Physicians Office Resource Volume 12 Issue 2 | Page 4

2 WE NEED TO EMBRACE OUR FAILURES By Sasha K. Shillcutt, MD, MS, FASE - Associate Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). When doing scientific research, we expect to fail. In fact, we write the likelihood of negative findings into our protocols and plans. We expect things to not always work as we think they might, and we accept that we may not prove what we set out to prove. In the scientific community, we depend on complete transparency when we fail. We depend on it to advance science, to help people, and to find the best treatments and drug therapies. We publish our failures, and we learn from them. We don’t get upset when we fail in research. We see it as equally important to figure out what doesn’t work as 4 what does. We reevaluate and move forward. Wouldn’t it be nice if failure in life was similar? We have this unrealistic expectation that we won’t fail. We think that we shouldn’t ever fail, so we stay in our comfort zone where we know we won’t. And when we are #braveenough to try something new, difficult, or risky, and we happen to fail, we stop. We look around us … did anyone see us fail? We feel ashamed, and we regret trying.  We beat ourselves up. It’s bananas. Truly. Bananas. www.PhysiciansOfficeResource.com