Episodes
Nov. 18, 2022
Meet the doctor who had a colonoscopy without anesthesia
"If you did not have a colonoscopy, I would still recommend that you do it in a conventional way and get that IV sedation. But if you are an adventurer as I am, I would highly recommend that you do a colonoscopy the same way I did without anesthesia....
Nov. 17, 2022
Why you should add advance directives to your college freshman’s checklist
"Suppose you’re getting ready to send your young adult off to college for the first time. In that case, you’ve likely been spending the summer getting college dorm and apartment essentials lined up: bedding, storage cubes, first aid kit, extension...
Nov. 16, 2022
What it means to leave clinical medicine
"Not too long ago, a circumstance occurred. I have experienced similar circumstances several times in my career. However, this time, my response was different. It was like a switch in my brain flipped. I was ready to leave clinical medicine. It was...
Nov. 15, 2022
Preparing for fall and winter: Importance of COVID-19 vaccination during the flu season
In this special sponsored episode. I’m joined by Dr. Filip Dubovsky. He is an infectious disease physician, executive vice president, and chief medical officer responsible for medical and clinical affairs and related activities at Novavax. A...
Nov. 14, 2022
Keeping rural hospitals in the game
"Without a strong rural health care system, our nation’s ability to expand and contract with surges in demand will become very limited. When hospitals work together, they can better ensure that no community is left without a rural hospital for...
Nov. 13, 2022
Urging patience with patient self-advocacy
"I have come to appreciate why doctors find self-directed patients challenging, if not downright difficult. I wish all docs would engage with us, hear us out, and offer an explanation and further discussion when they disagree. The doctors I choose to...
Nov. 12, 2022
Health care is upside down
"With regard to health care in the USA, the quote from Dickens is twice correct. We are in the best of times for knowledge, capability, and potential. We also are in the worst of times with regard to the application of our knowledge and the outcomes...
Nov. 11, 2022
Addressing pain in patient experience surveys
"Yes, the opioid crisis in this country has caused a reckoning in the medical field about how to treat patient pain. Ignoring the pain will not make it go away. Options are available beyond opioids, and policymakers and health care providers need to...
Nov. 10, 2022
Toughness is not defined by a dollar amount
"It has now been almost four years since I transitioned to academia. I see fewer patients per day and take fewer call. I also have more time with each patient, more time to recharge, more time for other academic pursuits, and more time for creative...
Nov. 9, 2022
How a medical-legal consultant refuted a pre-existing medical condition argument
"Doing medical-legal consulting is a great way to use your medical training in a non-clinical field that really helps people. One of the many things we can do is help attorneys refute the question of a pre-existing medical condition. Often opposing...
Nov. 8, 2022
Mental Health Technologies: Revolutionizing technology within the behavior health care field
In this special sponsored episode, I’m joined by Ernie Wallerstein, CEO of Mental Health Technologies, or MHT. MHT is a cloud-based platform that enables health care clinicians to identify patients that may be suffering from undiagnosed or...
Nov. 7, 2022
A doctor's journey through constraints and creativity in the ER
is an emergency physician and author of . We discuss his emergency medicine journey, poignant cases, the importance of stories in the doctor-patient relationship, why writing is so important, and how physicians can be creative. The Podcast...
Nov. 6, 2022
Protect Black women’s maternal health
"It is impossible to fix a system with an unwillingness to bend. It means working together to accomplish a goal. Living in the gray requires a commitment to growth and discomfort. In the gray, it is possible to hold on to deeply held convictions while...
Nov. 5, 2022
My one case of COVID impacted dozens of lives
"If any of those people get infected, their illness will potentially impact dozens more. COVID infection may now be 'just a cold,' at least for the vaccinated. But no one should think this 'you do you, I’ll do me' approach to the pandemic affects...
Nov. 4, 2022
Stop going through the motions and actually have the life you dreamed of
"Try incorporating the three small practices of your choice into your day-to-day for two weeks and watch your experience of your life transform. You have worked far too hard to just go through the motions forever. Starting today, you can begin to...
Nov. 3, 2022
Who reads personal statements?
"You received an interview invite based on ERAS filters the program set, so you already have your foot in the door. Don’t have them yawning at a two-page extravaganza of your life story that makes them wonder if you know what full stops are and...
Nov. 2, 2022
Doctors are like hamsters running on an exercise wheel to nowhere
“No wonder doctors feel like hamsters running on an exercise wheel to nowhere. And this sense of futility is driving burnout. How much patient care will you get out of docs who have moved on to nonclinical jobs, retired early, or committed suicide...
Nov. 1, 2022
My sister went to the hospital seeking help. Instead, she died.
"I am heartbroken at the loss of my sister. No, breast cancer didn’t physically kill her, and for that, I am grateful. Its presence in her medical history, however, quite possibly did as it was apparently used as the justification for all that went...
Oct. 31, 2022
Can the Inflation Reduction Act build back medicine better and reduce climate change?
"There is great hope for this bill to accomplish the stated goals in the medical and energy worlds. There are many excellent summaries regarding this bill, and I would urge any interested readers to find a review of the bill and read through it. We...
Oct. 30, 2022
A Hungarian Jewish man's fight for freedom
"Despite the terror of the Soviets, it was clear that not even their mighty tanks could eradicate the social tides that now, like a tsunami, could not be turned back. The power of the movement forced Ernő Gerő, just a few months into his rule, to...
Oct. 29, 2022
Why psychological explanations for long COVID are dangerous
"Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and their allies will rally in DC, London, and Edinburgh this September to “demand bold, urgent governmental action” for the millions of people living with ME, long COVID, and other...
Oct. 28, 2022
When patients want their doctors to heal
"I think it’s much more likely that my patients — some of whom are terminal and facing their own mortality; others who are suffering through a multitude of side effects from their cancers or our treatments – my beautiful patients haven’t let...
Oct. 27, 2022
Giving language to empathy: lessons from palliative care
"The value of empathy in medicine is seldom debated. Just as the art of medicine is taught as the balance of knowledge and application, so has empathy been recognized as both a value to be fostered and a skill to be learned. Medical curricula have...
Oct. 26, 2022
Want to improve telehealth? Ask people with disabilities.
"The tech industry needs to invest in developing platforms and devices with active, consistent, and frequent input from the disability community. This input must reflect a range of individuals with disabilities. A variety of identities exist beyond...