when I decidedto be a physician, because
pre-vet has you do more sciencecourses as requirement than you
do as a pre-med.
So I had all my prereqs plussome more.
I finished college, I applied,or during my third year of
(04:36):
college to fourth, I appliedveterinary medicine.
I didn't get in to veterinaryschools.
I had so much experience.
My whole undergrad was workingat veterinary hospitals being a
veterinary tech.
I had so much experience.
My whole undergrad was workingat veterinary hospitals being a
veterinary tech, doing all thehands-on things.
I love that.
And you kind of start thinkinglike, well, I'm a person who's a
doer.
I'm like, okay, let's go again,go get her.
I said, okay, didn't get in,let's do it again One more year.
(04:57):
I mean, I was devastated, butlet's do it again.
And my mom, being the wisewoman that she is, would often,
toward the end of my collegecareer, she kind of started
pondering.
She'd be like are you surethat's what you want to do?
Are you sure you want to be aveterinarian?
Is there nothing else you wantto do?
Like you sure you want to dothat for the rest of your life?
And I'd be like, yeah, ofcourse I love science, which I
(05:19):
always have.
I've always wanted to be somesort of like a doctor.
But in veterinary medicine Ilike biology, I like how the
body works, like it's justincredible to me.
And I'd just be like, yeah,kind of like blow her off, it's
like nothing else.
And then sometimes I'd be like,well, you know, now that you're
asking, I mean I love kids Likeif I'm not a veterinarian, I
would go into medical school andbe a pediatrician and we would
(05:43):
kind of just like randomly talkthose things.
I never thought it was possible.
Like I thought I couldn't dealwith human medicine and with
kind of just caring for humansbecause it like I didn't think I
was capable of it.
And so that last summer that Ididn't get in, we have a family
friend that had done aninternship for Hispanic college
(06:06):
students and we put them ingovernment agencies to do an
internship.
So I applied for them.
My mom's like apply for that,it's going to be great.
I literally applied a weekbefore the deadline, got all my
letters of rec in and a weekafter the application I get a
phone call saying hey, we'rereaching out to you from the
National Institutes of Health.
You have a pre-interview,because the National Institutes
(06:30):
of Health always does apre-interview with various
people before their interview tosee if you qualify, to see what
they think of you.
And I'm like, ok, I didn't knowwhat the age was, by the way,
because I was in medicine, I hadno idea.
And I'm telling my mom andshe's like do it.
I'm like it's weird, it's in DCand I don't know, it's human
(06:50):
medicine, I don't like it.
And she's like do it.
I said okay, and I get on thephone and it is two wonderful
interpreter women who went toschool for interpreting.
And this is Spanish Englishinterpreting.
I'm bilingual in Spanish andEnglish and they're they're
literally just like drilling me.
They're like all right, we'regoing to have a conversation.
I'm the doctor, she's thepatient and you are the
interpreter.
Go and I'm like so I ranthrough all of that and like
(07:12):
okay, thank you, we hang up.
And then what, not too longlater they called me back, like
okay, you got it.
Ashley (07:18):
So I was like well, I'm going to BC for the summer.
Here on shadow me next, we havea segment called quality
questions, which is where wediscuss some of the most
memorable interview questionswith these amazing leaders in
healthcare.
Keep in mind that there's moreinterview prep, such as mock
interviews and personalstatement review, over on shadow
(07:41):
me nextcom.
There you'll find amazingresources to help you as you
prepare to answer your ownquality questions.
Dr Grado and I did not discussa quality question.
However, her experience withthe National Institute of Health
brings up a perfect example.
A lot of times during aninterview, an interviewer will
(08:01):
ask you tell me about ameaningful experience that you
have had that has led you toyour interest in medicine, and
this is a perfect example.
This was an internship that DrGreedo took and will explain
that actually ended up changingher path from veterinarian to
physician.
These experiences, I understand, can be really hard to come by,
(08:24):
but if you keep your eyes openand your heart willing, then
sometimes these experiencesmight just offer you the same
opportunity.
Dr. Garrido (08:35):
In my mind I was still going to be a veterinarian
.
So I went to the NationalInstitutes of Health that summer
it was in 2015 and I spent twomonths interpreting for them,
and that is where I felt thatcalling to be a physician.
So I'm a Christian and I wentthere and I was, you know, wow,
this is weird.
