There is no one perfect answer to what makes a great medical practice. Many different factors come into play when creating the ideal practice for yourself and your patients, but self-care is one of the key buzzwords that cannot be left out of the equation. 

Selfcare is not just about eating well and taking rest. There is more to it, especially when it comes to identifying what the ideal way of practicing medicine looks likes for you. 

n addition to prioritizing yourself, you have to advocate for what you believe in, be intentional about setting healthy boundaries between your practice and personal life, and learn to be more present in each of them. This will help you bring the highest value as a clinician and enjoy your personal life alongside your professional life.

Join the conversation with Dr. Emeka Obidi as he shares how you can create an ideal medical practice atmosphere for you, your team, and your family. Dr. Obidi is a pediatrician, and he has been practicing for over 17 years in western Maryland. He is the founder and CEO of Partners Pediatrics and Family Health, a family medical practice where he leads a team of four medical providers caring for both pediatrics in adult patients. Dr. Obidi is also the CEO of Newborn Prep Academy, where he runs an online course called newborn preparation course that guides new, expectant, and recently delivered mothers on how to care for their newborn babies and what to expect so they can feel confident, empowered and ultimately enjoy their babies. 

Tune in!

During this episode, you will learn about;

[00:01] Introduction to the show 

[02:01] A bit about our guest today, Dr. Emeka Obidi 

[03:20] Dr. Obidi’s journey in medicine and how he got into Pediatrics

[04:56] Challenges that Dr. Obidi has experienced in his wellness 

[06:33] Values and intentionality required in balancing practice and family

[09:49] Learning to be more present in your practice and personal life

[12:22] Practical tip from Dr. Obidi on how to chat better 

[15:38] Why Dr. Obidi got into entrepreneurship and the lessons he has learned 

[18:24] How to build a positive culture that you actively want in your practice 

[20:30] Advocating for what is right and owning your voice to make a difference 

[25:54] About Dr. Obidi’s newborn preparation program 

[29:34] Mindset and how Dr. Obidi positions himself to handle his additional ventures

[32:05] Takeaway tips on how to create balance and care for yourself 

[34:08] Ending the show and call to action 

Notable Quotes 

•  It takes a lot of emotional energy to be with people in their time of need. 
• Don’t minimize the impact that you’re able to create in your world and your community.
• Medicine is a team sport in every stage of the game, and there is hardly any physician who practices alone.

Do you want to get home sooner from the clinic or hospital? With all your notes and charting done, too? Get your FREE PDF guide with 10 tips to maximize your clinical efficiency! https://mededwell.com/efficiencyguide/

Connect with Us

Dr. Ryan Stegink 

Website: https://www.medededwell.com

Get Coaching with Dr. Stegink: https://mededwell.com/coaching

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mededwell

Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mededwell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mededwell1

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC_6svH-LEDhLjqD7bKa2TSQ

Dr. Emeka Obidi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drobidi/ 

His newborn preparation course www.newbornprepacademy.com 

Above are the episode show notes and below is the transcript. Some episode transcripts have been edited more than others, but they are up in the meantime to help those who would rather read and for searchability on the web. Extensive editing has not been prioritized as I seek to both produce regular content and maintain my own wellness. See the website disclaimer if you have questions, since this is all for your education and entertainment only. Enjoy!

