Dr. Margaret Meyer is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who has been a top achiever throughout her career. She completed a prestigious sports medicine fellowship and has worked on the development of an MRI classification algorithm for tibial plateau fractures. She is also a triathlete who enjoys multiple outdoor sports and global travel–her favorite place to go is French Polynesia, and she hopes to make it to Europe next year.
Before becoming a Surgicalist, though, she admits she often felt too burned out to have this type of full life outside of work.
“When I was with my old multi-specialty group practice in Kailua-Kona, I didn’t have any time for my personal life,” says Dr. Meyer. “In the beginning, it was fun. We had three partners, I was seeing 30 patients a day and taking call a few days a month. But then, when one of the doctors left and we had a vacancy for a long time; and I ended up taking close to 14 days of call per month. I became a little disheartened by medical practice, and I was tired.”
To gain a little more balance, Dr. Meyer first started working remotely in managed care for an analytics company–but she quickly realized she could continue this and be helpful to her medical colleagues. She did miss clinical work and regular interactions with them. Remembering a part-time colleague at her old practice who only took call, she began looking for similar work. But at first, all she found were locums positions, which weren’t reliable or consistent enough, and wouldn’t accommodate her travel to the mainland from her home in Hawaii.
Then one day, while Googling orthopedic surgeon jobs, she found the Synergy Health Partners website, and learned about the Surgicalist Model.
Building Successful Practices and a Healthy Personal Lifestyle
As a Surgicalist, Dr. Meyer provides coverage for doctors at an orthopedic practice. As she is only focused on taking call, Dr. Meyer enjoys being able to concentrate on this area of practice, getting to know the team she works with, planning detailed hand-offs, and helping the orthopedic group’s doctors provide better patient care. She also likes the collaborative nature of working on a Surgicalist team, which includes Nurse Practitioners and other Advanced Practice Clinicians taking dedicated shifts with her.
Not only does the practice benefit from her extensive clinical knowledge, she gets to fully enjoy her own time off.
“I like being the reason community doctors don’t have to leave their practice unexpectedly to deal with a fracture at the hospital,” says Dr. Meyer. “Thanks to the Surgicalist model, they have coverage, and both of us benefit from fewer administrative burdens as we’re trying to figure out where to slot patients in and when. When the doctors in the practice are off, they are truly off, because we as the Surgicalists are taking call and trauma cases. It also gives the practice doctors the opportunity to expand their skills and do some elective trauma on their own time. And the best part is, when I am off, I am truly off, too.”
Since becoming a Surgicalist, Dr. Meyer has had time for travel and she can now also devote more time to her outdoor hobbies. These include SCUBA diving, stand-up paddleboarding, outrigger canoeing, boating, mountain biking, skiing, golfing, cycling, and photography. Additionally, the better work-life boundaries allowed her the time to develop deeper relationships–she began as a Surgicalist in May 2019, and met her now-husband Joe in August 2020.
When asked what tips she has for doctors considering a career as a Surgicalist, Dr. Meyer says, “Be a team player with the group you’re in, trust your colleagues, and keep your mind open to new ideas, new practice models, and new ways of practicing medicine, in general.” She also notes that an advantage of working as a Surgicalist with Synergy is the ability to move locations. If you need a change, Synergy supports hospital and practice locations in rural and metropolitan locations all over the U.S. And regardless of where she is assigned, as part of a Surgicalist program she gains peace of mind knowing that there is a team of supportive, qualified colleagues backing her up on every shift.
“Finally, Dr. Meyer says, “As a Surgicalist, I work just as hard–I just work differently. I now have different perspectives on office and clinical work that really lessen my stress and anxiety levels. My home time and work time are separate. And now, I can have real fulfillment in both.”
