Overjoyed to be staying
@ChildrensPhila
for my pediatric endocrinology fellowship!! Incredibly grateful for the village that got me here and for the opportunity to take care of children with endocrine disease in a city & community I love calling home 💕
Med student: You guys are the nicest residents
Me: that’s so kind of you
Med student: no really. Even people saying “good morning” to me and addressing me by my name is such a change
WHY is the bar still this low?! Can we please normalize treating med students as humans...
Dr. Prerana Chatty, MD
Just before she passed, my grandmother wrote me a letter about her unfulfilled dream of becoming a doctor & her pride in me. My mom gave it to me when I got my white coat. Today, four years later, I have become the first (woman) physician in my family.
Uber driver: you work at the hospital - are you a nurse?
Me: no I’m a doctor
Uber driver: oh snappppp you a baddie
Given how this annoying interaction typical goes, this has gotta be the top response 😂
Attending on EM shift: Prerana, let’s take a second to check in
Me: ok! *starts running list*
Attending: (interrupts) No that’s not what I meant - did you eat? Did you go to the bathroom? when is the last time you hydrated?
We need more of this 🙌🏽 little things, big difference
Feeling burnt out and emotionally drained today. Ordered myself dinner and my doorman brought it to me from the lobby and said “you work so hard I’m so thankful. You deserve to relax and enjoy your dinner.” Literally started crying. The acknowledgment matters.
Had my hardest week of residency on Onco this week. The charge nurse on my call last night found me to introduce herself, got me coffee and messaged all the nurses to only message me with urgent concerns for an hour so I could nap 🙏🏽 man nurses are heroes in so many ways.
Today was hard. I made a lot of mistakes, and had imposter syndrome to the max. Sharing bc sometimes it feels like we’re just inundated by success stories. For anyone else that’s overwhelmed or suffering from imposter syndrome, I feel you. I love my job but it’s not always easy.
One of the most impactful pieces of advice from an attending this year: be conscious of how much you say “sorry.” Not knowing something is not a reason to apologize. Asking a question is not a reason to apologize. Asking for help is definitely not a reason to apologize.
Today was literally the most insane day of clinical medicine I’ve experienced but the highlight is still my 4 yo patient who this morning spontaneously said “when I grow up I’m going to be a girl doctor like you” 🤩👩🏽⚕️💪🏽
#girldoctor
There are no words for the loss and shock our CHOP family is feeling. Barbara embodied the best of all of us. Her memory will live on in each of us whose lives she touched.
Please keep her loved ones in your thoughts
Best advice my medical school mentor gave me before I started residency: don’t play Monday night quarterback. It’s easy to place blame on other care providers, but you weren’t there and you don’t know what went into their decisions.
Always assume best intentions.
“Doctor can I come back and see you as soon as possible? You’re one of the few people in my life I trust.”
…please excuse me while I go bawl in a corner 🥺
Today, I finished my first rotation of intern year. I’m not ready to tell this story in its entirety, but it has defined my start to residency. Over the past two weeks, I’ve taken care of a teenager whose symptoms we have been unable to diagnose, and just starting to treat. 1/9
Random 2 AM call musing: it’s amazing how much more you learn & grow when you’re not constantly afraid of being evaluated. Hang in there, med students. The best is yet to come.
Nothing will give you perspective like a month of pediatric oncology.
Pediatrics is truly a front row seat to the coexistence of the deepest hope and the deepest grief in the same space. It is made of spaces where the definition of “normal” is reconfigured on a daily basis.
Reasons I felt inadequate in medical school: not being AOA, grades being subpar on third year clerkships, attending that told me I needed to “grow up,” attending that told me I wasn’t deserving of being a medical student (bc I didn’t know the answer to a pimping question)
Just processing a recent text from my PD following an acute case: "You saved that patient's life. I'm so proud of you."
The magnitude is not lost on me. This job is so hard, but it is still such a privilege. I'm grateful for all those who help me learn & grow every day.
I've seen a lot of
#MedTwitter
about advice for rising MS4s about the upcoming application cycle. Want to take a moment to say that given current circumstances, a hugely important factor to consider will be how program/hosp admin have treated trainees during this crisis
Also let’s acknowledge that the most problematic part of this article is not even the bikini-shaming. Calling doctors unprofessional for expressing political opinions is dangerous & undermines our necessary advocacy for our Black, LGBTQ, undocumented & other marginalized patients
An important rule of residency: Vacation is sacred. Protect it.
It has been hard for me to not feel guilty about ignoring work/mentoring messages, but it's allowed me to truly exhale for the first time in a year.
Grateful to my co-rezzies for being so supportive of that❤️
In ways I do not even completely understand yet, learning what it means to be someone’s doctor has already been the most profound experience of my life.
Haven’t tweeted in a while but excited to share I’ll be hanging around this amazing place as a hospitalist for (at least?) the next year 🎉 excited to keep learning and growing.
At a loss for words thinking of Nakita Mortimer. It hurts me to see how many physicians hear her story and say “it could have been me. It could have been any of us.” It hurts me that the medical community lost a fierce advocate, a doctor with so much promise.
