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Gabby Cinnamon: Riverside Healthcare, puts the health and wellness information you need well within reach.

Welcome back to the Well Within Reach podcast, brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. I'm your host, Gabby Cinnamon. At some point throughout your life's medical journey, you may have been cared for by a medical resident and wondered what the difference between a resident is and an attending physician.

Today, Dr. Fatima Hooda, a first year psychiatry resident at Riverside is joining us to talk about the Psychiatry Residency Program at Riverside and a typical day in her life.

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Gabby Cinnamon: Thanks so much for coming on the podcast today, Dr. Hooda.

Fatima Hooda, DO: Thank you for having me.

Gabby Cinnamon: Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Fatima Hooda, DO: Sure. So, like you mentioned, my name is Dr. Fatima Hooda. I was raised in the Chicagoland area and I completed all of my schooling here. I graduated from the Chicago College of osteopathic Medicine at Midwestern University. Growing up, I was part of several communities that really played a significant role in my life. Two communities that have played a very pivotal role were my faith-based Ismaili Muslim community and Girl Scouts. And through these communities, I developed a strong work ethic, a moral compass, strong social support, resilience to grow from any of life's challenges. Mentors that helped me achieve my goals and dreams and ultimately found where I found a life purpose in choosing a career that allows me to serve humanity. So, that is a little bit about me.

Gabby Cinnamon: Awesome. You kind of touched on like your work ethic and why you decided to choose medicine, but can you talk a little bit more about why you decided to go into medicine? I'm sure medical school residency, it's a huge commitment to go into. So what made you decide to take that on?

Fatima Hooda, DO: Yeah. So I think one of the biggest sources of my inspiration were my grandparents, both my maternal grandparents, Dr. Fatima Lakhbir and Dr. Mohammed Lakhbir, may they both rest in eternal peace. They are my inspiration to practice medicine. My grandmother was an OB/GYN. My grandfather was a family medicine physician in their home country of Pakistan. I've heard stories of how hard they worked. They both came from very humble backgrounds and to take on this journey with the ultimate purpose and goal of serving their patients, I think, was extremely admirable. And I saw how they spent a portion of their lives after I was born and understood what they were doing with their careers. I saw how with what type of genuine passion they were serving their patients and they were my role models. And so, I wanted to do the same and dedicate my life the way that they dedicated their life.

I graduated from medical school earlier this year and it was a little emotional for my family that they weren't around to see such the achievement. But they are, and will continue to be, a source of my inspiration as to how I want to serve my patients with the same sincerity and with the same type of high quality care that they serve their patients.

Gabby Cinnamon: That's amazing to have that to look up to. That's really, really cool.

Fatima Hooda, DO: Absolutely.

Gabby Cinnamon: What made you choose psychiatry as your specialty?

Fatima Hooda, DO: Sure. So, there are many, many things. I think one thing is that there was always a theme of interest in mental health that I gravitated to and I didn't quite realize it until I was in medical school. But in high school I completed Illinois Domestic Violence Certification, which got me more interested in mental health and mental health illnesses. And then, in college, I studied abroad internationally in Jordan and Turkey where I studied international public health, healthcare delivery and organizational efficiency of healthcare services. Over there, I also spearheaded a pilot research project collaborating with the School of International Training and Dr. Ayman Hamdan-Mansour at the University of Jordan, studying depression and resilience as psychological correlates of domestic violence in urban Syrian refugee women.

In medical school, I went through a multi-step, rigorous selection process with the Albert E. Schweitzer Foundation and was selected to develop a health-based intervention where, again, I gravitated towards developing a mental health intervention, where I focused on sort of a holistic aspect, where I focused on physiological health, mental health, and economic health because all aspects of health are very important when you're looking to treat a patient. So I think just with the different fields and populations that I've encountered, they've all helped me gravitate towards psychiatry.

And then, when I was in medic school, I did a couple of psychiatry rotations where I absolutely loved sitting down with someone and understanding how they're feeling. And I think, for me, using that art of talking to someone and then my medical knowledge to diagnose and treat was amazing. I also had an interest in journalism when I was younger, too. I used to work for the Chicago Tribune, so I kind of honed in on my interviewing skills and was able to use that as part, because interviewing is very important, right? History and physical in any discipline in medicine is very, very important. The history, especially in psychiatry, is very important. So being able to develop that therapeutic alliance with the patient, being able to understand how a patient is feeling and then being able to use science, the discipline of medicine to be able to treat any type of mental health conditions, it is amazing. The field, it makes me feel so fortunate that I'm in this field that I'm able to do all of this. So, I could not be happier and feel mentally blessed that this is what I do for a living.

