Episode 10: Mirtha Macri D.O. Emergency Medicine Physician - NETFLIX Lenox Hill Star!

Dr. Mirtha Macri is an emergency medicine physician in the new Netflix hit series "Lenox Hill."

She graduated from NYITCOM in 2008 and subsequently completed her residency at St. Luke's Hospital, now known as Mt. Sinai West. Dr. Macri will discuss important attributes needed for an emergency medicine physician, insight and tips into the residency process, her perspective on an osteopathic education, and her dedication to helping the underserved. 

Transcript

Hi, my name is Tianyu Hsieh. I'm a third year medical student at the New York Institute

of Technology and you're listening to Do or Do Not. Welcome to our tenth episode. We

have a very special interview today. Lennox Hill is a new Netflix exclusive docuseries

following four physicians at Lennox Hill hospitals, showing the incredible work that they do

on a day-to-day basis. The series holds an 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and

has received universal acclaim on Metacritic. For our interview today, we have one of these

physicians. Dr. Myrtha Macri is an emergency medicine physician who graduated from NYIT

COM in 2008 and subsequently completed her residency at St. Luke's Hospital, now known

as Mount Sinai West. Dr. Macri will discuss important attributes needed for an emergency

medicine physician, insight and tips into the residency process, her perspective on

an osteopathic education, and her dedication to helping the underserved. We hope you find

her journey through film and as an emergency medicine physician as enjoyable and illuminating

as we did. Okay, Myrtha, thank you so much for being with us today. Hello. Now, we have

now you just had a baby. Is that right? I did 10 days ago. That is crazy. You are the

second woman that's sharing their time with us postpartum. And I think that's awesome.

I really appreciate it. Yes. Thank you for having me. So I just want to start. First

of all, you're like a movie star, right? So that's so cool. Are you totally amazed that

the show is doing so well? I got like 100 on Rotten Tomatoes. Were you expecting it

there? I knew that it was going to go, it's for Netflix, but I didn't initially embrace

the idea that this was going to be so big amongst the medical community, but it did.

And I'm happy that it turned out so positive because we've gotten a lot of positive feedback.

We're not actors. I actually have a lot of respect for actors after doing this docu-series

because you know, it wasn't scripted. It was all improvised. It all happened at the moment,

but it was really interesting to see what it's like being behind a camera and having

a camera following you around. It took some time to adjust to all that. So I have a newfound

respect for actors. So yeah, it's been, it's been a great experience actually up to now.

It's so cool. Again, I feel like I'm interviewing a movie star, so I'm a little starstruck.

I'm excited. Definitely not a movie star, but you know, it's a one in a lifetime experience.

I've never done anything like it before. So I'm happy with the positive feedback so far.

But let me ask you, how did you, how did this come about? Like, did they look for you? Did

you look for them? Was there an audition? Were there other people vying for the spot?

So the filmmakers, they had already done pretty much, they mirrored a series just like this

one. They did a series in Israel and Tel Aviv just like this one. And they came to Lenox

Hills specifically because one of the doctors from that series came to Lenox Hill from Tel

Aviv to work. And then he subsequently got a job at another institution, but they met

the surgeons at Lenox Hill. And then from there, branched out and started asking other

specialties would they be interested in appearing in their docu-series. Where I'm filming is

at Lenox Health Greenwich Village, which is the new standalone ER for Manhattan. And it's

a satellite ER for Lenox Hill. So I'm not physically at Lenox Hill. I'm at the satellite

ER for them in Greenwich Village. And when they came to visit the facility, they were

taken aback, you know, we're the first standalone ER in Manhattan. So it was interesting and

they wanted to film right there. So they interviewed a few of us of the attendings and the nurse

practitioner and PAs. And they then they approached me. It was just a basic, you know, conversation

very down to earth, you know, our views about medical care and health care and what type

of doctors we are. And it was a very laid back conversation. And then the filmmakers

subsequently approached me later and said they'd love to film me for the docu-series.

So cool. My wife always says I'm a little selfish and I always look at things from my

perspective. So my first question on your perspective is you were pregnant when you

got cast for this, I assume. Did that factor into your thought, whether you're going to

do it or not? My second is what do your husbands say when you came home and said, listen, I'm

pregnant and I want to go on this series? Was he like, oh my God, I don't think so?

