Empowering Women Physicians

Author: Sunny Smith MD

Medicine is truly the most noble profession. It is an honor and a privilege to be responsible for the health and well being of our society. As physicians, we aim to relieve human suffering. Then why are so many of us unhappy, stressed, and even considering leaving medicine? Characteristics of self sacrifice and delayed gratification allowed women physicians to get through medical school and residency. Yet these very same traits can cause increasing distress and may no longer be serving us. This podcast encourages women physicians to reflect on the wise words of the Hippocratic Oath and consider what more they could be doing to maintain the utmost respect for their OWN human life and its quality. Women physicians are strong, intelligent, resilient, hard working, insightful, and live their lives in service of others. Through this podcast, Dr Sunny Smith reminds them that they must first care for themselves so that they may care for others. As a practicing physician and certified coach, she offers tools that can be used to help them take a closer look at their life right now, what they love and what they'd like to change. She helps physicians set goals and empowers them to take steps toward creating their best lives starting today.
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Language: en

Genres: Health & Fitness, Medicine, Mental Health

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Episode # 36 - Fierce Self Compassion with Dr. Kristen Neff
Episode 36
Tuesday, 21 April, 2026

This episode included clips from a workshop inside the Empowering Women Physicians coaching program with Dr. Kristen Neff on self-compassion. We discuss the difference between tender self-compassion and fierce self-compassion. Dr. Neff speaks up about the need for women to advocate for themselves and how that is indeed an act of self-compassion. We discussed that self-compassion can be measured using the Clinical Self-Valuation Scale and that it can be significantly improved in just a short period of time, as documented by a change from 18% to 64% of women physicians inside EWP meeting criteria for a self-compassionate perspective in just 8 weeks. Links for resources mentioned in this episode. EWP coaching guide https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/guide EWP Newsletter: https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/newsletter EWP Published data: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38840137/ Stanford Clinician Self Valuation Scale https://med.stanford.edu/wellmd/selfassessment.html Self-valuation. Attending to the most important instrument in the practice of medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31543254/ Study on self-valuation being the largest mediator in the difference in burnout between male and female physicians: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2846632