Episodes

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 …

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
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, …

Episode page
Nov. 9, 2022

How a medical-legal consultant refuted a pre-existing medical conditi…

"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 …

Episode page
Nov. 8, 2022

Mental Health Technologies: Revolutionizing technology within the beh…

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...

Episode page
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...

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
Nov. 4, 2022

Stop going through the motions and actually have the life you dreamed…

"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 …

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
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, …

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
Oct. 31, 2022

Can the Inflation Reduction Act build back medicine better and reduce…

"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 …

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
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...

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
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 …

Episode page
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...

Episode page
Oct. 25, 2022

Meet the primary care doctor who's happy with his job

"There is no temptation to go back to my old life. I hit rock bottom and have been enjoying a doctor's job. My future is bright. My income is growing. My schedule still has plenty of room. My patients are …

Episode page
Oct. 24, 2022

Habits of highly effective interns

"The clocks have flash forwarded, and here I am supervising incoming interns on the 1st of July (which for the past two years has fallen on a weekend). As a frenetic day has finally come to a close and a …

Episode page
Oct. 23, 2022

A cancer patient's last wish

"I smiled, put the lamb curry in front of her, and instructed her granddaughter on how much time to heat it up in the microwave. Val wasn’t in a condition where she could have a long conversation with me, but …

Episode page
Oct. 22, 2022

How AI-based technology can help improve hospital capacity management

"Health system leaders can master this 'chess game' by anticipating the next several moves well in advance with the assistance of AI-based predictive analytic tools. This adoption will lead to dramatically better outcomes than a purely reactive...

Episode page
Oct. 21, 2022

How the internet broke parenting

"Modern parenting comes with challenges that only a modern parent can understand. As both a pediatrician and a mother, I dispense with the advice I wish I had when my daughter was born. While there may be no one way …

Episode page