Transcript

Dr. Ryan Stegink (00:00):
Have you felt exhausted in medicine? Like your practice is more like a treadmill than truly a calling. Is the charting weighing you down, working well past your last patient of the day, charting at home in the evenings and on weekends, the notes, paperwork, lab results, quality metrics, all the things, right. What if I told you there were some ways to make a change, to get more efficient so you can finish work at work and have the margin to intentionally choose thoughts and actions consistent with your values and priorities. You can get my free guide with 10 tips for getting work done at work more efficiently. Get yours today at mededwell.com/efficiency. After that, if you know, you want to take a deeper dive into your thoughts and clinical practice, check out MedEdWell coaching with Dr. Stegink, fight burnout and moral injury. Find fulfillment and create margin by examining your thoughts and actions to take that next step forward from where you are to where you want to be aligning your actions with your priorities.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (01:21):
To find out more into book a consult head over to mededwell.com/coaching. And now for the rest of today’s episode, welcome to the MedEdWell podcast, empowering physicians to get work done at work, and then be able to reflect and choose what is important for both their life and medical practice. I’m your host, Dr. Ryan Stegink general pediatrician and life coach for physicians. Welcome back to another episode of the MedEdWell podcast, where we help you as a busy physician. Take your next step in wellness. I’m so excited to have another guest on the show today, Dr. Emeka Obidi, a pediatrician, that’s been practicing for over 17 years in Western, Maryland, where he also lives with his wife and their three kids. He’s the founder and CEO of partners in pediatrics and family health, a family medical practice, where he leads a team of four medical providers, caring for both pediatric and adult patients. His passion is all things pediatrics, and especially working with moms and their newborns. He has cared for well over 1000 newborns. Over the course of his career. He is also the CEO of newborn prep academy, where he runs an online course called the newborn preparation course that guides new expectant and recently delivered moms to understand how to care for their newborn baby and what to expect so they can feel confident and empowered as first time moms and ultimately enjoy their babies. Welcome to the show Dr. Obidi.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (03:06):
Well, thank you very much, Dr. Stegink I really appreciate the invites. I’m looking forward to our time together.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (03:13):
Wonderful. So tell me a little bit about your story, how you got into medicine and, and pediatrics specifically.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (03:21):
Oh boy. . So I went to med school in Nigeria, which is where I’m originally from, and I actually wanted to be an ophthalmologist in med school and with medical school in Nigeria, after you’re done with your basic training, you do one year, an internship year where you get to do three months in the four major specialties. So you’re doing three months in OB GYN and three months in pediatrics and three in internal medicine and surgery. And I just fell in love with pediatrics. My pediatric rotation was just, it wasn’t what I expected. It was going to be, I, I fell in love with the kids. It was just a magical experience. And I just knew afterwards that that was what I was gonna do. And so came out to the us and did a residency in pediatrics and out in New York and came out to Western, Maryland to practice about 17 years ago. And I’ve been at this practice for 17 years and and bought it like 80 years ago, been on 80 years. Never run the practice since then.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (04:26):
Great. So it sounds like you’ve had a lot of diverse experiences and just opportunities to really lean into what sounds like has been a really fulfilling career so far.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (04:36):
Yes, yes. It has been, it’s been a ride for sure, but it’s been quite an interesting growth journey and, and I’m, I’m thankful I am.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (04:46):
So you mentioned it’s been a growth journey. Have there been certain things that were particularly challenging along the way, especially with your wellness?

Dr. Emeka Obidi (04:56):
Yes. For sure. I think especially after I took over practice, as you well know, that is the one area of medical training that is solely lacking and and I took over a practice that was, that was thriving. It was, you know, busy from day one. It was a busy practice and I’ve grown into about twice of what it was in terms of size and revenue. And so that has been quite a challenge. I think after a few years of run running the practice that I just realized, okay, this is a lot of work and it was a good practice, but the culture wasn’t in line with my own personality and true to me. So there was a lot of work with trying to walk on the culture of the practice to be more true to who I am and how I show up as a person. So, but that process also means that there were lots of long hours, lots of balancing, caring for family with three kids, you know, and a wife. And so it’s, yeah, it’s been, it’s been quite the journey learning to set boundaries and learning to even what wellness is all about, you know, mm-hmm yeah. And it’s been but I’m grateful for, for the journey. I’ve, I’ve learned quite a bit about myself and and just how to show better in the world.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (06:21):
Yeah. So you mentioned having certain values and intentionality, how has that really helped you with the increased workload of now being owner of the practice?

