You don't have to feel called to medicine to be a good doctor

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Recorded05 Jun 2026

Publisherkevinmd.libsyn.com ↗

Handlerec:18739596

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Is medicine a calling or just a job? Christie Mulholland thinks that question is the wrong one, and answering it keeps physicians stuck in burnout. Christie, a palliative care physician and certified physician development coach, returns to the show to introduce a four-quadrant matrix that maps how called you feel to medicine against how satisfied you actually are practicing it. This episode is based on her article "Moving beyond the false binary of medicine as a calling," published on KevinMD. She walks through each quadrant (the calling, the craft, the wound, and the wall) and the specific coaching question that unlocks a next step for physicians living in each one. Christie also talks about how profit-driven systems benefit when "calling" stays the only acceptable answer, why work-life balance keeps getting squeezed out of clinical careers, and when a career pause becomes the move that smaller adjustments cannot replace. Listen for the question that names where you actually are. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended

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