Audio Upload | Nov 13, 2023 3:58 PM
Nov 13, 2023 • 3:13 PM - 3:58 PM • Denise Billen-Mejia • Audio Upload
Speaker 0
00:07
Hi. Welcome again to Myth, Magic, Medicine, with me, Denise Billen-Mejia. 2 immigrant doctors talking is very happy to welcome back
Tatyana Resnick from Uzbekistan. She's talked to you before a little bit about her life in California, but now she's going to talk to us
about where she came from and how the journey was. Hi, Tatyana. Thank you so much for joining me again.
Speaker 1
00:31
Hi, Denise, Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm so honored to be on your podcast.
Speaker 0
00:37
So you were a little girl in Uzbekistan. What can you tell us about it? Because I bet most people listening don't know exactly where it is
or very much about the country.
Speaker 1
00:47
Uzbekistan. It's a beautiful little country in Central Asia. It used to be part of former Soviet Union, and now it is an independent country.
It is relatively small in size, about California's size.
Speaker 0
01:01
Oh, you must be very comfortable there. So did you know you were going to be a doctor when you were growing up?
Speaker 1
01:09
Not really. I wanted to be all sorts of things when I was a child, starting from desire to be an astronaut and opera singer and everything
in between. But then when I was twelve, it's when I decided, I'm going to be a doctor.
Speaker 0
01:31
What inspired you to do that?
Speaker 1
01:34
Well, it happens that my mom died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma when I was five years old. So my grandmother was like a mom for me.
She played a major part in my life, and I grew up with my father and with her. And when I was twelve, she suddenly became very sick.
We did not know what's going on with her and I was desperate to find some way to help her and we had a family friend who allowed
me access to her. (She was a physician, and she had a library of medical books at home; she had a ton of books.) So she allowed me
access basically to her books, and my father had at home only one book, which was similar to the Manual of Medical Therapeutics
here in the US, so like an internal medicine book, so I read it, read it and read it I didn't understand anything because, you know, Latin
words made it hard to understand, especially for a child, but I was so desperate to find a solution to help my grandma that I kept
reading it. But when this family friend allowed me access to her books and I suddenly found the old medical dictionary, which she
probably had since her student days, it was really old, but I literally read it cover to cover. I read every word, and then I realized, Oh, I
understand now. I understand what I read from this Internal Medicine book. Suddenly, everything became so clear.
Speaker 1
03:22
I read it again and now it was all clear. Unfortunately, I couldn't help my grandma at that time. But later next year and year after,
because this knowledge stayed, you couldn't get it out after it already got in. I basically memorized a book accidentally because I was
reading it so much, trying to find the solution. And then, when somebody in the family would become sick and complained of some
symptoms, like for example, Aunt saying,"Oh, I have fever and my back hurts so much, I go to bathroom multiple times". "You probably
have pyelonephritis".
Speaker 1
04:11
"You need to go to doctor and you need to get this antibiotic".
Speaker 0
04:15
I'm glad you weren't trying to treat them yourself. You were just telling them when they needed to see a doctor.
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Speaker 1
04:20
Yes, but I would give them basically a diagnosis and I would tell them what prescriptions they need for and say, what child giving
medical advice? What's that? 13 years old at the time. So initially everybody were like, what's she saying? But then she would go to
doctor and will get the same diagnosis and prescription for what I told her.. And it was happening over and over again. So eventually
everyone, like family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, started coming with medical questions.
Speaker 1
04:56
And it's kind of happened. I realized it's what I want to do. I can help so many people potentially, but I want to have actual knowledge. I
want to have...
Speaker 0
05:07
It's a good idea. Don't just start practicing medicine from a book. Please go to medical school. So what was the track? You see, you're
twelve when you realize that's what you wanted to do. What were the initial depths in order to go to medical school there? What do
they prefer in Uzbekistan?
Speaker 1
05:25
In order to get into medical school, it is often encouraged that you prove in some way that you are serious about being in medicine,
that you're not going to quit in a few years. So they like to accept and give you extra points on acceptance. You know, at a time of
acceptance of medical school, if you are a nurse or if you worked as a nursing assistant or if you did something like that related .