I'm going for human medicine,but I've always wanted to be a
veterinarian.
Is this those conversations mymom and I used to have about?
(08:58):
Hmm should, do you really wantto be that?
And while I was there, you know, I did lots of pondering, I
mean lots of praying, of course,and I felt a huge, like weight
of this.
This is what you have to do.
And while I was there, I toldthem hey, I, I'd like to see
(09:20):
kids, I'd like to interpret forfamilies with kids and they
would give me lots of familieswith kids.
And it was just mind blowing,wow, the difference that the NIH
made in those families ofbringing people.
I mean, these are people withdiseases that are incurable,
diseases that you'd never heardof, and they come to the
National Institutes of Healthfrom all over the world.
As an interpreter, I wasproviding them the ability to
(09:42):
receive care in a language theyunderstood, without like, like
they were just able to receivecare as if they were home.
And the mission that the NIHhad of bringing these kiddos and
well, all families from allover the world and providing
care for them interdisciplinarywork.
So you had physicians,physician assistants, nurse
(10:04):
practitioners, RNs, and you hadinterpreters.
You have medical students, youhave fellows, geneticists, just
plain PhD researchers comingtogether to work on one family.
And family would get care, fromdental care to physical rehab
(10:26):
to genetics conversations, andthey would spend a week or
months, depending on the trialthat they were there, just
receiving care for free tofigure out what they had and how
we could develop treatments forthese patients.
And I was like this is it?
I was like this.
Ashley (10:47):
This is it.
That's amazing.
What an incredible story.
First of all, I just want tohighlight the power of your
mother and her voice, becauseyou know, we all need voices
like that in our lives, voicesthat support us literally no
matter what, but that alsochallenge us to see perhaps
another angle and to see otherthings.
And we might write them off,like you said earlier, we might
(11:09):
just listen to them, becausethey are our mother, but at some
point, I think the Lord justopens up a door for us and we
recognize what's in that doorbecause of some things that
somebody, one of our mentors,one of our loved ones, has said
to us in the past.
And you know, I believe inspeaking truth over people, even
before they realize it is theirtruth.
(11:30):
And that's like literally whatyou are just describing, which
thank you.
I'm so glad you're in humanmedicine.
Veterinary medicine isincredible and I think it
probably has set you up to bethe most compassionate
communicative pediatrician,because I go to my vet's office
(11:51):
and they are amazing.
I leave there feeling somotivated to be a better
clinician and to be moresympathetic to my patients
because they just sit on thefloor with my dog who's so
nervous and they just love himand they're offering medical
care.
They are, but they're offeringcomfort first.
And my dog who's so nervous?
And they just love him andthey're offering medical care.
They are, but they're offeringcomfort first.
Yes, and I think that's soimportant, especially for you,
especially working withpediatric patients, but you are
(12:14):
also working with their parents,right, very intimately, very
intimately.
So, so thank you to your mother.
And what an incredibleopportunity.
The NIH.
I'm going to include somethingabout that in the show notes
because I think that is such aninteresting outlet for some
people that maybe might beinterested in doing something
similar.
Not necessarily that, but youknow there are opportunities out
there to really help exactlywhere you are, and it can be
(12:38):
life-changing, as it was for you.
Let's get back to being aveterinary technician, because
this is the first time I'veheard of somebody who started
off pre-vet and then shifted anentire species to humans, which
I think has been so good.
But your path to medicine?
So you mentioned a couple ofthings a clinical technician, a
(13:00):
veterinary technician, which isanimals, and then a medical
interpreter also.
We've known how that has ledyou to medicine.
But are those things, thosehistorical things, still
impacting the way that youpractice right now.
Dr. Garrido (13:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's funny I mean you touchedon it already with going to your
veterinarian's hospital, to theveterinarian business.
I would say it's kind of likeone of my first building stones
patient care, but also customercare because in veterinary
medicine we are making sure that, one, the pet, which is our
patient, is comfortable.
(13:36):
And because they're scared,they don't know what you're
doing, they're like who are you?
You're a stranger.
The caregiver, which is aparent, also feels comfortable
and, like you, care for theirpet and like you know what
you're doing.
And three, they don't speak toyou.
So you know a lot of ourpediatric patients.
(13:56):
They're obviously on theyounger ones.
You have to treat symptomsreally often and you have to be
a detective on what is happeningand you have to rely on the
parent and caregiver history topiece together your puzzle, to
see okay, well, one, what arethey telling me?