Or was he supportive? He was super supportive. You know, I was early in my pregnancy. Actually,

when they interviewed me, I was so early that I hadn't even told anybody. So they didn't

actually know that I was pregnant when I interviewed with them. They approached me a few weeks

later and that's when I told them, oh, by the way, I'm pregnant now. And they were like,

awesome. So when they first interviewed me, they had no idea. And then when they approached

me about wanting to do the series, of course, I said, I'm very interested. I think I would

do it, but let me talk to my husband since I'm pregnant now. And, you know, it's going

to be a very intimate filming of our personal, the whole purpose of the series is to film

our personal lives as well as us as doctors. So, but he was incredibly supportive. Never

all the entire ride, the entire, the entire thing.

That's awesome. So the documentary for those that haven't watched it is, is great. And

it follows neurosurgeon and OB GYN and you, and I have to be honest, I think that you

are the best one on the series and everybody else is great, but you're just so empathic

in the way you speak to patients. I just think it's great. I think you're a great doctor.

I think it's great to watch you. And I think it should be inspiring for every, everyone

thinking about going into medicine or people in medicine residents. I just think you're

great. Was it, was it hard though? Like, I think we spoke about this briefly. There's

one scene that I remember. I won't get too graphic, but I'm a gastroenterologist. Of

course I was thinking back on the GI stuff, but you were like Lansing and abscess on a

young man's buttocks and they were taping the whole thing and you were empathic during

the whole, you were funny and being nice and being lighthearted and making the patient

feel comfortable. And of course this is all getting videotaped. Was that difficult to

do?

It wasn't difficult for me. Didn't take me a lot of time to ease into the filmmaker style.

So the two filmmakers are incredibly, they make it so that they're almost not in the

room. I mean, it took some time to me mentally and just to that, but Ruthie and Adi are a

husband and wife couple and they just make it so that you don't even realize that the

camera's in the room. They actually asked you to please just disregard that they're

even following you around. Initially that took some time to adjust to. And once I was

very comfortable around them, I was also comfortable seeing patients with the camera in the room.

But that scene actually definitely, I follow that practice with all my patients, especially

in patients who are hesitant to be in the ER can maybe they don't understand the plan

of care. I find that when I make them feel comfortable, it makes the procedure more comfortable

with them. It makes the visit better for them and they're likely to come back to you, which

in emergency medicine is one of those big challenges that you use a lot of patients

to follow up. And a patient like this in particular, very much needed follow up. So there are ways

that I use to make patients feel comfortable that will allow them to come back to me. And

so I can keep taking care of them.

Amazing. Again, I've worked with a lot of doctors during the years and I think everybody

on this show is really great, but I think for me at least you really stand out. And

I guess, you know, obviously called you to do this with us because you're amazing. And

when I was watching the show and I don't watch any medical show, I don't watch any television,

I don't watch any medical shows if I'm going to watch television, but a friend of mine

actually told me the show was great and I turned it on and I looked at your name badge

and I saw that you were DO and obviously we're doing this podcast. And I thought like, I

would love to have this woman on a podcast because I think she would be so inspirational.

Did anyone ask you and all of your jackets, I noticed obviously say DO, all of your scrubs

say DO. Did anybody ask you about you being a DO? Is there ever a dialogue or a question

about that with Netflix or with the authors?

No, never came up. They just confirmed at the end, you know, for editing purposes, for

the subtitling and all those things, you know, the correct spelling of my name and my title,

but there was never a question about that. Actually, you know, even with the filmmakers,

my background, educational and training did not come up at all. They were not focusing

on that. They were focusing on us as people, as doctors, just as people, irrespective of

what institutions we came from. It was not even a question.

Yeah, that's amazing.

Yeah, I think so.

So I'm just going to, we're going to take a little step back and I'm just going to ask

you some general questions. Were your parents born in the U.S. or were they born outside

the U.S.?

My parents immigrated here. They were born in South America. My father's from Uruguay.

My mother's from Peru. They immigrated here in their early twenties, so in the seventies,

you know, gained citizenship pretty, pretty quickly. So I'm a first generation. There's

not a lot of medical people in my family. I definitely within my generation, I am the

only physician. You know, I have a sister who's a PA, but that's about it.

