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WOMEN IN
MEDICINE

school. We both moved away to the East Coast to pursue our stud- are issues with privacy, cyber attacks, security, maintenance, etc.
ies. It was quite an adventure and in the process I had my first So it is another expense to keep up with. Our practice does have
child. I had to take a year off but it was OK. I was not your tra- a website and has a patient portal. We also have a presence on
ditional medical student by any means. I was very proud to walk Facebook and get patient feedback in different ways. Then came
the graduating stage with my 6-month-old daughter over 27 years the world of ‘meaningful use’ and I jumped at the opportunity to
ago. Knowing residency would be challenging, we moved back to participate. And so we did. Then it ended and now we are in the
Texas to be closer to our families and to our culture. world of CCM, ACO’s and MACRA, etc… so I also got involved
During my daughter’s pregnancy I was told that I had gestational and created programs and workflows to participate.
diabetes. I was in shock. What?? I’ve always been called “Skinny In the meantime, my husband was getting worried that I was
Ana” since I was, and still am, a “stick.” I always watched my fam- spending too much time with work and not enough with my social
ily struggle with obesity and the problems that stemmed from it life, so he made it his job to avoid that. Our circle of friends grew
like diabetes, hypertension, strokes and heart attacks. So, my sisters and I started going out to more medical conferences and meetings.
and I refused to gain any weight and tried not to do too much of With time, I met Dr. Vizcarra and then her friends became my
the Puerto Rican or Mexican ‘diet.’ As I got older and busier, bal- friends and I met other female physicians at other events. At their
ancing career and family, I found it hard to exercise so I had to insistence, I decided to participate in the half marathon for Rock
watch what I ate. n’ Roll in San Antonio. Boy, was that an experience!
With time, my dad had a severe stroke from his diabetes/hyper- I started training and refused to stay behind. I had to work
tension at age 51, my mother developed diabetes and grandma had much harder and, being older than all of them and no quitter, up
a heart bypass. I kept telling myself “I need to exercise. I need to that steep hill I went. Six years later, I am running at a slower
exercise. I don’t want to be like my dad with insulin, diabetes, pace than before due to lack of time but getting ready to do an-
stroke and neuropathy.” other “racation.”
I realized I spend so much time at work and caring for my family One of my close friends and I travel the U.S. at least once per
that I had not much time for anything else. We were all too busy year and make a “girls” weekend to run and spend time catching
multi-tasking and at the end of the day there was hardly any time up. Some of us go as cheerleaders and others as participants, but
left. As I and my kids were getting older and I was getting ready the goal is the same: Participate, enjoy each other and be grateful
to have more ‘me’ time, life suddenly changed. In a span of three we can.
years, I lost my younger sister to cancer, my father to another So now I look back in time and give thanks that despite all the
stroke, my brother-in-law to violence and my grandma to “old hardships and personal “losses” I have remained a compassionate
age” at 95. It was too much for my mother and she died three physician dedicated to provide the best care possible to my pa-
years later of depression and dementia at 71. So, I did the only tients despite all the time constraints and “red tape” we find from
thing I knew. I got busier at work and at home. Unfortunately, that insurers on a daily basis. As one of my patients told me this past
led me to become more isolated from the few friends I had. week; “Doctora, how do you manage to smile after such a long
When EMR’s (electronic medical records) came about I became day?” I looked back at her and told her “Why not? After all, we
involved in learning how to use it. It kept me from focusing on are still here and I am able to provide the assistance and care you
the pain of my lost family. So I became the “superuser.” I created need. We have known each other for a while and this is what I
templates, learned shortcuts and climbed that steep learning curve. wanted to be doing when I chose medicine as a career.” She
I became more efficient and documented better. I learned how to hugged me and gave me a kiss. I then put on my running shoes
use a hybrid of dragon, templates and free-style documentation. and headed out to enjoy the outdoors.
The medical practice got electronic interfaces with several major
labs, hospitals and radiology companies. So information was read- Dr. Ana I. Rodriguez works at MacGregor Medical Center.
ily available. I loved it. I did not have to go to medical records to
look for labs anymore. But with every technological advance there

visit us at www.bcms.org 25