Speaker 0
06:00
you're already related in some way to medical practice If somebody was from a medical family, did they have more chance of being
accepted to the school? No. It had to be their own particular proof.
Speaker 1
06:09
It needs to be your own experience. Yes, that's right a nurse, or working in a hospital in some capacity that you've actually seen what
medicine is, that you're serious about it.
Speaker 0
06:20
So how did you prove it to them that you were serious?
Speaker 1
06:24
I did both. I started working in a hospital as a nursing assistant and I went to nursing school to become RN. And in my country we have
this wonderful opportunity when instead of high school you can do a combined program. So high school is two years and RN program
is two years. But when you do combined program it's more intense. But you do three years total, and you have all high school subject
plus all nursing school subjects. So in three years you graduate with RN diploma.
Speaker 0
07:03
That meant you graduated around age of 20 because normally you would finished 18. Or was it younger?
Speaker 1
07:10
19, 19.
Speaker 0
07:11
Okay. So you came out a fully branded RN at 19? Yes. Okay. And did you practice nursing?
Speaker 1
07:21
Yes, I did. I didn't start right away because I got into medical school, and medical school is six years in my country. So first I was just
starting, but then on a year three, I started working in a hospital as a nurse in emergency department. It was night shift, so I was able
to combine.
Speaker 0
07:45
But you already have been accepted to medical school. So what were you proving? Were you just paying the rent and doing all the
other things that you need and getting some more experience?
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Speaker 1
07:55
Yes.
Speaker 0
07:56
Did you find that hard as you were already learning how to be a doctor? Because they aren't the same jobs. What? How did you feel
when you were. Oh, yes, wrong hat. Yes, I'm a nurse today.
Speaker 1
08:11
No, I actually found it really helpful because I was able to see in real life what's going on and what doctors do and I was able to learn
from them, to watch them. I found it really helpful.
Speaker 0
08:24
Good.
Speaker 1
08:25
I was in night shift like every third night, so was able to see all sort of things.
Speaker 0
08:33
So you were doing that through term time? You were going to classes in the day and then working the night shift. You slept like the
early part of the evening and then you went to work?
Speaker 1
08:42
Yeah, night shift, it's like 16 hours shifts. It usually starts around. I believe it was 04:00 p.m. And I would be done with school. So I
would go directly there and work. And then next two days I'm off so I can sleep more after.
Speaker 0
08:58
Okay. When did you do your homework for medical school?
Speaker 1
09:01
I would do it. I try to plan it. So on those two days when I am off, I would try to do majority prepare for exams and to do main part of
work. But the part which cannot be done in advance, I would do at night when my patients are sleeping, I usually would have at least a
couple of hours when I can focus.
Speaker 0
09:24
I think the subtext is this. If Tatyana says she's going to do something, don't stand in the way. She's coming through. Okay. When you
graduated from medical school, I'm going to assume medical school may take a year or two difference, but the basic plan is the same
for standard medicine, allopathic or osteopathic. So when did you graduate? When you graduated, did you go into a residency right
away?
Speaker 1
09:52
Residency. In my country, the system is a little bit different from the US. A medical school is six years, but last year, it is what we call
[Russian] It's like sub internship or like transitional year. We do rotations in various areas, like covering everything in this last year. But
we're not doctors yet. We don't have full diploma.
Speaker 1
10:21
In fact, we don't get actual diploma until we're done with residency. We get a paper. I mean, we get diploma, but not, like ability to
actually use it, right?
Speaker 0
10:32
That's called a license, I think. Okay. How long was your residency?
Speaker 1
10:37
Residency was two years. And it was what we call [ Russian]. We have two options after you graduate. One option is internship. Like
[Russian] internship. It's one year. Or another option is what I did.
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Speaker 1
10:55
It's two years clinical [Russian]
Speaker 0
10:58
Okay, so medical school finishes, you did two years. And what were you at the end of that two years when they finally let you work as a
doctor?
