Simone Biles does not walk into a gym hoping gravity will be polite. She prepares, studies, adjusts, asks for support, protects her mind, and knows when a pause is not weakness but wisdom. That same mindset belongs in health care. Whether you are a patient managing appointments, a caregiver helping a loved one, a nurse on a busy floor, a physician facing burnout, or a health leader trying to build safer systems, the lesson is the same: excellence is not about doing everything alone. It is about knowing your body, knowing your team, and knowing when to speak up.
To “be the Simone Biles of health care” does not mean flipping over an exam table, although the waiting room magazines might tempt you. It means approaching health care with the confidence of an elite performer and the humility of someone who understands that safety, mental health, preparation, and teamwork matter. Biles changed the way many people talk about pressure, recovery, and courage. Health care needs that same honest, high-performance energy.
What Simone Biles teaches us about health care excellence
Simone Biles is widely recognized as one of the greatest gymnasts in history, not simply because she wins, but because she has shown what sustainable greatness looks like. At the Tokyo Olympics, she stepped back from events to focus on her mental health. At Paris 2024, she returned with extraordinary strength, adding team, all-around, and vault gold medals plus a floor silver to her Olympic legacy. The public saw something bigger than medals: a champion who understood that performance without well-being is a shaky landing.
That lesson transfers beautifully to health care. Patients often feel pressured to be “easy,” quiet, agreeable, or grateful for whatever five-minute explanation they receive. Clinicians may feel pressured to push through exhaustion, administrative overload, and emotional strain. Caregivers may try to be superheroes while secretly running on coffee fumes and calendar alerts. But in health care, as in gymnastics, ignoring warning signs can lead to harm. The best outcomes come from awareness, preparation, communication, and timely support.
The first move: Own your health story
Every elite athlete knows their stats. They know where they are strong, where they are vulnerable, and what needs attention before competition day. Patients can do the same by becoming active participants in their care. That starts with understanding your health history, medications, allergies, symptoms, family risks, and goals.
Health literacy matters because medical information can be confusing even for highly educated people. The problem is not that patients are “bad at health.” The problem is often that health systems communicate in ways that sound like a textbook fell down the stairs. Clear information helps people make better decisions, ask better questions, and follow care plans with more confidence.
Build your personal health playbook
Create a simple health file that includes your current medications, supplements, allergies, major diagnoses, surgeries, test results, vaccine records, insurance information, emergency contacts, and preferred pharmacy. Keep it updated. Bring it to appointments or store it securely on your phone. This is not over-preparing; it is the health care version of chalking your hands before the vault.
Also track symptoms in plain language. Instead of saying, “I feel weird,” write down when symptoms started, how often they happen, what makes them better or worse, and how they affect daily life. A doctor can work with “sharp pain after meals for two weeks” more effectively than “my stomach has been auditioning for a drama series.”
Ask questions like your health depends on itbecause it does
Great health care communication is not a luxury. It is a safety tool. AHRQ has long promoted the idea that questions help patients understand care, reduce confusion, and participate in safer decisions. Before each appointment, write down your top three concerns. Put the most important one first. Medical visits can move quickly, and the “one more thing” at the end is often the thing that should have opened the conversation.
Useful questions include: What do you think is causing this? What are my treatment options? What are the benefits and risks? What happens if I wait? Are there side effects? When should I expect results? What symptoms mean I should seek urgent care? Is there anything I should stop, start, or change?
Use the teach-back technique
At the end of a visit, repeat the plan in your own words: “So I should take this medication once in the morning, schedule the lab test this week, and call if the fever returns. Is that right?” This is not childish. It is smart. In gymnastics, athletes review routines. In health care, patients should review instructions. Nobody gets bonus points for pretending to understand a medication label that looks like it was written by a sleepy robot.
Know when to pause, push, or pivot
One of the most powerful lessons from Simone Biles is that stopping can be a strategic decision. In health care, pausing may mean asking for more information before surgery, requesting time to think about a major treatment, or getting a second opinion. MedlinePlus notes that a second opinion can help confirm a diagnosis or reveal other treatment options, especially when decisions are serious or uncertain.
Patients sometimes worry that asking for a second opinion will offend their doctor. A good clinician should welcome informed decision-making. You are not betraying anyone by wanting clarity. You are protecting your future self. If the decision involves cancer treatment, major surgery, a rare condition, or long-term medication, another expert review may bring peace of mind or a better path forward.