Dr. Emeka Obidi (06:33):
Yeah, I think I value family. I value being able to horn to my kids and my wife. And that definitely was a challenge earlier on building a practice. It still is, you know, it’s always gonna be something you try and juggle and , and I’ve had to get to a place where I realized that, okay, I, I have to learn how to create boundaries, where I’m able to work on my practice and have my patient and do what’s necessary to grow the practice, but also start to realize, and figure out how to better be supportive also at home and with my kids and with my wife and just be a better husband and father, and it’s a journey, but I think I’m making some progress, hopefully , but it’s been, and I think much earlier in my career, also even just the term self-care was just very, felt.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (07:40):
It was very, for lack of a better way of putting it very through through, and very like nothing substantial or something. And, and even when I heard that term, I will probably just think of spar days and massages. Right. and, but, you know, more recently have come to really understand that there’s way more to self-care than that, you know, it’s really been able to care for yourself, literally self- care for yourself. And that could be anything from just eating better, to resting better, to having more boundaries that are healthier, where you are able to keep work at work and, you know, focus on your family when you need to. Yeah. And, and that’s been helpful, has been helpful to, to be able to step back and be more present, you know, I think just be more present, also enjoy the moment. And that’s something that I’ve definitely learned a little bit more of more recent years. Mm.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (08:39):
Yeah. Those are really, really insightful things you just mentioned. I mean, talking about boundaries and intentionality and figuring out what are those essential things that I need to get done to move forward in your clinical practice as just as a family man and a husband and a father. And, but then, yeah, it’s like, how do you decide, okay, what, what do I delegate and what maybe needs to get pushed off till later? I think that’s really helpful just to prompt all of us to think about, okay, what am I here to do? What am, what are my values? What do I see my impact being down the line, but at the same time, okay, how do I be present with that family, with that mom, with that newborn who’s maybe really struggling and even with the stresses you have. Okay. How do you set that aside for a moment and really lean into that, and maybe even that helps along your journey, just being there and experiencing that moment with them.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (09:49):
Yeah, that’s so true. And I think that’s even something just, maybe even in the last, I would say four to six months that I’ve leaned. Yeah. Maybe even more, more recently leaned into just be more present. Even in the practice I had to get to a place where I, I was terrible with my chart closure. It was just something I just dreaded because there’s just some extra work and just such mental energy, but really focused on it this year, learning how to be present when I’m in the, you know, in the room with the patient and cut out all the noise and really lean in and also finished the, the documentation of the visit also in real time. And that has been such a gift because it’s allowed me to, when I’m in a room, be truly present, cuz I’m not worrying about all the other things I have to do after I step out the room. And I think I’ve, I’m even just enjoyed practicing better in act this in better in the last several months, just being more present. And I think in some ways that’s also, self-care just recognizing that this is where you bring the highest value as a clinician in that moment, you know, you’re there to care for that family and being able to give up yourself because you’ve cared for yourself. I think has been just just a nice experience for me.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (11:10):
That’s really helpful. I’ve had similar journey in terms of previously bringing charts home, having to log in on my off days, but yeah. Yes. Figuring out, okay, how can you build that connection even fairly quickly? But if you are intentional in that and depending on how the room is set up, sometimes having a computer where you can actually face the patient and still type it, really, if you’re able to work through that mentally of, okay, I can do this and I’m gonna try and get everything down and be able to get most, if not all of the charting done, then it really does decrease that cognitive load of, okay, which patient was this on? And which was that on? And then at the end of the day, when it’s like, yeah, it takes a lot of emotional energy to be with people in their time of need. How do you then go and say, oh, I need to do another hour or two hours of charting. It just sometimes seems like a mountain that you can’t climb right then.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (12:20):
Yes. I totally relate for sure. I know something else that I, I, I think that was really helpful. And I had taken a course that was very helpful, you know, earlier on this year, just learning how to chart better. And one of the things that was most helpful was being able to delve into the mindset behind the issue of not closing your charts on time and recognizing that, you know, there’s just a lot of people pleasing. I think a lot as doctors, that’s something that we probably lean heavily towards. And so it literally will probably only take one or two minutes to finish that chart, but you’re worried about the next patient in the next room and you know, and so that time that could have been used to finish that chart. You know, you’re like there’s so much. And for me it was almost like an edge to like, no, I can’t, you know, I just have to go and see the next patient and I’ll deal with this chart later on.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (13:17):
Right. But in some ways I was robbing the next family of my, you know, as well, because I step into that room and I’m thinking of a thousand other things, you know, on my mind and things I have to try and remember to finish in the chart previously or the charts previously. And so you end up not even giving your best in that situation. I think I just had to learn again, just that mindset behind why it was happening in the first place. And I think it was helpful and goes back to self care also and boundaries, because part of it was setting boundaries and saying, no, I need to finish this chart right now. I, this is the patient in front of me and I need to care for them and finish caring for them, including sending their prescriptions and then move on to the next patient who is also happy when you come in and you’re fully present also. And yeah, so it’s been really helpful for sure.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (14:06):
Yeah. And I think calling out like the communication piece of that of saying, Hey, I appreciate that you are here with me now and I want to be fully present with you. Yes, I might be running behind, but I’m gonna give my full attention to you. And sometimes when I go, when I’m able to get my charts done in real time, then I will go to the next room directly. Previously, I would go back to the work room, but then I’d have to log in there. And then someone might come up with a non-urgent thing that could be batched at the end, or if it was something urgent, they were gonna come find me in the room anyways and say, oh, can you step out for a moment? So I think putting all those things together, being present intentionality communication and the charting piece, because I think that’s really what contributes to a lot of burnout for many physicians.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (15:03):
Yeah. That’s true. I agree with you. Like I said, you know, I think I’ve even enjoyed practicing better in the last several months that I’ve gotten now under control. So I, I totally agree that that that is a big contributor to, to physician burnout. And I probably would’ve been headed that way very shortly if I hadn’t taken care of the issue.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (15:23):
Yeah. So you mentioned getting into entrepreneurship and how did you work through that in your mind of, Hey, this isn’t, what’s in the type of practice that’s in line with my values and deciding to stay and to, to purchase that.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (15:38):
Like I said, it was a good practice. I practiced here for 10 years before I purchased it. And I think, you know, when you are employed to some degree, I, and honestly maybe this goes back to maybe not owning your voice much earlier. So, or I should say not me not owning my voice much earlier, even when I saw some things that I felt wouldn’t, I wouldn’t want in my own practice, you know, I just felt well, you know, I’m employed, it’s not my practice and it’s not like it’s the end of the world. But when I eventually owned the practice and had full ownership, I realized I had to change bins, you know, and, and that was challenging because it involved letting people go, there was a long, messy, middle of not learning how to hire well. So you’re hiring based on your values and to go out, to learn how to hire properly and also letting go of people that weren’t in line with your values and letting them go of them earlier, because in some ways it’s a disservice to them to also hang on to them longer and they’re miserable, you’re miserable, you know, doesn’t end up working out very well.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (16:52):
So it’s just taken a while to learn all of that. And and I will say one thing that has been really helpful for me, my own personal journey with entrepreneurship has been coaching. I think it’s made a big difference. Just having an independent person that is able to, you know, give you some objective, objective feedback, you know, a good coach, doesn’t tell you what to do. he just able to reflect back to you. What’s happening, gives you some, an opportunity to step back and look at it through someone else’s eyes, see things more objectively, and typically, you know, you know, what the right decision is. And that has been super helpful in my entrepreneurial journey. Just being able to, you know, there’s no point suffering through something. If someone has gone ahead and is able to point out the pitfalls and able to give some guidance and yeah, it’s just been very helpful.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (17:44):
That’s really helpful. And I think it’s important to see that you already had many of these ideas, these thoughts within you, but by having that outside perspective, you were able to step back and kind of evaluate, okay, no, where do I really want to take this? Where do I want to take this team culture building? And yeah, that means some people, it may be doing them a service to say, Hey, I think you would be a better fit somewhere else. What have been some of the, the joys or surprising things that maybe were positive about building culture?

