Early mornings a change
Thomas Lavie, M.D., medical director of the Psychiatric Clinic, said Musick’s music career gave her a sensibility perfect for psychiatry.
“She is unique, kind, loving, and it’s filtered through her career of creativity,” he said. “We’re very lucky. Even if we searched for a year, people like her don’t grow on trees. She has a bend for psychiatry and life experience in the arts.
There’s a special mix she brings.”
Musick even draws on her life experience as a wife and mother to three
daughters.
“She’s a mother figure to the staff, especially the young residents. She has been a
central figure in pulling together the clinic,” Lavie said. “She was out for a nursing meeting recently, and I don’t like when she’s gone. The feeling is different. She makes the clinic more like a family.”
But Musick is quick to point out that are some key differences in her careers.
“The biggest change was adjusting to the early mornings,” she said. “Nothing starts before 10 in the music industry. I had gotten up early for years
because I had children, but I didn’t necessarily have to be functioning.”
The most crucial difference is the potential for mistakes.
“If I made a mistake in the studio, I could raise my hand, admit to it and do it
again. Mistakes are different in medicine. While mistakes aren’t good at either place, they can be life-threatening here,” Musick said.
Musick said she doesn’t anticipate another drastic career change in her life, and her only regret is
that she didn’t make the change sooner.
“Even though I’m starting a career at an age when many people are winding down, I am still
interested in advancing my career. I want to do as much as I can with the time
I have to work. I don’t want to lay back and think I’m settled,” she said. “I enjoy nursing so much, and I like to think I can do it for a long time. A lot
of my friends are looking at retirement, and I’m just gearing up.”
