Kathy Neacy

Positively Deviant Emergency Medicine

Many of you subscribed at this point don’t know Kathy Neacy. Kathy trained as a medical student at the University of Illinois- Chicago and then a resident at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. (Before being a student, she was in the medical device field for a number of years).

She was a faculty member at Regions and staff physician at Hudson from the late 90s to the mid 2000s before heading back closer to family in Chicago. Since moving, she’s mostly practiced at Loyola University Medical Center as a Staff Physician and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. However (as we get into in this podcast) she scratched an itch to try something different: she moved to a pure community ED for a period of time.

Kathy is always fun and interesting to talk with, but this experience of working in academics and community practice might provide early career physicians or current ED residents some extra perspective on the options available out there. I’m honored to call Kathy a personal friend and was excited that she agreed to be interviewed on a recent trip to the twin cities. Many older residency alumni and faculty will no doubt remember her intensity, her cut-the-crap approach, but also her compassion for the suffering and passion for helping others learn the art and science of medicine.

Enjoy!

Show Outline

• Introduction
• Does Kathy enjoy her job?!
• Understanding and defining role as an emergency medicine provider
• Methods of getting yourself and your department back on track when ‘on the ropes’ and other ramblings on managing people and yourself during stress during the ED shift
• Kathy’s foray into community medicine
• Structural differences observed between community and academic practice
• Considerations on culture and burnout in your group
• Advice for early career women in emergency medicine
• Going into the room – first moments of relationship building with the patient
• Teaching patients about supervising residents in the moment
• Tips for connecting with patients
• Closing – Would you recommend your career?