And did your parents obviously spoke Spanish at home? Is that, is that right?

Yeah, they speak only Spanish at home still. My mother still only speaks Spanish everywhere

she goes. But, you know, America is so diverse that especially where we grew up, there's

a huge Latino community. So, you know, she just became accustomed to not having to speak

English so much.

I actually, I think I told you this when we were talking earlier, you know, I did my GI

training in Miami and part of the thing that drew me to Miami was the Latin culture and

the fact that, you know, I could learn some Spanish and have sort of an immersion experience

at the same time that I was learning gastroenterology. And I think that everybody needs to understand

the importance of that, especially translating into patient care, which I assume helps you

in a day to day in your work as well.

Oh, especially where we're located. I mean, Manhattan, it behooves you to, to at least

know medical Spanish and depending on what, which parts of New York City you're, you're

in, especially if you're in one of the boroughs, just unbelievable what a, what an asset that

is to, especially in emergency medicine, you know, in a field that, you know, is time,

there's time limits, there's time constraints. And if you have medical Spanish under your

belt, at least the last thing you want to do is not have to go out and get a translator.

So it's been an incredible asset for me to be bilingual, at least in my career in medicine.

Yeah, that's no question. No question. Again, I'm not in a very heavily Latin community,

but you know, when patients come in that are Spanish speaking, even if it's not their primary

language, it's just so helpful to bond with the patient when you can speak their language.

Definitely. I agree. So we're going to go back a little bit now. Can you tell me when

you decided, you know, did you always want to be a doctor or when you decided you want

to be a doctor?

So my desire to be a doctor, I do have some, you know, a couple of doctor uncles in my

family who exposed me somewhat early when I was a teenager to medicine. And I really

didn't gain a strong interest into it until until I got to college. And when I arrived

at college, I majored in the biological sciences. Did you go to college, Martha? A small university

called Cain in New Jersey. Okay, it was close to home. It was commuter. It was state tuition.

You know, I still I lived at home, which is very typical where I grew up and how I grew

up. It was like, you know, you're not going to college. You're not going away to live

at college. You're just going to live at home, which was fine. I mean, I think it helped

me out immensely. And when I started my freshman year, I started working at a doctor's office

that was an entire dialysis. The head doctor specialized in nephrology. So he had dialysis

units.

I'm sorry, Martha. That's kidney disease for people that don't use a kidney doctor.

Yes, yes. We got some students. So we're going to kind of make sure they understand. Yeah.

So she worked with a kidney doctor. I'm sorry. Worked with a kidney doctor and dialysis units

that were based in Elizabeth, New Jersey and Irvington. And, you know, if I can explain

that population to you, it's I was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a very underserved

population. So when I went to go visit these units and volunteered at the hospital and

rounded with him, I was taken aback by what that was like my first exposure to medicine

and medicine within an underserved community. And I immediately had a passion for it. I

was like, this is where I want to work. Not specifically in those units, but within communities

that are like this. And I would see the patients later in the office, the same patients that

were getting dialysis. And I started seeing, you know, what real struggles are in health

care and medicine and how I could be an advocate for patients and at the same time advocate

for my community. And I started taking in a lot of hours at the office and I moved up

to doing billing and coding for them. So I just immediately developed a quick interest

in it. And then subsequently went on to medical school and stayed in New York at NYCOM.

So when did you first hear about osteopathic score? How did you decide on NYCOM? How did

that happen?

So when I was working at this doctor's office, we were at a, you know, his office was at

specifically at a big medical center here in Elizabeth, New Jersey. So I got to meet

other physicians, many physicians, some were MDs, some were DOs. So I kind of got an idea

of what the difference was as I was in the hospitals. I mean, and I really, to tell you

the truth, realized there was no difference. So when I came time to apply, I applied everywhere,

both MD and DO.

Okay. So, and then you wanted to stay close to home, I would guess. Were you looking to

stay?

Definitely staying close to home. And actually our family physician's a DO. So there's many

DOs here in the area where I grew up. And yeah. So, and I mean, he's been my parents

physician for years. So I decided I wanted to stay in the area for financial reasons,

you know, not having to move away and get my own place. It was a very big advantage

to live with my family, which culturally that's completely okay.

