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Why this trauma surgeon left the OR to become a patient advocate
Published about 2 months ago • 4 min read
When Healthcare Professionals Become Patients: What We Learn on the Other Side
This week's insights from our conversation with Dr. Angie Ingraham, trauma surgeon turned patient advocate
Hello Reader,
I've been thinking about something Dr. Angie Ingraham shared with me that is the reality for how healthcare is being delivered in the US. Picture this: a trauma surgeon and ICU physician, someone who's navigated complex medical emergencies for years, finds herself needing to stop everything else she is doing in order to get her father's pre-surgical MRI approved.
And she wasn't alone in that radiology waiting room. She watched the same scene play out over and over - families told their scans were canceled due to prior authorization issues. The difference? She had connections and knew how to fight the system. Most families don't.
This moment sparked Angie's transition from surgeon to patient advocate, and it's opened up my eyes to realize how important patient advocacy really means is in healthcare. That most of us don't have it, and we ALL need an advocate on our side.
What I Learned About the Gaps We Don't See
The system breaks down in the spaces between. While we focus on delivering excellent clinical care within our walls, patients are falling through cracks during transitions - from hospital to rehab, rehab to home, insurance approval to actual care delivery. Angie now follows clients across this entire continuum, and what she's finding is sobering.
Even healthcare families struggle. Despite having medical knowledge, financial resources, and professional connections, Angie's family faced canceled procedures, lost belongings during transfers, and communication breakdowns that delayed critical care. If we struggle, imagine what it's like for families without our insider knowledge.
We have blind spots we can't see from the inside. Angie described it perfectly: "We don't see our own blind spots." When you're managing fifteen patients and three admissions, you're not seeing the 2 AM insurance denial letter or the discharge planning that falls apart over the weekend.
The Leadership Message That Stopped Me
Here's what hit me hardest from our conversation: true leadership in healthcare isn't just about being the best clinician or advocate for your patients. It's about building systems around the patient that work even when you're not there.
Angie shared a story about advocating for a client with activated powers of attorney but no one had actually discussed goals of care. The system assumed these crucial conversations had happened. They hadn't.
How often do we assume someone else is handling the thing that isn't getting handled?
I keep thinking about the ripple effects. When we get interrupted for administrative emergencies (like Angie's text to her med school friend about the MRI authorization), we provide inferior care to our current patients. Everyone feels it - the rushed interactions, the sense of being just a number.
What This Means for Us
Start asking different questions. Instead of "Did we discharge planning?" ask "Does this family actually understand what happens next?" Instead of "Did someone talk to them about goals of care?" ask "What did they hear, and what questions do they still have?"
Recognize when to slow down. I know - easier said than done when you're behind on notes and have five more patients to see. But sometimes the extra two minutes explaining what's happening prevents the three-hour crisis later.
Build bridges, not walls. If you're in a leadership position, reach out to patient advocates in your area. They want to partner with you to improve care. They're seeing the gaps you can't see from inside the system.
A Question Worth Sitting With
Angie asked something that's stayed with me: "If this was your mom or dad, what would you want?"
Not just clinically - we already ask that. But systemically. What would you want the communication to look like? How would you want transitions handled? What would you need to feel heard and supported?
The beautiful thing about patient advocacy isn't that it replaces what we do - it's that it illuminates what we're missing and helps us do our real work better.
Your turn: Think about your last challenging patient interaction. Was it really about the medicine, or was it about something falling through the cracks in the system around them?
Announcing our next medTHRIVE Book Rounds book club! Sunday October 19, 2025 8-9pm EST reading Radical Candor by Kim Scott. It's FREE! Sign up and invite friends in healthcare! That's physicians, NPs, PAs, pharmacists, dieticians, PTs, OTs, RTs, executives, SWs: we all have an important role to play in leading, providing feedback, and communicating with radical candor.
medTHRIVE Book Rounds October 2025
The Practice: Celebrating Wins
We get more of what we focus on. The practice of gratitude and celebrating the goodness of life is the first step in changing our brains, mindsets, and circumstances for the better.
Loving the warm weather, pumpkin spice flavors, and settling into the September routine! Meeting new people with national committee work means getting to use our brains for good!
Stay mindful and keep leading, Lillian Founder & CEO
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By Transforming Healthcare Coaching® Lillian Liang Emlet, MD MS CHSE CPC ELI-MP, Founder & CEO
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