Gabrina Dixon
1. What experiences influenced your decision to become a hospitalist medicine attending?
My attendings during my residency had a huge influence on me becoming a hospitalist attending. During that time, they did both inpatient and outpatient care. I loved the family centered care that was provided and the teaching during rounds on the inpatient unit. Initially when I completed residency, I was looking at private practice positions. In some of the positions I would have been a solo practitioner and not able to work with residents and medical students. Being able to teach residents and medical students was very important to me when I was interviewing for jobs. Also, seeing a variety of patients with different medical conditions and not just the common diagnoses was appealing to me for hospitalist medicine. As a hospitalist attending, I am able to see common diagnoses in a multitude of presentations and take care of complex pediatric patients. At Children’s National, the hospitalist division is a very collaborative group and it’s always great to work and learn from such amazing people!
2. You have done research and initiatives on Diversity and Inclusion and together with Dr. Barrett Fromme, you are leading the SOHM Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. Why do you feel diversity and inclusion is important in hospitalist medicine? What changes would you like to see in this area in the next 5-10 years?
The patient population in America is changing and it is important that the physician workforce reflects the changes that are happening in America. Innovative ideas are a result of diversity. It is important that our patients see a diverse workforce that reflects them and also addresses their needs. In 5-10 years, I hope to see more diversity in the leadership and members of PHM. As the co-chair of the SOHM Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, I am part of an amazing team presently obtaining baseline data from programs and members so that we can provide PHM tools to help with diversity and inclusion.
3. You are actively involved in medical education at your institution. What experiences influenced your involvement? How do you see medical education intersecting with PHM as PHM moves toward becoming an American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) subspecialty?
Being an educator is in my DNA! I come from a family of educators. My mom is a biology professor at a university and my sister was a mathematics teacher and now does mathematics curriculum for middle and high school students in a public school system. My grandmother and aunts were also educators. I had excellent clinical teachers in medical school and always wanted to be able to teach the future generation of doctors as they did for me. Medical education is a key component to PHM because we are cultivating the pediatric hospitalists of the future. I think it’s wonderful that PHM will become an ABP subspecialty. It is similar to how pediatric emergency medicine became a sub-specialty. PHM is a specialized medicine and it’s great that the ABP is recognizing the specialized and unique educational needs of PHM.
4. You have done work on resilience – both in ourselves and in our learners. Recent data published in J Hosp Med in 2018 shows that pediatric hospital medicine programs perceived as unsustainable were more likely to require a higher number of weekends worked per year or to be university employed. For those of us who don’t have the ability to change our schedule, what changes can be made to improve resiliency?
Work, life balance is very important as a physician. There have been a multitude of studies on “burn out” in physicians. Patient load, especially during the winter months, and a rigorous schedule can lead to stress and less sustainability. I think it’s important to have support at work but also to have an outlet outside of work. I try not to take work home and complete all my notes and tasks at the hospital so I can enjoy being at home and not think about doing work. I am an avid lover of the arts and dance. My outlet is tap dancing and I have been a tap dancer since I was a child. I think it’s important to take time for you, so I also try to go on mini-vacations every 3 months just for relaxation and recuperation. Remember, you have to take care of yourself, before you take care of other people including patients.
5. You are the director of the Howard Medical Student Inpatient Rotation for pediatric hospitalist. What do you think we as hospitalists could be doing better when it comes to medical student education?
I think one important item as an educator is to make sure the focus is the learner and you are reaching all different types of learners. David Kolb discusses the different types of learning styles and the learning cycle of students. I am an active learner so I enjoy providing teaching activities for other active learners. However, I have to remember there are learners who prefer observing and reading information rather than actively learning information so I try to incorporate these items in my teaching.
Source: Kolb, D. 2007. Kolb Learning Style Inventory. Hay Group Transforming Learning.
6. Jack Percelay often ends his list-serve commentary with the phrase “that’s just my 2 pennies.” What are your two cents?
I always tell my mentees in this performance called life, make sure to live it FULL OUT!
As a hospitalist, you can be pulled in many directions due to the different aspects of the field. I think it’s important to find your niche and to become a leader in it. Also, it is important to be passionate about the work that you are doing because sometimes it can be difficult to complete. I am passionate about diversity and inclusion and very excited about creating initiatives for PHM in this area. Our field is evolving and I am happy to be part of this wonderful movement.