Speaker 1
11:07
Yes, I did specialization in cardiology. So after graduation, I started working as a cardiologist in a hospital and later on in a private
practice.
Speaker 0
11:19
How long did you work?
Speaker 1
11:22
Two and a half years prior to immigration to the US.
Speaker 0
11:27
Is. I'm going to dial it back a little bit, but it's still in this area because I was going to be chatting with you again specifically about your
experience in Uzbekistan. I looked up and was surprised that there are quite a lot of languages in Uzbekistan. It doesn't depend on
where in the. So everybody would speak Russian because most people were born under Russian rule, and Uzbek is the standard
language. But I think there are several other languages. Do you have to switch them with your patients or does it just depend on where
in the country you are?
Speaker 1
12:06
Yeah, I lived in Tashkent, which is capital. So it's a little bit depends on what part of country. So main language in Uzbekistan is Uzbek
language, and Russian is a second language. So it's like in California, English is main language, and Spanish could be spoken in
various parts of state. So Uzbek was main language by the time when I was immigrating, but was a child because it was Soviet Union,
Russian was most common language. So my education was in Russian.
Speaker 0
12:49
Yes. Okay. When did you start learning English? English.
Speaker 1
12:54
I started learning it back home, but unfortunately it was not exactly.
Speaker 0
13:03
It's harder when you're not everybody's speaking. Once you got here, I'm sure it was hugely different. So when did you decide that you
were going to move out of that country and move somewhere else? Did you know you were going to go to the US? Did you think about
my hometown in the UK? Did you think about going to other parts of Europe?
Speaker 1
13:24
I actually didn't want to immigrate, but at that time, it was over 20 years ago. Situation in my country became not very safe, and we had
no choice, so we immigrated, and choice of US was simply because I had family here and not anywhere else. So it was simple.
Speaker 0
13:47
Was your family in California?
Speaker 1
13:49
Yes.
Speaker 0
13:49
So you went straight to California? Yep. Okay. And then did a detour because I know that part of the story. All right. So finish telling us
about Uzbekistan. Is there anything in particular you'd like people to know about the country?
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Speaker 0
14:03
Because most of us don't know that much. Yeah.
Speaker 1
14:06
Uzbekistan, it's a beautiful country. It's nice and green, and people are friendly, and I love it and miss it and.
Speaker 0
14:18
Do you have family still there or did everybody move? No family there. Of course. The food we grow up with is always the best food.
What is the national dish? When we're on the subject, is there a particular thing that you miss?
Speaker 1
14:37
Plov is most common. Like on Uzbek weddings. On any holiday scale.
Speaker 0
14:45
What is Plov? .
Speaker 1
14:48
It's like dish made from rice and meat. I don't eat meat, but it usually has meat has carrots and various additions. Like, sometimes
people add green peas, sometimes people add raisins.
Speaker 0
15:08
That sounds like polow. Is it a rice dish with everything's in one dish? You cook the rice and then you steam everything.
Speaker 1
15:18
It's so many, various types of plov. And it's very common. It's probably the most common one comes also. People probably know
Samsa. It's like triangular pastry.
Speaker 0
15:38
Okay, all right. Let's leave Uzbekistan. Maybe we'll come back later, but let's leave it for now. So you decided to emigrate and how
many people emigrated with you so that your family realized they needed to move?
Speaker 1
15:52
Yes. Two more people. Three of us came together.
Speaker 0
15:57
And you went straight. Did you stay with family in California or did you just find a hotel to stay?
Speaker 1
16:06
No, family helped us rent an apartment for us.
Speaker 0
16:13
That's good. How much time did you have for planning? Was it like, okay, we're going to get on a plane next month, or did you have six
months to plan everything out?
Speaker 1
16:26
From a moment we got visa and until the moment we actually landed from a plane in California was about ten months.
Speaker 0
16:38
Okay, so good time. So your family was able to look around and find you a nice apartment, and you were able to move. Good. So what
did you do? Apart from try and figure out how American electrical system is and what's on the TV, what else did you need to learn?