Dr. Emeka Obidi (18:24):
I think, and honestly, in the last several years, the culture has been really so much closer to what I want in my practice. And of course, you know, just like with every family things, aren’t a hundred percent perfect every time, but it’s light years from where it was. And I think just the joy of working with people that you enjoy working with and, and especially for the culture that I’m, I, I actively walk on here. It’s been able to have a practice where this collaboration, where people generally want to seek other succeed, and that has been just super helpful and have a great practice manager with my wife who helps run the practice. And it’s just been wonderful for us to be able to feel the practice that we are proud of and a practice that where we walk alongside people that we’re happy to walk alongside with.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (19:22):
I have four amazing family practice providers that I just love working with and all the support staff. So it’s been, it’s been a joy. I think you’re just more and I, and I say this all the time, you know, to the team that we want a place where we’re happy to come to work. I think pediatrics in general is stressful, not just in the sense that it’s usually high volume and just, you know, screaming kids and, and upset parents, you know, because the kids are, you know, sick. And so having a practice where there’s no extra drama or more like that to a minimum, I think is so helpful because you can come in and just do the work you need to do and not get bogged down in all kinds of staffing drama. And of course, you know, there’s gonna be some here and there, but I think compared to some what I see obtaining a lot of places, I think we do a pretty decent job of creating the right atmosphere here and that’s been helpful. Yeah.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (20:20):
How would you encourage someone who’s still employed in trying to build up their staff and their team, or maybe even support someone who’s running the practice?

