You are never wrong for being worried about your child. You are allowed to ask questions, ask for help, and ask for another set of eyes. Advocacy is not confrontation, it is care. And the doctors caring for your family are human too, carrying both expertise and emotion into every room they enter.

In this episode, I sit down with pediatric ER physician and creator Dr. Beachgem for a wide-ranging, honest conversation about what families often misunderstand about emergency care, how to advocate for yourself and your child in the hospital, and what it really looks like to practice medicine on both sides of the stretcher.

And yes, we also talk about The Pitt, why it resonates so deeply with healthcare workers, and why humanizing medicine matters more than ever.

We discuss:

• What pediatric ER doctors really want parents to know before walking into the ER
• Why waiting in the ER does not mean no one cares
• How and when to advocate for a second opinion in the hospital
• What “Condition H” or rapid response means for patients and families
• How social media has changed how doctors listen to patients
• Why ER doctors often see risk differently than outpatient pediatricians
• Common injuries ER doctors wish families understood better
• The emotional toll of emergency medicine and how clinicians cope
• Why humanizing doctors matters for the future of healthcare
• What gives hope in a system that feels broken

To connect with Dr. Beachgem follow her on Instagram @dr.beachgem10 and check out all her resources at ⁠linktr.ee/beachgem10⁠ 

00:00 – The emotional weight ER doctors carry
01:00 – Why this episode, and why The Pitt hits so hard
02:40 – What medical dramas get right (and wrong) about the ER
03:45 – Meet Dr. Beachgem, training, career, and why she creates content
07:30 – Burnout, misinformation, and why showing up online matters
09:20 – Advocacy as a patient, when speaking up saves lives
12:50 – Condition H and how to ask for a second opinion in the hospital
14:05 – What parents often misunderstand about ER wait times
16:15 – Triage explained, why waiting doesn’t mean no one cares
18:15 – Risk colored glasses, injuries ER doctors never forget
22:00 – Trampolines, e-bikes, helmets, and real-world safety patterns
26:10 – Why The Pitt humanizes medicine better than most shows
31:00 – COVID flashbacks, grief, and emotional survival in the ER
36:35 – Coping with loss, compartmentalization, and burnout
43:30 – What gives ER doctors hope, and a message for parents

Our podcasts are also now on YouTube. If you prefer a video podcast with closed captioning, check us out there and⁠ ⁠subscribe to PedsDocTalk⁠⁠.

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00;00;00;06 – 00;00;17;27

Dr. Beachgem

As E.R. doctors, we really have to be experts in compartmentalization, and it’s something that we get a lot of practice unfortunately, with. And there are cases that hit harder than other cases for a different reasons. You know, you have to take the moment. And, you know, we give the diagnosis or we give the bad news or whatever it is.

 

00;00;17;29 – 00;00;35;03

Dr. Beachgem

And it’s hard and it’s very emotional. And sometimes I’m fighting back tears. I’ve even cried with my families before. And then once that moment is done, you step out and a lot of times, you know, go to the bathroom, cry, wash my face, and then get back out, apologize for the weight and then, you know, move on and try to provide the care.

 

00;00;35;04 – 00;00;48;29

Dr. Beachgem

And that’s where that compartmentalization, you have to kind of push down the feelings, push down what just happened. And then you have to go and give the next patient the best care you can give them.

 

00;00;49;01 – 00;01;10;12

Dr. Mona

Welcome back to the PedsDocTalk podcast and happy 2026. This is our first interview episode of the year and I truly cannot imagine starting it any other way. I am joined by one of my absolute favorites an icon in pediatric emergency medicine, a creator I trust deeply and honestly. She is the moment. And if you’re not following her, I am surprised.

 

00;01;10;17 – 00;01;30;04

Dr. Mona

Doctor Beecham and quick pause before we jump in. If you love this show and want it to keep going this year, please hit subscribe. Download the episode and download any episodes you love and leave a review if you can. I know, I know, I hate talking about metrics too, but they matter for growth and for keeping these conversations alive and the show alive.

 

00;01;30;11 – 00;01;49;21

Dr. Mona

It takes a second and it makes a huge difference. Okay, now let’s set the scene. If you’re listening on the day this episode drops, which is January 7th, the Emmy winning show The Pit is releasing tomorrow, January 8th. Five Emmys, not sponsored at all, but I’m just obsessed with the show. And you’re going to find that Doctor Beecham is as well.

 

00;01;49;29 – 00;02;12;27

Dr. Mona

They won outstanding drama series lead actor in a drama series, Noah Wiley, outstanding supporting actress in a drama series Catherine Lanza, outstanding guest actor in a Drama series Sean Hatosy, and Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Because yes, their entire cast is phenomenal. And we have to talk about it. My husband is an ER doctor, so our house has many opinions on the show and we love it.

 

00;02;12;29 – 00;02;38;25

Dr. Mona

Is all the medicine perfectly accurate? No. Do I enjoy my er doctor husband’s commentary while we watch the show? Why yes. Are there some once in a career cases happening all in one shift? Definitely. But listen, that’s drama baby. What the does get right is the humanity, the emotional weight, the pandemic, the way doctors deliver devastating news. Step into a bathroom or a hallway to collect themselves and then walk right back out to the next patient.

 

00;02;38;28 – 00;03;00;28

Dr. Mona

The misinformation, the burnout. The care. And that is exactly what this episode is about. In this conversation, Doctor Beachgem and I talk about what pediatric E.R. doctors really want parents to know before walking into the E.R. while waiting does not mean no one cares. And how your doctors see risk differently than outpatient pediatricians and other doctors. We talk about common injuries.

 

00;03;00;28 – 00;03;17;17

Dr. Mona

E.R. doctors wish families understood better and why certain patterns stick with you when you do this work long enough. We also get into advocacy in a very real way. How to ask for a second opinion in the hospital, which is something near and dear to me because I have been on the other side as a patient with a lot of mismanagement.

 

00;03;17;20 – 00;03;43;09

Dr. Mona

Have you ever sat in an E.R. waiting room or a doctor’s office feeling invisible? Have you ever wondered what an ER physician would never do, given what they see? And do you love the pit? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this conversation is for you. And if you love it, and I have a feeling you will, please download and make sure to share the love and tag myself at PedsDocTalk at the PedsDocTalk podcast, and at doctor Dot Beach Gem ten on social media.

 

00;03;43;16 – 00;03;48;16

Dr. Mona

Let’s get into this incredible conversation.

 

00;03;48;18 – 00;03;49;20

Dr. Mona

Welcome, Doctor.

 

00;03;49;20 – 00;03;57;07

Dr. Beachgem

Beach. Thank you very much. I’m very excited to be here. I know we’ve had some, scheduling things to try to get me on, but I’m glad we finally made it happen.

 

00;03;57;14 – 00;04;21;25

Dr. Mona

Yes, and that scheduling thing. I really appreciate that. You know, I know we’re both busy with life. And, honestly, the social media platform, I’m sure, as is done for me, has an introduce so much more opportunity for you. You know, you have become such a voice online, one that I enjoy following, one that I trust. As a general pediatrician, I love having a colleague in the space who’s pediatric ER, trained.

 

00;04;21;28 – 00;04;32;23

Dr. Mona

So anyone who’s not familiar with you tell us, you know, how long you’ve been an ER doctor at the time of this recording? What that training look like? Just briefly. And then what made you get online and start creating content?