Initially, when you arrived, how much English had you managed to learn?
Speaker 1
16:59
I spoke very little English. I couldn't really understand anything at all when people even I tried to study it before, but apparently it's not
the same. So when I came, I could not speak almost anything and I could not understand anything. I could say, like, high by and basic
words, but not much.
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Speaker 0
17:21
Yeah, but you could read English. Um.
Speaker 1
17:26
I could read some of it, but even, like, six months later, when I was trying to study, to prepare for board exams, each sentence, half of
sentence, would be new words for me.
Speaker 0
17:42
How long did it take you to study for those exams? Did you start studying pretty much as soon as you got settled?
Speaker 1
17:51
I know, probably like three, four months later, because I tried to study at least basics of English.
Speaker 0
17:59
Yeah, that's essentially when you got here, you started studying. I mean, people are going to have different things they needed to learn.
So you started studying for the exams. You hadn't taken any of them? Everybody, I'm sure listening to this knows there's three big
exams before you can really practice. Although one of them's gone away, I don't think they've brought clinical skills back. Um.
Speaker 0
18:22
So you took them all in California?
Speaker 1
18:25
I took all of them in California, yes, at the time. But there were five exams starting with TOFEL, which eventually was.
Speaker 0
18:32
I forgot. That prove you can speak English exam.
Speaker 1
18:35
Yes. Then three USMLE exams and additionally clinical skills exam, which also no longer.
Speaker 0
18:47
So you even had [Step} 3 done before you started residency. You've got that?
Speaker 1
18:51
I had all of them done before residency.
Speaker 0
18:54
Excellent. Did you find it difficult to go? You'd already been a practicing cardiologist. How hard was it to go back and remember the
nitty gritty preclinical stuff?
Speaker 1
19:04
Oh, it was very difficult because, first of all, it was in a different language. And second, it's been several again.
Speaker 0
19:12
Yeah. You practice cardiology and do you remember foot? What does the foot look like? There's a lot of minutiae in it. Okay, so you got
rid of the exams. That probably took you a while. How long did it take you to get through, do you think?
Speaker 1
19:30
Ah. It took me total of four years, but first year was almost completely consumed by studying English, of course. And in between, I also
had my daughter and spent time with her. So part of this time was raising a baby. But total took four years until I got into residency.
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Speaker 0
19:53
Okay. And did you, did you apply to a lot of different places or did you know where you wanted to go?
Speaker 1
19:59
I applied a lot, yes.
Speaker 0
20:01
Okay. And it wasn't going to be a problem. You would be able to go wherever it took you. You would go?
Speaker 1
20:07
I would go any place, yes. I was determined to get in, so I would go.
Speaker 0
20:13
Yeah. You have a residency program. Would you like to teach me? What specialty did you want? Because cardiology is specialty, really,
here?
Speaker 1
20:21
Yeah, I wanted Internal Medicine, so I got into Internal Medicine and I'm very grateful for it.
Speaker 0
20:28
Where did you go?
Speaker 1
20:30
University of Nevada, Reno.
Speaker 0
20:32
Okay. Did you find it very different from California? Must have been quite different from Uzbekistan.
Speaker 1
20:40
From Uzbekistan? Yes, from. California , no. From Uzbekistan different. But it was a great residency. I'm really grateful for everything
there. We had great attendings, but yes, medical system in US definitely quite different.
Speaker 0
21:00
So what did you really like about other than thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me a residency spot because I think most of us
feel like that initially. Did you find it difficult to think like an American resident, or had a lot of the American gotten into you from the
exams because you have to learn all the medications are called by something different. Even anatomy is usually different if you're in a
different language base, not different anatomy, just different names. Yeah.
Speaker 1
21:37
Yes, a couple of things were different, but prior to residency, I was actually doing observership for two years with American
cardiologist. So I would follow him in a hospital everywhere, and not every day, of course, but frequently. So I was able to observe how
American hospital works and what's the difference. And yes, initially there was a little bit of shock, surprise by how different things are
in a good way and in a bad way, everything.
