Stimulus - Learn Tools to Crush It in Your Medical Career

Jason Brooks, PhD is a performance coach who works with physicians, athletes, and the military, helping them develop the cognitive skills not only to operate at the highest level, but to thrive no matter what the task. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jason has been working with frontline clinicians, helping and guiding them through the cognitive and emotional aspects of what’s happening. This episode will give us strategies to mentally prepare for each day. It will show us how to find an anchor to ground us so that rather than feeling like we’re constantly running defense, we’re actually on offense. Awake + Aware | Our 2025 Live Event⭐ Join us at Awake and Aware 2025, a game-changing 3-day workshop from May 5-7 in Bend, Oregon. Learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited.🖱️ Website: Awakeandawarebend.com🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event!The Flameproof CourseThe hidden anti-burnout curriculum we all should have learned in training. Cohort 3 begins Sept 10, 2024. Get the deets For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast websiteWe discuss:How pandemic medicine may be more dangerous to the healthcare provider than battlefield medicine, from the Happy MD blog [02:24];Two big emotions experienced by people on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic:  the fear of uncertainty and the lack of control [05:42];How we should keep our focus small and put our attention on the things that we feel some degree of certainty about [07:25];Ways people have created leadership and command centers to handle information overload [09:40];Strategies for managing the stress, anxiety, and fear that comes with working in the COVID-19 environment [11:55];The 2 things fear needs to know:  that you hear it and that you have a plan to keep yourself safe [14:35];The tipping point between being scared and feeling panic [15:35];The importance of flipping your perspective from being on the defense to being on the offense [17:45];The value of adding purpose where there is uncertainty and fear [19:00];Tools for handling moments of stress, panic or fear [22:30];Anti-fragility and how it compares with resilience [23:52];How some people perform better as the favorite, but others prefer being the underdog [29:00];Ways to “pregame” before entering the COVID-19 environment, and how your pre-performance plan can be thought of as a prayer [31:30];Why showing compassion to your fear and embracing it as a part of you is far better than resisting it [42:00];How the aftermath of COVID-19 will need space for healing, processing, and recovery [44:10].

At the end of the day, have you made the world a little better? My guess is that you have, even if only in a small way. That’s certainly true of today’s guest, Dan Bissell, MD. Dan is co-founder of Portland Street Medicine, a medically focused non-profit dedicated to caring for the homeless. What’s unique about the care delivered is that it happens in the austere environment of homeless camps, underpasses, and street corners. In this episode, Dan and I cover what a day of the street medicine team looks like, how his group started, and how street care has impacted his everyday medical practice. Awake + Aware | Our 2025 Live Event⭐ Join us at Awake and Aware 2025, a game-changing 3-day workshop from May 5-7 in Bend, Oregon. Learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited.🖱️ Website: Awakeandawarebend.com🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event!The Flameproof CourseThe hidden anti-burnout curriculum we all should have learned in training. Cohort 3 begins Sept 10, 2024. Get the deets For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast websiteWe discuss:What it means to follow your bliss [00:45];The best medicine is tangerines and socks. . [04:45]The goal of Portland Street Medicine [07:15]Working in an environment with constrained resources. [11:55]Design thinking [12:44]Portland Street Medicine origin story.[14:45]Homeless communities are complex, heterogeneous, vibrant, and cohesive.  [23:15]The secret sauce to success of Portland Street Medicine.[28:18]Portland Street Medicine serves three populations [29:00]Utility of the stethoscope.  [34:00]The case of Susannah [37:00]The homeless are at a minimum ignored and at a maximum shunned. [40:50]Getting to know the homeless has reformed Dan's thinking about how we structure health care. [42:20]Ask some honest questions.   [46:55]Slow down, find joy. [50:38]

