March 13, 2023
Member Profile:
Kristin Conn, MD
Works at: Washington Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente Washington.
How long in practice: 23 years.
Specialty: Family medicine.
Why WSMA: The WSMA is responsive to the concerns of clinicians in Washington, and one of my concerns is health equity. I was excited to have the opportunity to join WSMA's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee last year. The committee reviews existing and proposed policies, identifying when equity issues are present and notifying the policy sponsors or WSMA staff. The insights and perspectives of committee members contribute to thoughtful discussions about unintended consequences of policy as well as opportunities to address inequities. WSMA staff, leadership, and those of us on the committee are committed to ensuring that policy empowers and equips doctors to provide the best care to all people across a wide range of individual and community attributes, but most especially where additional barriers exist.
Proud moment in medicine: Medical care is a team effort, and my proudest moments are team successes. Several years ago, our large primary care clinic successfully integrated mental health and substance use disorder screening into our standard work, taking another step toward delivering whole-person care. It's hard to appreciate what a big adaptive change that was. Ten years on, we know what a difference it's made to the lives of so many of our patients. I hope as social health screening gains traction, we'll be thinking about that in the same way in years to come.
Top concern in health care: I'm concerned about the continued impacts of the pandemic on doctors and medical practices-specifically, physicians leaving medicine or cutting back at a time when their skills and knowledge are solid. Medicine is reckoning with disparities and variation in outcomes and health by place, race, and other factors. There is an opportunity to work collectively and align incentives, policies, and processes. The time to act to advance health equity is now. Good work is happening in Washington but there are so many headwinds to push through.
If I weren't a doctor, I'd be: Working with a community-based organization to improve conditions, well-being, and a better future for children and families. There is so much need and so much opportunity. For the sake of balance, I'd also consider making specialty ice cream. Though it's been decades, I loved my college jobs in ice cream shops. Ice cream really does make people happy.
Best advice I've received: From my co-chief resident many years ago: "Don't sweat it alone." I tend to be an internal processor, which I recently heard in a presentation can be more common for people from cultures that are focused on the collective instead of the individual. If there's something that's difficult that I'm working through, it's helpful to get it out in the open and invite input and guidance from others. The wisdom of the group is much more than that of any one individual.
Recommended reading: We had two copies of "Washington Black" by Esi Edugyan when my teenage son was reading it, so I read it too. What an incredible story about the life of an 11-year-old boy, a slave on a Barbados sugar plantation. I'm finishing up Michelle Zauner's beautiful memoir, "Crying in H Mart," which is about the loss of her mother and growing up as a Korean American in Oregon.
This article was featured in the March/April 2023 issue of WSMA Reports, WSMA's print magazine.