HIT with Grace: Dr. Sonya Sloan serves the Indigenous Community in New Mexico We are excited to welcome Dr. Sonya Sloan to the podcast to talk about innovation and empowerment. She’s a traveling orthopedic surgeon, a locum tenens physician, an author, a speaker, and a mother. In her work across the U.S. for more than…
When Science Meets Ideology Public health was never meant to be political theater. It was designed to be a system that safeguards communities… from vaccines to clean water to disaster preparedness. But today, advisory bodies like the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), state medical boards, and even local health departments are being reshaped…
Behind, Biased, and (Still) Full of Possibility Let me get straight to the point:AI is disrupting healthcare; good or bad is still to be determined, but nonetheless, most of us in the medical field are already behind. Not because we’re lazy, not because we’re unwilling… but because the system isn’t built for us to keep up….
Why Silence is Never Neutral The Origins of the 3.5% History has taught us that real change rarely begins with the majority; it begins with a committed few. The concept of the “3.5% rule” was popularized by political scientist Erica Chenoweth, whose research examined over a century of civil resistance movements. Chenoweth discovered that NO campaign of nonviolent resistance…
The Scrubbed-In Mindset: Women’s Empowerment Once upon a time, they told us to aim high. Break the glass ceiling, they said. Shatter it like a boss in heels and a power suit. But nobody warned us what happens when the shards are swept away and replaced with something even more dangerous… It doesn’t break at…
Why Some Patients Walk Away From Medical Advice There’s a moment in every exam room when the conversation shifts. The diagnosis is clear. The treatment plan is evidence-based. I’ve explained the risks, answered the questions, even looked them in the eye and said, “This is serious.” Then they nod slowly… and say they can’t do…
Sonya M. Sloan, MD, explores how smart phones and other devices are impacting our health and what we can do about it. We have all heard of the dangers of texting while driving, but what about texting while walking? A few years ago, while working as a traveling orthopedic surgeon in a small town, I sat at…
Most patients believe and trust a diagnosis and treatment plan their physician provides them. So why is a second opinion in medicine so important? The “practice of medicine” is a term used to imply a variety of diagnoses and treatments. Yes, there is a standard of care in every medical discipline, but there are also…
Respect: Rule #4 in my book, The Rules of Medicine, is knowing the janitor’s name. My mother taught me that respect for others would teach people how to handle you and make others listen to you more attentively. While working in the VA hospital, I knew the name of every janitor in the OR and…
Sonya Sloan, M.D., shares the legacy of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first African American M.D., who inspired generations of Black women in healthcare. Why is it so essential to know Black history? It secures a lineage of hope and inspiration for those who will follow to become doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers in medicine….
How sick, toxic, and broken is America for African Americans? The medical community’s lack of response to urgently deal with racism is felt to be hypocritical with the name of caregiver. As a Black female orthopedic surgeon, less than 2% in the nation, I was trained to fix broken things. Racism in America is not…
Sonya M. Sloan, MD, shares proven methods that can assist you in setting and achieving your goals for the new year. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, Happy New Year! We made it. And with a sigh of relief, yes, 2021 is finally here. So now, after a year like none other and…
Dear Superheroes, Hey, how’s it going? Yes, pretty freakin’ SURREAL is a great way to describe the worst world-wide medical disaster in our lifetime. I understand you are extremely busy saving lives, but I wanted to tell you THANK YOU! Truth be told, thank you really doesn’t do you justice. I don’t think there are…
The United States has been a slow brewing cauldron of gender bias for years. With increasing tensions and an unspoken, formidable energy in most workplaces and educational institutions, women have grown restless. The culmination has and is resulting into an empowering movement for gender equality (#womensrights). And the medical profession is not immune. I wasn’t…
Welcome to the Executive Innovation Show Podcast, brought to you by One Touch Telehealth. During this podcast hear host, Carrie Chitsey, talk with Dr. Sonya M. Sloan, Andy Poole, and Dr. John Noble, Jr. Dr. Sonya M. Sloan, better known as #OrthoDoc, has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the male-dominated field of…
Paying it Forward to Women in Orthopedics Sonya Sloan, M.D. I have learned to appreciate the saying, “If you want to hear God laugh, then make a plan.” When it came to my aspirations to become a doctor and a surgeon, God’s sense of humor was in over drive. No one looked like me in residency. No…
“You cannot have your cake and eat it too.” This age-old adage seems to have been thrust upon women specifically, despite historic changes in women’s rights. Women now live in a time of empowerment in which we can have our cake and eat it too. Better yet, we can have it all. As a female…
Every September, the American Medical Association recognizes women in medicine. My company celebrated the month by hosting a group of 10 female locum tenens physicians in our office for a few days to talk about what it’s like to be a woman in medicine, how the field has changed, and what they anticipate for the future. The…
Empathy…it is one thing to take care of a patient — to diagnosis, prescribe medications, and operate on them — but being the patient is a whole other animal. I know this experience, firsthand. During my residency, I discovered that it was going to be very difficult to have children due to an unforeseen medical…
My mom, a Registered Nurse, is the primary reason I went into medicine. As a young girl from small town USA, I never saw a female physician, let alone an African-American one. As I continue to pursue my interest in medicine, the advice she always told me was, “Respect everyone”. She would say, “Unfortunately, a…
The internet and social media have brought another dimension to medicine that has been under-utilized for various reasons. Blogging, also known as a “web-log”, it is similar to an online journal entry on a specific topic. The fact is, 81% of Americans trust bloggers (1). As medical professionals, we all have unique experiences and outlooks…
Healthcare does not just lie within the corridors of the newly constructed clinic or hospital. In fact, some would say that the practice of medicine is experienced at its’ best when one is challenged with out-of-the-ordinary surroundings, unexpected conditions, and serving an underprivileged population. If you have ever had the opportunity to work on an…
