We recently connected with Dr Eva Beaulieu and have shared our conversation below.
Dr Eva, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)?
The hardest time of my medical career was during Residency (A medical residency is the period of training that you undertake after completing your studies at medical school). I completed my residency training in Internal Medicine and this lasted 3 years. It was a very exciting and challenging time for me but it was also very hard because the working hours were overwhelmingly long. We worked over 80 hours a week and had to take call every 3 days which meant that we were in the hospital for over 24 hours at a time. The biggest lesson that learned during residency was to not forget to take care of my body and mind. The work hours in residency are more taxing on the physical and mental health than medical school. I had to take the time to note my emotional triggers and coping skills and remember to have an outlet outside of medicine in order to not let it become all consuming in my life.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Eva Beaulieu but everyone calls me Dr. Eva. I was born in Haiti and moved to the U.S. when I was almost 15 years old. Both of my parents were physicians: my father was a Radiologist with his own practice (he passed away late August 2019) and my mother was a Dermatologist with her own practice as well. She moved to the U.S. and had to go through taking her boards all over again and completed her residency in Family Medicine which was easier to get into than Dermatology. Growing up with both parents as doctors was a blessing. Seeing how hard they worked, the sacrifices they made, the dedication and the impact they had on the lives of so many, only strengthened my desire to be a physician at a very young age. My parents did everything they could to give my brother and I the best life possible and for that I will forever be grateful. I am an Internal Medicine Hospitalist, mother to three kids ages 14, 11 and 9, married 12 years to a wonderful husband who is also a physician. I am an author and wrote my first book “Paging Doctor You” in the summer of 2020. I am the owner of Dr Eva B coaching, which I created with the goal of coaching future medical students. I’m also an influencer, blogger and digital creator.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
We all have frustrations, medicine is hard. It’s certainly not everything we want it to be, but a lot of jobs are really hard. I’ve learned and grown more than I could have imagined, and I met lifelong friends on this journey. I’d definitely do this all over again without regrets.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Perseverance for sure! It is difficult to emphasize just how essential perseverance is to medicine. Perseverance allows you to shine, it shows that you are willing to work harder and achieve more for the patients and it allows you to strive to do better every day at work.
If you work hard and stay persistent, you will persevere. It is not easy, but it is worth it in the end.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.drevabtoday.com
- Instagram: @dr.evab
- Facebook: @dr.evab
- Youtube: dr.evabeaulieu