 

00;04;32;26 – 00;04;51;07

Dr. Beachgem

So I’ve been in the pediatric emergency department over nine years as an attending. But obviously it takes a really long time to do that. So I did four years of college, four years of medical school. I did three years of a general pediatric residency. And then, kind of fumbled myself into three years of pediatric emergency medicine fellowship.

 

00;04;51;13 – 00;05;09;29

Dr. Beachgem

So a long time training, and I’m finally an attending, which is awesome. I still feel like sometimes I’m looking for the attending or attending, like, is is there a mom around here that can help? But, yeah. I really, really love what I do. And I started on TikTok making content around the time of the pandemic.

 

00;05;09;29 – 00;05;32;08

Dr. Beachgem

I think, like, a lot of people started in social media a little bit heavier. When all of that stuff happened, I went from, you know, I’m the mom of four kids. I went from an activity every single night, you know, sometimes multiple activities to all of a sudden no activities, and we’re just staring at each other. So, I started on TikTok, and I started seeing a lot of the content, and people would say things, and I was like, well, that’s not true.

 

00;05;32;15 – 00;05;47;04

Dr. Beachgem

That’s not how I would explain things. And so I just kind of started making content very authentically, just trying to correct some of the misinformation and provide, more context to what was happening, more nuance. And it’s grown very authentically.

 

00;05;47;07 – 00;06;05;12

Dr. Mona

And that’s what I love. I love the authenticity. I love that I feel like who I’m seeing on my phone is who I probably would meet in real life. I’m pretty sure you get that comment, too, because that is something that’s really important to me. And so I love that. And I love how you just break down really difficult information in a compassionate way.

 

00;06;05;14 – 00;06;25;00

Dr. Mona

You are my favorite pediatric follow. I say that I mean, you are and I and even when I post about you, why am I going to react even when I post about you? People are like, oh, you and Doctor Beecham have literally saved my my motherhood or saved my parenthood. I have a lot of mom followers, which I think you know as well, and it’s just so nice to be in good company with you.

 

00;06;25;02 – 00;06;40;14

Dr. Mona

And that’s why I’m just so glad that you’re on today, because that that love is there, you know, for all that you do here. So thank you so much for all that you do. Online. And I love that story. And I didn’t know of you because I wasn’t on TikTok originally. I was only on Instagram.

 

00;06;40;14 – 00;06;57;12

Dr. Mona

So I had built my following on Instagram. And then you came over to Instagram. And I was like, this is wonderful. And then I started on TikTok a little bit more and I was like, oh my gosh, I love the way you deliver information. So really thank you so much for this work that you’re doing. And continue to do.

 

00;06;57;16 – 00;07;14;27

Dr. Mona

And you said it perfectly that a lot of people in the pandemic were getting online. Like I think about, you know, the last six years that there were a lot of pediatric creators, a lot of health care creators, but not many people have lasted. You know, it’s a I don’t think people realize the content creation can be a lot of work.

 

00;07;15;00 – 00;07;30;14

Dr. Mona

What made you continue on after all the trolls, the misinformation? I mean, content creating is not always easy. And I know even just coming up with an idea can be hard, right? But what made you continue on for the last six years or, you know, yeah, six years that you’ve been online.

 

00;07;30;15 – 00;07;50;21

Dr. Beachgem

I really, find that content creation is the cure to my burnout, if that makes sense. It is my coping mechanism, and it really is a way for me to connect to people and stay grounded, because hearing people say, I really had a frustrating interaction with my medical provider or I really I needed to advocate and I didn’t know how to advocate.

 

00;07;50;23 – 00;08;06;19

Dr. Beachgem

It has made me more of an empathetic ER doctor. Because I’m listening to all of these people and their struggles on the other side. And it really just helps me have that good outlet where I can just say, today was a really hard day and people can say like, hey, you know, I had a hard day too.

 

00;08;06;20 – 00;08;15;06

Dr. Beachgem

You know, we can get through this together. So it’s really in multiple ways. Helped me be a better ER doctor and really helped me cope with all of the things that I see day to day.

 

00;08;15;08 – 00;08;30;11

Dr. Mona

Oh, I love that. And that’s how it changed me. You know, I’m, I’m thinking about like, when I, when I do my research for my content, you know, sometimes I’ll research things because I want to stay up to date on even more that I may know clinically. And I because of that, I become a better doctor, right?

 

00;08;30;11 – 00;08;46;21

Dr. Mona

Because I’m, I’m doing my own CME, my own continuing medical education. And that comment that you said, like when I get challenged online or a comment and it sparks curiosity, I’m like, you know what? Why is that? And then I learn and then you bring it back to your patients. And that emotional piece I think is so valid.

 

00;08;46;21 – 00;09;08;01

Dr. Mona

I think motherhood open that up for me too. But then being an online creator and hearing the stories and hearing the, you know, like you said, I hate when my doctor dismisses me or says, wait and see for development. What is going on here? What is the disconnect and what is on the mind of a pediatrician versus what is on in the mind of a family and how we how can we better connect the two?

 

00;09;08;02 – 00;09;21;11

Dr. Mona

And I think you’re doing the same thing, like we’re trying to be on every we want. We’re trying to create such a good teamwork here that people trust the medical system and know also how to advocate for it. And I think you have also been a patient in the medical system like myself.

 

00;09;21;13 – 00;09;42;09

Dr. Beachgem

Yes. And my children also have been patients and I’ll be honest, I’m a terrible advocate for myself and my own family. I really, really am. And so when I talk to patients about being better advocates, some of the things that I tell them are, you know, as a, as a patient or as a parent, I get very emotional and it’s hard for me to like, see what’s actually happening.

 

00;09;42;09 – 00;10;05;21

Dr. Beachgem

And so I recommend people bringing someone with them to help them be a good advocate and to be able to take some of the emotion out of what’s actually happening. And then some other tools that I have, that I tell people about and is something called a condition at some hospitals. It’s something sometimes called different things at other hospitals, but it’s a way to kind of call a lifeline in the hospital to say, like, hey, I’m uncomfortable with where we’re at right now.

 

00;10;05;21 – 00;10;25;28

Dr. Beachgem

Could we have some different eyes or a second opinion? Come and evaluate myself or my patient? And as, as a patient, I was, did I not want to say the victim, but the recipient of a rapid response because someone in the hospital said, I’m uncomfortable with the way this patient looks. It took about an hour.

 

00;10;25;28 – 00;10;47;03

Dr. Beachgem

Nobody had come into the room for about an hour before they had called a rapid response. So my husband and I were a little confused. But, that rapid response triggered, increased level of care, which honestly probably saved me from multiple more days of hospitalization and potentially getting sicker. So, there are ways to advocate and ask for additional assistance just to help protect patients.

 

00;10;47;04 – 00;10;48;20

Dr. Beachgem

Advocacy does save lives.

 

00;10;48;22 – 00;11;04;17

Dr. Mona

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I when I was a patient, I was it was postpartum and my husband, the er doctor went into er doctor mode. And you know, I in retrospect I remember like when I look back at that and I was in that moment, I was actually very upset with him because he was er doctor and not husband.

 

00;11;04;21 – 00;11;19;19

Dr. Mona

So he was, he almost like even when I looked at his eyes like he actually had to put a line in me because no one could figure out how to get a line in my get access because they kept poking me. So he got an ultrasound and he got access for me before an MRI. And I, you know, this is wild.

