Kim Fellman, MD
I am an attending hospitalist in private practice, medical director at a local skilled nursing rehab facility, and CEO of Elite Physician Coaching, a firm that provides executive coaching for physicians.
Tell us about your work.
I started out wanting to pursue a primary care career in a private practice setting as well as in the hospital setting. However, that combined inpatient and outpatient practice was hard to find in a big city like Dallas at that time, so I chose to proceed with a hospitalist career. For the first several years working as a full time hospitalist, life was not what I imagined it to be. I told myself I needed to give it more time to figure the hospitalist path out before I would switch jobs. Then the 10-year mark came with life changing events. My brother was killed in a car accident at the age of 38 at the same time as the horrific Covid pandemic that tragically took the lives of several of my patients. Death and grieving became my companion for awhile. The long working hours and lack of mental health resources for physicians quickly allowed burnout to set in. I discovered the resilience power in me to overcome burnout. I wanted to do good for many of my colleagues who had similar experiences like me. I enrolled in College of Executive Coaching program and discovered the power of coaching that changed my life and allowed me to overcome burnout, discovering my hidden talents and capturing the joy in medicine again. I created Elite Physician Coaching to spread this joy to my fellow physicians. I just lost my Mom several weeks ago to a sudden health event that took her life in a span of 5 weeks from the time of her diagnosis to her death. Life is truly short. Instead of wanting to change my hospitalist job, I am grateful to continue having this hospitalist job. It is a privilege to take care of patients at their most vulnerable state.
What helped get you there?
My attending and chief resident on my 4th year medical school student rotation of a hospitalist service took me aside and told me that they both thought I should pursue hospital medicine as a career.
What challenges have you faced in your medical career?
On most days, I don’t feel that I am being valued for what I do. There is a lack of professional support, scarcity of physician wellness resources and the pressure of seeing more patients at less amount of time allotted per patient. It’s harder to get insurance coverage for patient’s services with more peer to peer request and prior authorization.
What advice do you have for women in medicine?
I recommend women to stand firm on their career desire and never stop pursuing the dream life they wanted. Obstacles and failures are opportunities for growth. We all are equipped to create the life we want.
What is your leadership role in AMWA and/or share a passion that you’ve turned into an initiative and invite others to join in furthering this endeavor.
I would like to get more involved in the coaching AMWA ititiative to provide executive coaching to all physicians in AMWA. We are leaders in our daily lives both at home and at work. We all need executive coaching to bring out the best in us.
Have you had an Ah-Ha moment? or, Is there anything else that has impacted your career trajectory or work within or outside medicine that has been a significant influence?
My Ah-Ha moments are the time when my brother and mother passed away unexpectedly. It hit home that life can be taken away from me just like that. It’s up to me to make the most of my life today, not tomorrow. That’s when I discovered executive physician coaching to be the next step in my career path along with doing hospitalist work.
Social Media:
Elitephysiciancoaching.com