Speaker 0
22:15
What do you think was the biggest difference to you? What struck you the most?
Speaker 1
22:19
The biggest difference was definitely cost of medical care and disconnect... I would say there were three big differences, but main one
was how insanely expensive everything is. And even with insurance, people still have enormous medical bills, and many people end up
actually becoming bankrupt from medical bills in a rich, a beautiful country while having insurance. This was completely shocking for
me, because in my home country, we do not have medical insurance.
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Speaker 0
23:04
So it was a new concept that insurance, you mean it was nationalized so that everybody got the same treatment.
Speaker 1
23:13
There are two options in Uzbekistan, maybe more here, but at the time, when used to work there, we had two options. One option is
nationalized when everything is free, but not everything is available. I mean, little is available. But second option is private. And I
worked in both. So in private practice in private hospitals, usually people have more resources because it's like different way.
Speaker 1
23:48
So they have medications, they have access to more equipment, but it's expensive. It's not free, but free part in Uzbekistan is a
beautiful hospital, highly trained, dedicated, excellent doctors and almost no medications. So hospital pharmacy is frequently lacking
even basic medications and. It was not unusual when patient gets admitted to a hospital, usually patient's family waiting. And after
seeing a patient, they will come back to family and tell them please bring three ampules of Lasix, three vials of potassium.
Speaker 0
24:33
So even really basic things.
Speaker 1
24:37
Yes, absolutely everything. Because, at the time when I was working there, it was very common for hospital pharmacy to have almost
nothing. So people will go to outside pharmacy and buy, it was possible to buy two ampules, three ampules. It doesn't need to buy
entire pack. So they would bring what exactly this patient needs and every day I would tell them, now we need one more ampule of
Lasix or albuterol please and they would quickly go to pharmacy, come back 2 hours later with medications.
Speaker 0
25:16
Having worked in emergency medicine in this country, I can't imagine having to wait even.I mean just get the pixis open, give me the
things I need. That must have been terrifying on occasion.
Speaker 1
25:24
Yes, unfortunately it was a big problem at that time. I hope it's better now. It's been 20 years ago, but at the time lack of medications
was huge in regular hospitals. So for me it was really wonderful to see that medications actually available.
Speaker 0
25:42
Here it was a second thing which was different then you looked at how much they were being charged for said medication and were
amazed.
Speaker 1
25:50
Yes, yes, it's expensive, but at least it's available, at least you can have patients actually receive what they need right now. Like in next
5 minutes.
Speaker 0
26:04
Yeah, right. Where the pharmacies at least open all the time in Uzbekistan. Okay. Because otherwise it could know we open at nine.
That wouldn't work. Okay. So the cost of medicine was the first big shock for you.
Speaker 0
26:21
What was the second thing that surprised you?
Speaker 1
26:23
Second thing which surprised me was that people. People here frequently, despite having access to healthy food, sometimes, quite
often, eat not healthy food and it actually what fueled my desire to study and later on become board certified in lifestyle medicine and
to focus on lifestyle and how lifestyle can affect people's health. It was surprising for me that food is not a problem. Food is available,
but sometimes and quite frequently, people still choose...
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Speaker 0
27:10
Ichoose even when they can afford a better quality of food. Of course there's a lot of people that they can't afford it. But one of the
things I think that's sort of part of that is there's still this idea that I have a medical problem, give me a pill. And I don't really mean that
in a judgmental way because people have been trained this way by the system, by society to assume that there's a fix and not only that
but an easy fix for everything. And yeah, there is, but you have to start it 20 years before you get sick. You know, be healthy all of your
life for whenever whatever gene kicks in causes you problems.
Speaker 1
27:55
Yes, this was really surprising for me, especially when we all know how many illnesses can happen, for example from extra weight,
from eating junk food. It's easily preventable. So it was a surprise for me.
Speaker 0
28:12
What was the third thing. And it was not really a surprise.
Speaker 1
28:19
I kind of expected it, but it was really awesome to see that everything is available.
