Offcall Physician Spotlight: Meet Dr. Stefanie Simmons, CMO of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation

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1. Stefanie, what would you tell a first-year resident that no one told you — but should have? Get your support systems in place! You are likely getting your first real paycheck. Make sure you are maxing out your 401k, and use some of your income to buy back some time. Hire a house cleaning service. Prep food in nice containers on your day off to ensure good nutrition. Buy some nice blackout curtains. I had two kids during residency, so even with two incomes, things were tight...but we could still do these things, and it made a HUGE difference once we started.

2. What’s the hardest part about being a physician that you think should be talked about more openly? The balance of control and responsibility. As a physician, you have a tremendous amount of responsibility and very little control. One way to think about this is through the spheres of influence. You control a small sphere in the middle, which mostly represents your thoughts and actions. A larger sphere around that is what you can influence: the performance of your team, the atmosphere of the department, and your hospital operations, for example. The largest sphere is things outside of your control that you need to accept. For physicians, we are responsible for the things we can control, must influence, and are sometimes held accountable for things outside our control, such as through malpractice litigation. Most people, physicians included, overestimate what they can control and underestimate what they can influence. We struggle to accept that some things, like patient deaths, are unavoidable. We must internalize this clearly because many outside influences don't understand our work or where we can and should make an impact.

3. What’s the thing that you love most about The Pitt and feel that it captures best about medicine? I love how the Pitt is showing the interpersonal sequelae of chronic and acute stress. It is really easy to engage with the competency (medical skill and leadership) presented in the first season. Now, in the second season, we are seeing some of the real mental health and relationship fallout from that chronic and acute stress. While watching this season with my family, my husband said, "ER people should do tours." It was an interesting idea and highlighted the need for real rest and recovery from chronic stress.

4. What’s a health hack/routine you do that could benefit other doctors or your patients? Meal prepping is my health hack, and this is also one of the best personal uses I've found for AI. I need three meals, with 12 servings each that freeze well. I specify high fiber, high protein and low saturated fat, and I mention the foods I DO NOT want to eat because of allergies or preferences. Once I have the recipes, I ask for a global shopping list for all three, and a prep schedule that allows me to cook and store all 36 servings in 2 1/2 hours. I do this once every 2 weeks and it makes healthy eating much easier (and cheaper, too)!