Dr. Emeka Obidi (20:30):
Yeah, yeah. You know, I think I, another business coach has coined the term into entrepreneur and that I think has been really interesting because really every physician should be an entrepreneur. Even if you don’t own your practice, even if you’re working at another practice, being able to build your personal brand, which ends up being a win-win situation because you get to win because you have a brand that means something and that brings value and your employer gets to win because you’re able to contribute positively to the practice, I think is just where we should head as a physician, physician, community. It shouldn’t be entrepreneurship. Shouldn’t be something that’s far into us as a physician body. And I think when you’re employed somewhere, if I could talk to my, what will it be now, maybe 10 year younger self when I was employed, I will have just spoken up more and articulated the value cause I brought great value to the practice, you know, and you know, it’s why I was here long enough for him to sell the practice to me when he retired.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (21:48):
But I would’ve been able to articulate that value better and really walk to influence the culture itself as well. I think that oftentimes as physicians, we give, give up our voice and give away our power to everyone else around us and, and don’t realize how much power we have and, and not to be obnoxiously disruptive, but I think there’s much good. We can bring to wherever we find ourselves. You know, I’ll give you a story. For instance. I just finished the stent as the pediatric chair at the local hospital. And for as long as I have been in the community, which you know is about 17 years now, we have been fighting to have a pediatric hospitalist service at the local hospital because they’ve had an adult hospitalist service for a while, but pediatricians were still having to admit their patients there and see newborns.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (22:43):
And we loved a lot of it, but we also recognized that it was becoming more and more disruptive to our practices. And it was difficult to hire new talent because they didn’t want to do hospital work because they did, they would’ve gone to do a hospitalist program. Right. So, and then you have all these pediatricians who are further and further away removed from practice from, you know, from residency and weren’t necessarily interested in hospitalist work. So any long story shot, we’ve been fighting for it for years and haven’t gotten anywhere. And the, and the administration just always gave some excuse of the other. When I became chair Pete’s chair, I advocated so strongly for it. And we also had a good CEO who had just come in, who was, you know, willing to listen. But I don’t think we’ve gone as far as we did, if I hadn’t gotten to a place where I was able to confidently express my voice and my views and advocate.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (23:41):
So I strongly spoke about it at every meeting. We had every executive meeting we had and every private meeting I had with him, like, you know, and really tried to articulate the value of having a hospitalist program, pediatric hospitalist program, because it was gonna serve our pediatric population better. You know, we were losing business also to surround our hospitals because, you know, pediatricians didn’t want to admit anything that was too complicated because they were just not comfortable doing so, but long story shot, you know, we, they made great strides and started to negotiate with other groups. And while I was still Pete’s chair, and shortly as I left up to two years, a few months after they signed a group to come in and provide hospitals for care, you know, at a hospital here. And, you know, I, that would not have happened if I had not grown to a place where I was confident expressing my views and advocating for what I believed in and bring in value, right. To, to whatever situation I was. I found myself in. So it’s really important for us as a physician community to be able to stand up and to stand for what’s right. And advocate for the things that we we want.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (24:56):
It’s so amazing. Thanks for sharing that story. And I think as physicians, it’s so easy to let imposter syndrome hold us back from owning our voice and from leaning into how we’re uniquely wired and say, okay, I’m passionate about this, or I’m passionate about that. And it’s about finding who are the stakeholders, what maybe data points do you need to bring to those discussions, but then how do you stay on message and say, this is really important that we make this happen. And with all of us physicians, we can really make a difference if we do own their voice.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (25:36):
That’s so true. I totally agree with that a hundred percent.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (25:40):
So you went from being employed to practice owner, entrepreneur, still practicing, and now you have this newborn preparation course. Tell me more about how you decided to start another venture.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (25:54):
Sure. I mean, like I said, I love Alton’s pediatrics, but I especially love caring for newborns and especially first time moms. And there’s just something about seeing them come into the room, anxious and worried and concerned and leaving, you know, with a little bit more of that off their shoulders and just more, more calm and more confident and being able to answer the questions. And I think, I guess similar to how I got into pediatrics in the first place where I did my rotation and just fell in love with pediatrics. I think I just began to lean a little bit more into that special interest and started to think about how else can I serve and create greater impact beyond, you know, my practice and the few patients I can see. And in the last, I know, six, nine months or so started to, you know, this program, which I’m just super happy about to bring to the world.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (26:55):
And some my way of, in a little bit contributing to just a better experience for moms, you know, and it’s geared towards new moms, especially, but certainly any mom who is worried, overwhelmed, not sure what to expect with her newborn or a mom who’s just recently delivered and you know, is overwhelmed and has 1,001 questions. And, and the program, you know, comes along and helps them understand what to expect from their newborns and how to care for them safely. And so they can just be more confident and, and enjoy their babies better. I think over the years, I’ve just seen that there’s so many things that moms worry about that, you know, as a pediatrician yourself, you know, that, that wasn’t even anything serious. Right. and of course there are times where they’re worried about something that is serious and I’ve learned over the years to really very listen very carefully to a mom because she’s with this child all day long.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (27:55):
And just to make sure I’m not missing something when she’s worried about something she’s sin, but also just recognizing there’s so many things, they worry about that, that if they were just armed with this information ahead of time will have just reduced the amount of anxiety they had. Cause oftentimes they’re having to wait at least 24 hours or several days or weeks before they bring this up with their pediatrician. Right. And I was like all that time, they had to waste worrying about something that wasn’t such a big issue. And so that was just my passion is to be able to create a course where these things are sort of brought brought up ahead of time and sort of like anticipatory guidance so that they’re just better prepared for the experience. It’s not gonna make it perfect. It’s still gonna be hard work, caring for a newborn, but if I can, you know, do something to reduce that anxiety and worry, I think it’s hopefully well worth it.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (28:50):
And it sounds like an opportunity to use some of your creative passions and patient care and really multiply your impact. So I’m encouraged to hear that. And when I go check that out, encourage everybody else to check that out. If they’ve got kids in their family or work with children in, in medicine as well, thinking about adding this new thing. Sure. It’s a passion of yours. What things did you have to do around mindset processes to make this something new that you were adding still fit within your other responsibilities? Did you have to delegate something? How did you deal with that from a process standpoint, but also your mindset?