Speaker 0
28:25
Okay, so carry on from type one. What actually led to me asking immigrant doctors to chat to me was you and I were speaking in a
meeting somewhere, and you what it was like. And you told me that in your home country you couldn't give patients bad news. Yes.
That I think is fascinating because here everything has to be even people get their results before their doctors do.
Speaker 0
28:59
When you had bad news, obviously tell somebody, did you tell the family members and they decided whether to tell the patient?
Speaker 1
29:07
Yes, exactly. This is also quite different. Yes. Back in my home country, at least at that time, when I was trained, we had this priority
that patients recover faster when they're happy. When patient is sad, patient will be stressed out and will not recover and will not
survive that well. And it's actually true.
Speaker 0
29:33
And I think you won't have much argument from the mainstream medical practice here. It's just somehow we're going to tell you bad
news, but you're not allowed to get depressed from it. It's obvious we need to be able to put more support for people when they have
that kind of news.
Speaker 1
29:51
Yes. When I was in training and when I was practicing in Uzbekistan, we were not supposed to tell patients ever bad news in a direct
way, saying somebody, you have cancer, you have two months to live. It's malpractice. It's absolutely. No.
Speaker 0
30:09
And we would probably soften it a little bit here, too.
Speaker 1
30:11
But we could say we found tumor and we going to give you some medications to help to shrink it. This medication called
chemotherapy. And we're also going to do radiation therapy to help shrink it because we cannot resect it. So we will not say directly
we would say it more soft way but we would say to family every patient identifies next of kin and trusted decision-maker and this
decision-maker will be a point a person who we will tell honestly and directly what exactly going on and then it is this person's choice
when and how and if to break the news to actual patient because this person knows the patient better than we know, and will know
how to present it in the softest possible way and knows if it should be presented at all because sometimes news will not be given.
Speaker 0
31:15
Yeah, but I imagine that would be har for informed consent because you usually are going to say you could have radiation, you could
have chemo, you could have both or we can wait and see what's happening in six months. I'm not an oncologist, there's probably a lot
of other things they would suggest but that's a lot of burden on the person who's sick. Just the insurance forms are an issue but. They
have to have some degree of autonomy.
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Speaker 1
31:47
We still take informed consent, but the way how information presented, it's in a more positive way. Like for example, we need to do the
searching because it will save your life. You have a hole in your stomach and the content goes out.
Speaker 0
32:03
How do attorneys in Uzbekistan feel about this? Because here the concern is if you don't tell everybody, you can't say you are going to
get better. But most people get better with this.
Speaker 1
32:18
You know Uzbekistan, it's not a litigious country, so it is not as common. It's another thing which was different in the US. In Uzbekistan,
it's not as common to sue doctors for no reason, you would sue if something really bad, outrageous was done by a physician. But it is
not really a big point of concern down there and consent is obtained. But again, it's obtained in a way when it's more kind of positive,
like, yes, you have a hole in your stomach. We need to do surgery because it's going to save your life. It's not that you're going to die.
Speaker 1
33:01
It's like you're going to save your life. It might save your life. It would help you to survive. So it's more a positive way.
Speaker 0
33:09
Okay. All right, we've done that. Thank you. That was why we have this whole series due to that question. So how long do you think it
took you to sort of change your mindset? You'd obviously been changing over the years that you'd been here because you'd been
exposed to American medicine. When did you feel comfortable in the system?
Speaker 0
33:34
Well, when did you realize you were an American doctor and no longer an Uzbeki doctor?
Speaker 1
33:40
I think I'm both. I became comfortable with this, especially this part about directly telling to patients. Quite quickly, actually, because I
always thought I didn't like that we cannot tell to patients directly. Felt that it is a person's right to know the truth.
Speaker 0
34:03
But you're speaking like directly meaning doctor speaking to actual patient, not speaking through a third party. Not necessarily., "Hi.
Sorry. You've only got about 5% chance of living", right? That's not what you meant by direct. Okay.
