setting boundaries for women physicians

Meet the pioneering women who changed the medical landscape for us all For fans of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls comes the remarkable story of three Victorian women who broke down barriers in the medical field to become the first women doctors, revolutionising the way women receive health care. In the early 1800s, women were dying in large numbers from treatable diseases because they avoided receiving medical care. Examinations performed by male doctors were often demeaning and even painful. In addition, women faced stigma from illness--a diagnosis could greatly limit their ability to find husbands, jobs or be received in polite society. Motivated by personal loss and frustration over inadequate medical care, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake fought for a woman's place in the male-dominated medical field. For the first time ever, Women in White Coats tells the complete history of these three pioneering women who, despite countless obstacles, earned medical degrees and paved the way for other women to do the same. Though very different in personality and circumstance, together these women built women-run hospitals and teaching colleges - creating for the first time medical care for women by women. With gripping storytelling based on extensive research and access to archival documents, Women in White Coats tells the courageous history these women made by becoming doctors, detailing the boundaries they broke of gender and science to reshape how we receive medical care today.

A study of the female healers of centuries past, and how they went from respected to reviled. Witch is a powerful word with humble origins. Once used to describe an ancient British tribe known for its unique class of female physicians and priestesses, it grew into something grotesque, diabolical, and dangerous. A History of Women in Medicine reveals the untold story of forgotten female physicians, their lives, practices, and subsequent denomination as witches. Originally held in high esteem in their communities, these women used herbs and ancient psychological processes to relieve the suffering of their patients, often traveling long distances, moving from village to village. Their medical and spiritual knowledge blended the boundaries between physician and priest. These ancient healers were the antithesis of the witch figure of today; instead they were knowledgeable therapists commanding respect, gratitude, and high social status. In this pioneering work, Sinéad Spearing draws on current archeological evidence, literature, folklore, case studies, and original religious documentation to bring to life these forgotten healers. By doing so she also exposes the Church’s efforts to demonize them in the eyes of the world, leading female healers to be labeled witches and persecuted in the ensuing hysteria known today as the European witch craze.

No one thinks they're at risk of a boundary violation until it's too late. "That will never happen to me." "My patients love me." "I would never do anything to jeopardize my career."Stephen Schenthal, a leader in the field for 20 years, has helped thousands of physicians grapple with situations they never imagined facing. Now he offers an evidence-based account of how good doctors get into potentially career-ending trouble, and find their way back.Medical schools are beginning to require ethics training. But abstract scenarios in a quiet classroom cannot prepare you for the real world of modern health care. It seems everywhere you look regulators are cracking down. Legislators are writing new laws. Insurance companies are questioning medical decisions. And hospitals are rating physicians based on patient satisfaction scores instead of outcomes. And through it all, you are expected to "increase productivity" (i.e., spend less time with each patient).The good news is that the skills and perspective you need to avoid boundary violations can help you survive, and even thrive, in today's stressful health care environment. In the first part of The Physician's Guide to Professional Boundaries, Schenthal explains how boundaries are defined, enforced, and what happens when they are violated. In parts two and three, you'll learn about the forces that push good, ethical physicians like you across professional boundaries, and the about the basics of resisting those forces. In the final section, you'll learn how to gauge your own personal "violation potential" as it changes over the course of your career, and how to reduce it.This same information has helped thousands who have attended PBI Education courses, almost always as a requirement of board discipline. You now have a chance to learn what they learned without having to endure the months and often years of anguish they went through. Think of it as preventive medicine.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Book of 2021 A poignant and funny exploration of authenticity in work and life by a woman doctor. In 2017, Dr. Suzanne Koven published an essay describing the challenges faced by female physicians, including her own personal struggle with "imposter syndrome"—a long-held secret belief that she was not smart enough or good enough to be a “real” doctor. Accessed by thousands of readers around the world, Koven’s “Letter to a Young Female Physician” has evolved into a deeply felt reflection on her career in medicine. Koven tells candid and illuminating stories about her pregnancy during a grueling residency in the AIDS era; the illnesses of her child and aging parents during which her roles as a doctor, mother, and daughter converged, and sometimes collided; the sexism, pay inequity, and harassment that women in medicine encounter; and the twilight of her career during the COVID-19 pandemic. As she traces the arc of her life, Koven finds inspiration in literature and faces the near-universal challenges of burnout, body image, and balancing work with marriage and parenthood. Shining with warmth, clarity, and wisdom, Letter to a Young Female Physician reveals a woman forging her authentic identity in a modern landscape that is as overwhelming and confusing as it is exhilarating in its possibilities. Koven offers an indelible account, by turns humorous and profound, from a doctor, mother, wife, daughter, teacher, and writer who sheds light on our desire to find meaning, and on a way to be our own imperfect selves in the world.

This second edition of Stress and Women Physicians has been completely updated to include new research material. It reflects the growing interest in what problems women face in the medical profession and how women cope with these problems. The authors have added interview material with commentaries and personal statements from practising women physicians and expanded the discussion in every chapter. They examine alternatives to full-time medical practice and cover more thoroughly than before the social support that women professionals need and receive. This book gives practical advice to women physicians and is excellent for women contemplating a career in the medical profession. "Vast quantities of information regarding female physicians are collected in this single compact volume. ... Because the material is so well referenced, the reader should find this book an excellent resource for beginning research into specific questions about women in medicine." #Mayo Clinic Proceedings#2 "...This book will be useful to all female physicians and to those who advise them." #JAMA#3.