Med students - I cannot emphasize this enough - stay true to who you are & the reasons you are passionate about your field and you will end up where you belong. Don’t compare yourself to others, you are wonderful just the way you are.
Walked out of
@ChildrensPhila
as a resident for the last time today 🥹 so much growth, so much humility and so much joy found in moments of adversity. Excited for all that lies ahead.
Feeling unbelievably grateful for my family, friends & mentors in all phases of my life (especially
@RWJMS
) that have helped me reach this point.
Ammamma, this one's for you.
Feeling a combination of excited to be a doctor/start residency, terrified to be a doctor/start residency, excited to move & start the next chapter, terrified to move & start the next chapter
H E L P I am having feelings
Started writing down one thing I learned each day of intern year and here’s what I have so far. Some are pragmatic, some more philosophical. it’s already been a wild ride. (we’ll see how long I can keep this up for).
#MedTwitter
#internyear
Today was my last day on this service, and she teared up when I said goodbye and reminded me to never forget the family’s perspective as I continue training. Biggest lesson learned: Never underestimate the power of caring and showing up. 8/9
We all can insta, facebook, and tweet about the racism and injustice in this country, but reminder to make sure your actions match that on a daily basis. Call out micro (& macro) aggressions. Speak out against systemic biases. Every day. Make your anger more than performative.
Me: what do you want to be when you grow up?
6 yo: a doctor!
Me: that’s awesome! What makes you want to be a doctor?
6 yo: I just feel like doctors can do anything! Like you - you can do literally anything
Peds is a gift 🥹🥹
A parent of the first patient I ever took care of as a doctor emailed me a thank you letter along with a picture of him happy and healthy at the beach and my heart is literally so full 😭 saving this one for a rainy day ❤️
Not to mention the nurses who debriefed with me & coresidents who kept me company and brought me treats & the attending who made me pause and take care of myself. A hard week made bearable by wonderful people.
Man oh man, just remembering how stressed out, anxious, and terrified I was a year ago waiting for interview invites. Awful. I know the process is a pushed back this year, so that time is coming shortly. Reach out if you need a pep talk, MS4s. And keep the big picture in mind :)
I say this because I’ve seen a lot of med student tweets about the pressure to be perfect (especially with apps & interviews looming). No one is perfect. We all have imposter syndrome. We all struggle. We all feel inadequate.
Residency graduation: ✅ incredibly humbled by all I’ve learned & by my mentors and my patients who were my greatest teachers. To my co-residents & friends - we started residency in the thick of a pandemic and quickly went from colleagues to family. I am so proud of us 💕
Esp medical trainees historically underrepresented in medicine (gender identity, race, etc.)! It may seem small, but words matter. When we apologize excessively, we frame our sense of self negatively. We are learning and we deserve to be here. Our self talk should reflect that.
Overwhelmed by the response to this (and honestly appalled by the way so many trainees have been treated). Wow I really hope our generation of doctors can provide the cultural shift medicine clearly needs.
The problem with how wellness is often addressed in medicine is that onus is placed on individual trainees to “be resilient” in a system that inherently perpetuates suffering. The loss of any young trainee, especially one as clearly dynamic as Dr. Jing Mai, is devastating.
Not watching the debate right now for my own wellness, but all I can say is I’m taking care of children whose physical and mental illness are direct results of this president’s racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia. Please vote this disgrace of a man out.
A reminder to all O/MS4s: don’t worry about others getting IV invites before you. I know it can cause worry/self doubt but know sometimes apps fall through the pile/will be reviewed later. It has nothing to do with your qualifications! Be patient! Good things coming your way!!
TFW when you walk out of your last 24 hour call of residency 😭🙏🏽🎉 so many gingerales and banana nut coffees (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it) consumed. Thankful for the amazing coresidents and mentors I’ve learned so much from & will continue to advocate for trainees ❤️
6 year old: I’m getting a cat on January 3rd!
Me & attending: what’s special about January 3rd?
6 year old: that’s the day I’m getting a cat…
…I mean, obviously 😂
#peds
🐱
Thought of the evening: to all incoming interns (and even more so for those that identify as female/non-binary) practice introducing yourself as “Dr. __” rather than your first name. Others will shortchange you - don’t ever shortchange yourself.
Hi
#MedTwitter
! Requesting input from 2020-2021 residency applicants: what type of content would you like to see on our residency instagram? Trying to optimize our
#SoMe
for the virtual application cycle 🌟
#ERAS
But through it all, she viewed me as her son’s DOCTOR. Every consultant that met me said, “Are you Prerana? The patient’s mom specifically said I have to be kind to you.” When asked who the doctor is, with my attending and me both in the room, she pointed to me. 7/9
Going back through the highlights (and lowlights) reel of 2020, and amidst all the chaos and all the darkness, this moment was a true bright light.
#MatchDay2020
so excited for all the applicants to have their own Match Day in a few months :)
I’m truly happy now bc I ended up in a program that acknowledges & supports my passions (and does not care about the superficial facets of my app that I felt made me inadequate). Magically, I feel like I belong.