Two, what does that mean?
(14:17):
Three, like, how am I going totreat or what am I going to do
about it?
Am I going to treat it assomething treatable?
Also, again, you're mostlyinteracting with the caregiver
and with the parent and I didlearn a lot of customer care and
you know dealing with people.
You know we're not the easiest.
You kind of have to die toyourself a little bit and you
(14:39):
know that pride has to go down.
And so, excuse me, you like Ilearned to to as the years pass.
This is something you learnwith time to be a listener and
my background in veterinarybeing a veterinary assistant
they're you know.
They know best.
They're with their child 24-7.
(15:00):
When they come in and say Idon't know they're not walking
right, the walk may lookinsignificant to you but it's
not to them.
So you have to listen to themand you have to take everything
they say as something serious.
And so I did start to learn.
Like that kind of gave me abuilding block on listening.
Ashley (15:17):
Which is it's something that's so.
It seems so elementary.
Of course we listen to ourpatients, but I think the more
we practice and I'm so glad youmentioned kind of that dying to
self, that humility, because itis a morning reminder every
single day that we've alreadystarted thinking about when we
(15:44):
see the patient description onthe computer when they arrive,
put all of those aside andlisten first, listen first.
I love in PA school they tellyou to give the patient their
five minutes of fame.
So they say, right, you justlisten for five minutes.
A lot of patients want morethan five minutes and a lot of
patients need five minutes orlonger.
But but you know we have to bereminded to listen.
(16:08):
So I'm so glad you brought thatup.
And I think that veterinarymedicine because your animals,
unless you're interacting with avery cool parrot, they're not
going to talk to you.
I think that is so cool and Ithink it's such an incredible
introduction to patient care andhow to interact with others.
So I think that is so cool.
(16:30):
Now let's go back to medicalschool.
So you went to DA school andyou briefly explained a little
bit about that Overall bigoverarching theme.
How was medical school for you?
Was it a walk in the park afteryou'd taken all those science
classes?
Was it still pretty challenging?
Dr. Garrido (16:46):
Yeah, it was the most challenging educational
experience I've ever had in mylife.
It was really tough.
And so, also to get to medicalschool, I ended up doing a
master's program.
So my medical school offeredthat master's program for
pre-med students who hadn't goneinto med school initially or
(17:06):
wanted a gap break to see ifthis is what they actually
wanted.
So I did that program whichgave me guaranteed acceptance to
medical school.
Now that was like a nine monthlike fast paced learn all the
sciences.
But it was such a good buildingstone for me because I had, by
that point I had been out ofcollege for two years and
(17:27):
honestly, my study habits werenot very good Like high school
and college.
Like I was very.
It was easy for me to learn andget through but I wasn't very
applied.
And so going through thismaster's program made me meet
people who already had reallygood study habits and it kind of
just gave me that buildingblock on how I needed to study
(17:48):
for medical school.
Medical school was still hard,like it was still hard, but I
knew what to do.
I came in with a good knowledgeLike I had my anatomies down, I
had a lot of immunologysciences down and histology,
kind of embryology, like basicsciences down, that were super
helpful.
But I think that the hours thatyou have to put into medical
(18:11):
school, the amount of time youhave to put into studying and
the amount of time you kind ofhave to again die to yourself
because you're giving up yourtwenties to study and you are in
school most of the time.
It's lectures, exam labs, gohome and study Lectures, exam
labs, go home and study.
(18:32):
Four, four years, well, twoyears of just didactics but just
classroom learning.
Those were really tough, andthen two years of clinical
learning, which I liked muchbetter.
It was a sigh of relief formyself once I got into those
clinical years.
Ashley (18:47):
Yeah, I mean as a people person.
It makes sense too.
At that point you're startingto apply that knowledge that
you've worked so hard to learnover the last two years and you
really start to see the finishline.
At that point I mean it's stillvery far away, but you do see
the finish line At least you'reusing your knowledge to improve
the lives of others and it doeshelp.
There's still a lot to do, butit does help.
(19:09):
So at that point you graduatefrom medical school and from DO
school and you have obviouslybeen interested in pediatrics
from the beginning.
You apply for a pediatricresidency.
Is that how that works?
Dr. Garrido (19:23):
next, apply for a pediatric residency.
Is that how that works next?
