Physician Work

Valerie Brooke, MD

6 days ago
4 min

The Science of Gratitude

Many years before I studied to become a physician, giving thanks for the blessings in my life was the first part of my morning prayers. ...

60 views2 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Oct 30
3 min

The Last Frontier

I grew up in the Green Mountain State (Vermont), lived for a short time as an adolescent in the Granite State (New Hampshire), and for my...

73 views2 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Oct 18
4 min

Change

As the plane descended from the ash-colored clouds over Burlington, Vermont, I looked over the blunted orange and dark green leafed trees...

71 views4 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Sep 18
3 min

Curiosity and the Practice of Medicine

“Curiosity is the genesis of empathy,” were the astute words in my weekly email from writer Jeannine Ouellette. I'm taking a course from...

47 views1 comment

Valerie Brooke, MD

Aug 7
4 min

Listening to a Patient’s Story

I am part of a writer’s group and together we are doing a 12-week course on how to write a lyrical essay. The first week’s assignment is...

70 views1 comment

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jul 23
4 min

The Big Leap

“When we get quiet enough, for long enough, we can hear the whispers, of what is right, of what is true, and most importantly, which way...

151 views3 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

May 4
3 min

Responding to Suffering

Last year I started attending monthly lectures put on by the Nevada Physician Wellness Coalition (NPWC), an organization in line with my...

97 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Apr 24
3 min

Restoration

It's been a long time since I've written, too long for sure, but a lot has happened in my personal and professional life in the last...

98 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jan 21
5 min

Getting COVID

DETECTED. SARS-CoV-2. There were the words on the lab results page I had seen so many times at the hospital where I worked. I never...

118 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Dec 6, 2022
6 min

Things that Get in the Way

I recently picked up a dusty book from the overflowing self-help shelf on my bookcase: The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown. I’d had...

87 views1 comment

Valerie Brooke, MD

Oct 20, 2022
4 min

Words Matter

Quite frequently I will come across the word “non-compliant” in the medical record of a patient, one that I am going to admit to the...

101 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Aug 15, 2022
5 min

Poor Insight

One of my favorite words in stroke recovery is anosognosia (a-no-sag-no-zhea). This is the bizarre symptom a patient often has after an...

54 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

May 9, 2022
5 min

Love and Money

It took me many drives to work to realize what bothered me about this billboard. At first, I thought it was because I could not for the...

76 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Mar 1, 2022
3 min

I Wish I'd Known

Yesterday I was invited to give a talk to a group of about fifty freshmen undergraduates at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). These...

99 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 20, 2022
4 min

Death and Dying

I was not aware during my medical training how fearful patients and medical professionals are about the one thing that we all will...

81 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 14, 2022
3 min

Imposter Syndrome

I will never forget the first medication I ordered as newly practicing physician. It was my first internal medicine rotation of...

85 views0 comments

The Stigma of Mental Health Illness in Medical Professionals

Valerie Brooke, MD

Feb 7, 2022
4 min

The Stigma of Mental Health Illness in Medical Professionals

The other day one of my physician colleagues shared a story with me about some seemingly helpful advice he was given during the first...

104 views1 comment

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jan 31, 2022
3 min

Personal and Professional Perfectionism

To be perfect means to be “excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement.” Perfectionism is multi-dimensional and can...

124 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jan 23, 2022
4 min

Moral Injury

The term moral injury popped into the conversation about physician burnout back in 2018, when an article was published entitled...

86 views0 comments

Valerie Brooke, MD

Jan 16, 2022
3 min

Balancing the See Saw

On the way home from skiing last weekend my husband and I were humming along to the familiar 1968 Moody Blues song, “Ride…Ride my…blah...

47 views1 comment