Speaker 1
34:15
But I mean like telling to patient not through family member, but directly to a patient. I thought patient has a right to know. Especially if
patient asking you directly a specific question. And you cannot answer this question. I always thought that it better, that honest
approach is better. So it didn't take too long to learn. Maybe like first couple of months.
Speaker 0
34:41
Was there a difference in where you practiced? In the safeguards that are put in place of what is considered the normal modus
operandi?
Speaker 1
34:53
Yeah, a couple of things different in terms of in Uzbekistan, there is a lot of care to prevent infections. So, for example, in order to get
infectious disease, hospital is a separate hospital. It's not a room on the same floor with non infection people like somebody with.
Speaker 0
35:17
But mind you, that is, a few decades ago, it would have been the same thing here. Just like you had a separate TB hospital because
you had enough people with TB to justify a separate hospital. It. Okay. So how was residency for you? What did you find challenging
about the way, were your hours very different from when you were training abroad?
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Speaker 1
35:42
Well, back home we have a little bit more autonomy, but not much different, really.
Speaker 0
35:51
Okay. And the hours that you were working? Because here, I mean, everybody complains about how hard they work. Doesn't matter
what century they're from. When I was training, there were no hour caps. They came in right after I finished training. So by the time you
came along, it's supposed to be 80 hours a week in most states.
Speaker 0
36:09
How did that compare to what you were doing in Uzbekistan when you were in training? Well,
Speaker 1
36:17
In Uzbekistan, there are no specific rules about hours.
Speaker 0
36:23
So when you finished your internal medicine degree, when you finished your internal medicine residency and you took your exams,
presumably, did you want to train any further, or were you anxious to get back to patients?
Speaker 1
36:43
Well basically when I finished residency my daughter was five, and I really wanted to be done with training. At this point.
Speaker 0
36:52
I'd like an income. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1
36:55
Yes. I felt it's enough training. Plus, in my home country, there is no such profession as hospitalist. It's internal medicine, but not
hospitalist. But here, when I started working as a hospitalist, I really liked it.
Speaker 0
37:14
And it's interesting, diverse was it initially, let me do this while I figure out what I want to do. And then you decided, you just said, oh, I
like this pattern of work. Yeah. I think what people really enjoy is being able to block your time. So, you know, when you're free, you're
really free. I like it.
Speaker 1
37:36
During residency, initially when I started residency, my intention was that I'm going to do fellowship in Cardology afterwards because I
really liked cardiology. But it's a time because my daughter was two years old, I started residency and I was spending so time away
from her.
Speaker 0
37:53
My priorities in, she wasn't in Nevada. She was back in California.
Speaker 1
37:59
In Nevada.
Speaker 0
38:00
Oh, she was in Nevada. So you just weren't seeing her because you were working a lot of days.
Speaker 1
38:05
Yeah. I was hardly ever seeing her. I was coming late and she was little. So I felt that my main priority right now to raise my child and I
don't want any additional training at this time.
Speaker 0
38:19
Fair enough. So how old is she now?
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Speaker 1
38:23
She's 21.
Speaker 0
38:24
Okay. And she's in college or is she done?
Speaker 1
38:27
She almost done with college?
Speaker 0
38:28
Yes. Is she going down mum's career path or she decides to do something completely different?
Speaker 1
38:34
No. She studying psychology and sociology. She's really good at it. She likes it.
Speaker 0
38:44
Good. So you really enjoy your hospitalist work? You're completely satisfied with it? And this is a rhetorical question because I know
the answer, but do you do anything else as well? You did allude to being a physician coach earlier on. Do you spend a lot of time doing
that?
Speaker 1
39:03
I actually do a lot of things in addition to it. Hospitalist work is wonderful, but I had a lot of free time in between. I work on average,
several days off, several days on. So on my days off I do a lot of other things. And over the years I was really interested in
self-development and in various books, courses and various ways. How to help people to feel better, how to help people to move
forward towards what they want to achieve.
