Hospitalist Julie Fedderson, MD, Driven by Dedication to Patient Care
Q: What is your biggest professional challenge?
A: There are a lot of daunting things coming from entities that don’t necessarily have a patient’s best interests at heart. Keeping sane doing the “regulatory” quality while still providing good quality care is a challenge. Sometimes it feels like a game—but obviously a game with serious consequences.
Q: What is your biggest professional reward?
A: Frankly, [it is] when one of my colleagues relates to me a success story with a new process or plan. I hear so many of my medical friends so dissatisfied with healthcare’s trajectory—they’re burned out, telling their kids to not go into medicine. When I see someone get that spark back for their career and their reason for choosing it, that makes me feel fantastic.
Q: When you aren’t working, what is important to you?
A: I have two boys, and they hung the moon. We hang out as much as possible. I am also into physical fitness, so I try to run, do yoga, and hike as much as I can.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: I would like to continue to be a chief quality officer, potentially for an entire healthcare system.
Q: If you weren’t a doctor, what would you be doing right now?
A: Writing romance novels.
Q: What’s the best book you’ve read recently? Why?
A: “Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder. It’s about Dr. Paul Farmer’s work in Haiti. Really exemplifies that one person can change lives.
Q: How many Apple products (phones, iPods, tablets, iTunes, etc.) do you interface with in a given week?
A: I’ve been infiltrated with Apples. My iPhone seldom leaves my hand. I use an iPad for notes and to chart. I run three miles a day with my iPod. I own two Macs.
Q: What’s next in your Netflix queue?
A: I have a six- and a seven-year-old, so anything with animation. Last great movie I saw was “Silver Linings Playbook.”
Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.