Got my white coat
@RWJMS
exactly 4 years ago! Since then, I've had a lot more caffeine & a lot less sleep and done a lot of learning. I may have replaced that coat with a Patagonia (+ a mask), but somehow the gratitude I felt that day is even stronger four years later 🥼
Last week, a teenager vulnerably shared w/me how the loss of a friendship was impacting her. I told her "I know what it's like to feel alone -and to feel like that sadness will never go away. But I can tell you it does. It will pass." She was quiet. And then said "I believe you."
Also huge congrats to all the MS4s on submitting ERAS!!! You did it during a global pandemic with so many roadblocks along the way. I’m so inspired by how you’ve all come together. We are lucky to welcome you to medicine!
@RanaAwdish
Sigh. This is one of the reasons the Vasc Surg article about “unprofessional” behavior hurt so much - woman physicians have had to tolerate misogynistic behavior from superiors, colleagues & patients for so long. Thank you for paving the way for future woman doctors like me 💪🏽❤️
A young patient I took care of who was recently diagnosed with cancer: “well you can’t control the bad things that happen to you right? I melted down when I found out. But now I’ll handle what comes. I’m strong enough.”
My patients make me so proud to be a pediatrician 😭
First CHOP presentation in the books today on a patient I took care of with scurvy 😬 nerve wracking but also so rewarding and fulfilling
#tweetiatrician
#MedEd
Lately, I have been a bit reluctant to share my thoughts on all I have experienced as a newly-minted Pediatrics intern. I do want to share a bit about the explosion of mental health crises my co-interns and I have witnessed during the pandemic, especially in our adolescents
Thank you to CHOP for this little feature on my transition to residency 🌟 bared my soul a little for this one, but more than anything I’m grateful for my new community ❤️
Today is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day. Reminder to all of
#MedTwitter
that it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to not be okay, and it's ALWAYS okay to ask for help. The first step of taking care of others is taking care of yourself.
#NPSADay
Tears of pure joy 😭😭😭 OVER THE MOON to share that I MATCHED for my residency in Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia!!! Could not be more grateful for everyone
@RWJMS
that has supported me in this journey 💕 SEE YOU SOON
@ChildrensPhila
!!!
Four days after becoming a doctor, I had to be a patient. My family and I were in a frightening rollover car accident yesterday but thank god are safe 🙏🏽 HUGE thank you to the healthcare workers that took care of us
@TJUHospital
. I’m so grateful for our frontline workers ❤️
Pre-shift selfie because I'm really feeling
#NationalWomenPhysiciansDay
👩⚕️ Thank you to the amazing women physicians who have taught me, supported me, and broken through glass ceilings to lay the foundation for my own journey. I am privileged to now be a part of this group.
Congrats to the M4s who submitted ERAS 🙌🏽
Waiting to hear back about interviews was a real low mental health wise in the application cycle for me - so if you’re feeling that way in the coming days, take a deep breath. All in due time.
Last day on the
@ChildrensPhila
floors as an intern (with just nursery and ICN to go) and I’m honestly shook 😭 I’ve been privileged to take care of some incredible patients and to learn from and have fun with the best cointerns, seniors & attendings. Wow what a ten months.
Some programs have gone above and beyond for their trainees. Others have questioned trainees' commitment to their patients when they voiced their concerns, even as they continued to work tirelessly on the frontlines. Make sure you work to figure out which is which.
Call is hard but all of my NICU co-interns (who are off today) sent me encouraging text messages and one of my other co interns (who also is off today) came to the hospital to bring me treats bc she knew I’m not feeling the best 😭 truly grateful for my residency family ❤️
Doing some reflecting and realizing one of the biggest things I’m working on is not getting too stuck on my mistakes. Who starts a new job without making a mistake? No one. But when your job is keeping people (for me, babies) alive, even the smallest mistakes can feel paralyzing.
Had an exhausting call yesterday/this morning. When I was leaving this morning (very loopy lol), one of my sick baby’s parents stopped me in the elevator and said “Dr. Chatty, I know you must be so tired - thank you for keeping our family safe last night.” So moved.
From my 12 year old relative: “I think people really need to understand that when you say black lives matter, you arent saying other races dont matter, you are saying that black lives matter bc people think/act like they dont.” She gets it. Why can’t our nations leaders?
#BLM
Friendly reminder that use of chosen name/correct pronouns has been shown to statistically significantly reduce trans patients’ suicidal ideation and risk of death by suicide. Happy
#TransDayOfVisibility
to my amazing trans patients, colleagues & friends!
Grateful my primary care education session on preschool age today included a segment on gender development & gender diversity. Important reminder of how early gender identification begins & how early we perpetuate gender stereotypes. Also I’m now obsessed w/ the gender unicorn🦄
One month of PICU: ✅ Emerging a different doctor (and person). Grateful for my friends & family who lifted me up in the most unexpected of ways, for my many educators, and for my patients who taught me so much I haven’t quite unpacked yet. I’m so humbled.