 

00;11;19;19 – 00;11;37;17

Dr. Mona

And I remember looking at his eyes when he was putting that line in. And it wasn’t my husband, Gaurav, it was Doctor Patel putting in a line and trying to get that access because he knew we needed that access to get the IV fluid. You know, the contrast. And, you know, I’m grateful for him, like like you said, like he was my advocate.

 

00;11;37;23 – 00;11;58;27

Dr. Mona

I was obviously postpartum, I was emotional, my son was. And then ICU and he was the one who was like, something’s not right. You all need to do something for her. And had he not done that, I don’t know where I would be today. I don’t even know if I’d be talking to you, you know, and I, I think after those experiences, we both in the health care system were like, what are people who are not in the medical system supposed to do?

 

00;11;58;27 – 00;12;15;01

Dr. Mona

And then you add on language barriers, right? You think like about like a lot of your population in mind that doesn’t understand the language and like how hard it must be and terrifying to walk into an ER and just feel like I’m sick and now I’m just going to either be dismissed or people are going to not know what to do with me.

 

00;12;15;01 – 00;12;28;02

Dr. Mona

And that is a really hard feeling. Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;12;28;04 – 00;12;52;24

Dr. Beachgem

And I think obviously the regular language barrier exists, but I think that there’s also the medical language barrier. Oh, appreciates so many more problems because even my non-medical family trying to explain to me what’s going on with, you know, another family member, I’m like, that’s not no, something’s not making sense. So even in addition to regular language barriers, we also have that medical language barrier that’s really difficult to break down and does create problems with that communication.

 

00;12;52;27 – 00;13;01;05

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And I you know, thank you so much for the advocacy piece. That was obviously one of my questions. And I think that’s so useful. I actually didn’t know about that. You said it was the eight. What was the h.

 

00;13;01;07 – 00;13;02;07

Dr. Beachgem

Condition h.

 

00;13;02;07 – 00;13;03;29

Dr. Mona

Condition H in most hospitals.

 

00;13;04;04 – 00;13;18;14

Dr. Beachgem

In a lot of hospitals, sometimes it’s called something else, like a condition white or something like that. And you can just you can ask the nurse, like, I’d like to call a rapid response or I’d like to have a second pair of eyes. Do you have a condition in your hospital that we could call and a lot of hospitals.

 

00;13;18;14 – 00;13;27;02

Dr. Beachgem

You just you pick up the phone in the room and you can say, I’d like to call a condition h, or have my patient further evaluated. And the operator actually can kind of page it out.

 

00;13;27;05 – 00;13;44;26

Dr. Mona

This is awesome. I’m gonna definitely, obviously highlight this for sure in the episode because that that’s something that I obviously didn’t know because I’m not in that, that realm. So that’s great to have that second opinion. And, you know, we both know that the E.R. hospitals, doctors offices, they’re not they’re not stress free. They’re very stressful.

 

00;13;44;26 – 00;14;06;21

Dr. Mona

You know, walking into an ER is never going to be like, hey, everybody, I’m here. Like, let’s enjoy the lights, the waiting, not knowing what’s going to happen next. You’re tired. Maybe your child has been up all night or they’re sick or injured and you want answers right away. From your perspective, having done this for so long and also having been on the other side, what do parents often misunderstand, maybe about the E.R. experience?

 

00;14;06;28 – 00;14;12;03

Dr. Mona

And then what’s one thing that you wish they would know before they walk into those doors?

 

00;14;12;05 – 00;14;26;18

Dr. Beachgem

I think that there’s a lot of patients that come in. We we have these things called magic front doors in the E.R.. And a lot of times, your kid is the sickest they have ever been at home. And as soon as you walk through the doors, something clicks. You know, the Tylenol kicks in, whatever it is.

 

00;14;26;21 – 00;14;50;26

Dr. Beachgem

But they look so much better. Yes. When they, when they finally come in and I’m looking at them, they’re running around the room. And patient parents very commonly will say, like, I’m so sorry, I apologize. I just, you know, so worried at home. Please do not apologize. This is something that happens, like, literally like every other patient that we see, we know that this is a normal phenomenon, and we still want to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

 

00;14;50;28 – 00;15;10;25

Dr. Beachgem

Looking at him, you know, maybe there’s no, like, emergency, but, you know, what can we do to, like, work on hydration? What can we do to work on, you know, not puking at home or whatever it is? Yeah. And I think the other thing that we want patients to realize is that, you’re going to wait in the emergency department, even if you’re the trauma patient that comes in quickly, gets right back to a bed.

 

00;15;10;27 – 00;15;33;08

Dr. Beachgem

Emergency department visits take a lot of time and abdominal pain workup is probably at least 4 or 5, maybe more hours. So bring a phone charger, bring things that are going to make you comfortable a pillow, a blanket. We don’t have a lot of pillows or blankets there that I. I apologize in advance for that. Bring your own pillow, bring a blanket, bring something that’s going to make you comfortable with your phone charger.

 

00;15;33;10 – 00;15;50;24

Dr. Beachgem

The sicker patients get taken care of first. And even if your patient, the patient in front of you doesn’t look sick, a lot of times they have things that may be invisible. They might have cancer or sickle cell, an immunodeficiency. And so I know that they look well and they’re getting pulled back first. But if they’re getting pulled back first, I promise that there’s a reason.

 

00;15;50;26 – 00;16;07;02

Dr. Beachgem

And we’re going to get to you as soon as we can. I promise that we’re not goofing off in the back. We are working really hard. You know, I tell my residents you can choose to eat or pee today. Like, those are your two options. You can only pick one up. And while I am joking, like we are busy, we don’t take lunch breaks.

 

00;16;07;02 – 00;16;17;12

Dr. Beachgem

We work all the way through. We’re eating at our desk, charting and getting to the next patient. So I promise that we’re working as hard as we can. We don’t want you to wait, but it is just the nature of the emergency department.

 

00;16;17;14 – 00;16;34;13

Dr. Mona

Yeah, you know, a lot of people will come in, and, you know, say, you know, I was waiting for so long and I think the perception is always like, this is like a Starbucks, that if you put your order in first, you’re going to get called in first. But there is a saying that if you’re waiting long, there’s probably a good reason, because of the fact that there’s probably someone before you that needs more attention.

 

00;16;34;16 – 00;16;52;07

Dr. Mona

And obviously in general pediatrics outpatient, that’s not always the case, you know. Do we do have some emergencies, but we are based on a schedule time because it’s not usually emergencies like you see. But I’ve also been stuck in emergencies as well, whether it’s, difficult to like a respiratory distress child, whether it’s a child who’s mom’s like, hey, it looks a little floppy.

 

00;16;52;10 – 00;17;15;21

Dr. Mona

And I’m like, yeah, you’re right. Or a, you know, a depression case or anxiety. And those visits take time. And so like you understanding, having compassion for the staff, knowing that we’re not dilly dallying. And if we are in the back, it’s usually to get a drink of water or go pee really quickly and so that we can get back to saving those lives and, you know, getting you moving as fast as possible, that’s safe for you and your family.

 

00;17;15;21 – 00;17;36;23

Dr. Mona

I think that’s definitely valid, for sure. And then, my next, you know, my next thing is you have been obviously practicing for nine years at the time of this recording. My husband is an E.R. physician. I mentioned that already, but he’s trained in adult medicine. But after becoming a dad, he still picks up kids. If they come through, which I think is really awesome because some E.R. docs that are trained in adult medicine are terrified of children.

