Moral Injury and Hidden Squeezes with Dr. Gita Balakumar

When a healthcare system demands absolute perfection but offers zero grace when you are hurting, clinicians experience something far deeper than simple burnout. They experience moral injury. In this episode of The Hidden Load, Dr. Santina Wheat sits down with Dr. Gita Balakumar, a pediatrician with 20 years of clinical experience and the founder of Dragonfly Coaching MD, to discuss what happens when a dedicated clinician hits the institutional wall.Dr. Balakumar shares a striking personal account of being forced to maintain a full productivity schedule on a scooter and crutches following an Achilles rupture, exposing the cold reality of how corporate "family" language collapses when it runs into a transactional contract. They also unpack an unyielding hidden load that is rarely discussed in medical education: the crushing invisible labor of a mid-career physician navigating the decline of an aging parent while holding a peak clinical workload.Resources:Dr. Gita Balakumar’s Website: dragonflycoachingmd.com — Connect with Dr. Balakumar to learn more about her physician development coaching programs.Looking to work 1:1?: Book Your Call with Dr. Wheat — Ready to disrupt your overworking patterns? Let’s spend 15 minutes checking your operational capacity.Free Download: Career Alignment WorkbookDr. Santina Wheat’s Website: santinawheat.comReflective CME Opportunity: Listen to this episode and claim your FREE Reflective CME/CE credit via the Learn at Pinnacle App.👉 Claim Your CME Credit Here