Dr. Emeka Obidi (29:34):
Yeah. It’s such an important question. And really a great question. I, I think so mindset’s number one is really realizing that first of all, I can do hard things. that? Yes, it might be hard to be able to juggle all those things, but I can do hard things. I actually ran a half marathon last year, which is just the highlight of my year. Wow. And one of the reasons for training for and running half marathon was to prove to myself that I can do hard things. And so it, it really was yeah, quiet the experience for me. And so, you know, I brought up mindset into this new venture saying, you know, I can do hard things. I know this is gonna be difficult, you know, in some ways, but I can handle it. I would just have to be able to look at my workload, realize what needs to be reorganized.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (30:29):
I have a personal assistant that’s been really helpful and, you know, VA team that helps as well, a virtual assistant team that helps with some of the work just reali, just learning to delegate a little bit better and freeing up myself to be able to bring the highest value I can to the practice itself and doing the things that I only can do or should be doing and starting to let go of things that yes, I can do them or I can struggle through them, but there’s an opportunity cost to struggling through something that you don’t have to do. And yes, you may have to feel a bit more money to have somebody else do it, but that frees you up to be able to pour yourself into things that only you can do or only you should be doing, whether that’s really working hard to create a culture here at the practice, or pour myself into the creative process of bringing, you know, bringing together a new online course. Yeah. I think it’s just been delegation realizing that, yes, this is gonna be difficult, but I can do it. So, you know, no big deal. And then just having a really wonderful, supportive wife that has been able to help me create some space for me to do that as well. Certainly has been super helpful to have her support.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (31:46):
Wonderful. As we wrap up, if there was one piece of advice that you would give to position earlier in their career or something you might have told yourself 10, 15 years ago, what would that be in terms of how you create this balance and care for yourself?