Make prevention your warm-up routine
Champions do not wait until they are injured to stretch. In health care, preventive care is the warm-up routine that helps catch problems earlier or reduce risk. Depending on age, sex, health history, and insurance coverage, preventive services may include blood pressure checks, cholesterol screening, diabetes screening, vaccinations, cancer screenings, depression screening, and counseling for certain health risks.
Many Marketplace health plans cover certain preventive services at no cost when they are provided by an in-network clinician, though coverage details can vary. That means it is worth checking your plan, scheduling recommended screenings, and asking your primary care provider what preventive care fits your situation. Prevention is rarely glamorous. Nobody throws confetti when you get your blood pressure checked. But your future heart may quietly applaud.
Protect mental health as part of health care, not separate from it
Simone Biles helped normalize a truth health care has always known but society often forgets: mental health is health. Stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, sleep problems, and burnout can affect physical health, decision-making, relationships, and recovery. The National Institute of Mental Health emphasizes that mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and that self-care can support overall health and recovery.
For patients, this means mentioning mental health symptoms during medical visits. If you are not sleeping, feeling hopeless, panicking, grieving, or struggling to function, that information matters. For health care workers, it means recognizing that compassion fatigue and burnout are not personal failures. They are signals that systems, workloads, staffing, and support structures need attention.
Self-care is not a scented candle strategy
Self-care can include sleep, movement, nutritious meals, hydration, connection, therapy, medication when appropriate, boundaries, and time away from constant stress. A candle may be lovely, but it cannot fix chronic understaffing, untreated depression, or a schedule that treats humans like vending machines. Real self-care is practical, honest, and sometimes uncomfortable. It may mean saying no, asking for help, changing providers, requesting accommodations, or leaving a harmful environment.
Teamwork is the hidden engine of great care
No gymnast becomes elite without coaches, trainers, physical therapists, judges, teammates, and support staff. Health care is also a team sport. AHRQ’s TeamSTEPPS program focuses on communication and teamwork to improve patient outcomes. That is important because even brilliant clinicians can make mistakes when teams do not share information clearly.
Patients and families are part of that team. You can help by bringing accurate information, speaking up about changes, confirming medication instructions, and asking who is responsible for each next step. Clinicians can help by inviting questions, avoiding jargon, listening carefully, and creating a culture where concerns are welcomed rather than brushed off.
Use “stop the line” language when something feels wrong
If you believe there is a medication error, wrong procedure, missing allergy warning, or serious misunderstanding, speak clearly. Try: “I’m concerned there may be a mistake,” or “Can we pause and confirm this?” In high-performing teams, safety concerns are not interruptions. They are essential. A patient who asks a clarifying question may prevent a problem before it happens.
Be bold, but also be kind
Self-advocacy does not require becoming the villain in a hospital drama. The goal is not to “win” against your care team. The goal is to build a clearer, safer, more respectful partnership. Firm and polite can live in the same sentence. Try saying, “I appreciate your help, and I still need a clearer explanation,” or “I understand the recommendation, but I’d like to discuss alternatives.”
This matters especially for people who have historically been dismissed, rushed, or misunderstood in medical settings. Bias, language barriers, disability, income, transportation, and access to insurance can all affect health outcomes. Social determinants of health shape people’s ability to get care, follow treatment plans, eat well, rest, travel to appointments, and pay for medication. Being the Simone Biles of health care means recognizing that excellence is not just personal grit. It also requires fair systems and support.
For health care professionals: Excellence includes recovery
For clinicians, the Simone Biles mindset is not about perfection. It is about sustainable performance. Health professionals work in environments where the stakes are high and the pace can be relentless. Burnout can affect attention, empathy, communication, and job satisfaction. Health care organizations should not solve burnout by telling staff to breathe deeply while handing them another impossible workload. That is not wellness; that is decorative denial.
Real improvement includes better staffing, smarter documentation systems, team-based care, psychological safety, leadership accountability, and workflows that let clinicians spend more time caring for people and less time battling screens. Individual resilience matters, but resilience should not become a polite word for “please survive a broken system.”
High performers need support systems
Clinicians should be able to ask for backup, debrief after difficult events, take mental health needs seriously, and work in teams where speaking up is safe. The same courage Biles showed in protecting her well-being belongs in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and community health centers. A pause can prevent a mistake. A conversation can prevent a resignation. A supportive team can protect both workers and patients.
How to train like a health care champion
Here is a practical routine for becoming more confident in health care:
- Before visits: Write down your top concerns, symptoms, medications, allergies, and questions.
- During visits: Be honest, ask direct questions, take notes, and repeat the care plan in your own words.
- After visits: Schedule follow-ups, track test results, read instructions, and call if something is unclear.