Well, another plot twist,because while I was in medical
school I went in initially likeokay, I like kids, I'm going to
be pediatrician.
But while I was preparing to goto medical school, I was
working.
I worked in an operating room.
I really did like that.
As a veterinary technician.
(19:43):
Before all of this, I got to doa lot of hands-on work and I
liked using my hands.
I was like I like surgery, Ilike fast-paced, I like the
hospital.
I don't want to be in a nine tofive, I don't want to be clinic
.
So I went into medical school,kind of just like with the uh,
I'm open.
Through medical school Istarted to think like, well, I
like surgery, but I would onlydo it with kids.
(20:08):
And then I had a long period oftime where I was like, well, I
like emergency medicine, butwith kids, and I just wanted to
do the fast-paced, the hard, thehands-on, immediate
gratification.
And by my fourth year I thoughtI was going to apply to surgery
and I really thought about it.
So surgery is a five yearspecialty.
(20:28):
So a five year residency,that's general surgery.
And then you have to apply anextra for an extra two years
after that to do pediatrics ifyou want to do kids, and so it
would be seven years at leastfor pediatrics, you need
research in the middle.
So you know, a gap year plustwo years kind of.
It works kind of that way and Iwas like I didn't have the best
(20:50):
grades, which honestly I'mthankful for.
Now.
It's given me a lot of humilityand I struggled through medical
school.
I have so much, you know,compassion for people who are
struggling too, and I applied, Igot an audition so for in your
third and in your fourth year ofmedical school, once you start
applying you have to go throughthis system similar to your
(21:10):
medical school application page,and you go through the system
and you apply to the specialtiesthat you want and to the
programs that you want.
But a big thing is doingaudition rotations where you go
in person and you act as anintern kind of and if you
similar um, and you basically doa life as a resident for a
(21:31):
month and, and so I didn't domany of those and I had one set
up for surgery and like prettymuch about a week into it with
talking with one advisor I didour school did like mock
interviews for us, and I wasdoing one mock interview for
surgery.
It went fine.
But looking at my scores, mymedical school grades and my
(21:55):
actual desire to just be apediatric surgeon, I ended up
deciding no, that's not going towork.
And so I ended up only applyingfor pediatrics.
And so I ended up only applyingfor pediatrics and so I put in
a bunch of applications forpediatrics and I didn't get in.
By the end of all of thisapplication system, my anxiety
(22:15):
was off the roof pretty muchevery medical student because
you feel like, oh my gosh, if Idon't get a residency, my life
is over.
I have debts, crazy debts, andI have nothing to do with this
degree because you really don'tin the United States.
You have nothing to do withyour degree.
And so I freaked out.
When it got to what we callmatch week, which is at the end
(22:37):
of the application cycle in thespring.
Everybody gets a letter thatsays hey, you got in somewhere
or you did not get in anywhere.
And I got the letter or theemail that said I didn't get in
anywhere.
That was extremely devastating.
That day I spent that matchweek doing back-to-back kind of
(22:58):
like like.
What is it like rapid fireinterviews with programs that
hadn't filled all of their spots, and so I basically, the same
way you apply initially, youapply for what this is called.
This is the SOAP, soSupplemental Offer of Acceptance
Process or Program, not sure.
And I did this week of where Iapplied to all of the open
(23:22):
pediatric specialties and Iapplied to some family medicine
specialties because my advisorstold me to I was not interested
in that but I want a job, right,and I did all of that I had.
I don't even know like I had alot of interviews within four
(23:42):
days where you just get hey, youget a phone call from a program
director, hey, we're interestedin you, our program needs a
couple of spots to fill.
Can we talk at 1 PM?
And it's like you know noon orsomething, and you're like, oh
my gosh, so you have zoominterviews, you have phone calls
it's cold calls, everybody'scalling you so for three days.
And then on at the end of thosethree days, I got a, I got
(24:05):
offers.
So you get offers from theplace.
That that's.
It's kind of like the sameprocess, just condensed.
Speed dating, yeah, Totallyspeed dating with prospective
programs.
And so I got multiple offers.
I got some family medicineoffers and I got some pediatric
offers and of course that's whenI chose out of the few
pediatric ones where I am.
Ashley (24:26):
I am so grateful that you shared that experience this
is a story for a lot of peopleand it is terrifying.
Dr. Garrido (24:36):
It's terrifying.