Tell me about Nikon. Like, did you have a good experience? What did you think of the

school and what type of people did you meet while you were there?

So I thought that Nikon was amazing. I met so many people. I had two roommates whom I

still keep in touch with in my first two years. I thought the community there was very nurturing.

I thought that they were set up technologically. I was in medical school from 2004 to 2008.

And already in 2004, I thought the online classes, everything was really set up technological

wise. It was pretty modern for its time. But I still did in-person attendance to class

because that's just the way I am. I enjoyed learning the information in person and then,

you know, re-listening to classes when I needed to. I had a nice group of friends there. Some

of them whom I later traveled internationally with to do an infectious disease course in

Peru.

Sure.

Yes. And the others I started an underserved school volunteer program with in the Bronx

where we got backpacks for grade school students that didn't have resources to start school.

So we did get a backpack for every kid in grade two in this Bronx school. Others I went

on to volunteer also for the holidays when there was Thanksgiving and soup kitchens.

So I actually had a very nice network of friends that were on the same page with me as far

as wanting to work in underserved communities. There was a Latino group that we were part

of and that's how we got together to do all these community projects, which I thought

was great.

That's great. That's great. So let me ask you, from my experience, I personally never

wanted to be a doctor and I ended up just thinking it was great and wanting to help

people. And I think you're a similar mindset to me. That was my motivation. You know, we've

interviewed a lot of people and I don't think that are worse of people, but you know, there's

a lot of sentiment, you know, maybe they thought they wanted to be a dermatologist or, you

know, wanted to do something like plastic surgery and then ended up doing something

that was very helpful to others. I'm just curious, did you ever think about those things

or were you always looking to do something that you'd be able to give back to underserved

communities with?

No, I never really thought about those specialties myself. I pretty much early on, I want to

say by the second year of NICOM, I already knew I wanted to do emergency medicine because

we had toured a hospital in the Bronx and I immediately was like, this is, this is a

specialty for me. And there were many, and there were many pluses for me. I mean, it

was lifestyle. It was, you know, I, I didn't, I never put finances very high up on the list,

but lifestyle, you know, work happiness, scheduling. I mean, emergency medicine just kind of met

all those points for me. So I knew that I, and there was opportunity to travel, which

is something that I love to do. There's an opportunity for international medicine as

well within emergency medicine. So I really embraced all those things. And I said, this

is a specialty for me. I didn't really do any, you know, searching and other specialties.

You knew you wanted to be an ER doctor. For sure. You fell in love and that was it. That

was it. See finishing NICOM, you're having a great experience. You're learning a lot

and you go to apply for ER residency. Did you look at osteopathic residencies? Did you

only look at allopathic residencies? How did you pick a residency and how did you feel

in the interview process?

So I was very particular also in residency. I wanted to stay in the area. I knew that

I wanted to stay in New York city after having done my entire third year in the Bronx. I

only did pursue allopathic residencies in Manhattan. I was pretty selective. I did rotations

at certain places and I said, these are the places where I did rotations that I'm going

to apply to. I did rank some very low, but I did put them on my rank list, but I had

such positive experiences at the places where I rotated that I didn't feel certain, certain,

but I got such good feedback from everybody that I rotated with that got into my number

one. It was just my experience that was so positive when I was there. I felt that I was

going to be okay.

Right, right. Now that's great. That's perfect. Sometimes I think you just get a feeling that

this is where I fit and this is where I'm going to learn and this is where I'm going

to be.

Definitely.

You were very much, I guess, for that. That was your top choice. What was the name of

the program?

St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, now Mount Sinai.

Okay. How was your experience once you got there in general and as an osteopath?

I was the only osteopathic resident in my class. Prior to that, I think there were only

two other osteopathic residents that were accepted ever to that residency program.

That's amazing.

Yes. It's a very competitive program. Again, I had such a positive experience rotating

there as a student. I also did some medicine rotations there. I really wanted it. I worked

so hard to get it. When I arrived there, it was amazing. I was in New York City where

I wanted to be in Manhattan at a place that I wanted to be in and my experience there

was unbelievable. The fact that I was a DO had nothing to do with anything. Once we got

in, we were all residents. We were all on the same level irrespective of where we came

from.

