The Color of Atmosphere For media inquiries and

author events contact:

One Doctor’s Journey In and Jenna Dimmick
Out of Medicine jenna@ksepartners.com
Maggie Kozel, MD 802.229.4900 ext.120
$17.95 US • Paperback Original
ISBN 9781603582971
6 x 9 • 256 pages
Pub Date: March 2011

A supervising doctor had taught us a “trick” in assessing cortical function: Pretend to hold up a string and ask the patient
what color it is. The patient should of course respond that there is no string there.
After some time, Mr. Williams gave us his considered answer:
“It’s the cullah of atmosphere.”
Of all the pearls that Mr. Williams offered us that day, this was the one I would carry with me throughout my career as a
pediatrician. It was the color of atmosphere. Except, of course, for the fact that there was no string. Doctors, like anyone,
can get so comfortable with a practice that they can neglect to question it, and we can all be misled as a result.

America’s health care system routinely fails patients. Now a devoted pediatrician tells the story of how it can also fail doctors.
Dr. Maggie Kozel has never shied away from a challenge. The daughter of alcoholic parents, Kozel set her sights on becoming a
doctor while she was still in high school, a goal that took her first to Georgetown University School of Medicine—where she fell
in love with both medical science and the man she would marry—and then overseas, as a pediatrician-in-training for the Navy.
Kozel’s return to the United States and entry into private practice was marked by culture shock: from confronting HMOs and
managed care, to dealing with the litigation anxiety that characterizes the life of an American doctor.
The Color of Atmosphere follows Kozel as a young woman setting off on a seventeen-year professional journey, as she learns to
negotiate the extraordinary pressures of attending an elite medical school, working long hours, being on call, and treating other
people’s children while she raises her own.
Then, after nearly two decades in the medical field at what should have been the height of her career, Kozel walks away. With
warmth, humor, and, above all, honesty, The Color of Atmosphere is a page-turner destined to appeal to those who work in the
medical profession, those considering it, and those who simply love a captivating read about the kind of choices we all face
during the course of a career.
The Color of Atmosphere is both an indictment of health care in America from a doctor who spent decades in the trenches and a
deeply personal story of one woman’s unpredictable journey to find her life’s meaning through service to others.

Dr. Maggie Kozel, MD, FAAP, graduated from Georgetown University School of Medi-
cine in 1980 and went on to specialize in pediatrics, completing her residency at the Bethesda
Naval Hospital. Kozel left practice after seventeen years and is currently teaching high school
chemistry in the Providence area. She lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island, with her husband
and daughters.

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 Advance Praise for Color of Atmosphere

“ A rare, intimate portrayal of one pediatrician’s journey to become a doctor and her heart-wrenching
decision years later to eventually leave medicine. Told with candor and wit, Maggie Kozel’s memoir ”
is a powerful reminder of the complex forces that shape medical practice today.
—Eliza Lo Chin, MD, MPH, president, American Medical Women’s Association, and editor, This
Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine

“ Dr. Kozel captures perfectly the malaise that has struck American medicine in general and primary
care in particular. The chronicle of this intelligent and committed physician—who is frustrated at
every turn as she tries to find satisfaction in a profession to which she had expected to dedicate her
”
life—is a powerful indictment of our current system of medical care. We should have done better
by her.
—Beach Conger, MD, physician and author, Bag Balm and Duct Tape: Tales of a Vermont Doctor

Fact Sheet on Physician Job Dissatisfaction

• 59% of primary care physicians surveyed report they are dissatisfied with their practice, and less than 50% of
physicians under the age of 60 would choose a career in medicine today.1
• 80% of doctors surveyed say they make clinical decisions based on what insurance will pay for, not necessarily
what is best for the patient. 2
• One in six primary care doctors leaves practice mid-career. More than 20% cite long hours and administrative
hassles as reasons. 3
• One in 16 surgeons had thought about suicide within the past year.4
• The suicide rate among all physicians is twice as high as the general population.5
• Depression among physicians in training occurs among 25% of residents.6
• 60% of physicians report high levels of burnout,7 defined as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization (treating
patients as objects), and a low sense of accomplishment.8
• 50% of all primary care doctors surveyed said they would leave medicine if they had an alternative, with managed
care models and red tape generated from insurance companies as major reasons for dissatisfaction.9
• A national physician workforce shortage is predicted by 2020. 10

1
Workforce Study Guides surveys from the MA Medical Society (2003-2010)
2
2010 survey by Sermo and Athena Health
3
American College of Physicians and American Board of Internal Medicine study
4
Mayo Clinic 2011 study
5
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
6
Archives of General Psychiatry 2010 study
7
APHA Medical Care Journal abstract on Physician Burnout
8
2008 Journal of American Medical Association
9
2008 Physician’s Foundation Survey
10
Health Affairs Journal 2002

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