January 26, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I was completely overwhelmed last night. There is a bit of political tussel at work about committee responsibilities. It’s easy being Assistant Boss because that’s the title I have, and I’ve reached a point in my career where I realize the titles are not that important. The important part is that I have specific responsibities in areas of our organization that actually mean money. I have to make sure we meet certain metrics, state required projects need to be completed, clinical quality measures reached. And if we don’t meet these metrics or get these state required quality projects completed, it means millions of dollars in fines. We are also a bonus driven organization, so when the physician group meets certain metrics than there are certain calculations to our compensation that happens. Sometimes I look out at departmental meetings and a fellow physician will be spouting nonsense about appointment times slots and 15 minute this and 30 minute that or why they aren’t included in certain meetings, and I’ll go into a trance and stand there and nod but I retreat into my own inner universe. I’ll think to myself “penny wise, pound foolish” and think about my networth or about the plastic pollution crisis or about my EMR inbox and the patient results I need to respond to. So much of the world is penny wise and pound foolish. I need to retreat into my inner universe at a lot of meetings, so I can just stand there, keep my mouth shut and move our department painfully forward.

I was overwhelmed last night because I have another committee dumped on me. But Dr. Plastic Picker has the long-game in mind. This committee needs to be obliterated. It’s a redundant committee that has existed for decades, and a waste of personel time, waste of email space, waste of mental space. Dr. Plastic Picker hates hates inefficiencies. Just like plastic is so inefficient, redundant committees are so inefficient. So I have now taken on another “big committee” onto my professional plate. Check out my updated CV on doximity! https://www.doximity.com/profiles/b422decd-fb53-4d33-a9d4-6750d9922724 Did you look at my CV????!!! LOL. I hope you noticed the beautiful additions to my CV which is I am now Non-University Affiliated Faculty Advsior Virginia Commonwealth University Sustainable Pharmacy Project. That position is really meaningful and impactful. If you know me in real life, stop by and ask me about it and I’ll tell you a story about this student environmental group that I’m committed to.

Anyway, back to that useless committee. I am going to save our organization thousands of dollars by doing a close audit of this committee and seeing what it actually does. I will whittle away at this committee until only what needs to exist in the managerial space exists, and what does not need to exist is eliminated. Did you know that middle management is part of the reason healthcare costs are sky-rocketing???!!! Soon there will be a manager or a committee on staplers. Lets catalouge the staplers in the organization, their output and input and do a stapler analysis. Yes, let’s!!! I am forever the daughter of a small business owner and an accountant. The problem with previous “Committee Leads” of things that don’t work, is usually these people don’t ultimately have to be accountable for the actual metrics. When certain clinical goals are trending up or down, who gets called onto the carpet??? Yes, ME!!! Assistant Boss me. I only have certain amount of time in my day, as a mother of two children, wife, Assistant Boss, and also Dr. Plastic Picker trying to save the earth – and I don’t have time for nonsense. These are just theoretcial people of course. Maybe aliens.

I was feeling overwhelemd about that middle-management committee tussel, but what makes it all better is that I have two big climate deadlines coming up and they are going to happen beautifully. I spent my early morning time exchanging emails with three other climate advocates across the country to co-author an opinion piece in an upcoming academic journal. I also exchanged emails with a dear parent who is a poet and we will give grand rounds at a local program on climate change advocacy and creativity. We need to be more creative! Working with passionate people on a common cause is so liberating and hopeful for me. This creative space I am in, is beautiful. So after being overwhlemed last night, I feel reborn this morning by my other climate advocate friends and I will also use my creativity to stream-line our organization and save thousands of dollars in managerial cost. Yes, your are welcome HMO. Yes, let’s stream-line healthcare but more importantly let’s try to save this planet of ourse. Signing off and thank you for reading. Did you really look at my CV on doximity?!!! Here it is again. LOL. No I’m joking. I just update it once in a while for fun. It just amuses me.