The theme of my fifth week here was unity and teams. I love sports and always have, especially team sports. Even some of my favorite movies tend to be true story inspired sports movies (Remember the Titans, Miracle, etc.)
Even though I mostly played individual sports growing up (tennis and track), my Texas upbringing included a ton of football and basketball and a little bit of baseball. As an ICU doc, I use sports analogies and treat critical care medicine as a team sport. The COVID ICU was always a team-based marathon, and the RTs and nurses often ran longer stretches than any of us physicians.
For over 10 years, I also played fantasy football with the UCLA pulmonary fellows, long after I transitioned out of the program director role. It was a chance for a bit of lighthearted trash talk and banter, but I always told them it was also a life lesson that being organized, timely, and strategic was one of the ways to win at life.
I convinced my associate program director to play as well and was confident that David's organization and attention to detail and tasks would serve him well, even though he had zero knowledge about football. And it was true - the two of us would often finish in the top four year after year. The fellows even bought a trophy that was distributed to the winner of the annual PFL (pulmonary football league).
Admittedly I've not always been the biggest soccer fan, but the World Cup has me all amped up just like the next person. I love the chants of U-S-A, the patriotism, the players and their heart and personal stories, and just the overall way that sports bring different people together as if they have been old friends for a long time. I also love underdogs and enjoyed watching Cape Verde fight so hard against Messi and the Argentinians on Friday. It's extra special that Seattle has become THE place for one of the biggest US soccer games in history. GO USA and enjoy the game!
The work theme this week was divisional budget meetings. It was both enjoyable and enlightening to hear about the initiatives underway across the various divisions and to gain a deeper understanding of each group's finances. It is honestly beyond impressive what the divisions and their faculty and staff have been able to accomplish in all of the missions even during a difficult financial time in academia.
It is all about the team and you need to value that team every moment of every day.
It also highlighted how differently our divisions and teams operate, including their priorities, areas of focus, and the resources available to support various aspects of the mission. One of my goals in the upcoming months is to bring us more towards one unified Department of Medicine team.
We will be stronger as a unit, and I want each and every one of you to feel like you are a member of the Department of Medicine team. At my final grand rounds on my last day at UCLA, I shared a list of 10 reflections that I had learned in my time there and #4 was this: It is all about the team and you need to value that team every moment of every day.
I hope everyone had a nice July 4th weekend and a huge thank you to those of you who were working hard in the clinical setting.
Our niece voluntold me and my husband to throw a BBQ at our house on Saturday.
Until next time,
Tisha