Episodes

Nov. 9, 2021

How this physician built a direct specialty care practice

"I am here to testify that it is possible, and I am not alone in this specialist direct care market. There are other specialists’ practices like mine, hidden gems for patient care. During my journey, I learned specialists are thriving to remove the...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 8, 2021

A physician's tribute to nurses

"At the hospital, the nurse is the one who is at the patient’s bedside around the clock. When the patient has to go to the bathroom or needs help to sit up in a chair, he or she calls the nurse. The nurse is the one who is changing the diapers for...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 7, 2021

Getting messy in the game of health care

"Many patients, doctors, nurses, and health care administrators appear to have a seat on the blimp with little concept of how the game has evolved over the years and is being played now. They may have attended the game in the past, but they likely...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 6, 2021

A Black physician’s perfectionism

I did not realize I was a perfectionist. I was far from perfect. It was not until I listened to a master class on perfectionism from a physician coach that I had my “aha moment.” I am now working extremely hard on training my brain to be an...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 5, 2021

Mitigating risks from care during COVID-19

"We have observed that delays in screenings and intervention for patients with certain common chronic conditions can contribute to claims. Now, clinicians have the opportunity to identify patients whose conditions merit priority contact, such as those...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 4, 2021

Diagnosis: malformation of a health care system

"The diagnosis is well-established. A cure is within our reach, and the wisest among our practitioners of the healing arts are offering valuable counsel. When the U.S. government and science, in its most principled form, work together, insulated from...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 3, 2021

Professional gay: Charting a career in LGBTQ health

"After much searching, I was fortunate to find a fellowship that though inexperienced in LGBTQ health recognized an opportunity. Faculty and mentors worked from a growth mindset rooted in finding what I needed to succeed rather than what they knew...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 2, 2021

How medical training teaches doctors to be financially unhealthy

"We physicians must come to terms with the trauma caused by the financial insecurity built into our training and the ripple effect it has even after we finish training, both as a way to repair ourselves individually and as a way to assure that our...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 1, 2021

How to heal and revitalize our beloved profession

"We have to heal ourselves first. That begins with caring for our own minds and bodies, and souls. It means not avoiding (as I did) caring for our own physical and especially our mental health. It means we must be a part of the lives of our families...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 31, 2021

Family meals' surprising power

"If you are encountering families with feeding concerns, I strongly encourage you to ask them if sitting down together for meals is part of their regular routine. The more prescriptive 'eat this, not that' or calorie counting model that has been...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 30, 2021

Taking care of yourself during medical school

"Like some insidious conditions, feelings can fester. They can spread like cancer, and sap the spirit of nourishment until it starts to die, riddled with doubt and sensations of inadequacy. They can degrade the soul, as though it were suffering from a...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 29, 2021

I bought into the stigmas about the mentally ill, until I became one …

"Bipolar runs in my family, so I knew the harsh realities of this untreated illness. A family member faked his own death after a counterfeiting spending spree. My grandfather told people that I would die in a car accident, and he would take my body up...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 28, 2021

Tomgirl and tomboy: Rethinking gender stereotypes

"How do we create a world where all of us can express our unique selves the way we choose without derisiveness and shame? I am not here to criticize the wonderful parents and caregivers who are reading this – they only love their children. Common...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 27, 2021

I do not want to be resilient

"We all know watching a module on resilience, sitting in a lecture about mindfulness, being told to practice more yoga and breathing techniques does not make you feel less burnout. It’s having the support and buy-in from your workplace, to actually...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 26, 2021

Why now is the time to get patients back to in-person routine care

"As the next wave of the pandemic unfolds, the rise in cases is once again straining health care systems. But that’s not the only reason hospitals and health systems could experience an influx of emergency or critical care visits. Findings from the...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 25, 2021

Carry on, my weary one: Persevering in the aftermath

"Frontline workers may have temporarily experienced a heightened sense of personal success and gratification, but I doubt many of us are still able to feel satisfied at this point, after all the repeated moral injuries and losing so many patients....

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 24, 2021

Physician suicide: Where are the leaders?

"As a mother, a physician, and an educator, I refuse to accept this as normal. It is not! What should we tell the parents of these young physicians? How do we explain to them that their dream of being a doctor became a nightmare with a tragic ending?...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 23, 2021

Why clinicians can’t keep ignoring care coordination

"Provider organizations may look at their budgets and think the traditional model of fax machines and landlines is serving their entity in optimizing revenue streams. They may even look at their providers’ full schedules and believe there isn’t a...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 22, 2021

Technology's impact on dermatology

"During COVID, the medical training system had to adapt because people couldn’t meet in person and even those that could didn’t have access to patients or facilities in the same capacity. However, the explosion of remote training tools that became...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 21, 2021

A son's brain cancer. A father's story.

"As you wait, you have a lot of time to think. You comb through the past in search of something you might have missed. If we had acted sooner on the signs of his illness—had the cancer been diagnosed earlier—would Lee have had a better chance? You...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 20, 2021

I was thinking about retiring, and COVID-19 gave me a push

"Last March, I was working in a small primary care practice on the west side of Denver. COVID-19 came to town. On Thursday, March 12, we were told the schools would be closing. On Friday, we were told that clinic staff had to wear masks — and the...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 19, 2021

Why physician-owned businesses need our attention and support

"There has been a growing wave of entrepreneurial physicians finding joy and value in starting consulting and coaching businesses. Many use their expertise to work with physicians exclusively. Our company has been excited to play a part in better...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 18, 2021

What we can learn from an orthopedic surgeon who publishes a novel

"Transections, eviscerations, exsanguinations, amputations, decapitations, disembowelments, penetrations, disarticulations, emasculations, enucleations, incinerations—these things he has seen. But of late he chooses to see only the glimmering vials....

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 17, 2021

A story of a physician photojournalist

"Her face is decorated in colors of the earth. With events on Earth Day and throughout the week, New York City celebrates sustainability and ways to live in harmony with the planet. Scheduled festivities include a march down Broadway with a mix of...

Listen to the Episode