The Podcast by KevinMD

Latest Episodes:

How to protect your resilience Mar 29, 2021

Show notes

"Health care delivery will always be inherently unpredictable and challenging. Those drawn to medicine are among our most resilient, but the current landscape reveals acutely a rise in burnout that exceeded acceptable levels even before the COVID-19 outbreak. Such innate resilience in clinicians and clinical care teams is an individual and strategic asset worthy of recognition, protection, and system-wide approaches that nurture and potentiate it. Such system-wide advocacy serves to proactively promote the vitality of health care delivery, quality of care, individual and group purpose, life-work satisfaction, and balance. Ultimately, these all are recognized as antidotes to burnout."

Pennie Sempell is an attorney and co-founder and CEO, StressPal.

She shares her story and discusses the KevinMD article, "Persistent stressors and resilience: a new way forward for health care communities." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/persistent-stressors-and-resilience-a-new-way-forward-for-health-care-communities.html)

You don't have to drown in the paperwork Mar 28, 2021

Show notes

"This is not what I signed up for.

Have you ever said this when you are rushing home 1.5 hours after the last patient left and you still haven't finished all your charting? You grab a handful of forms to take home with you with the hopeful expectation that you will get them done tonight too. After you have done 'enough' to appear to be a present parent and prepared supper and said goodnight to the kids, that is.

You sink into the couch at the end of the household rush with the guilty constant 'should be' invading your every breath. I should be finishing my notes. I should go empty that inbox. I should tackle one or two of those forms. But your body feels heavy, and your couch entraps you with its soft embrace, you open Facebook and disappear."

Sarah J. Smith is a family physician and can be reached at the Charting Coach.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "You didn't sign up for this. You don't have to drown in the paperwork." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/you-didnt-sign-up-for-this-you-dont-have-to-drown-in-the-paperwork.html)

How divorce helped this physician Mar 27, 2021

Show notes

"I now say getting divorced was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Through that painful circumstance, I rediscovered me. I learned more about myself and my ability to do hard things than at any point in my life since medical training. I'm not the same person that I was before my divorce, and that's OK. I'm more confident, decisive, and self-assured. Those are all qualities that not only benefit me, but benefit my patients as well.

Because of my divorce, my patients now get Dr. Trina Dorrah, version 2.0, and we are all better off because of that."

Trina E. Dorrah is an internal medicine physician and can be reached at Dr Trina Dorrah Life Coaching.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "How divorce helped this physician." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/02/how-divorce-helped-this-physician.html)

Put nutrition counseling in primary care Mar 26, 2021

Show notes

"One of the best solutions to rising obesity and non-communicable disease rates lie in primary care. Medical professionals can influence the U.S. food system indirectly through demand and collective purchasing power by educating their patients to choose and purchase healthier options. Merely improving nutrition education succeeds in shifting people's thinking about food.

Simultaneous with the WHO's declaration of the Decade of Action on Nutrition is the "food is medicine" movement that has been growing in response to mounting evidence that a nutritionally-sound diet and access to quality foods improve health outcomes. The theory behind food is medicine is that food is a preventative public health system.

This movement includes prescription meals to people with multiple chronic conditions and low income, food delivery services, and community food quality assessment. So far, the food is medicine solution has proven cost-effective, and one study reported a 16 percent reduction in health care costs in meal recipients.

We know that widening health disparities are partially diet-dependent. Integrating nutrition into primary care is really a social necessity. Just as everyone should have access to medical care, all Americans should have equal access to proper nutritional guidance and nutritious food."

Melinda Mesmer is an internal medicine physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Put nutrition counseling in primary care." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/10/put-nutrition-counseling-in-primary-care.html)

Why this plastic surgeon chose to become a high school science teacher Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

"I have closed my practice, but I have no plans to retire at the age of 52. I have started the journey to become a high school science teacher. There are frequent internet postings and blogs by physicians with strategies to retire young. I suspect that many of us, not near traditional retirement age, still desire to work. At this point, I do not yet have a passion for traveling the world or for driving around the country in an RV like many former physicians. Furthermore, I still have two children who are not yet college age. I enjoy working, and I fear mental stagnation were I to retire at this point. Currently, I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching degree. From pre-school through hand fellowship, I have had 28 years of formal education. It is time for me to reciprocate and to honor the extraordinary minds of my teachers and mentors. I am excited to become a high school teacher. I was a chemistry major in college, and it will be a smooth transition to teach high school science. I judge success not by financial wealth, but by contributing to the community and finding happiness in life. I don't miss my pager."

Timothy Bill is a plastic surgeon.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Why this plastic surgeon closed his practice to become a high school science teacher." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/why-this-plastic-surgeon-closed-his-practice-to-become-a-high-school-science-teacher.html)

Words matter: Definitions ground us in our profession and in our world Mar 24, 2021

Show notes

"Definitions ground us in our profession and in our world. Definitions matter because they help us pause, give our body a moment to settle, and our breath time to move in and out. Our racist actions, inactions, and comments are invasive throughout our waking hours, but we can change them if we can define them.