 

00;17;36;25 – 00;17;59;10

Dr. Mona

And there are certain things that he just won’t do because of what he’s seen, whether it’s in pediatric medicine or, er, adult medicine. So in South Florida, he will never get on a motorcycle, he won’t get on a jet ski. And when I was in residency in upstate New York, I was also very hesitant to go skiing or any winter sport without a helmet because there were so many head traumas in the ICU.

 

00;17;59;12 – 00;18;14;18

Dr. Mona

So these injuries stick with you and they shape how you live outside the hospital, too, like it does for my husband. Do you have any of these, you know, from your years in the E.R., there are certain activities or risks that you personally are wary about avoid because of the patterns you’ve seen?

 

00;18;14;21 – 00;18;32;05

Dr. Beachgem

Absolutely. I tell people all the time, I wear risk colored glasses. They’re not like the rose colored glasses. They’re risk colored glasses because of what I see. And it is disproportionate. Like I see a lot of the bad stuff in it. You know, something may not be as dangerous, but I see it as dangerous because of what I see every day.

 

00;18;32;08 – 00;18;53;25

Dr. Beachgem

And one of the biggest ones is trampolines. Like, they cause so many injuries. We see head injuries, neck injuries, chest injuries. I’ve seen sternal fractures from trampolines. But most, commonly leg injuries, open fractures. So we absolutely limit trampolines. We try to avoid the trampoline parks. If my kids are going to jump on a trampoline, it’s going to be one person at a time.

 

00;18;53;25 – 00;19;14;01

Dr. Beachgem

We’re not doing flips and stuff, like just go jump, have fun, but then we’re going to move on. We will never own a trampoline. I will say that like, just going to parks is, is one thing. And then the same thing, like the e-bikes right now, just so many by accidents, it’s every other trauma that we’re seeing right now is an e-bike.

 

00;19;14;03 – 00;19;37;19

Dr. Beachgem

Hoverboard. Same thing. Arm fractures, head injuries. And then anything that you’re going faster than your feet can carry you. You’re you’re wearing a helmet. Bikes. You know anything? My kids. I will not allow them to ride motorcycles, but, you know, when they get older, you know, I can’t, unfortunately, to dictate what they do. But talking about the dangers and making sure that they’re doing something safely.

 

00;19;37;22 – 00;19;52;10

Dr. Beachgem

My dad has been a motorcycle rider for probably 60 years, and he’s had a couple accidents. But I realize that he’s the exception and he’s really stuck on the rules. But me, he makes me so nervous still being, you know, almost 80 years old and riding a motorcycle.

 

00;19;52;13 – 00;19;53;07

Dr. Mona

Wow, dad.

 

00;19;53;09 – 00;20;06;10

Dr. Beachgem

Yeah, I know, I know, I’m like, oh, you make me nervous. And then I think the only other thing is, like, we cut grapes. Yeah, we cut the grapes. I, I don’t care how old they are. They’re. I’m just going to cut their grapes.

 

00;20;06;12 – 00;20;21;13

Dr. Mona

Well, it’s always so interesting because, of course, as a general pediatrician married to an ER doc, I see a lot of healing. I see a lot of the healthy kids. So I see the low. Like when you look at a risk threshold, my I get it. Why? My husband would be more risk averse because of the he sees the rarity, right.

 

00;20;21;20 – 00;20;39;15

Dr. Mona

He also says that he feels terrible for construction workers at. That’s the worst profession to ever go into because of the amount of injuries he sees. And, you know, obviously we need laborers, but it’s just hard the injuries that happen. But, you know, for a general pediatrician, I’m seeing kids heal. Well, I’m not seeing all that. So I think it’s so important to know that perspective.

 

00;20;39;20 – 00;21;00;11

Dr. Mona

And I you know, I follow a good amount of E.R. docs online. And I’m just it’s always good for me as a general pediatrician to hear it from a risk assessment threshold that like, yeah, you are going to see these things and we’re not telling you hard and, you know, hard and fast. No, sometimes we are. But like with the trampolines, for example, I also did a video on like, hey, like I’m, I’m concerned about this.

 

00;21;00;11 – 00;21;18;18

Dr. Mona

Like I, when I go to a trampoline park and my, my son loves them. I’m very like I’m watching and I’m like, Ryan, make sure you’re done or make sure the other person’s done before you jump on that one. And it’s so much mental load of like watching him at the trampoline park and becoming the pseudo babysitter of all the kids at the trampoline park.

 

00;21;18;21 – 00;21;37;18

Dr. Mona

Like, what is doctor? Why is Doctor Mona here? Like, policing everybody? I’m like, no, everybody. One on a one on a square at all times. But it’s like that. And then also drownings, you know, like people you know that. Like you’re in Florida. I am in Florida and I grew up in California that like, I’m that water monitor because of how much drownings I’ve seen in the ICU when I rotated in California.

 

00;21;37;18 – 00;21;50;25

Dr. Mona

And also even in upstate New York. And so, of course, there’s a whole list of things that you probably see that I don’t need to get into. But yeah, I think it’s so important that we understand the perspective and our goal is to reduce that risk for families.

 

00;21;50;29 – 00;21;52;05

Dr. Beachgem

Absolutely.

 

00;21;52;08 – 00;22;02;13

Dr. Mona

And do you have a lot of families come in? I would like concern for like SIDs, I would imagine. No, because it would have to. Something would already happen at home.

 

00;22;02;15 – 00;22;11;14

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;22;11;16 – 00;22;33;25

Dr. Beachgem

We do have, you know, that 5:00 am EMS radio going on. Yeah. That, you know, we hold our breath because a lot of those end up being a baby that’s down. Yeah. And so we, you know, we do the resuscitation, and, you know, SIDs versus fixation and stuff like that, hard to tell the difference between the two, at least in the emergency department.

 

00;22;33;28 – 00;22;51;07

Dr. Beachgem

But we do see occasional of those issues. We also do see a, a decent amount of, you know, patients that will come in in the middle of the night because they’re wearing, you know, a monitor of some sort, like an outlet or, heart rate respiratory monitor. So we see some of those come in in the emergency department as well.

 

00;22;51;07 – 00;22;57;28

Dr. Beachgem

Luckily, those kids are more like, you know, usually. Well or, you know, they have an upper respiratory infection or something like that.

 

00;22;58;01 – 00;23;15;13

Dr. Mona

Yeah. No, I really appreciate this because again, I like that nuance. I like being able to just and you’ve done just such a good job on social of like not shaming the, the safety stuff. Like, I believe it’s so important that we get that information out there that, hey, there’s risk. And I vividly remember all of your e-bike content.

 

00;23;15;16 – 00;23;34;00

Dr. Mona

I also and where I’m at, it’s very, very rampant. A lot of those injuries I see are e-bike versus car or they fault they fly off their e-bike. And I’ve even had to assist a young man on an e-bike until the paramedics came, because he got hit by a car in a, in a roundabout. And so these things are happening.

 

00;23;34;00 – 00;23;57;07

Dr. Mona

And, you know, some people will say, well, if you do the right precautions, of course, like your dad’s a motorcycle rider, there are many cases of people not getting the accidents, but when you see it over and over and you know, the developmental age of these individuals and the the lack of understanding risk, you add those two things together and it’s like, hey, there are other activities we can do outside to get moving and actually moving.

 

00;23;57;09 – 00;24;00;24

Dr. Mona

Not on a not like on a back to the future situation.