- For major decisions: Ask about risks, benefits, alternatives, timing, costs, recovery, and second opinions.
- For mental health: Treat emotional symptoms as real health information, not background noise.
- For safety: Speak up if something does not match your understanding, medication list, or consent.
This is not about becoming difficult. It is about becoming prepared. Prepared patients help clinicians. Prepared caregivers reduce confusion. Prepared teams prevent avoidable harm. The best health care does not happen when everyone stays silent and hopes for the best. It happens when people communicate clearly and respectfully.
Common mistakes that keep people from advocating for themselves
Many people walk into appointments with good intentions and leave with unanswered questions. One mistake is saving the biggest concern for last. Another is minimizing symptoms because you do not want to seem dramatic. A third is assuming “no news is good news” when test results have not arrived. Follow up. Portals, phone calls, and written summaries exist for a reason.
Another common mistake is relying only on internet searches. Online information can be useful, but it should supportnot replacemedical guidance. Use credible sources, then ask your clinician how the information applies to your specific situation. The internet can tell you a headache has 47 possible causes before breakfast. Your care team can help sort what is likely, urgent, and relevant to you.
Real-life experiences: What “Be the Simone Biles of health care” looks like in everyday life
Think of Maria, a working mother who had been feeling exhausted for months. She blamed stress, skipped breakfast, and powered through. At her annual visit, she almost said, “Everything’s fine.” Instead, she pulled out a note on her phone: fatigue, heavy periods, dizziness, shortness of breath climbing stairs. Her clinician ordered labs, found anemia, and helped her build a treatment plan. Maria did not need to perform a triple-double. She just needed to tell the full story.
Then there is James, whose father was discharged from the hospital with a new medication list. The instructions were confusing, and two pills looked nearly identical. Rather than guessing, James called the pharmacy and asked for a medication review. The pharmacist caught a duplicate therapy and contacted the doctor. That one phone call turned confusion into safety. Sometimes advocacy looks less like a podium moment and more like refusing to play medication roulette at the kitchen table.
Consider Aisha, a nurse who loved her work but felt emotionally drained after months of short staffing and back-to-back critical cases. She used to tell herself, “Strong people don’t need help.” But strength was starting to look suspiciously like insomnia, irritability, and crying in the car before shifts. She finally spoke with her supervisor, used employee mental health resources, and joined a peer debriefing group. Her workload did not magically become easy, but she stopped pretending she was a machine with comfortable shoes.
Or take Ben, a patient newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. The first treatment recommendation sounded reasonable, but he felt overwhelmed. Instead of rushing, he asked, “What are my options, and what happens if I get a second opinion?” His doctor agreed, and another specialist explained additional approaches. Ben eventually chose the original plan, but with far more confidence. The second opinion did not insult his first doctor; it strengthened his decision.
These experiences show that health care excellence is usually built from small, brave actions. Write the question. Bring the medication list. Tell the truth about symptoms. Ask for the interpreter. Request the follow-up. Say, “I don’t understand.” Say, “Can we pause?” Say, “My mental health is affecting my life.” Say, “I need help caring for my parent.” Every one of those sentences is a landing. Maybe not Olympic-level, but steady, powerful, and yours.
The Simone Biles approach to health care is not about being fearless. Biles herself has shown that courage can include fear, pressure, rest, therapy, recovery, and return. In health care, courage may mean challenging a confusing bill, changing doctors, asking about side effects, admitting you missed doses, or telling a clinician you cannot afford a medication. It may mean asking your hospital team to wash hands, confirm your name, or explain why a procedure is needed.
Most people will never stand on an Olympic mat while the world watches. But many will sit on exam tables, wait for biopsy results, manage chronic illness, care for aging parents, recover from surgery, or work double shifts in clinical settings. Those moments deserve the same respect we give championship moments. Preparation matters. Support matters. Mental health matters. Clear communication matters. And knowing when to pause may be the move that saves the routine.
Conclusion
To be the Simone Biles of health care is to combine excellence with self-awareness. It means showing up prepared, asking questions, respecting your limits, using your team, and refusing to confuse silence with strength. Patients deserve clear information. Clinicians deserve humane systems. Caregivers deserve support. Everyone deserves health care that treats the mind and body as one connected reality.
You do not have to be perfect to advocate for yourself. You only have to participate. Bring your notes. Ask the question. Take the pause. Get the second opinion. Follow up on the result. Protect your mental health. Great care is not a solo performance; it is a team routine. And when the landing feels steady, you will know: that was champion behavior.
