How Identity Has Influenced An Anesthesiology Resident At Academic Hospital's Career
Balancing the demands of anesthesiology residency with motherhood presents significant challenges, as illustrated by the difficulty of rescheduling patient care when a child is ill; the resident finds immense reward in "the happiness and fulfillment" of both roles, using their experiences to teach their child compassion and the value of hard work.
Work-Life Integration, Medicine, Anesthesiology, Working Motherhood, Compassion
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Briana Kossbiel
Anesthesiology Resident
Academic Hospital
University of Arizona, 2016
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, 2021 - MD
Biology & Related Sciences
Healthcare, Medical & Wellness
Medical
Honors Student, Veteran
Video Highlights
1. Being a working parent in medicine is challenging due to inflexible schedules and the inability to easily adjust to unexpected events like a child's illness.
2. The rewarding aspects of being an anesthesiologist, such as helping others and fostering compassion, are balanced with the joys of motherhood, providing positive role modeling for her child.
3. She aims to instill compassion and respect for working parents in her child and uses her own experiences to help them understand various life struggles.
Transcript
As someone who identifies as a working mom, how has that impacted how you've navigated your career?
Being a parent, especially in medicine, is very challenging. If your child is sick, and you're an attending physician, you may have 15 patients to see that day in your clinic.
You don't have a lot of wiggle room to cancel on all those patients if you can't make it. There are significant responsibilities to manage. It's really tough to navigate what that looks like as a working parent.
But there's so much reward in what I do every day as an anesthesiologist. Going to the hospital, taking care of people, and then being able to come home and take care of my child offers immense fulfillment. Seeing them grow up and witness the happiness I have in my job, and the work I do for others, and the compassion required, is valuable.
I believe there's so much value in what I do and how I can teach my child those values. These are things I hold close to my heart and practice daily with others, including strangers. I hope to continue translating this to him.
As a working mom, I'm also able to teach him more compassion toward women who are working, especially in medicine. I teach him the respect he should have for parents who are working. He'll understand that we all have different struggles, and he will have his own as he grows up.
By being open about my own struggles, I hope to raise him in a positive light.