Speaker 1
39:39
And I noticed that people frequently come to me for advice and for some guidance and they're grateful. So eventually I decided to get
more training. So I had additional training, became a certified life coach, and opened my business, life coaching company. I help many
people, but most of my clients are women physicians who I help to feel better and to move forward in creating the lives they wanted to
create. It is very interesting. It is my passion, really.
Speaker 1
40:20
I have a lot of clients and I enjoy seeing how the life changes with my coaching.
Speaker 0
40:26
Good. How long do they work with you? On average? How long is the coaching program?
Speaker 1
40:31
Some people have one session, some people have four, some people have eight, some people have twelve.
Speaker 0
40:38
So you're not necessarily moving them from A to B. You're helping them figure out where they want to be and just feel better. So
somebody could come to you for a session and then go away and enjoy their life for a bit and then say, oh, I'm ready to do something
else. Let me go to Tatyana, talk about that. So you can do it that way or you can have a fixed program.
Speaker 1
40:58
It actually depends on what my client wants. Sometimes it is twelve sessions because it takes longer and it's more complex situation
which requires more time. But sometimes it's something more simple. For example, gaining clarity.
Speaker 0
41:17
That was what I say. It's all very well said if you know what you want, but just getting that clarity initially is hard.
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Speaker 1
41:25
Yes, one session. Usually when people want to get clarity or when to solve one specific situation and to get direction on this. In twelve
sessions, it is when clients need more deep and more prolonged.
Speaker 0
41:40
Do you work one on one or do you have group sessions? At this time?
Speaker 1
41:44
I work only one on one, but I plan to have groups in the future.
Speaker 0
41:49
What else have you been doing this year?
Speaker 1
41:52
Yes, this year I also have some exciting news. I became a co author in collaborative effort in two books.
Speaker 0
42:03
I didn't know about the two. Okay.
Speaker 1
42:05
Yes, actually two. One book already had been published and actually quickly became bestseller in the first week in several categories.
It is lifestyle medicine books called How Healers Heal. It is on Amazon and it is very interesting.
Speaker 0
42:22
Links will be in the show notes. And the other thing that you've just done is it already just published.
Speaker 1
42:28
Second book is about to be launched actually on October 17. This book is also very interesting. It is book about artificial intelligence in
medicine and in both books it is a collaboration of many women physicians contributing their part and both books are on Amazon. I
really would like to invite our listeners to check them out. And I also have a podcast. It's called Voices of Women Physicians. And I
interview women physicians who are leaders, innovators, experts in various fields in and outside of medicine, and they share their
inspiring journeys and helpful, practical tips from the area of expertise.
Speaker 1
43:19
So formation helpful not just for physicians, but for everyone, because we cover so many areas. Good.
Speaker 0
43:27
All right. So you got imparting words for everybody.
Speaker 1
43:32
Yes. It is a lot of fun and very interesting. Podcast is on all podcasting platforms, please listen.
Speaker 0
43:40
[It'll be in the show notes. Did you have anything else you wanted to tell people? Did we miss out any big chunks of your life that you
want to talk about?
Speaker 1
43:51
Yeah, I would like to tell people that it. Is so many interesting things, so many roads in life. And you can do so many things no matter
what country you are and no matter what. Ah, part of life you are. So it's always something interesting, something to dream about. And
in my coaching, I help people to bring, say, dreams into reality. So if you have some idea or some vague idea or just some feelings that
you would like to bring some impact, you would like to do something interesting, something different, contact me.
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Speaker 1
44:33
Initial session is free, and I will help you with some ideas, some brainstorming, and I will help you to reach some areas and to get to
some resources which can help you bring your dreams and ideas to reality.
Speaker 0
44:50
Okay. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you. I'll see you on. Thanks so much, Denise.
Speaker 1
44:58
It was my pleasure.
Speaker 0
45:03
Thank you for joining us at Myth Magic Medicine. If you have found this episode useful, you can apply for free CME credit through the
link provided in the transcript. If you're not a medical professional, please remember, while we're physicians, we're not your physicians.
So please consult with your own healthcare professional if you think something you have heard might apply to you or a loved one. Until
next time. Bye.
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