 

00;24;00;26 – 00;24;24;17

Dr. Beachgem

I think a lot of the issues that I have with the e-bikes are the kids that are riding them are, you know, 12 to 15 and they don’t know the rules of the road. And so they’re doing things. They’re riding against traffic, they’re crossing when they shouldn’t be crossing. And so a lot of the accidents that we’re seeing, not all of them, but a lot of the accidents we’re seeing are from the e-bike doing something that wasn’t expected by the car or going against what we would expect for the traffic rules.

 

00;24;24;19 – 00;24;40;20

Dr. Beachgem

And it’s, you know, the older kids, they tend to be the ones that the car was doing something wrong and not the kid because the kids understand the rules of the road. So I my honest feeling and I’ve kind of talked to a couple politicians about this a little bit, just to kind of put a bug in their ear.

 

00;24;40;22 – 00;25;00;22

Dr. Beachgem

Is it possible to raise the age of e-bikes to 16, just like with, golf carts? Yeah, because two years ago I was having the same discussion about golf carts, and now the number of golf cart injuries has really plummeted. And now it’s e-bikes that we’re seeing. And so I’m like, man, if we could just raise the age to 60, like we could really significantly impact the number of kids that are getting hurt.

 

00;25;00;24 – 00;25;18;16

Dr. Mona

I was just going to bring up the golf cart one because that is recent, and that I think they increased that because I still remember when I first moved to Florida and I saw like a 12 year old driving a golf cart, and I’m like, what is happening here? Like on a main road? Yeah, exactly the same concept that if you’re not teaching them the rules of the road, they’re not going to know to stop signal.

 

00;25;18;16 – 00;25;37;23

Dr. Mona

They’re not going to know to, you know, how to just respect the road as well. So it’s very good. And I again that advocacy is phenomenal. So thank you for doing that. And I just love hearing about that because I don’t see the e-bike injuries because they’re pretty severe that they’re going to the air. That’s coming to the the gen speeds for like falling and hitting their head because they usually need some sort of imaging.

 

00;25;37;23 – 00;25;40;14

Dr. Mona

So I love hearing your perspective on that.

 

00;25;40;16 – 00;25;57;24

Dr. Beachgem

Yeah. We see I mean some of these injuries can be significant, and sometimes life changing. But luckily, you know, a lot of them are minor but still like, it’s a big deal. And we just need to be protecting our kids the best we can. They have to have a helmet. That should be non-negotiable. But if we can just get these kids off e-bikes, that would be awesome.

 

00;25;57;24 – 00;26;13;09

Dr. Mona

Yeah. Raise the age, I love it. I’m voting for voting for this advocacy. Let’s go. Love this. Okay, so now my detour is when are you going to be on the pit? Have they talked to you like what’s happening? I every time I watch I’m like, we need to get our favorite air ducts on the show as I am.

 

00;26;13;09 – 00;26;13;23

Dr. Mona

You know.

 

00;26;13;26 – 00;26;27;12

Dr. Beachgem

I would love to go on the pit that would. I love this thing. They did. They sent me the sweatshirt. They’ve sent a couple other people. I love some of the sweatshirts. It’s so cool, I love it. Yeah, I kind of don’t even want to wear it out because I don’t want to ruin it. So I just wear it at home just to stay cozy.

 

00;26;27;13 – 00;26;50;16

Dr. Mona

Just put it up right behind you. You know it, I love it. Well, we have the shared love for the show. And honestly, when I started watching it, I was I was skeptical because medical dramas tend to be very non not relatable to what’s actually happening in medicine, you know. And then my husband, the E.R. doc watching the commentary is usually funny because he’s like, we would never do that.

 

00;26;50;21 – 00;27;05;24

Dr. Mona

We’ve never seen a case like that in like 13 years. But he loves it for the humanity. He loves it for how they portray your medicine. So what do you find realistic about how the pit portrays emergency medicine, and why do you think it’s such a pivotal show right now?

 

00;27;05;26 – 00;27;27;17

Dr. Beachgem

I think they do. I mean, almost everything on the pit is like spot on 100%. This is exactly how my day goes. We do have, you know, residents, med students in the department, in pediatric emergency medicine. We don’t have, the learners maybe as hands on, like, they may not be as independent as the pit shows.

 

00;27;27;17 – 00;27;48;26

Dr. Beachgem

Some of them, like the medical students, are always going to talk with us. We’re going to put the orders in, not the medical students. But, you know, again, it’s pretty close. I will say maybe not as much respiratory therapist representation. Yeah, we have we have our teams. They’re very involved in the care, with all of our respiratory patients or trauma patients, like, they’re at bedside with us at the pit.

 

00;27;48;26 – 00;28;06;11

Dr. Beachgem

They do mention a couple. There’s a couple times they’ll say, like, I’ll get the PT, but you don’t see them as prominent as they probably are in the department. And then the only other like it’s not even a criticism because, you know, it’s a TV show is a lot of these cases. You don’t see all you wouldn’t see all of them in one day.

 

00;28;06;11 – 00;28;06;22

Dr. Beachgem

That would be.

 

00;28;06;25 – 00;28;24;16

Dr. Mona

Really exactly like you would literally probably, like just quit your job in like an hour because it’s too much. That’s my husband’s like, how is this even possible? Yeah. You know, like a mass shooting. And then we have this in one day like, that is it’s television. I know, but it’s like, obviously people need to understand it’s not that exciting all the time.

 

00;28;24;16 – 00;28;27;14

Dr. Mona

Of course, it is an adrenaline rush, but not like that. Okay.

 

00;28;27;17 – 00;28;46;21

Dr. Beachgem

There’s a lot more of those. What we call like bread and butter patients. You know, your broken arm, your cough, runny nose, your gastro, type of patients where, you know, putting a break in, you know, you probably only get a handful of those in your entire career, rather than, like, any on everyday occurrence. So but I obviously they keep it exciting for a reason.

 

00;28;46;21 – 00;29;00;04

Dr. Beachgem

They’re showing off, you know, what we’re doing on a day to day basis. And I really appreciate kind of the humanity aspect of it as well. Because you see, Noah Wylie, who plays Doctor Robb, you see him have breakdowns. You see him.

 

00;29;00;04 – 00;29;00;16

Dr. Mona

Yeah.

 

00;29;00;16 – 00;29;16;01

Dr. Beachgem

Struggling between cases. You see him not being able to count the number of times that I’ve been like, I need to be. And then, you know, it goes 4 or 5 more patients and you keep trying to get to the bathroom, and you can’t because there’s always someone pulling you back. That is so real. And I appreciate that.

 

00;29;16;03 – 00;29;27;15

Dr. Beachgem

Also the, like, just stopping, like getting pulled away to eat real quick, but then you get, you had to go back and do something else. All of the kind of competing needs in the department constantly in that constant motion.

 

00;29;27;21 – 00;29;47;29

Dr. Mona

So real I love that. I mean, again, we as physicians and obviously I get a lot of my perspective from my ex-husband who literally does this adult medicine for a living. And so when he’s like, yeah, that’s not going to happen. Or we would never do that first line or like you mentioned, that is something the anesthesiologist would do, or a respiratory therapist or the nurse would do.

 

00;29;48;05 – 00;30;14;02

Dr. Mona

And I know a lot of the feeling was that they put a lot of portrayal of the physicians doing so much of the work, which obviously physicians do a lot of work, but then the ancillary staff, the nurses, all the other people, and I think I hopefully season two will do a little more of that, you know, like the roles of, like you said, the respiratory therapists and things like that, so that we understand more of like how it’s so cohesive of an experience, like getting the lines, getting the respiratory therapist involved, all of that.