Ashley (24:38):
And last episode, I just spoke to a man who works with
students a little bit of adifferent thing, but works with
PA students who have failedtheir board exam.
So they went, they went throughtwo years of school.
They have to pass this boardexam in order to use their
degree and they have failed andthey have failed, and they have
failed and they're on theirfourth failure and they're
(25:01):
panicking because, like you said, you have debt and you have
dreams I forget about.
And they're panicking Because,like you said, you have debt and
you have dreams.
I mean, forget about debt for asecond.
You have dreams, and it's hard.
And hearing these successstories and you are in this
incredible position right now,despite all those challenges and
perhaps because of thosechallenges oh, it's just so
(25:21):
great.
So thank you for sharing that,because I know that's going to
resonate with people deeply.
It resonates with me deeply.
Tell us about a day in yourlife.
Now you have arrived, you arefulfilling your dream, you're
working with your patients andtheir caregivers.
I'm sure every day it isexactly what you want to do, but
I'm also sure that there arechallenges.
So walk us through a day inyour life as a resident
(25:42):
physician, walk us through a dayin your life as a resident
physician.
Dr. Garrido (25:44):
So a day in my life depends on which rotation I
am in.
So in residency, depending theresidency that you're in.
But because there are so manysubspecialties with every
medical specialty, residency islike a general let's get you
prepared for everything and kindof, you know, get you prepared
for everything that you may wantto do.
(26:04):
But we need to make you a goodgeneral practitioner as well.
And so, depending on therotation that I am, um, my day,
my day, varies.
For example, I talked to youabout, like my roughest rotation
.
That's when I'm in the hospital.
So when I'm in the hospital wejust do the general pediatric
service and this is just like,hey, when kiddos are sick, they
go to the hospital.
It could be anything as simpleas just a really rough cold,
(26:27):
they've got the flu, they haveto be in the hospital, or RSV
for babies and or something youknow as complicated as hey, car
crash completely you know, kiddo, all of these things, and we
see that spectrum of patientsfrom super healthy to really
critical condition.
So in the general pediatrichospital floor my day starts at
(26:51):
545, 550 am and we work 12 hourdays 5, 45, 5, 50 AM and we work
12 hour days and so I am thereuntil six, six thirties, which
ends up being 13, 14 hours,right, and we do this for five
to six days at a time and whenwe're in that hospital and
(27:12):
that's that month.
So I basically I mean I snoozeto the end.
Oh my gosh, I'll go to bed,grab my coffee and get to work.
When we get to work, thepractice is to sign out.
So the hospital has coverage 24seven.
So we have the night residentswho are there taking care of the
patients overnight, and youhave the day residents.
If you are in the day team, youget in right before 6am.
At 6am sharp we start signed outand the sign out is just a
(27:36):
brief kind of just who thepatients are one by one and what
happened during that shift orsignificant events that happened
during that shift and whatneeds to be done during the
coming shift.
So we talk about that.
That takes about, depending howbusy the services between you
know, 15 minutes to an hour, itjust depends how busy the
services.
And after sign out is done,then we have teams.
(27:59):
So you have senior residents,usually one senior per team, one
senior resident, one or twointerns, so that's your first
year residents, and you may havewhat we call off services, so
residents from family medicineor emergency medicine that have
to do the rotations with us, andyou may or may not have med
students with you rotating.
(28:19):
So the senior resident which isthe second year or the third
year resident, leads that team,divide all my patients up and
say, okay, you're seeing thesepatients, these patients, divide
them up between the team andthen you sit down and start
reviewing all of your patients,who they are, what is happening,
what do we need to do?
Because you're a physician,right?
Your job is to make thedecisions and call the actions.
(28:41):
So this is the time when you'repreparing yourself for meeting
with your attending, which is,you know, your head doctor for
the team.
So during all that time I'mtaking care of learning the
patients, but I'm also answeringphone calls from the nurses and
, you know, running to each roomto see what's happening if
there's an issue, right.
So it's a really hectic timebut it can also be a really calm
(29:04):
time, it just depends on theday.
But that's that morning part.
And then at around nine o'clockgenerally, you meet with your
attending and you go see all ofthe patients again.
So between 6 30 to 9 AM you haveto review all of your patients,
decide what you're going to dowith them, prep all of those
(29:25):
things, answer phone calls, youknow, send prescriptions that
weren't sent right, go see allof those patients that you just
reviewed, listen to them and doa physical exam, listen to the
parents, because that's veryimportant, and then be ready for
your attending.