Dr. Emeka Obidi (32:05):
I would say that don’t minimize the impact you’re able to create in your world, your immediate world and the world around you. I think that it’s easy to say, oh, I’m just a physician. I’m just, you know, a doctor, I just have this, you know, job, but there’s so much value that you bring to your world and your community that your training itself prepares you for so much. I think because we’re in it, we don’t realize how valuable our training has been to be able to stick with something for a long period of time, to be able to walk with a team. Medicine is a team sport at every stage of the game is highly any physician who practices solely alone, right? And those are all skills that you can bring in. And I think just encouraging them to recognize their value, own their voice very early on the process, you know, in a very respectful and very collaborative way. But, but being able to stand up and speak up when you need to, and, you know, prioritizing yourself to be able to create the right atmosphere around you, even for your family. I think, you know, it can be easy to get wrapped up in our patients and the workload and all of that and get so burned out that we bring a lesser form of ourselves back home to our families, which, you know, it’s deserve.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (33:40):
Thanks so much. That’s amazing advice. And I think an inspiration to say, how do we each take that next step in caring for ourselves, our families, our patients, and colleagues and staff. So thanks so much Dr. Obidi for joining me here on the meed well podcast.

Dr. Emeka Obidi (34:00):
Well, thank you very much as said, because it was really a wonderful pleasure spending some time with you and I really appreciate it.

Dr. Ryan Stegink (34:07):
Well, thanks so much. If you’d like to connect with Dr. Obidi on social media, he’s on Instagram and Facebook. And for those of you interested in checking out his newborn preparation course, those links will all be in the show notes. I want to encourage each of you listening to share this episode with another physician. I want to encourage you to subscribe to the podcast and take your next step today. Thanks so much for all you do and have a great day.

And now for our important disclaimer, Dr. Ryan Stegink is a practicing general pediatrician, but the MedEdWell podcast does not reflective views opinions or belief of his employer nor his affiliated university. Additionally, the MedEdWell podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only, and should not be considered advice regarding financial legal student loan, medical, or any other specific topic. In such a case you should see consultation with a certified professional in that particular area. Again, thanks for joining us on the MedEdWell podcast and have a great day.