Episodes

May 10, 2022

Jim Dahle, MD and the White Coat Investor

In this episode, I interview Jim Dahle, creator of the White Coat Investor. He has literally created a new asset class of content: the health care professional personal finance space. He discusses how he got his start with the White Coat Investor, why...

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May 9, 2022

We are not defined by what we eat

"I propose that we look at what each choice in food does for us: How does it make my body feel? How am I able to sleep and move and focus when I eat this food? How am I giving my body what it needs right now and what will keep it strong over time?...

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May 8, 2022

Who will heal the physician?

"Medical errors exist at the far end of a continuum of unexpected events in clinical practice and they are devastating for all involved. Even when care is attentive and patient compliance perfect, unexpected outcomes occur in medicine. Unanticipated...

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May 7, 2022

What we need to know about environmental toxins

"Even low dose mercury toxicity can be harmful to human health in a variety of ways: enhanced free radical stress, reduced glutathione levels, increase in apolipoprotein E g4 genotype expression, promotion of neurofibrillary tangles and altered immune...

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May 6, 2022

Finding meaning with medical missions

"One initiative that more administrators should support is global medical outreach. The ability to practice pure medicine, like the neighborhood doctor from long ago, renews a love for the vocation that physicians sought when they first entered...

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May 5, 2022

What patients need vs. what patients want

"Patients want more than simply learning about a problem and how to treat it. Patients want reassurance. While I summarized the proposed surgical treatment, I watched for signs of anxiety or lack of understanding. Ultimately, my patient wanted to have...

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May 4, 2022

Understanding your medical malpractice insurance policy

"Arguably one of the most overlooked yet incredibly important aspects of your malpractice insurance policy is the Consent to Settle Provision. You’re paying thousands of dollars a year for your malpractice insurance; you should have a say in how...

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May 3, 2022

Mental illness and suicide: a physician's story

"Sufferers of mental illness often believe that others feel they have control of their symptoms, only having to decide to not be, for example, depressed. While they themselves suffer the symptoms of mental illness, they often have the feeling that...

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May 2, 2022

Permission to burn the manual

"I started planning my escape in late 2020. I would find a way to quit health care, to cease being a practicing physician altogether. Living the life of a doctor-mom, I felt consumed with daily obligations and duties. Guilt plagued me for feeling...

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May 1, 2022

A physician's personal great resignation

"Before retirement, I switched everything I cared about to my personal one and unsubscribed to everything I didn’t care about. For the first few months, I religiously checked my work email. Sure, I was missing important information. I finally weaned...

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April 30, 2022

Why selling will make you a happier doctor

"Patients look to providers for guidance, wisdom, and hope. When patients receive a new chronic disease diagnosis, it can feel terminal to the layperson. Even pre-diabetes is traumatizing to an otherwise healthy adult. We must not underestimate the...

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April 29, 2022

Don’t be in a hurry to fast

"There is a lot of confusion and outright falsehoods about fasting. You can search the internet for clarity and end up more confused than when you started. The fact is, fasting can be a very effective tool to improve your metabolic health, increase...

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April 28, 2022

Inhaler nonadherence and social determinants of health

"In St. Louis, asthma is the greatest health care inequity, with African-American children having an incidence rate greater than 10x that of white children. Children in St. Louis are afflicted by rates of asthma 3x higher than that of the national...

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April 27, 2022

Listening to pain in our younger patients

"As a family physician for more than 40 years, I have seen countless patients struggling to alleviate chronic pain, with far too many turning to self-destructive coping methods such as alcohol and opioids. Unfortunately, the struggle with chronic pain...

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April 26, 2022

A deep passion for palliative medicine

"COVID has brought us new challenges and a genuine opportunity to be part of the critical response to optimize the care we deliver not just to our patients but also to their families and caregivers. I am lucky, blessed to do this work every day and...

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April 25, 2022

Advocating for a sick parent by confronting physician bias

"I spent the first three days sitting next to my dad’s hospital bed, watching his chest rise and fall slowly. He was asleep the majority of the time, fighting off something unknown. Anytime he moved, I jumped up from my chair and stood where he...

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April 24, 2022

What clinicians need to know about psychedelic medicine

"What these substances have in common is that they are widely considered to fall into the category of psychedelics. What else they have in common is that the vast majority of us physicians learned nothing about them in medical school or residency, as...

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April 23, 2022

How much time do physicians spend in the EHR?

"Greater demands in the U.S. for billing and regulation-related documentation contribute to the excess time burden of EHR systems compared with other countries. A high volume of clinical alerts and other distractions in the EHR, as well as various...

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April 22, 2022

How to cope with pandemic fatigue

"The COVID-19 pandemic has been raging in the United States for over two years. Health care workers across the country have been chronically pushed to their limits as we navigate difficult situations on a daily basis. The advent of the COVID-19...

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April 21, 2022

Tips for delivering difficult pediatric diagnoses

"I remember our first day in the cystic fibrosis clinic like it was yesterday. I cried in the parking garage and struggled to nurse my daughter in the waiting room. And then it happened. That moment is forever etched in my mind. The pediatric...

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April 20, 2022

Debunking the myths around asynchronous care

"So how can health systems and clinicians provide patients with an improved, consumer-friendly experience while also making strides to decrease provider administrative burden and burnout? They need to embrace virtual care beyond just video visits and...

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April 19, 2022

A psychiatrist's part-time journey

"She kept quiet, but she had planted the seed. Interestingly I did not talk much about work during the appointment, so her question stirred my thoughts. Why did she think it was work-related? I started to look at my daily routine. I was able to...

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April 18, 2022

Pfizer and Moderna must share vaccine technology

"Pfizer has a particular onus to help intervene globally as one of the largest and most profitable pharmaceutical companies in the world. With its immense capital power, Pfizer should shift some of their spending from national ads promoting their...

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April 17, 2022

Help patients recognize how important their opinions are

"Too often in medicine, health care providers assume what patients want or need. Like the crocodile, we may assume all patients would want a tire removed in order to help extend their life – even if the cure meant losing the only thing that made...

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