Family and Sports Medicine Physician Shares Thoughts on Annual Conference

Sara Walker, MD, MS, FAAFP

CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT

The Spotlight series highlights attendees of the Family Medicine Experience 2024 (FMX 2024), hosted by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Name

Sara Walker, MD, MS, FAAFP

Title

Owner/Physician, The PEAAC

Institution

The Performing, Endurance, and Artistic Athlete Clinic, PLLC (The PEAAC) in Salt Lake City, UT

Hometown

Brighton, MI

Tell us about yourself.

I’m a board-certified family and sports medicine physician who works with individuals with eating disorders. I created my clinic to holistically treat the performing artist-athlete as well as those who have a complicated relationship with food. I also volunteer with US Figure Skating and USA Gymnastics to provide medical event coverage nationally and internationally.

Can you please discuss some key take home points from your presentation at the FMX conference?

Eating disorders are not taught/recognized enough by the greater medical community. I consider them to be a maladaptive coping mechanism for managing underlying trauma, in a similar manner to other addictions. Without doing the work to heal the underlying trauma and/or learn to process undesired emotions, true recovery is unlikely.

Do you have any suggestions for improving the integration between family medicine and psychiatry to enhance patient care?

An in-depth understanding of mental health disorders and treatment is necessary for primary care. I am excited by the increasing prevalence of mental health integration into primary care clinics, as it helps both specialties learn more about the other.

What do you believe to be some factors that prevent patients from seeking help at times from a psychiatrist? Any suggestions for improvement?

Certainly stigma has been a large barrier, although I have seen some improvement after notable public figures such as Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles shared/confronted their mental health struggles. Insurance coverage has also been a challenge. But I think the greatest barrier is ease of access to a psychiatrist, given the great shortage of psychiatrists in many areas of the country. This is also where I find training family medicine physicians to be more comfortable with mental health diagnosis/treatment can help to bridge that gap.

How do you deal with patient compliance and managing adverse effects from various psychiatric medications?

We often talk about their concerns/fears around a medication and discuss what our shared goals for the medication are. I also spend a lot of time talking with patients about how they plan to integrate taking a pill into their existing daily routines, to make it easier to remember to take.

What advice about patient care would you like to share with your medical colleagues in psychiatry?

Everyone has their own struggles/challenges/trauma history. My goal is to provide treatment in ways that are ego-syntonic and that are manageable/sustainable. Like Moneyball suggests, I aim for base hits rather than home runs.

Any words of wisdom or favorite quotes?

From Dorothy Gilman’s The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax when the protagonist was trying to climb down a cliff: “he had to go up or she had to go down, and since either course could bring about her violent demise she might as well try going down.”

Dr Khan, the interviewer in this series, is a medical graduate based in Chicago. She has always had a keen interest in behavioral health and mind-body wellness. Over the years, she has served as a radio show host and producer to promote mental health and wellbeing.