Jessica Zitter, MD, is a filmmaker, as well as an attending physician at Highland Hospital and Associate Clinical Professor and volunteer faculty at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).
Photo courtesy: JN Zitter
Tell us about your career path.
I started my career as an “intense” Intensivist, eager to offer any and every procedure and technology available to my patients. But as I learned, in the early 2000’s, about the new specialty of Palliative Care, I realized what had been missing in my approach. Since then, I have become a Palliative Care physician and practice both types of medicine. I also became a writer and then a filmmaker, trying to find innovative ways to invite my fellow healthcare providers to practice a more humane, patient-centered type of medicine.
Can you cite any particular instance or individuals that influenced your choices?
I have had two main mentors over my 30 years of being a physician: A nurse, Pat Murphy, and later a chaplain, Betty Clark. These two women did more to teach me how to be the best doctor that I can be than any physician mentor ever did.
What challenges have you faced in your medical career?
Being a woman in a predominantly male-dominated field was challenging, especially in the early days, when Critical Care was all about being tough, silent, and fast-moving. I always felt that I was a mutiny-away from having my team dismiss me as “too weak”, “too emotional”, or not tough enough. And when I joined the Palliative Care world in the early days, I felt that the ICU community looked at me with distrust. One chief of medicine at a Boston hospital actually said to me that “I think it’s a conflict of interest for an ICU doctor to also practice Palliative Care,” as if I might somehow be less likely to want to save someone’s life if I believed in a patient-centered approach. And to learn more about the many, many challenges I have faced in my career, I would refer you to my book, “Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life.”
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?
I have had several Ah-Ha moments over the course of my career (again, see “Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life”, but one in particular stands out. I was getting ready to insert a Quinton catheter into the neck of a really sick, dying patient. I knew the catheter wouldn’t actually help her, but I didn’t know what else to do at the time except to keep treating. Suddenly, I noticed Nurse Pat Murphy standing at the door. She held her hand up to her ear as if she was calling 911, and barked “Call the police. They’re torturing a patient in the ICU.” From that moment on, I vowed that I would never treat a patient as if they were a widget on a conveyor belt.
Given your lived experiences, do you have any advice for women in medicine?
Don’t devalue the traits—typically female—that will allow you to bond with those you have come to serve. Trying to be “like one of the guys” will remove you from the amazing community of humble, curious, and empathic women who can be your greatest support.