Gabby Cinnamon: That's amazing. I think in any form of medicine, I'm sure, you know, the provider forms a relationship with their patient. But, you know, you can hear in your voice how much you care. And I think too, with psychiatry, I think it's on another level. And then, like you said, mental health impacts so many other aspects of your life, your physical health as well. So you really are forming a relationship and changing someone's life.

Fatima Hooda, DO: In addition, I would say another thing that really inspired me to go into the field was that a lot of people were reluctant to talk about it, about mental health as well. And I think that that's very important to do. I think that through all of my experiences, I learned that there's a lot of taboo that exists, there's a lot of stigma that exists around mental health. And those one-on-one conversations when you're really forming that alliance allows people to get more comfortable and, "Hey, like yeah, I'm feeling this way. And I really would like help with this." So, that was another reason why I was like, "Okay, you know what? If this is something that I'm interested in and patients feel comfortable in sharing how they feel, and I can use my knowledge to help, then I would love to be in this field if I can."

Gabby Cinnamon: Can you talk a little bit about what a psychiatry resident is? I think in general, sometimes the public might not know what a medical resident is versus an attending physician. Can you kind of talk a little bit about your role as a psychiatry resident?

Fatima Hooda, DO: Sure. So, an attending physician, I'll start off by describing what an attending is. So attending physician has gone through medical school, has gone through psychiatry training, has taken the board exam and are board-certified to be a doctor in psychiatry. Where I am right now in my training is that I finished medical school and I am learning to be a psychiatrist. So throughout the four years of psychiatry residency, I will be learning all the components of diseases and diagnosis and treatment, that will allow me ultimately to take that board exam and become a practitioner in psychiatry.

So I am a doctor. However, I am not a board-certified psychiatrist yet. I am in training to achieve that. And as a resident, I'm learning. So I am a doctor. I am a part of the patient care process. However, every single patient is ultimately supervised under an attending physician who is board-certified in psychiatry. So rest assured, everyone is being treated by someone who has had training, who will make sure that every part of their treatment, diagnosis and care is being given to the highest of standard, highest quality care. we are there as another point of contact in collaborating with the care team. And as we learn, we are being exposed to different patients. providing the care that we are allowed in the capacity as like a first-year resident or a second-year resident. And then, we're consulting the attending physician in what we feel should be the diagnosis and treatment. Then, the attending will give us feedback as to how we can learn from this experience and how we can continue to grow our competency, to provide the best care for our patients. So, those are some of the differences.

On a more logistical level, for example, all of our orders are approved and authorized by our psychiatrist, so that someone who is board-certified is making sure that everything is being handled. There's many eyes on it and that every order is by someone who is certified to provide, deliver psychiatric care.

Gabby Cinnamon: That makes sense. I thought it was really helpful because I think sometimes people, you know, and I'm sure that, you know, "Oh, are you qualified to be doing this?" But you mean, yes. But you have there, like you said, other eyes.

Fatima Hooda, DO: There is supervision, yes. So, we're providing the care that we've gotten training for. So for example, I have been trained how to take a history and physical through medical school and then also through residency. So that part, yes, because I've been trained and I'm competent in it, I will continue to do that. But with the diagnosis and treatment, that is the part that I'm here to learn. And that is the part that is ultimately all of the care is being over overseen, but that particularly is definitely being seen by an attending psychiatrist.

Gabby Cinnamon: That makes sense. How is the psychiatry residency program structured at Riverside? I know, like you've talked about, there are different facets of psychiatry. Could you talk a little bit about, inpatient, outpatient, kind of how that all works?

Fatima Hooda, DO: Yes. So as a psychiatrist, you have so many options in the way that you want to practice. And ultimately, every psychiatry program wants to make sure that you are able to handle any type of patient in any setting in psychiatry. So, Riverside has done a phenomenal job structuring the program, so that we are ultimately prepared at the end of our four years. So the first two years are inpatient and the last two years are outpatient. During our first year, I'm going through right now with my co-interns, we are rotating. Every month, we rotate through internal medicine, neurology and psychiatry. And that gives us a good foundation that allows us to build upon the further years to come. So next year, we'll also get inpatient experience with child and adolescent psychiatry, inpatient consult service on the internal medicine floors when psychiatry is consulted on patients who are going through other medical problems. Then, the last two years are more outpatient, which is what our PGY-III, our third year psychiatry residents are doing right now where you see patients just as a psychiatrist would in the outpatient setting. And you get a feel of all of those components.

