The Podcast by KevinMD

"Signing up for an improv class was unchartered territory. It was far beyond my comfort zone, like skydiving, for a little thrill. I'm not an adrenaline junkie interested in the ultimate adventure nor an aspiring actress hoping for a guest appearance on SNL. I'm a physician and a physician leader. Learning improvisational theatre wasn't on my comprehensive, personal to-do list. But I'm also a physician coach. I sense what others feel in the moment without interpretation or judgment. However, when I tried to turn the same discerning sage on myself, I was faltering. The voice of compassion that I once used during patient visits and that I now use during client sessions, is sometimes muted by an inner critic that tells me to keep self-awareness out of awareness. It is this voice that I wanted to stifle when I hit the submit button." Terri Malcolm is an obstetrician-gynecologist and founder, Master Physician Leaders. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "How improv helps physician leaders." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/08/how-improv-helps-physician-leaders.html)

"What on earth are we doing here, folks? To try to save a tanking economy, workers were sent back to their jobs much too early, causing again a spike in cases of the virus. I realize that the loss of a paycheck is a major traumatic situation for any breadwinner, but so is the loss of life. Our doctors and nurses are doing their best to treat COVID-19 patients under their care. Many are putting themselves in harm's way and risking their health to care for those hospitalized. Some have been separated from their own families so as not to potentially carry the virus to them. And how do we repay them for their valiant efforts? By ignoring the guidelines put forth by the CDC and all other medical institutions. That doesn't make sense." Michele Luckenbaugh is a patient advocate. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "The loss of a paycheck is a major traumatic situation. The loss of life is worse." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/07/the-loss-of-a-paycheck-is-a-major-traumatic-situation-the-loss-of-life-is-worse.html)

"I have been depressed. I have been burned out. I have been both. I have been neither. How do you know if you are depressed vs. burned out when your chief complaint is, "I feel like crap?" It's time to call a consult. I don't mean curbsiding your colleagues to fill your medications off the record without evaluation. I mean, ask for real help, from someone who can objectively help you define your diagnosis and the best path forward. If you "feel like crap" and think you may be depressed or burned out, please reach out to a trusted physician, therapist, or coach. You are not alone, and there is hope and help waiting for you." Kara Pepper is an internal medicine physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, Physician Life Coach: Kara Pepper, MD. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Call a consult: depression vs. burnout." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/09/call-a-consult-depression-vs-burnout.html)

"An increasing number of institutions are relying on telemedicine to continue delivering care to patients in lieu of typical outpatient visits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine has been lauded as a potential equalizer in health care access. Indeed, it allows for safe and easy access to medical professionals. It especially benefits patients with transportation issues or those seeking specialty care from far away. Some pitfalls such as reimbursement issues and lack of physical exam notwithstanding, telemedicine overall is a helpful service at a time like this. However, telemedicine does not benefit all patients equally. In fact, it exposes and amplifies the existing health care disparity in a subgroup of patients." Wenjing Zong is a pediatric gastroenterology fellow. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Telemedicine in COVID-19: Disparities still exist." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/05/telemedicine-in-covid-19-disparities-still-exist.html)

"While our bodies have been a bastion of the heart and soul of medicine, a group of our peers thought it was acceptable to diminish the capabilities of our bodies to pictures on social media. They thought our ability to be exceptional physicians was inversely proportional to the number of pictures that showed us holding a drink or wearing a bikini. Our bodies do so much more than just practice medicine. What we choose to do with our bodies in our own free time should not become part of an investigation that is packaged as peer-reviewed research. Our bodies may have tattoos, ride motorcycles, or compete in pole fitness competitions for sport. None of that impacts our practice of medicine negatively. It's past time we start celebrating the strength of our bodies and hold accountable those who try to negate our accomplishments with an ill-perceived attitude of sexism and misogyny." Jessica Pearce is an obstetrician-gynecologist. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Let us talk about the underlying situation of #medbikini." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/07/let-us-talk-about-the-underlying-situation-of-medbikini.html)

Meet the physician who has written multiple widely-shared articles on KevinMD. How does writing change minds and bring people together? Why is humor such an important part of her pieces? Explore how her articles come together, and why writing has made her a better physician. Rada Jones is an emergency physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, RadaJonesMD, and on Twitter @jonesrada. She is the author of Overdose. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "How masks are like your underwear." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/08/how-masks-are-like-your-underwear.html)

"I wonder what keeps us physicians going? What makes us show up to work every day? Even though it might sound clichéd, for most of us, it's the love for medicine; it's the love to be there and still be able to make a difference. And maybe money too. Here I have some self-help tips/tools that could potentially help us through these tough times. We cannot change our surroundings. We can certainly adapt." Manju Mahajan is a family physician. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "To better take care of patients, we need to take care of ourselves." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/08/to-better-take-care-of-patients-we-need-to-take-care-of-ourselves.html)

"What is SEO? In short, it is the process of optimizing content found online in order to help it be seen by those searching for the information found in that content. It used to be that people would just stuff their poorly written, short, and low-quality blog posts with their keyword, and they would rank for that keyword. Long gone are those days, and it's a good thing because when it comes to health care and medical content, that kind of content has no place being seen. If we all start putting out quality medical content, soon there will be no room on page one for all of the noise that not only provides low-quality information but can actually put people's lives and health in danger." Andrea Paul is a physician-entrepreneur and can be found on Instagram and Facebook. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Search engine optimization for physicians." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/09/how-the-google-algorithm-update-helps-doctor-written-content-rank-higher.html)

"Physicians are advocates of health. This must include our own. Physicians identify threats to health. This must include those that threaten our own – burnout is proven a grave threat. Physicians seek, prescribe, and perform curative treatments. We have the treatment for burnout available – we must prescribe it for each other and seek it for ourselves. Physicians advocate for vaccination as prevention. We have the inoculation for burnout – we must make it widely accessible and encourage collective participation to gain the necessary herd immunity. We have available to us a single solution that fulfills both prevention and cure for the pandemic of burnout – this single treatment will sustain the workforce that is needed to navigate the other pandemics we face. Coaching empowers us to continue our work in advocating for health, identifying and eliminating threats with our compassion, expertise, empathy, and lives intact. We must lead by example, ask for the help we need, use prevention as medicine, and emerge together immune to the toxicities threatening our profession and eradicate the disease of burnout through coaching." Amelia L. Bueche is an osteopathic physician and founder, This Osteopathic Life. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "How coaching prevents and treats physician burnout." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/07/how-coaching-prevents-and-treats-physician-burnout.html)

"We can't un-bungle our nation's COVID-19 response. Political leaders acted too slowly; health agencies committed unforced errors with testing kits and, amid the confusion, an information fog settled over the land. Americans remain afraid, perplexed, and chronically misinformed (despite wall-to-wall coronavirus coverage across the leading cable news programs and print publications). To counter the uncertainty, any plan to get us out of the coronavirus crisis must first acknowledge and broadly communicate three immutable, scientific facts." Robert Pearl is a plastic surgeon and author of Mistreated: Why We Think We're Getting Good Health Care–And Why We're Usually Wrong. He can be reached on Twitter @RobertPearlMD. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "3 coronavirus facts Americans must know before returning to work and school." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/05/3-coronavirus-facts-americans-must-know-before-returning-to-work-and-school.html)