{"id":1460,"date":"2015-08-07T17:18:53","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T21:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/?p=1460"},"modified":"2015-08-07T17:18:53","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T21:18:53","slug":"cat-herding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/","title":{"rendered":"Cat Herding"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Greg<\/a>

Greg Shumer, MD, is a third-year resident and 2015-16 Co-Chief Resident at the University of Michigan Family Medicine Residency Program in Ann Arbor.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe day you earned your MD, you became a leader\u2026 A leader to your future patients, a leader in your community, and a leader within the healthcare system.\u201dIt\u2019s May 7th, 2015 – day 1 of the annual Chief Resident Leadership Development Program in Kansas City, Missouri. \u00a0It\u2019s an event meant to welcome the\u00a0 newly selected\u00a0chiefs from family medicine programs around the nation and instill them with leadership skills and enthusiasm as they enter their third year of residency and chief years at their programs. \u00a0The program\u2019s director is delivering an introduction speech to his audience – roughly 150 bright-eyed chief residents, including myself and my co-chief, who traveled from across the country to be part of the 3-day conference.<\/p>\n

\"Cat<\/a>\u201cAnd as chief resident, you are a leader of leaders – not an easy task!\u201d he continues. \u00a0\u201cLeaders are often independent and opinionated, and trying to direct an entire group of them is as easy as trying to herd a group of cats.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pushes a button on his handheld pointer, and a video begins on the big screen projector, showing images of rough-and-tough cowboys trying to circle up and direct large groups of small cats.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone can herd cattle,\u201d one of the cowboys says as cats meow in the background, \u201cbut holding together 10,000 half-wild shorthairs, now that\u2019s another thing altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

We had a good laugh, and the chief conference was under way.<\/p>\n

During our 3 days together, we learned that we all share common challenges. \u00a0Scheduling conflicts are near the top of the list. \u00a0Low morale and burnout are other common themes \u2014 attributed to long hours and the natural stress that occurs during residency. \u00a0We also realized that family medicine programs across the country share several positive themes, such as the sense of community and teamwork that exists within programs, and the strong bonds that develop through working together at the hospital and in clinic.<\/p>\n

We learned that as chief residents, we wear many different hats. \u00a0In an average week, we serve as leaders, organizers, motivators, negotiators, problem solvers, teachers, and of course, third-year resident physicians in clinics and at the hospitals. \u00a0Through Myers-Briggs personality testing, we discovered our different leadership styles. \u00a0As an ENFP\u00a0(Extroverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Perceiving), I fall in the category of \u201cidealist,\u201d with strengths that include diplomatic persuasion and cultivating morale, and weaknesses that include an aversion to conflict and difficulty with setting limits for bad behavior. \u00a0We learned about five leadership practices: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart.<\/p>\n

By the end of the conference, I felt inspired and ready to take on this whole chief resident thing. \u00a0I had been performing chiefly duties for about a month \u2014 dealing with scheduling conflicts, leading the annual residency retreat, participating in monthly meetings, etc \u2014 and it was the perfect time for this type of motivating and thought-provoking experience. \u00a0Now, close to 3 months later, I think back to my time in Kansas City whenever I start to feel tired or overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

My co-chief Laura and I, at the chief conference in Kansas City<\/p><\/div>\n

July 1st has come and gone. \u00a0The new interns arrived with their nervous smiles and freshly ironed white coats, and we all moved up a rung on the ladder. \u00a0As a chief resident, the beginning of a new academic year brings new challenges. \u00a0But it also allows for new and exciting opportunities \u2014 chances to serve as a resident advocate, to \u201cmodel the way\u201d for the interns and second-years, and to inspire positive change, little-by-little, day-by-day. Thankfully, my co-residents and faculty here in Ann Arbor make it rewarding and fun.<\/p>\n

So, onward and upward. \u00a0Cat herding \u2014 ain\u2019t a feeling like it in the world!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe day you earned your MD, you became a leader\u2026 A leader to your future patients, a leader in your community, and a leader within the healthcare system.\u201dIt\u2019s May 7th, 2015 – day 1 of the annual Chief Resident Leadership Development Program in Kansas City, Missouri. \u00a0It\u2019s an event meant to welcome the\u00a0 newly selected\u00a0chiefs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1242,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,19,33],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-residency","tag-chief-resident","tag-communication","tag-reflections"],"yoast_head":"\nCat Herding - Insights on Residency Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cat Herding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThe day you earned your MD, you became a leader\u2026 A leader to your future patients, a leader in your community, and a leader within the healthcare system.\u201dIt\u2019s May 7th, 2015 – day 1 of the annual Chief Resident Leadership Development Program in Kansas City, Missouri. \u00a0It\u2019s an event meant to welcome the\u00a0 newly selected\u00a0chiefs […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Insights on Residency Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-07T21:18:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/07\/AU000_shumer-125x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gregory Shumer, MD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gregory Shumer, MD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/\",\"name\":\"Cat Herding - Insights on Residency Training\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-07T21:18:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-07T21:18:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9ad3d7cfe8e2d6a8c18ed300a1853148\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2015\/08\/cat-herding\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cat Herding\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/\",\"name\":\"Insights on Residency Training\",\"description\":\"Observation of residents across diverse medical specialties\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9ad3d7cfe8e2d6a8c18ed300a1853148\",\"name\":\"Gregory Shumer, MD\",\"description\":\"Greg is a current third-year resident and co-chief at the University of Michigan Family Medicine Residency Program. 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