Member Spotlight

Q&A with Eric Johnson, DO, DFAPA
APA Representative, IPPS Executive Council Member

Name
Eric Johnson, DO, DFAPA

Where you work: UnityPoint St. Luke’s Hospital - Cedar Rapids

Typical day in your shoes: I am part of a psychiatric hospitalist team, so first thing in the morning involves reviewing overnight admissions and assigning work to myself and team members. Next it’s commitment hearings, multidisciplinary staffing, and patient care rounds. Afternoons are usually for documentation, chart reviews, phone calls to patient family members, an occasional outpatient appointment, afternoon admissions and consultations, and administrative tasks or meetings. I appreciate the scheduling flexibility and overall quality of life offered by inpatient/hospitalist psychiatry.

What's your favorite part of being a psychiatrist? Being part of, and learning from, a multidisciplinary team that works to educate and treat persons with mental illness, each of us with varying ways of approaching a patient’s needs.

What's the best advice you've ever heard? Results can be good, fast, or cheap. Pick two!

Favorite vacation experience/destination: Every trip I take feels like my favorite. My wife and I have gone to several National Parks in the last few years which were really spectacular: Shenandoah, New River Gorge, Joshua Tree, Death Valley.

If you could sit next to anyone on a plane, who would you choose? An empty seat would be great. Or my wife who is more sociable than I am and will buffer me from a neighbor’s small talk. Or Elon Musk.

Favorite TV show: Recently it has been Yellowstone or Ted Lasso. All-time? Probably ER.

Favorite parts of the spring season: Baseball, more hours of sunlight, more comfortable weather for getting outside and increasing my physical activity, seeing the plants green up and flowers blooming