Physician Work 3/3

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jun 28, 20214 min read

Alcoholic Liver Disease and Loss

There was no hiding his ailment and why he had been admitted to the physical rehabilitation hospital. I could tell by looking at him from...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Jun 9, 20214 min read

Resolving Resistance

Several years ago, I had the most challenging interaction I have ever had with a patient’s family member, and even today, the memory of...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

May 31, 20214 min read

Love and Work

I have been working some sort of job since I was a teenager. My mother was approached at church the summer I had just turned fourteen by...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

May 26, 20214 min read

Pandemic Traveling and Gym Workouts

This past weekend I traveled via plane for the first time in two years, since before COVID-19 transformed my way of life and leisure. I...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Apr 14, 20214 min read

Spreading Wings

The hoo hoodoo hoooo hoo woke me up in the early morning hours. It was just after 4 am. My alarm would go off soon anyway, so I dragged...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Apr 7, 20215 min read

The Listening Path - Part 3

The third assignment in my listening experiment required my attention to others. Piece of cake, I thought. I’m a good listener, I...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Mar 27, 20215 min read

The Listening Path - Part 2

I used to listen to upbeat music or NPR news on the way to work every day, which is about a 15- minute drive, one of the many blessings...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Mar 18, 20213 min read

Code Status

At the end of every new patient evaluation and admission to the rehabilitation hospital I have to bring up the sensitive subject of Code...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Mar 12, 20215 min read

Rapid response

Last week I said to my colleague, “It feels like it’s a full moon,” and she quickly agreed. It was a day full of chaos and emergencies,...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Mar 1, 20214 min read

Blood and tears

Nothing in medical training really prepares you for the death of your first patient, the first time you officially pronounce a patient...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 21, 20214 min read

My first mistake

I saw my senior resident storming down the hospital corridor towards me. As soon as she was several feet away, she yelled out “You killed...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 15, 20215 min read

Cancer rehabilitation

F*** Cancer said the caption on my patient’s hot pink socks, the words coming from the mouth of a little purple cat holding up its middle...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 11, 20213 min read

Physician burnout - Part 4

I was reminded that my response to the stressors at work during the COVID-19 pandemic are to be expected. It’s normal to feel stress...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 9, 20213 min read

Physician burnout - Part 3 - Suicide

By the time the COVID-19 surge in our community did arrive last fall, I was ready. In the months prior I had recognized that I was...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 7, 20215 min read

Physician burnout - Part 2

I suddenly had the insight that what I was experiencing was physician burnout, something I had not yet experienced so acutely on the job...

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 5, 20215 min read

Physician burnout - Part 1

Last year when the SARS-CoV2 was just starting to circulate in the US (or, more accurately, the awareness of its presence was becoming more

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Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 3, 20214 min read

Death in the time of COVID-19

Some of my patients have died from COVID, some have severe long-term effects from the disease that will not allow them to return to their pr

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Long term effects of surviving severe COVID-19

Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 1, 20215 min read

Long term effects of surviving severe COVID-19

The truth is that you can’t change someone’s belief, because they do not reside in the rational or cognitive part of the brain. Maybe some d

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My Oath and patients who don't believe in COVID-19

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jan 30, 20214 min read

My Oath and patients who don't believe in COVID-19

It is true that this is the most challenging time I have had thus far in my career as a physician. And it’s not just the long hours...

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The pandemic has brought me back to my passion for writing

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jan 30, 20212 min read

The pandemic has brought me back to my passion for writing

It has made me dig deeply into my reserves of patience, love, compassion, and kindness, for my patients, my family, my friends, and myself.

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