What I Gained From Hiring a Coach

By Amruti Borad DO

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It was one month prior to the first COVID19 Omicron Surge when I thought to myself: “If I have to write one more note or sign one more order, I think I might leave medicine.”

This thought frightened, disappointed, and angered me. Why did I spend the last umpteen years striving to and dreaming of becoming a Family Physician, only to end up feeling this way? How could medicine let me down? My relationship with medicine turned from finding the love of my life to a tragic sudden break up (If you haven’t heard the Chris Stapleton song, “Cold,” take a listen. This is exactly how I was feeling).

I felt lost.

I had already spent hundreds of hours reading about burnout, listening to every podcast under the sun, hoping to find my way back to the excitement I felt on my first day as an Attending Physician. And then I came across an article that discussed a few unique ways of addressing this epidemic is via coaching, mentorship, and peer support programs.
Coaching stood out to me as I had already been considering it for it for a few years and by chance I met a physician coach within my own department. It was time to invest in myself, and I did.

Not only did coaching help me navigate and grow as a novice Clinic Medical Director and a Department Wellness Director, it brought back the joy of clinical medicine, consistently reinforced my “Why” in both my professional and personal life, and drew me into a world of endless possibility. It also allowed me to pay it forward by bringing coaching (both formal and informal) to my colleagues in need and to our department.

Here are my takeaways from my coaching journey:

1. My thoughts create my feelings, and I do have control over my thoughts.
2. In every situation, you either get the result you want, or the lesson you need.
3. It is possible for me to be vulnerable, and vulnerability is a sign of courage and a path towards helping others.
4. I can do difficult things.
5. My voice matters.
6. I am on my own path and have my own back.
7. I ask for what I want.
8. I respect myself.
9. “Should” is “could” with shame.
10. I can set boundaries and not feel guilty about it.
11. Engage in self compassion in order for me to just be myself.
12. A relationship is only what you think about the other person
13. All I have to do is take the next best step.
    

About the author: Amruti Borad is a board-certified Osteopathic Family Medicine Physician. She completed her residency at UCLA, continued a career at UCLA in academic medicine for a few years, followed by joining a non-academic patient-centered clinic at UC San Diego Health. During this time, she was a volunteer preceptor for one of the UC San Diego Health Free Clinics, Department COVID19 Lead Physician, Clinic Medical Director, and Department Wellness Director.
She had the opportunity to achieve her Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt and graduated from the Health Leadership Academy at UC San Diego Health. This brought her great purpose – the ability to be at the forefront of Physician and Staff burnout prevention and treatment and to make positive changes for her patients on a larger scale within the healthcare system.
She recently began working at a UC San Diego Health Concierge Medicine practice, which she feels allows her more time to build meaningful relationships with her patients, resulting better in health outcomes, and achieving a true work-life balance. She credits her physician coach with reinvigorating her joy in medicine, and she wants to pay it forward. She is currently in coach training at The Life Coach School, with a goal to work with physicians.
In her free time, she enjoys playing the piano, songwriting, meditating, reading non-fiction, having great meals and conversation with close friends, playing with her loving golden retriever and golden doodle, and attending concerts and traveling throughout the United States with her husband.