In addition to that, we also see how different partners with our psychiatry team, how they work. So for example, we have Pathways, which is our PHP/IOP, partial hospitalization program and intensive outpatient program. So a lot of individuals who, let's say, are in inpatient for a psychiatric illness, they continue to require intensive care, we would refer them after they're done with their hospital admission to go to the PHP IOP program. So we're also working with the patients in that capacity as well.

There are other organizations that we partner with. Thresholds, where we see how we work together, how we can continue working together to deliver different aspects of care. Like I said, I truly believe that when you're providing treatment, it should be holistic, right? So like, how does it work when beyond the pharmacological aspect or hospital aspect of things? How do we incorporate social health, economic health, different facets of health? Community health, which is what Riverside is. Riverside is a very, very heavy community health program.

Gabby Cinnamon: Can you talk a little bit about what a typical day or week looks like for you?

Fatima Hooda, DO: It's varied depending on what rotation you're on. Sometimes it's inpatient, sometimes it's outpatient. Some themes are that you work with different attendings, which is awesome because I get to learn how to treat patients through different lenses and different perspectives, which add to serve as different tools in my toolbox of how I diagnose. So, it really depends on the day. But in general, It's filled with patient care, it's filled with interacting on an interdisciplinary basis. So even on inpatient service when I'm on internal medicine, I'm working with the social worker and I'm working with the different specialists. And medicine is a very collaborative field and that's been actually wonderful because I think there's a lot of pieces that play in providing treatment for patients.

Gabby Cinnamon: You're in your first year of residency, what are you most looking forward to in the coming years?

Fatima Hooda, DO: I think the biggest thing I'm looking forward to is building proficiency. My goal is to make sure that I can be the best doctor I can be, the best psychiatrist I can be. So every single day, my goal is to learn something new to build on my skills so that, ultimately, I can be the best provider for my patients, be the best advocate for my patients. So, all the different disciplines, the rotations that I will go through, the knowledge base that I will build, I'm very much looking forward to that.

Gabby Cinnamon: I think that's really exciting because you have so much time ahead of you and so much to learn. So. I think a question I like to end on is, you know, you've talked about how the discussion around mental health has changed a lot in the last few years. And more people are talking about it, which is good, but, you know, it still is an ongoing issue for many people. where do you see the field of psychiatry going in the next 10 to 15 years? Are there any new advances or any new changes that you hope to see?

Fatima Hooda, DO: One of the things I would hope to see and I've been seeing this as a pattern, which is hopeful, that there will be less stigma and taboo around mental health. I think mental health illness is just like any other illness and there's no taboo when you know you talk about, "Oh, I have high blood pressure. I need to take medications for it." Why should there be a taboo and stigma around a mental health condition? so I think one thing that I would like to see is just the eradication of any type of stigma or hesitation.

If you need help, I would really encourage everybody to seek it and make a comfortable space for yourself and those around you to express how they're feeling, to be an approachable person that, "Hey, like struggling with something." Actually, one pointer that I would like to give everybody, take your cell phones out right now and type in as a contact 988. That is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. even if you don't end up using it, at least you have a resource that you can refer for someone else. And if you don't feel comfortable being able to handle what you might be going through, someone else is going through, you can always refer out by giving them that number.

So, another thing is that there's a lot of exciting research. A lot of medications are coming out with new formulations, routes and frequencies. Initially, for some medications, you would have to take the medication every day and it makes it a problem when medication compliance is an issue. So now, we have some medications that are coming out where you only have to take the medication once a month, or they're coming out in different ways that you can take it. So some are by mouth and some are by injection. So, all these things will hopefully help us deliver the best type of treatment where patients will stay compliant and it will help them ultimately what their diagnosis and treatment.

Gabby Cinnamon: Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I think that's a great place to end off on. This has been great. And I can't wait to hopefully dive into more topics with you in the future.

Fatima Hooda, DO: Absolutely. Thank you for having me today.

Gabby Cinnamon: And thank you so much, listeners, for tuning in to the Well Within Reach podcast. Make sure to check out our other episodes and leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to the show.