Department of
Medical Education

Sarah Hadique, MD

A photo of Sarah Hadique.
Sarah Hadique, MD
Position
Professor, Fellowship Program Director, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Medicine
Phone
304-293-4661

Name: Sarah Hadique, MD 

Board Certification: ABIM-Internal Medicine, ABIM-Pulmonary Disease, ABIM-Critical Care Medicine

Medical School: Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan

Residency: West Virginia University, School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV

Fellowship: Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine 

Faculty Rank: Associate Professor

Special Clinical/Research Interests: Medical Education, Bedside teaching, Intensive Care Unit, Lung Cancer

Is there a particular population of students (e.g., ethnicity, spiritual, sexual orientation) that you would particularly like to advice?

I have no preference.

What does a typical day in the life of a PCCM include?

I am an early riser. I am generally up by 6 am. I drop my kids (4 & 9) off at school and am at work by 8 am. My weeks are all different. I do a week of MICU, a week of Pulmonary Consults, a week of Pulmonary and subspecialty clinics with fellows, sometime go to LTACH, help NPs in the clinic, take outside referral calls, & often provide back up for outpatient procedures like advance bronchoscopies. I am a clinical educator and a Fellowship Program Director so a lot of my time is spent with students, residents & fellows. I have an interest in doing QI projects and clinical research so I end up spending some time writing abstracts, book chapters, and manuscripts.  I usually get home by 6 PM covering busy MICU then it can be later.

What is the biggest challenge of being a PCCM staff?

The most challenging and rewarding aspects of pulmonary and critical care medicine is the diversity of pathology & privilege of taking care of critically sick patients.

All critical care doctors see many deaths almost daily and it can be physically and emotionally exhausting. However, it is an absolute honor to help a patient and the family through one of the toughest time of their lives. Our strength lies in our teamwork. Having an outstanding team of bedside nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, dieticians, students, house staff, and fellows makes it all truly valuable.  We thrive on these daily interactions and relationships.

How do you foresee PCCM changing over the next 20 years?

Predicting the future is always complex and rather subjective. With larger numbers of patients passing through our ICUs, the risk is that the numbers of patients with post-intensive care sequelae will also increase. It seems that technology will continue to enhance and alter the structure and practice of intensive care. Patient-centered, personalized care will be the model of pulmonary and critical care. Patients will all be treated as individuals and therapies prescribed and administered according to their underlying molecular and cellular characteristics. Syndromic “labels” such as sepsis and ARDS will no longer be used. Diagnosis will be facilitated by new panels of biomarkers, and it will be possible to identify the presence of infection and the infecting microorganism almost instantaneously without the need to wait for culture growth. Virtual consultation and telemedicine will be widely used. Robots will be responsible for much of the routine administration, delivery of food, linen, and other essential basics.  These advances are exciting for the future of medicine and we must embrace them and learn how to work with them to improve patient care. It is up to today’s doctors to shape the pulmonary & critical care medicine of tomorrow.

What advice would you give a student who is considering a residency in IM and fellowship in PCCM?

Any specialty can fit into a lifestyle. It is a matter of developing habits of efficiency so that you work smarter, not longer. Carefully select the field or area you think you will enjoy working in most, and you will be rewarded, regardless of the reimbursement.

Three adjectives to describe the typical pulmonary and critical care specialist: Leader. Determined. Communicator.  Communication skills are of utmost importance for ICU docs, but really for all physicians.

Here are some work-life balance pearls:

  • While at work, turn off the Facebook, twitter, snap chat, email reminder etc. on the phone. It will change your life.
  • Put down the remote and pick up a book.
  • Listen to podcasts.
  • Take two-week vacations every year. It is well worth the time away.
  • Meditate for 10 min per day.

Books every medical student interested in Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine should be reading:

  • When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi, MD
  • Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity, by Ronald Epstein, MD
  • Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis. It is a random pick but a good read that has nothing to do with medicine

The online resource students interested in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine should follow:

  • The Trainee Resource Hub on the American College of Chest Physicians website
  • Pneumotox, the drug-induced respiratory diseases website
  • EMCrit, a blog about emergency medicine and critical care

Podcast:

  • Internet book of Critical Care
  • Overheard at National Geographic is good too, but not specific to medicine
  • ATS (Out of the Blue) and CHEST but these are mostly journal clubs