And at 9 am we meet ourattending and we do the same
thing again.
We just go one by one, each ofthe patients on our list, see
(29:48):
them, present them to ourattending, so tell them what the
patient is and what we want todo with them.
Your attending may or may not dosome teaching, depending on the
day.
I love it when they do doteaching, because that's what
I'm here for, right.
I'm here to learn, and I reallydo love it when they take their
time to teach us.
And then you go inside you seeyour patient.
The attending says, okay, Ilike your plan, or actually that
(30:11):
plan.
I think that we should dosomething different today.
And you move on to the next oneand you do that until lunchtime
and then around 12 or one wedon't have scheduled lunchtimes
because we're in medicine,healthcare providers usually
don't and you just have to go.
So we are really good aboutjust like making sure we go grab
lunch, but we usually bring itback to our workstations and
(30:34):
just write our notes.
So you have to sit down andkind of just document the events
of the day for each patient.
You're still answering phonecalls from orders and nurses,
but you're also receivingpatients that are being admitted
through that day.
So the rest of the afternoon isjust paperwork, phone calls and
(30:54):
rechecking on patients that youneed to check on and admitting
new patients, and that's kind ofjust divided between you know
the whole team.
It's quite the long day.
On those hospital days Now,depending on our year, first
year you have five maybehospital months which are
different specialties.
(31:15):
You do some nights.
If it's nights you kind of dothe same thing but you don't
meet with your attending.
We rotate through the neonatalintensive care unit.
Those are really long days too.
Those are 12 hour days, reallysimilar to what I just explained
.
We rotate through alsooutpatient emergency medicine.
So the emergency room it's alittle less structured just
(31:36):
because of the nature of theemergency room.
And then we do outpatientrotations.
So we have clinic.
Clinic days are just generaloutpatient, you're.
You know, 845 to 5 PM.
You see patients for theirgeneral yearly well child checks
or some kiddos who've got thesniffles or viral infections.
You see them, we see those andwe talk to our attendings who
(32:02):
are overseeing everything we do.
And then we also havespecialties or electives.
So our electives are the bestones.
We call some of them like ourvacations, because you're not
expected to know the ins andouts of a medical specialty, of
people who have done fellowship.
So you are genuinely there tolearn.
So they're, they basicallytreat you as they're like hey,
come here You're my apprenticeand they bring you with them and
you do their work hours,whatever their work hours are,
(32:25):
and you do either a lot ofshadowing or a lot of just like
a history and physicals, andthen you present to your
attending and then they tell youwhat they're gonna do and you
take that time for learning.
So it varies a lot.
Ashley (32:39):
No, I'm so glad you were so comprehensive with that,
because I think people thinkpediatric residency or just in
clinic all day.
You are literally learningevery element of pediatrics
Whether that's gonna end upbeing what you choose to do
after residency which I knowthat there are certain
fellowships that you can go anddo after this and further
(33:01):
specialize, depending on like wejoked about earlier, depending
on if you want to make educationa career at that point.
Right, I mean, how long do youwant to be in school?
But your education is socomprehensive and everything
that you are doing is soinvolved and so varied.
This is a hard subject to talkabout in any element of medicine
, but I can't imagine notgetting burned out and not
(33:26):
getting worn down and worn outat the end of those 14 to 16
hour days, five to six days aweek.
What tell me about that?
What does that feel like foryou?
Dr. Garrido (33:38):
Tired it is.
It is very tiring and I'm goingto tell you this like
pediatrics is one of thespecialties that has a better
work-life balance.
Not every specialty does that,but burnout is real.
We do have a lot of like.
I guess for me, like I see it,a lot in irritability, and not
just myself.
But a big sign of burnout for alot of medical professionals and
(34:02):
residents is irritability,cynicism and you start to have
lack of interest, so things thatused to give you passion.
You just don't care anymore.
And you know sometimes yourpatients come in and every
patient is different, but youmay have seen 15 patients with
the same complaint that you.
You know your last one iscoming in and, because you've
(34:24):
been there for five days, todayis day six of 12 hours.
Now you're seeing this onepatient with the same thing
Again.