We can't immediately change the process of medicine, the stuff that is kind of a drag and wears us down. What we can change, however, is our mindset. In this episode, we dissect several practices for shift preparation with a common goal of operating at a peak level of performance and experiencing more joy in what we do. Today we learn how to pregame, like a pro.Awake + Aware | Our 2025 Live Event⭐ Join us at Awake and Aware 2025, a game-changing 3-day workshop from May 5-7 in Bend, Oregon. Learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited.🖱️ Website: Awakeandawarebend.com🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event! The Flameproof CourseThe hidden anti-burnout curriculum we all should have learned in training. Cohort 3 begins Sept 10, 2024. Get the deets For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast websiteWe discuss:The system will not adjust to what you need right now.  You have to adjust yourself. [1:45]How accepting gratitude, and other small changes in mindset, can have a logarithmic return on investment. [4:50]The ways that many elite-level performers pregame.  They rely on their rituals for peak performance. [07:15]Physicians are elite-level performers who rarely have the time to mentally prepare for each day. [8:40]How some doctors pregame (or not)....Mike Weinstock doesn't pregame [12:06]Clay Smith's pregame distraction [13:20]Joshua Russell's sequence of physical, emotional and mental prep [15:10]Sabrina Adams the BAFERD [18:00]Jaime Hope thinks of her 4 professional identities [19:10];Mizuho Morrison's 3 steps of self talk [21:40]Ran Ran biking to work. [24:20]Joe Dubois walks to workChris Nickson walks to workRoss Fisher calms during his commute.Haney Mallemat uses mental visualization.Luz Silverio's pregame ritual is to arrive to work 15 minutes early to “chit-chat” with members of her team.[28:40]Alan Sielaff allows sufficient time before the shift to get prepared. [29:30]: Dan McCollum starts the day mentally preparing with the 5 Minute Journal.[31:00] Reuben Strayer mentally prepare for a shift by practicing mindfulness [32:50] Salim Rezaie isolates himself from social media and email for at least 1-2 hours prior to each shift.[35:30] Mike Mallin uses intermittent fasting to improve his focus, attitude, and endurance at work. [37:15]  Rich Hamilton treats a shift like it’s a competitive sport. [38:30] Rob's 2 pregame exercises. [41:10] Jocko Willink’s “Good” [44:06]

In this first episode of Stimulus, we learn from two masters in the art of de-escalating those who are agitated and upset.  Jose Pacheco, RN, known affectionately to his co-workers as ‘The Drunk Whisperer’, has a specific sequence to this approach, which he’s going to walk us through, step by step. The good news is that verbal de-escalation is a tool that can be learned by almost anyone. To that end, we’re also joined by Dan McCollum, emergency physician at Augusta University, to talk about conflict resolution that evolved from the martial arts principal of using your opponent's energy to resolve conflict, rather than simply butting heads. The name for this method? Verbal Judo.Awake + Aware | Our 2025 Live Event⭐ Join us at Awake and Aware 2025, a game-changing 3-day workshop from May 5-7 in Bend, Oregon. Learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited.🖱️ Website: Awakeandawarebend.com🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event!The Flameproof CourseThe hidden anti-burnout curriculum we all should have learned in training. Cohort 3 begins Sept 10, 2024. Get the deets For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast websiteWe discuss:Ways to de-escalate and defuse [00:50]  “Verbal Judo” is teachable and learnable. [03:31]McCollum’s de-escalation sequence [06:35] Empathy can absorb tension [14:18] Universal Upset Patient Protocol [22:30];“We treat people as ladies and gentlemen not because they are, but because we are.” [32:52]You can’t control how an upset person is going to respond to conflict, you can control how you respond. [34:43];Seeing a situation from the other person’s eyes. [35:40]Sword of Insertion technique [36:58]Active listening [38:38]Jose Pacheco’s tips for interacting with difficult patients in the ED. [41:15]Non-verbal cues [51:46]

Launching March 12, 2020When I was in medical school and residency, the ethos was that when times are tough, you suck it up. If times are tougher, you suck it up harder. I did that for a decade after I was an attending physician, sucking it up, and I burnt out... over and over again. Sucking it up is a great tool for short-term resilience but not ideal for excellence or longevity. So you can suck it up or you can think differently. Regardless of your job title or description - doctor, nurse, EMS, fire, police, 911 operator, you get thrown into the fray with a basic set of medical skills, but little on HOW to REALLY do it. The skills to thrive beyond managing disease or living up to the title on your ID badge. Think about what spark inside you motivated the decision for you to do what you do. And since making that decision, you’ve put too much into it to lose the calling and sense of purpose. That is what motivates this show, what you will find here. Walking through and deconstructing strategies to live and practice with intent. To not waste our time. And to tap into the joy of what we do.