"Recently, I realized that something needed to change in my family life. With three busy daughters at three different schools who participate in multiple activities along with my full-time job as an anesthesiologist, my life depended on accurate and concise communication. However, this was the third time in a week that a ball had been dropped between my husband and me.

This time it resulted in my middle daughter, Laini, being left at practice, and the coach calling to figure out who was picking up this last straggler. It was enough to make me realize that something had to change.

The previous day, I had run a code in the GI suite at the hospital where I work. Everything had gone smoothly with team members, all understanding each other perfectly. If I could communicate effectively with a team of five health care members, why couldn’t I use these strategies to communicate with my own husband more effectively?"

Maria Michaelis is a pediatric anesthesiologist.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Closed-loop communications: Good for codes and for marriage." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/03/closed-loop-communications-good-for-codes-and-for-marriage.html)