Ben Reinking is a board-certified pediatric cardiologist, medical educator, and certified physician development coach, as well as the owner of The Developing Doctor. He can also be reached on Instagram.
He’s not just any coach—he’s a practicing physician who truly understands the realities of modern medicine. He knows firsthand the internal battles you’re facing, from short-staffing and limited resources to production metrics, constant billing pressures, and the ways your altruism can be taken advantage of. Ben is here to help you reignite the passion that first led you to medicine and provide you with the strategies needed to regain control.
As a pediatric cardiologist, I have spent my career watching children grow. During clinic visits, we track their height, weight, and milestones. We also sit with families and ask what makes their children smile. We might send a toddler to physical therapy for gross motor delay while we also encourage her love of art or music. Years of listening to parents share what their child enjoys has taught me that …
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How competency-based education is driving medical education reform
Perhaps you are standing in the same place I once stood: From the outside, everything looks great, but on the inside, you’re running on fumes.
In my mid-40s, I was on the verge of becoming a full professor. Our dream house was under construction. My retirement plan was on track so I could stop working before 60. Our kids were grown and thriving, launching their own lives. On paper, life was …
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Physician coaching: a path to sustainable medicine
I just spent a weekend doing absolutely nothing. Well, nothing memorable, anyway. The week before, I’d been on home call during an Epic upgrade. If you’ve lived through one of these updates, you know the chaos. In addition to the usual phone calls about echo results, arranging studies, and communicating with referring physicians, I was getting a constant stream of secure chat notifications updating me on the system’s progress. These …
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The power of ordinary joy for physician well-being
It was 7:45 a.m., and I stood frozen in the middle of a sidewalk on campus, barely awake undergrads shuffling past me on their way to morning classes. My daily walk to work cut through a part of the university where the college of medicine sits beside student dorms. It is a path I’d tread as a wide-eyed student, a determined trainee, and now, a weary attending. That morning, I …
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How I redesigned my life as a physician without abandoning medicine
During the session, my partner leading the discussion asked, “What is your purpose?” One of the physician owners confidently replied, “To replace hips and knees.” The facilitator then asked everyone in the room, “How many of you see this as your main purpose?” Two more people raised their hands, both of whom were also physician owners of the practice.
We had been invited to work with a local orthopedic …
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Why purpose—not productivity—defines a physician’s success
The student I worked with quietly said, “Dr. Reinking, I think you multiplied wrong.” My shoulders tensed slightly, and my stomach dropped. We had just spent the better part of an hour working through a feeding and fluid plan with a patient’s family. The child had recently undergone open heart surgery. Feeding intolerance is relatively common after surgery and in children with congenital heart disease. Fluid management is also important …
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The power of emotional intelligence: a personal story and lessons for physicians
It smelled like hay, molasses, and mice. I really hoped there wasn’t a mouse in the oat bin again. It was early fall, and the pasture was eaten to the ground, so the horses received “special oats” with some molasses and corn added so they could head into the winter with extra fat stores. They loved it. So did the mice. I lifted the lid. No mice. Phew. I filled …
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Cultivating joy beyond the clinic: a physician’s tale of rediscovering hobbies
As I led small group sessions during our medical school’s recent orientation, I was struck by the nervous excitement and hope radiating from our new first-year students. Their enthusiasm was palpable yet tinged with apprehension about the challenging journey ahead. Two themes emerged from our discussions. The first was a desire to dive in and tackle challenges ahead. As one student stated, “Enough talking, let’s start doing.” The second was …
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The practice of delayed gratification in medical training: a double-edged sword