 

00;30;14;04 – 00;30;35;08

Dr. Mona

I, I, I just love, again, the humanization of the physicians. I think that is something that has been lacking because a lot of the medical dramas that are out there show humanization with these romantic relationships or things like that. What’s what’s happening here is, you know, the doctor, Robbie, Covid flashback scenes in season one. I mean, you you probably dealt with that.

 

00;30;35;08 – 00;31;12;15

Dr. Mona

My husband had really bad anxiety and depression during the pandemic, and he called me from a bathroom just like Doctor Robbie did, saying he wanted to leave and that he didn’t want to be there anymore and that he wanted to come home. And when we watched that together, we both started hearing because for once in our lives, we saw a TV show beautifully depict that, like, beautifully depict that raw feeling of like those flashbacks to Covid and how bad it was and how he feared for his life, but also how that now carries to his present day, you know, and my husband, thankfully did therapy, a lot of eMDR, and he’s so much better.

 

00;31;12;15 – 00;31;34;00

Dr. Mona

But like, I love that. And that’s why we continue watching is, yes, the little medical stuff that’s not always, real, but it’s the humanization of medicine. And we love the characters like Myrna, the one who’s, like, always there at the air. Like, that’s totally true. Gaurav, my husband has, and Myrna at the air. That’s always there. Just kind of bothering people, but not, not like a big problem.

 

00;31;34;00 – 00;31;58;07

Dr. Mona

Just kind of there to make comments and a frequent flier. So again, I love the little nuances they add with those frequent fliers, the, the side stories, the patients that come in and out, the anti-vax sentiment, the frustration with Doctor Google, like all of that, is so perfectly embodied. And those monologues that Noel Wylie has given, I mean, he deserves those that Emmy because like, wow, like it hits you in your heart strings.

 

00;31;58;07 – 00;31;59;18

Dr. Mona

You’re like, dang, this is real.

 

00;31;59;25 – 00;32;15;23

Dr. Beachgem

Yeah. There’s so much of, like, those little kind of details that they included in the show. Even, like the naked person running up the hallway, like, yeah, yeah, even in pediatrics, like there will be a toddler that takes off and you got to somebody’s got to chase them down, or there’s a lot of nakedness in the emergency department.

 

00;32;15;26 – 00;32;32;16

Dr. Beachgem

There’s a lot of, you know, we’re having conversations about things that are uncomfortable in the emergency department. I just I really appreciate that so much. And that having, like, the charge nurse being the head of the circus. Yeah. Again, so real because they’re the ones doing a lot of the management of patient movement, stuff like that.

 

00;32;32;16 – 00;32;36;05

Dr. Beachgem

Like do really play a critical role in what’s happening day to day.

 

00;32;36;08 – 00;32;52;23

Dr. Mona

Yeah. I’m really excited about season two. I mean, this episode’s going live, around the time of the season two debut and if you have HBO Max, you can get access to it, and you really want a better depiction of what medicine looks like in a drama, this is it. I think you agree with that. And hopefully we can get you on a cameo.

 

00;32;52;27 – 00;32;54;22

Dr. Mona

I love that.

 

00;32;54;24 – 00;32;55;22

Dr. Beachgem

That would be awesome.

 

00;32;55;24 – 00;33;09;21

Dr. Mona

Yeah. I mean, I just, you know, it’s it’s it’s awesome. And again, it’s it’s a really great show. I hope it continues. I know this next season is going to be placed on July 4th weekend. And so we already have decided, you know, what sort of amazing traumas that we’re probably going to see on the show. My husband sees them all the time.

 

00;33;09;21 – 00;33;27;25

Dr. Mona

So we’re we’re excited. We’re really excited. It did so well. You know, I never expect to show I love to do well on the Emmys. I don’t really care if it does well just because I like it. But to get the recognition and also have all of them think health care workers and think you know, nurses, the ancillary staff, the doctors, like it was really awesome.

 

00;33;27;29 – 00;33;31;13

Dr. Mona

I felt like one of us won an award for like.

 

00;33;31;13 – 00;33;31;24

Dr. Beachgem

Yes.

 

00;33;31;29 – 00;33;40;16

Dr. Mona

When when Noel widely accepted and the whole team up there, my thought was like, oh, look at this medical staff getting dolled up for the Emmys like that.

 

00;33;40;16 – 00;33;59;28

Dr. Beachgem

So they really it was well deserved. From everyone. And that participated in that show, deserved all of the Emmys because they really did such an amazing job. I mean, the acting was phenomenal, the storylines phenomenal, the education behind the scenes that they got was phenomenal. It’s just a really well done, well-rounded show.

 

00;34;00;02 – 00;34;10;08

Dr. Mona

Yeah, an HBO Max. If anyone works there or works on the show. I think I had one of my followers whose son does the lighting for the show. If you’re listening and you’re looking for a good cameo, we have your girl right here.

 

00;34;10;08 – 00;34;12;21

Dr. Beachgem

So me just so I mean. Yeah.

 

00;34;12;23 – 00;34;34;22

Dr. Mona

So, you know, I want to obviously take the turn. Now, obviously we’re talking about humanizing medicine and how that show has done that. As a general pediatrician, like I said, I see a lot of happiness and healing, albeit I see sad things too. So it’s that perspective and an er and I suppose it can be switched sometimes. Of course, you see healing, but you also see a lot of the sad things and people often imagine the air as constant adrenaline.

 

00;34;34;22 – 00;34;56;13

Dr. Mona

So I think sometimes people can watch the show and be like, oh my God, yes, this is amazing. Like the energy. But there’s also a heavy emotional load too, which we’ve seen in the show. You have gone through my husband and fellow colleagues. How do you process that side of the job? The loss of life and children, the diagnoses that maybe you have to give to kids, that is not always ideal.

 

00;34;56;20 – 00;35;00;15

Dr. Mona

And how do you do that? So that you can show up to work every day and do the job that you do?

 

00;35;00;19 – 00;35;20;06

Dr. Beachgem

As E.R. doctors, we really have to be experts in compartmentalization, and it’s something that we get a lot of practice unfortunately, with. And there are cases that hit harder than other cases for different reasons. But, you know, you have to take the moment, and, you know, we give the diagnosis or we give the bad news or whatever it is.

 

00;35;20;08 – 00;35;35;27

Dr. Beachgem

And it’s hard and it’s very emotional. And sometimes I’m fighting back tears. I’ve even cried with my families before. And then once that moment is done, you step out and a lot of times, you know, go to the bathroom, cried out for a second, wash my face, and then you have to get back because you don’t know.

 

00;35;35;29 – 00;35;57;23

Dr. Beachgem

You don’t know what’s in the waiting room. And all of the time that it took to deal with that one situation. Now you’ve got really angry people. And I hate to say it like that, but, you know, patients, had to wait for, 45 minutes, an hour or two hours. And now they’re getting more upset, that they’re not being seen or addressed or they don’t feel like they’ve been heard, which is valid.

 

00;35;57;25 – 00;36;15;23

Dr. Beachgem

But we only have certain resources, so, you know, cry, wash my face and then get back out, apologize for the wait, and then, you know, move on and try to provide the care. And that’s where that compartmentalization, you have to kind of push down the feelings, push down what just happened. And then you have to go and give the next patient the best care you could give them.