Racist. Anti-racist. Microaggression. Institutional racism. Don't let the words keep you tense. Let's move forward together and breathe."

Joy Eberhardt De Master is a pediatrician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Racist. Anti-racist. Microaggression. Institutional racism. The power of a definition." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/racist-anti-racist-microaggression-institutional-racism-the-power-of-a-definition.html)

Solving imposter syndrome in physicians Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

"The good news is that imposter syndrome can be quieted with increased awareness and replacing negative internal messages with positive ones. In our work together, I helped Sheila identify the voices, understand the positive role the voices fill (and there is always a positive or protective role), and find specific mechanisms for turning down the volume.

Imposter syndrome may crop up again, but she now has a toolkit to quiet the intrusive thoughts and move ahead with confidence. Not only is Sheila now waking up without dread, she's explored several career paths and settled on one that she's excited about.

You don't need to stay imprisoned in the dank dungeon of imposter syndrome. With the right tools, freedom is possible. Think of all you can accomplish, and how much lighter you will feel, when a more positive set of voices fills your head."

Here's a questionnaire to assess imposter syndrome. (https://paulineroseclance.com/pdf/IPTestandscoring.pdf)

Diane W. Shannon is an internal medicine physician and physician coach and can be reached at her self-titled site, Diane W. Shannon.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Solving imposter syndrome in physicians." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/solving-imposter-syndrome-in-physicians.html)

Vulnerability is challenging but necessary for health care professionals Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

"In the world of medicine, inordinate stress is instead accepted as just part of the job. If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen- or see a therapist on your own time and dime. I strongly believe that traditional therapy and psychiatry are vital and valuable disciplines- I might not be here without them. But not everyone who needs help living through this crisis (or pre-coronavirus life) is mentally ill or needs a diagnosis in order to qualify for guidance and support. No one should have to go through this pandemic, or life itself, alone. Literally or metaphorically. Not even doctors.

As we wait for scientists to develop a vaccine and improve the reliability of testing, it is a good time to confront the obvious: in order to come out intact, healthy and whole on the other side of this pandemic, we are going to have to build our emotional intelligence and learn how to be vulnerable again.

The only way to heal is to feel."

Tracey O'Connell is a radiologist and physician coach. She can be reached at her self-titled site, Tracey O'Connell, M.D.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Vulnerability is challenging but necessary for health care professionals." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/05/vulnerability-is-challenging-but-necessary-for-health-care-professionals.html)

One physician's journey from burnout to bliss Mar 21, 2021

Show notes

"As a young girl, I'd stand on my tiptoes, craning my neck to watch her sweep cerulean eye shadow across lids and smear foundation on sunken cheeks. While my high school friends resorted to secondhand eye shadow instruction from the pages of Teen magazine, I learned by watching my mom transform the face of a corpse with her skilled makeup application. My mother's gentle and methodical lipstick application entranced me. Back and forth. Slowly outlining the cupid's bow of a mouth. Delicately tracing of the arch in a feathery eyebrow. Until, wondrously, the corpse's vacant mask appeared serenely lifelike.

With her artistry complete, no one could spot the thin line of super glue keeping the embalmed lips from springing open, or the plastic eye caps that gave the appearance of eyeballs peacefully resting in sockets.

As I grew older, I pondered their last moments before this transition. What was the final word they spoke? Who received their last hug? What were they thinking when they realized their mortal roller-coaster ride was coming to a full and complete stop?"

Lara Salyer is a family physician and author of Right Brain Rescue: One physician's journey from burnout to bliss reveals the creative muse in all of us. (https://amzn.to/3bw5XiQ)

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "One physician's journey from burnout to bliss reveals the creative muse in all of us." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/10/one-physicians-journey-from-burnout-to-bliss-reveals-the-creative-muse-in-all-of-us.html)

This physician loves primary care. A pandemic isn't going to change that. Mar 20, 2021

Show notes

"I just started laughing. It was early on Monday morning during our COVID surge. I couldn't help myself. Phones were not on yet, but I already had triage COVID calls. "Put on your roller skates" was all I was thinking. I questioned my laughter.

The day and a life of a primary care physician during COVID. Not a fun one by any means. Certainly not one to laugh at. But, if we don't laugh, we would cry. Everyone knows that cliche. Our days never end. We don't leave. The EMR has made sure of that. The nurses and staff are expected to smile and be respectful. They have, in fact, been so amazing during this pandemic. They have shown up every day with smiles on their faces."

Kelly Lisciandro is an internal medicine physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Why do I laugh during a pandemic?" (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/why-do-i-laugh-during-a-pandemic.html)

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