The parents are even moreworried and they're upset
because their child hasn't beentaken care of in the amount of
time that they wanted them to betaken care of, just doing all
the things at once and you startto get cynical and you start to
(34:44):
get irritable and I don't thinkthat that's conducive to
patient care.
I really, really hate that andso I see that a lot in myself.
I try and do my best not to beirritable with my patients Like
you go in and it's a freshpatient you've seen for five
hours and you go in with thesame smile because they don't
know that you just saw that 5million times before.
But I see that in myself.
(35:07):
You have a lot of anxiety andyour anxiety gets worse, lots of
worry, and that can cloud yourjudgment.
So you can see judgment cloudingas well, and we have decision
fatigue, and so towardeverything a physician does is
to make decisions.
So you're making decisions, youhave the final say.
So everybody's going to you tomake a decision, and it can be.
(35:29):
You know, hey, can I give thispatient Tylenol?
But you're so tired that you'resitting there like who is this
patient?
Why don't they have Tylenol on?
Do they have a reason for menot to give Tylenol?
Those are things you have tothink through, as simple as
Tylenol may sound, but you wereso tired that sometimes you
don't want to think about it.
(35:49):
And that's a simple decision.
What if you have a patient thatcomes in with a surgical issue
that you have to talk to?
Surgery Burnout can lead you tonot think properly on how to
take care of this patient.
Well, I think it's somethingthat's scary and that really
needs to be worked on in allfields of medical training and
(36:12):
the severity of the specialty,the severity of burnout
increases and the riskassociated with your burnout
increases.
Ashley (36:22):
I think that is so hard, and cynicism in medicine is not
fun.
Patients can read, they readthat.
They see that they feel thatNot being patient with your
patients is a big one too.
We've spoken with a lot ofguests on the show who have
experienced this.
This is not rare.
This is not just in residency,this is throughout medicine.
You know, and we develop waysto overcome this.
(36:45):
And tell me about some of thethings that you do.
When you're feeling anxietysetting in, when you're feeling
cynicism setting in, how do youtake that breath and how do you
get clarity?
Dr. Garrido (36:58):
I'm going to be really transparent.
In medical school toward theend, I was getting really burned
out.
I was having a lot of anxietyover my board exams.
I take medication, so I take anSSRI for my anxiety, but I also
did therapy while I was inmedical school.
So I did both in combination,which is also proven by research
that the best way to handle anyyou know anxiety or depression
(37:21):
or is in combinationpharmaceutical and therapy.
And so I went to therapy.
I learned a lot about lookinginto myself and learned about
how to not just understand wherethis anxiety is coming from,
but also how to deal with it dayto day.
What are you going to doKnowing?
Yeah, I know where my anxietycomes from.
But what if I'm right here infront of my patient and I'm
(37:44):
anxious, like, what am I goingto do right now?
Right, and I learned a lot ofbreathing exercises, grounding
yourself.
I don't do them in front of mypatients all the time, but those
are things.
Taking breaks was a big one,even if it's a literal one
minute or 30 second break,because that's all you have.
It's a 30 second break to sitdown and do what you know,
(38:06):
what's called like a breathprayer or you know where you
just say, okay, I understandthis is hard, but I can do it.
Or you just come up with yourown, and these breath prayers
are really important.
I think that that's been a bigkey.
Yes, my pharmaceutical therapyhas been incredibly helpful.
(38:28):
I was on the scale of anxietywhere I was having the thoughts
of you know doom, like somethingterrible, and initiating you
know pharmaceutical therapy forthat has really helped me do
like a reset.
That's kind of what I call itAmazing.
But having the skills fromtherapy have helped me stay able
(38:48):
, like stay calm or cope withwhen I'm feeling anxious and so,
like I mentioned, just taking aminute, stopping what I'm doing
.
You can set a timer if you wantto, because I've done that
before and no nothing.
Sit down and breathe for thefive seconds or 10 seconds, and
(39:10):
sure, it's not the most idealand it's not going to fix all
your problems, but it's going tohelp you get the next thing
done.
Ashley (39:16):
Exactly, that's exactly right, and thank you for that
transparency, because so oftenpeople expect our physicians to
be super women and superhero men, and we are also still human
and unfortunately, as apediatric physician you
mentioned, you know feelings ofdoom.
(39:37):
Sometimes there is doom in thenext room for you, you know, and
in order to manage that, youhave to take care of yourself,
and this is just.
This is not just for medicalproviders, this is for humans in
general.