 

00;36;15;25 – 00;36;37;01

Dr. Beachgem

And it can be hard and sometimes I take the long way home. I’ve got the short way home and then the long way home. The scenic route, that sometimes I have to take just to kind of let it let it go and then, you know, find ways to get the rest of that out, you know, exercise or journaling or whatever it is, and a healthy way to kind of release those emotions once that moment is passed.

 

00;36;37;03 – 00;36;57;15

Dr. Mona

I love that you brought up the coping that you do after I ate the journaling and all that stuff. I mean, when I, when my husband’s been compartmentalizing for for eight years, and then we had the traumatic delivery of my son and that traumatic experience opened up a lot of that compartment compartmentalizing that he did. Right. He was like, oh, shoot, I need to process this.

 

00;36;57;17 – 00;37;14;15

Dr. Mona

When you I don’t you don’t need to explain, obviously, like medical issues or anything with your family. But did that happen for you ever that when you became a patient or when you saw your kids become patients, that coping became harder or that it brought up this sort of anxiety or worry or feelings that you may have not experienced before?

 

00;37;14;17 – 00;37;18;29

Dr. Mona

Because you had kind of not processed it.

 

00;37;19;01 – 00;37;27;08

Dr. Mona

Now, let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;37;27;10 – 00;37;43;23

Dr. Beachgem

You know, I think that it’s, you know, we’re really good at like, closing the box. Yeah, but moments where that box starts to jiggle open, there’s stuff bursting out. And so any time that, you know, that box is triggered or something kind of pops open a little bit, I do have a harder time kind of controlling my emotions.

 

00;37;43;23 – 00;38;03;28

Dr. Beachgem

And one of the things, like funerals, like any time and it doesn’t matter who it could be, someone I’ve never met before, but if I’m at a funeral, my face will not stop leaking. And I had one of our colleagues passed away, about two years ago, and it. I mean, it hit our department so hard.

 

00;38;04;01 – 00;38;22;26

Dr. Beachgem

But when I went to her funeral, I told people, like, once I start, I’m not going to stop. And it’s not like I’m okay, but it’s it’s not. I’m. It’s just not going to stop. And, she she meant the world to us. And I think it’s still like, anytime we start, anybody in the department, you know, that’s it’s that box opening.

 

00;38;22;26 – 00;38;27;02

Dr. Beachgem

And so, she becomes like a big trigger, I think, for a lot of us.

 

00;38;27;04 – 00;38;48;03

Dr. Mona

Yeah. I mean, thank you. Thank you so much. It’s very again, I love that you’re on because we’re humanizing more than even the pitied, you know, reminding people that doctors have feelings. Yeah. Doctors may need to miss work, you know, from my in from a general pediatric standpoint, it’s it’s the comments of when I went part time, because I needed it for IVF, and it just made sense for our family at that time.

 

00;38;48;05 – 00;39;02;15

Dr. Mona

What are you doing on the other days? Why are you not here? Like. And it wasn’t in like a curious like I care about your life. It’s like, why aren’t you here? And I’m like, what the heck? And then and then, you know, it’s like, that’s sort of, you need to be at my beck and call, like all the time, like you’re my general pediatrician.

 

00;39;02;15 – 00;39;18;24

Dr. Mona

And of course, if I was a concierge doctor, that would be real. But I’m not. And so I need to take care of myself, you know? And, I too went through anxiety and depression after children, and I had to take time off. I had to talk to my practice about, like, moving my schedule around to be able to cope with all that and get out of that.

 

00;39;18;26 – 00;39;38;24

Dr. Mona

With the support of therapy and medication and all that. But I love that we can openly chat about that, how things can get triggered because it reminds people that we do know what we know. We’re very we’re very able to walk with you, hold your hand through trauma and through grief. But we also carry grief, too. And, you know, it’s not everyone’s human.

 

00;39;38;24 – 00;39;54;23

Dr. Mona

And that compassion, that understanding that, again, we don’t need a red carpet. We don’t need food that simple. Thank you for seeing me today. Like, I don’t know, is there something that you’re patient does that you’re like, wow. Like you stop seeing your track and you’re like, oh, that was really kind that you said that or did that.

 

00;39;54;26 – 00;40;21;26

Dr. Beachgem

Yeah. I think sometimes anytime families, acknowledge. Yeah, you know, the work and stuff, I think that’s always very touching to say like, appreciate you being here. I appreciate your yeah, you know, thoughts or whatever it is like anytime they show appreciation because in the E.R., because it is very emotional. You know, people are very valid one focused on what’s going on with them and don’t often turn, you know, to see to see us and what’s going on on our side.

 

00;40;21;29 – 00;40;42;12

Dr. Mona

Oh, I love that. Thank you for bringing this compassion in. And, you know, you obviously are wearing a lot of hats. You’re a doctor, creator and mom. And you already mentioned how being a creator has impacted your life as an E.R. doc, would you say, what would you say of these roles that you carry? Has one been the greatest impact, or one, has played like the biggest role in your life?

 

00;40;42;12 – 00;40;46;13

Dr. Mona

And your growth as a person as well? Or would you say it’s like all of this together?

 

00;40;46;16 – 00;41;08;13

Dr. Beachgem

I think it’s probably all of this together. I started my family very, not very young, but in my career, very young. So I had my first kid in medical school, second kid in residency, third and fellowship, and fourth as an attending. So it’s hard to say, like, you know, being a doctor changed me. You know, being a mother changed me as a doctor or anything like that because I did it all at the same time.

 

00;41;08;15 – 00;41;09;08

Dr. Mona

Bellingham.

 

00;41;09;10 – 00;41;33;23

Dr. Beachgem

But I, I do feel, that being a parent gave me a certain perspective, to be able to be like, oh, I know the anxiety that you’re feeling because I feel the same anxiety, as a mom and and, I think it does give you a slightly different perspective. And, to me, it makes me feel more empathetic to what they’re going through and especially now, like adding the creator part into it.

 

00;41;33;23 – 00;41;51;08

Dr. Beachgem

You know, hearing so many of those voices from the other side and the struggles that they’ve had, again, has made me more empathetic to what they’re going through and really has been, like I said, the fight against my burnout as an ER doctor, because it’s something that’s such a big deal, it really impacts the care that we provide once people start experiencing burnout.

 

00;41;51;11 – 00;42;00;22

Dr. Beachgem

And so being able to have this outlet really has just kept me, you know, fresh and, excited about my work and just loving what I do.

 

00;42;00;24 – 00;42;19;01

Dr. Mona

I didn’t mention this earlier, but we we have the same origin story. I started Pedes Doc talk, because I wanted to combat burnout. I was so burnt out, and I was, like, only practicing for five years. I was like, this can’t be my life. Like, I can’t do this for another 30 years. And with integrity, seeing patients like a hamster in the wheel, but not having that time.

 

00;42;19;01 – 00;42;51;13

Dr. Mona

And so getting online was my way to elaborate on topics, was my way of actually providing that information that I couldn’t give in the office and say, hey, I know we may not have time right now, but here’s this post that I did, or this podcast or this video and, it, it brought back that love for medicine when I think so many of us are burning out, I don’t think I don’t think I know a single doctor who is full time or even part time, who’s not burned out in some way, like it’s the system I think has really caused us, you know, lower, higher workload, lower pay, the lack of support systems,

 

00;42;51;18 – 00;43;10;22

Dr. Mona

the way healthcare administration, social media, the administration, the political administration, politicizing public health and demonizing doctors, I mean, you know, the work that we do or that we’re not good enough at the work that we do or that we’re in it for the money, all that stuff has just really taken a huge toll on on clinicians. And so thank you for sharing that.