My attendings during my residency had a huge influence on me becoming a hospitalist attending. During that time, they did both inpatient and outpatient care. I loved the family centered care that was provided and the teaching during rounds on the inpatient unit. Initially when I completed residency, I was looking at private practice positions. In some of the positions I would have been a solo practitioner and not able to work with residents and medical students. Being able to teach residents and medical students was very important to me when I was interviewing for jobs. Also, seeing a variety of patients with different medical conditions and not just the common diagnoses was appealing to me for hospitalist medicine. As a hospitalist attending, I am able to see common diagnoses in a multitude of presentations and take care of complex pediatric patients. At Children’s National, the hospitalist division is a very collaborative group and it’s always great to work and learn from such amazing people!
2. You have done research and initiatives on Diversity and Inclusion and together with Dr. Barrett Fromme, you are leading the SOHM Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. Why do you feel diversity and inclusion is important in hospitalist medicine? What changes would you like to see in this area in the next 5-10 years?
The patient population in America is changing and it is important that the physician workforce reflects the changes that are happening in America. Innovative ideas are a result of diversity. It is important that our patients see a diverse workforce that reflects them and also addresses their needs. In 5-10 years, I hope to see more diversity in the leadership and members of PHM. As the co-chair of the SOHM Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, I am part of an amazing team presently obtaining baseline data from programs and members so that we can provide PHM tools to help with diversity and inclusion.
3. You are actively involved in medical education at your institution. What experiences influenced your involvement? How do you see medical education intersecting with PHM as PHM moves toward becoming an American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) subspecialty?
Being an educator is in my DNA! I come from a family of educators. My mom is a biology professor at a university and my sister was a mathematics teacher and now does mathematics curriculum for middle and high school students in a public school system. My grandmother and aunts were also educators. I had excellent clinical teachers in medical school and always wanted to be able to teach the future generation of doctors as they did for me. Medical education is a key component to PHM because we are cultivating the pediatric hospitalists of the future. I think it’s wonderful that PHM will become an ABP subspecialty. It is similar to how pediatric emergency medicine became a sub-specialty. PHM is a specialized medicine and it’s great that the ABP is recognizing the specialized and unique educational needs of PHM.
4. You have done work on resilience – both in ourselves and in our learners. Recent data published in J Hosp Med in 2018 shows that pediatric hospital medicine programs perceived as unsustainable were more likely to require a higher number of weekends worked per year or to be university employed. For those of us who don’t have the ability to change our schedule, what changes can be made to improve resiliency?
Work, life balance is very important as a physician. There have been a multitude of studies on “burn out” in physicians. Patient load, especially during the winter months, and a rigorous schedule can lead to stress and less sustainability. I think it’s important to have support at work but also to have an outlet outside of work. I try not to take work home and complete all my notes and tasks at the hospital so I can enjoy being at home and not think about doing work. I am an avid lover of the arts and dance. My outlet is tap dancing and I have been a tap dancer since I was a child. I think it’s important to take time for you, so I also try to go on mini-vacations every 3 months just for relaxation and recuperation. Remember, you have to take care of yourself, before you take care of other people including patients.
5. You are the director of the Howard Medical Student Inpatient Rotation for pediatric hospitalist. What do you think we as hospitalists could be doing better when it comes to medical student education?
I think one important item as an educator is to make sure the focus is the learner and you are reaching all different types of learners. David Kolb discusses the different types of learning styles and the learning cycle of students. I am an active learner so I enjoy providing teaching activities for other active learners. However, I have to remember there are learners who prefer observing and reading information rather than actively learning information so I try to incorporate these items in my teaching.
Source: Kolb, D. 2007. Kolb Learning Style Inventory. Hay Group Transforming Learning.
6. Jack Percelay often ends his list-serve commentary with the phrase “that’s just my 2 pennies.” What are your two cents?
I always tell my mentees in this performance called life, make sure to live it FULL OUT!
As a hospitalist, you can be pulled in many directions due to the different aspects of the field. I think it’s important to find your niche and to become a leader in it. Also, it is important to be passionate about the work that you are doing because sometimes it can be difficult to complete. I am passionate about diversity and inclusion and very excited about creating initiatives for PHM in this area. Our field is evolving and I am happy to be part of this wonderful movement.