Yeah. I think that's kind of a universal. I think one of the people we interviewed kind

of brought this out the most. I think it's almost in the student's head sometimes that

it's an issue and when you get out into the world, it's not an issue to anyone.

Right. Absolutely not.

So you finished your residency and you decided to go out into practice. Was it difficult

to find an ER job and you wanted to stay in the city? Was that kind of your main thing?

It wasn't difficult at all. The other thing I wanted to add is that there's a three and

four year ER residencies. I was very heavily concentrating on the three year route versus

the four year. I had done a lot of research and it turns out there's really no difference

if you spend an extra year doing emergency medicine and residency, but by three years,

you should be set to go out and be an attendant.

Right.

So one of my attendings at that time was working at a community hospital in New Jersey, not

very far from where I grew up. It's a large community hospital. They're called Overlook

Medical Center and some in New Jersey. So he at the time was working there and he said,

you know, if you're very interested, I know they're looking for new attendings. So I interviewed.

I love the place. I interviewed at many different hospitals, including the one where I worked

at in college and Overlook seemed to be like the right fit for me at the time because ironically

it was community medicine within a suburb. It was very different from city medicine,

from medicine in the Bronx or Manhattan. And I think one thing that a residency in Manhattan

didn't prepare me for was a job in a suburb like Summit, New Jersey in the community.

So I said to myself, I want to take this on and I feel comfortable here. And I took a

job. That was my first job out of residency.

Okay. And then eventually you ended up obviously at Lenox Hill, where you are right. Right.

And I picked up other per diem jobs because I didn't really discover this difference between

community medicine, academic medicine until my third year in residency. Actually, I didn't

really think about it. They're like, so do you want to stay in academics or do you want

to go out in the community? I'm like, that's interesting. What's the community like? And

so I really loved it. So I left academics. I would still per diem at my residency. I

would go on to per diem there and a couple other community hospitals where I felt that

I needed to be in touch with the community. I moved to Jersey City in the interim and

Jersey City had a tiny community hospital where I would also per diem just to continue

my emergency medicine knowledge within underserved communities. Overlooked doesn't necessarily

has a diverse community, but it's not like working in the Bronx or in Jersey City. Right.

So I try to always keep that diversity within emergency medicine within my practice. I'm

going to change gears a couple of times. One of the things I wanted to ask you about was

choosing emergency medicine. So from my perspective, you know, it's interesting. So everybody has,

you know, something that fits for them, but sometimes people ask me what specialties would

I not have done? And I always say that the specialties that I think are the most difficult,

and I don't know if I can handle, are radiology. I think radiology is super difficult because

we, none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. And unfortunately in radiology, those mistakes

are immortalized, right? That you can't, you can go back and look at films and those films

are always there. And the second thing that I think I wouldn't be able to do is emergency

medicine. And the reason is that you have such a short amount of time to make such important

decisions. And personally, I don't think I would be able to sleep at night. I think I

would just have like, I saw 50 people today and I would just be thinking like, I hope

I made the right call and all 50 people would be flying through my head. So obviously this

is something that you like and that you thrive on. Can you tell me a little bit about what

about emergency medicine really appeals to you?

So I early on noticed that it's a very social type of medicine. You know, you get to meet

a lot of different types of patients, a lot of different types of people. You realize

that no two people are similar. And it's interesting because emergency medicine is challenging.

And by the way, the thought of seeing 50 people also will run through my head at the end of

a shift. And I now think to myself, almost like I just got out of a very second year

medical school exam, like did I pick the right, did I do the right? Did I admit this person

to the right floor? And I'll follow up on them the next day. But anyways, so that happens

to I feel all of us. Definitely. But I like that you can speak to so many different people

and it's not textbook medicine. That's what's so challenging about it. And I really love

that. You know, you can see a presentation of DKA and diabetic ketoacidosis in one patient

and it could present completely different in another patient. And then you have all

the barriers of diversity, culture, languages. The volume in the ER is really high in some

places. I mean, all these things maybe sound negative to some people, but I really embrace

it. I love it. I get into a certain flow and I can do it. I can multitask. So it requires

some multitasking. Yes, it could be rushed sometimes. And that definitely has been a

challenge for me. You know, wanting to take time with a patient is always a good thing.