 

00;43;10;22 – 00;43;32;28

Dr. Mona

And, you know, that’s kind of my final question is like zooming out. You’ve seen the air evolve obviously not only over the just practicing, but also how it is perceived on social media and how people are, you know, interacting with the system. You’ve watched medicine intersect with social media in real time. What gives you hope about the future of health care at a time when I’ll be honest, a lot of people are feeling hopeless.

 

00;43;32;28 – 00;43;41;17

Dr. Mona

You know, whether we are in health care or whether we are a patient in the system, what gives you hope that it’s it’s going to be good? What gives you that fire to keep going?

 

00;43;41;19 – 00;44;02;11

Dr. Beachgem

You know, I really think it’s it’s the people, you know, it’s the it’s the other providers out there, the other docs. I think that people are just out there fighting for patients. Yeah. Regardless of, you know, what the people say or what social media says, like, I see providers, I see the medical students coming up passionate about what we’re doing.

 

00;44;02;17 – 00;44;20;21

Dr. Beachgem

The residents who are just really excited to provide good care. And so I think there’s so many people out there, they’re just that are ready. And they’re they’re they’re going to do it. They’re excited. And I think, you know, we’ve seen a pretty big swing from the number of men in medicine to the number of women in medicine.

 

00;44;20;23 – 00;44;41;09

Dr. Beachgem

And, you know, we’ve seen an increase in the diversity of medicine. And I’m also really excited about all of those things. You know, coming in, we’re seeing closer to 50, 50 even greater, females in medicine. And again, I’m excited about, just the switch to focus on patients and focus on care and really provide good care to the people out there.

 

00;44;41;11 – 00;44;56;12

Dr. Mona

I agree, I love that. Thank you so much. I think, you know, like I said, this is this has been a conversation a long time coming. I’m sure I’ll have you back on again. But to be able to share the sentiment with you also here, your journey, and also your insight into how you deal with your medicine.

 

00;44;56;12 – 00;45;00;27

Dr. Mona

And you know, obviously that the sad things that you see, it really meant a lot to have you on the show today.

 

00;45;00;29 – 00;45;02;21

Dr. Beachgem

Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate you having me.

 

00;45;02;21 – 00;45;06;25

Dr. Mona

On what would be a final, uplifting message for everyone tuning in today.

 

00;45;06;27 – 00;45;25;16

Dr. Beachgem

You know, I think a lot of the people out there are likely parents, like you said. And I think the most the biggest message that I have for parents as a parent myself is that you are doing a good job. You are working hard. I know there’s lots of feelings parenting. You know, you’re always doubting what you’re doing and I just want to let people know, like, you are doing a great job.

 

00;45;25;18 – 00;45;41;03

Dr. Beachgem

Your kids are amazing. You’re doing everything that you can. Just just keep going. One step, one foot in front of the other. If especially if you’re in the trenches right now, the trenches only last so long. There’s going to be new trenches, but just keep going, and, you’re going to make it.

 

00;45;41;05 – 00;45;59;15

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And again, biggest take home that I got from Doctor Beach is the fact the advocacy piece, remember that you’re never alone. I think so many times, especially when it’s a new system or a daunting system, we feel like we’re so isolated. But I love what you said about, you know, having a person come with you, about the condition, age or condition, right.

 

00;45;59;15 – 00;46;23;22

Dr. Mona

Whatever it may be in the hospital, if you feel like you need that second pair of eyes. I mean, that that loneliness, that feeling like you have to do it alone or that you have to always know what to do. You know, I think you probably have parents, maybe, that come into the E.R. that are like, oh, I didn’t know I needed to bring them in or, you know, like, what if I miss something, you know, and I it’s so hard to have that that sentiment, you know, that they care so deeply and they’re worried about messing up all the time.

 

00;46;23;26 – 00;46;25;18

Dr. Mona

And I’m sure you hear that a lot, a.

 

00;46;25;18 – 00;46;26;22

Dr. Beachgem

Lot all the time.

 

00;46;26;25 – 00;46;45;00

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And I mean, me and you are doctors and we’re mothers and we mess up. We’re not. No one’s perfect. Like, yeah, I need to. I wish more parents, especially women. I think a lot of moms take this on themselves to take out that perfection and realize that you have support. You have a community, you have ers. Maybe you’ll have to have Doctor Beach Stem as a patient.

 

00;46;45;00 – 00;46;54;15

Dr. Mona

And I hope you never do because that means you’re in the E.R., but I know you’d get the best care with her. And so it’s just nice to know that you’re never alone in this whole crazy health care system that we have.

 

00;46;54;23 – 00;46;56;02

Dr. Beachgem

Yeah, I love that.

 

00;46;56;04 – 00;47;05;24

Dr. Mona

Thank you again. Where can people go to stay connected? I know we’ve talked about your Instagram TikTok, but if you say your handles for me, obviously I’m going to be attaching those and people are going to follow.

 

00;47;05;26 – 00;47;13;10

Dr. Beachgem

I’m on TikTok at Doctor Beach Gym ten and Instagram and Facebook at Doctor Beach Gym ten, and also on YouTube at the same panel.

 

00;47;13;12 – 00;47;27;05

Dr. Mona

Yes. And I am following her on all those accounts. Even though I’m like, you know, I could do one. I’m like, I want to support, I want to support Doctor Beach Gym, and I hope you do too. Like I said, this is so important for me on this show to continue to elevate amazing voices in this space.

 

00;47;27;05 – 00;47;46;18

Dr. Mona

And obviously Doctor Beachum is one of those people, so please follow her if you’re not already. I had been wanting to get Doctor B’s gym on my show for years and I’m so excited we finally made it happen. I told you would be an incredible conversation and this episode reminded us of a few things, right? That two things can be true.

 

00;47;46;21 – 00;48;14;08

Dr. Mona

Families can be scared, frustrated, and desperate for answers, and doctors can be deeply invested, emotionally impacted, and still stretched thin by a system that does ask a lot of them. What I hope you take from this episode is this you are never wrong for being worried about your child. Advocacy is not confrontation, it is care and understanding how the E.R. works, why weights happen, how risk is assessed, and when to ask for more help can change how supported you feel in those moments.

 

00;48;14;10 – 00;48;32;07

Dr. Mona

I am so grateful to Doctor Beach for this honest, generous conversation. From breaking down Earth realities to sharing the emotional toll of emergency medicine that I see and my husband every day, to naming what still gives her hope in a system that often feels broken. And please go follow her at doctor Dot beach gem ten if you’re not already.

 

00;48;32;12 – 00;48;59;11

Dr. Mona

She’s exactly the kind of voice medicine needs more of. I’d honestly be shocked if you’re not already following her and if this episode resonated with you, subscribe, download and share it with someone who might need it. And if you’re watching The Pit this week and thinking differently about the weight, the medical staff, or the stories behind the scenes, come tell me on my social media tag at PedsDocTalk, at the PedsDocTalk podcast, and at doctor Dot Beach Gem ten so we can keep this conversation going.

 

00;48;59;13 – 00;49;06;03

Dr. Mona

Thank you for being here. Thank you for caring so deeply. And thank you for helping make space for a more human health care system.