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Brody Eaton, DO, spoke to the GME Department at Baptist North Mississippi about a critical subject in the medical field, particularly for resident physicians – financial literacy. 

During the presentation on November 7, Dr. Eaton coached the group in learning how to evaluate their own financial realities, most efficiently pay off student loans, as well as suggested steps they can take now and in the near future to set themselves up for long-term financial success.  

With physician burnout considered as a widespread issue, Dr. Eaton shined a light on the financial aspects that influence clinicians’ overall wellbeing. 

“Physician burnout is such a huge problem these days,” Eaton said. “What we’ve found is that if your financial house is in order, and you have the ability to step away from work, that does more for burnout than anything else. Burned out physicians result in worse patient care and worse outcomes for the patient, so burnout is not good for anybody. If we can learn how to better keep our financial affairs in order, you’re going to have more flexibility to practice medicine because you want to and not because you have to.”  

Dr. Eaton is a family medicine physician with ARCare, the largest federally qualified health center in Arkansas that also operates clinics in Mississippi and Kentucky. He was born and raised in northeast Arkansas, completed his undergraduate degree at Arkansas State University before joining the first class of medical students at William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine. After earning his medical degree, he moved back to his home state for residency training in Jonesboro, Arkansas, which he completed in 2017. He has worked for ARCare ever since and is focused on the preventative aspect of community care.