And sometimes in emergency medicine, you don't get that. It's also like an adrenaline challenge.

You know, you get this person who's so critically ill and you have to figure it out. And I really

love that. It's a good rush. Right, right. Definitely. I know you haven't listened to

the podcast. We had another ER physician on the podcast a while back and he had gotten

a piece of advice. He was told that you needed to be in ER two out of three things. And those

were smart, fast and nice. So he was told that he had to have two of those three to

be a good ER doctor. I don't know if you agree with that, but if you had to pick two, which

of those two would you say that you have? Or do you have all three? Again, don't be

modest. No, I think I have all three. That's amazing. Again, I watch the show. I have to

agree. I think you have all three. I love it. The nice part is, you know, you think

about that, you know, I've had actually friends that say, Martha, are you really like that

in the ER with people? And I'm like, yes. Right, right. But the thing is that it will

make your life and your job so much easier and such a happier place if you're just nice

to people because they're going to want to come back to you. They're going to cooperate.

Imagine if you're rushed or you don't give them enough time or you just disregard their

needs. I mean, there could be just many reasons how you can come off as not nice. That patient

is just going to turn around and just not cooperate with your plan or just say, I'm

not coming back to the CR and then they'll be lost to follow up. And that, that matters

to me. That matters to me that the type of emergency medicine I practice is important.

It's not just always critical patients. Sometimes you have to play the social worker. So you

wear a lot of, a lot of hats in emergency medicine. And one thing that one of my attendings,

my senior attendings talked to me on one of the first few weeks when I became a resident

is that one thing about emergency medicine is, and I, you know, I also think this could

be for every specialty, but ER in particular, depending on where you practice, you're always

going to be a lifelong student, always going to be learning something. There's always going

to be something that comes through the doors that you're never going to see in your life.

And that's, that's very exciting. That's super exciting for me.

Yeah, that's cool. That's great. I agree. That's part of the joy. Medicine is just learning

every day. I totally agree. Definitely. So Mirtha, can I ask you, so is your husband

a physician? No, he's not, but we met through a medical school friend because he was going

to go to medical school and then trained himself to be a programmer and recently finished up

law school. Amazing. Wow. Wow. So now was it hard? You're working as a doctor and he's

going to law school and you're like having a couple of kids at the same time. So there's

a lot getting thrown at you. Is that really difficult to do? And did he support you and

you support him? And how did that work? Was that tough? It was incredibly hard to do.

The only way it worked out is because we were obviously very supportive of each other. We

have family around that can help us, which is huge. I mean, and that's, that's one of

the reasons why I chose to stay here. Cause I knew that I knew later on that I would need

family. You always need family and you know, if you have a good relationship with your

family, they, they are an invaluable asset to your life. And then, you know, we had to

hire hire help. Yeah, listen, you got like four jobs going, you got like four jobs for

two people. I mean, that's, that's a lot of work. Yes. And I also married a person who

like me is willing to take on multitask and take on, you know, he's sometimes when one

of us is going lowered or we're feeling a little low or feeling a little stressed out

or overwhelmed, you know, like this is, this is it. This is the time to, to work hard.

And I mean, the end result is really going to be unbelievable. And it has been like when

he finished law school, it was unbelievable. And we had children and we're still moving

on with our careers. And you know, we're at an older age, but it never stops. You know,

it's really great. Right. You guys are doing great. No question. It doesn't get boring.

No boring. That I definitely see. I don't see any way that you could be bored with all

that. I watched the episode, the COVID episode, you were pregnant while you're working in

the ER. I keep thinking back to my own experience. I volunteer on a COVID floor, doing some

hospitalist work during the pandemic. And my wife is incredibly supportive. And, you

know, it was definitely easier for me with having her. But for you, you had to make a

decision to do that job while you were pregnant. And obviously your husband had to be supportive

of that decision. How was that? I mean, I can't imagine how stressful that must have

been for you and for your husband. That was definitely very stressful for us. I had to

go with what he felt the most comfortable with. And I had to respect his decision and

his thinking about it was that we should separate. So we did separate for several weeks so that