We have got to take care ofourselves and we've got to pour
(39:57):
in to our own health and to ourown physical health, mental
health, emotional health and wealso have to recognize when
they're becoming unhealthy,which is a lot of therapy.
A lot of therapy is identifyingthings that are going to
negatively affect our health,and not just mental health.
(40:17):
So I'm so glad you brought thatup, because this is something a
lot of physicians struggle with.
This is something a lot of PAs,nps all of them struggle with.
I think that's so important.
We would all really Burnout,would be far less if we could
take a six-week vacation to oh,I don't know Provence, france,
and wine and dine our way downyou know the beautiful coast.
(40:39):
But we can't.
We'll do our 30 minute breathprayers and that will get us
there, and we'll just watchYouTube videos of Provence,
france.
Oh, dr Greedo, I you have justgiven so much insight in this
conversation and, I think,really have shown that you can
(41:03):
be desperately passionate aboutwhat you do and also recognize
that it is very hard and thatyou are working impossibly hard
some days, but there's an endgoal that is bigger than you and
me and the hospital that you'reworking for or the practice
that you're working for, andthat end goal is other people
(41:23):
and improving their lives.
What would you say to a personwho might be interested in
medicine and they hear thesestories about burnout, about the
challenges, about the risks,about maybe not getting accepted
to the program you want ormaybe not passing your board
exams.
What would you tell them on theother side of all of this,
where you're at right now?
Dr. Garrido (41:44):
Yeah, it is difficult for sure, but I think
that it's worth it At least inmy experience.
It's worth it.
It's worth the experiencethat's worth it.
It's worth the like.
Make sure you don't lose thatcore of why you're, why you went
(42:06):
into medicine, and it's people.
It's taking care of people,providing health for them, even
just teaching people abouthealth and about taking care of
themselves and giving healthliteracy, but just helping them
navigate their health, theirbodies, and helping them get
better when they don't feel well.
I think that I like research, sofor me, I think that also
really important and like a bigthing in medicine that I really
(42:28):
do love and I keep going forwardis new breakthroughs in
medicine and ways to treatdiseases or challenges that we
just don't have treatments foryet.
But if you are interested ins inmedicine and ways to treat
diseases or challenges that wejust don't have treatments for
yet, but if you are interestedin going in medicine, make sure
that that's the only thing youwant to do, that's the only
thing that you are going to behappy doing, and really look
(42:49):
into yourself and say, well, ifyou would rather do something
else, try that something elsefirst, because if not, you're
always going to think well, whatif?
What if?
And you may end up notcompleting your training because
it is very hard and it is verydifficult to do.
It's going to be the mostchallenging years of your life
to get through this training.
You are going to be beat downnot just by patients, but also
(43:12):
by preceptors.
You have to have enough of adesire to be a physician, but
also a really good supportsystem to get through this.
Make sure this is the onlything you want to do to make
sure you have a good supportsystem to get you through this.
This is something you shouldn'tdo alone.
Ashley (43:32):
And that is exactly our goal here at Shadow Me Next and
why I am so grateful for you, drGr, and the challenges that
(44:00):
have brought you here is justinvaluable to students who might
be looking for that, or evenfor patients who are thinking
you know, I want to get to knowmy healthcare provider a little
bit better.
I want to know why my clinicianis doing what they are doing,
because that's important to meas a patient to understand where
they're coming from.
So I think that that is sogreat and I'm so glad for shadow
(44:23):
me next, for you guys joiningus and sharing your stories.
I mean, it's it doesn't get anybetter than this.
Thank you so much for takingthe time.
I want to go back in time andbe a pediatric patient and jump
on your schedule, because I justthink you bring so much joy and
light into what you do and Iknow your patients love it.
(44:47):
But, more importantly, I knowtheir caregivers feel the
support that they areexperiencing in the room with
you.
So thank you for what you dofor us at Shadow Me Next, for
pre-health students by sharingyour story, but more importantly
, for the field of medicine.
It is wonderful.
Dr. Garrido (45:02):
It is.
It is a wonderful field.
Ashley (45:05):
Thank you so much, absolutely Thank you.
Thank you so very much forlistening to this episode of
Shadow Me Next.
If you liked this episode or ifyou think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday, as always.
If you have any questions, letme know on Facebook or Instagram
Access.
You want stories you need.
(45:26):
You're always invited to ShadowMe Next.
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