Q&A with Jennifer Mirrielees, MD, MS (she/her), emergency medicine administration fellow and clinical instructor
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Educational background: I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin and my Masters of Science in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology here at UW-Madison, where I also attended medical school. I recently graduated from the three-year emergency medicine residency here with the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics.
What is your area of clinical interest, and how did you get into it? I’m interested in work that improves patients’ experiences when they need to visit the emergency department (ED), as well as improving efficiencies in how physicians care for patients to offload stress on other care team members, including nurses and technicians. Some of my current work includes improving pain management for fracture care, increasing accessibility of discharge information for patients who do not speak English as their primary language, and supporting the safety of patients and care team members in the emergency department.
I find that my own experiences navigating emergency care as a patient have helped me empathize with patients I see every day, and to understand how these experiences can shape not just how a patient interacts with healthcare in the future, but also their peace of mind. I want to take the best of my own patient experiences and help support changes that help everyone – patients and team members alike – feel the best they can after every ED encounter. I’ve had great support from within the UW Hospitals and Clinics family for this work, including the BerbeeWalsh Emergency Department, and that speaks volumes about the potential for positive change to the patient experience, to complement the high quality medical care that we provide every day.
How would you describe your work to a 5-year-old? I help people get better and feel better. It’s a big job, and one of the ways that you can be a hero when you grow up some day!
What attracted you to UW–Madison? I came to Madison for graduate school 15 years ago and ended up wanting to transition to a career where I could help people every day. Madison is also beautiful, although the winters were a whole new adventure coming from Texas!
What is your favorite thing to do in Madison? My favorite thing is spending time with my family in and around the Waunakee area. I love UW–Madison’s Lakeshore Path; it’s a great way to enjoy a walk and take in the simpler things in life. I also enjoy the restaurant/food scene that continues to thrive and flourish in Madison.
What’s one thing you hope trainees will learn from you and your work? There is always a way to do something better, and more importantly, a way that the hospital and healthcare system can support you to do the great work you are doing. When a shift feels tough and overwhelming, you can always ask yourself: what about the system could be better to make patient care a better experience for everyone? And at UW, you are in an environment that welcomes change and innovation, so if you are up for it, go ahead and take a swing at it.
Do you feel your work relates to the Wisconsin Idea — that our efforts should influence people’s health and well-being beyond the care they receive in our emergency departments)? Absolutely! The ED is only a stop-over in the lives of our patients. We are blessed with our in-house social workers expertly support patients and connect them with resources. Emergency physicians want everyone to leave the ED as well as possible, in every way possible. Sometimes that work just begins with us and continues far beyond our time together, including referrals for everything from medical specialist care to community resources to help people achieve optimal health and wellness.
First job: Waitress as a teenager! In hindsight, it was great preparation for working in the ED as it required excellent team communication and multitasking, and everyone who walks in the door was different and had different needs. In both jobs, you rely on your co-workers to help you get through tough situations, solve problems, and keep going through long hours.
Most unusual job: Working in the emergency department! In the same shift I might bring someone back from a cardiac arrest, help someone get admitted to a behavioral health unit, treat a wide variety of injuries, and deliver tough news to patients and families. No other job I’ve had will demand that me and all of my colleagues respond on a dime to reports of multi-vehicle car accidents, or patients whose hearts literally stop while they are at home, or a notification that you are about to need to drop everything to stabilize and get someone to emergency surgery. It’s a privilege to take care of individuals in need and to save lives in the process.
What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of medicine? Gardening! There’s nothing like biting into the best tomato of your life that you grew from seed in your basement, then re-homed into the earth. Slow nurturing work is a great complement to the fast-paced demands of the emergency department.
If you could have dinner with one person (passed, alive or fictional), who and at where would you make reservations? Eva Perón. She had an incredibly tough childhood, yet maneuvered her life to marry a world leader and carried all of her grief into compassion that touched the lives of many people. I think that popular media often skews toward the less flattering parts of her life and the lives of many other famous women as well. Eva wanted to right enormous social wrongs, imperfectly, but lived out her love for the people who needed her the most.