I wouldn't expose our current son and him and then subsequently the rest of the family

because we're so tied into family, which at first I thought was completely drastic. I

thought to myself, I'm not going to be able to do this. This is insane. But that's a decision

we had to take and I had to respect that decision because he was scared and he was afraid and

very respectable feeling about all this. We're all scared and afraid no matter who we are,

no matter how tough we are. This virus somewhat revealed our feelings even at work. You know,

it showed people's fears, even amongst my coworkers, you know, we're so in emergency

medicine we're ready for everything, you know, disaster medicine. And when the virus came

and it was like, this was a real thing. So we made the decision to separate. And then

I think at first it was very drastic, but in the end it turned out to be so much better

for all of us because it was a decision that we made simultaneously and we were supportive

of each other. We had to be supportive of each other for it to, again, to work. I mean,

whenever hard things like this in life present themselves, the way to get through them is

to be on the same page and be supportive. So it did work out for the best. You know,

I just had the baby and everything luckily was okay. And we're all safe. You know, we

reunited a few weeks later, but it was okay. Everything was, you know, we did everything

very conservatively, but it turned out to be okay.

Yeah. I just have to say just a comment from me. It's great. Again, I worked on a COVID

floor. You watch these neurosurgeons on the show working on a COVID floor. I think it's

great that people like rolled up their sleeves and pitched in. But to me, like you pregnant

gown and gloved and working on the front line just can't beat that. Like I think it's amazing.

I have to say thank you even as a doctor. I think that's amazing.

Thank you.

So I'm going to ask you, did you take loans? You know, a little personal, but did you take

loans from medical school and do you still have loans that you're paying now? And do

you think that affected your choice of specialty or does it weigh on you on a daily basis?

How do you feel about medical school loans?

I did take loans. Also, I took full loans to go to NICOM and I am still paying them

back. One thing that I did early on was start paying them back when you're a resident. If

it's a small amount, I advise that strongly advise that if you can do that, start paying

them back in residency. It definitely didn't affect which specialty I was going to pick.

I mean, I actually didn't even, you know, it's income based and they're very doable.

One other thing I would definitely advise is to refinance your loans and pay them back

at a faster rate and faster time, which is what I did.

Right.

Yeah. So I'm also actually very close to done paying them off.

That's amazing.

Yeah. I've been in attending for, it's going to be 11 years and a few months. So since

I graduated medical school, so I highly advise that to be aggressive in paying them back.

Last question for you, Mirtha, again, thank you so much for being with us. Is there one

piece of advice, any advice that you were given by your mentors, by an attending by

somebody in school that you would want to pass on to the people that are listening to

the podcast?

Yeah. So for prospective medical students and medical students that are listening, one

thing that was very much ingrained in me, actually it was in college when I was working

with this husband and wife couple. It was a husband and wife couple who ran this entire

medical practice and dialysis units was that you have to go into a field that is going

to constantly stimulate you, constantly learning. It should challenge you. You're going to go

through ups and downs. You're going to have to work hard, but that's what makes this,

whatever field you go to, enjoyable. You know, I didn't go into it because of money or necessarily

one thing like lifestyle, money. I factored in all those things and really thought about

it. And it came down to what made me happy. And at least for me, when somebody is enjoying

what they do, you are a better person and you can be a better person to others and specifically

a doctor for other people. You have to find joy and happiness in what you're doing. And

I think that's one of the biggest things that was always instilled in me. When I practice

emergency medicine, of course the lifestyle is great. I have no complaints about what

emergency medicine physicians get paid now, but at the end of the day, I do love the diversity

in the communities that I work in. I love the medicine itself. And you know, you have

to think about that. You're going to be doing this for another 30 years maybe until you

retire. So you better love your specialty. Yeah. It's so cliche, but they have this saying,

if you love your work, then you never work a day in your life. And I agree with you.

I think that's totally true. Definitely. Myrthe, again, thank you so much for being with us.

This has been awesome. And I know you're busy and have a baby and you have to get back,

but again, we really do appreciate your time. Definitely. Thank you for having me. Thanks.

This concludes our episode of Do or Do Not. Send all inquiries, comments, suggestions,

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plenty of more interviews lined up and we're excited to share them with you. This is Tianyu

Shea, OMS3. Thank you guys so much for listening to Do or Do Not.