Stimulus - Learn Tools to Crush It in Your Medical Career

Ready to reset, recharge, and level up?Join us at our live event - Awake + Aware, 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!

In high-pressure environments like medicine, communication is crucial. A resident shares a miscommunication story that emphasizes humility over ego. Leading with curiosity rather than defensiveness can enhance trust and improve patient care. The podcast delves into the reasons behind a nurse questioning a doctor's order and suggests that inquiry can save time and foster better relationships. It advocates for a culture of collaboration and highlights the profound impact of effective communication on healthcare outcomes.

Karl Pister, president of The Coaching Group, discusses navigating leadership challenges with empathy and strategy. He shares insights on how new leaders can avoid common pitfalls like poor communication and lack of relationship-building. The conversation emphasizes the practice of future writing as a tool for mental clarity and positive visualization. Pister also addresses the importance of understanding team dynamics in high-pressure environments and offers advice on recognizing and dealing with suboptimal leadership to build a collaborative culture.

Discover essential tax strategies tailored for medical professionals, including maximizing retirement contributions and leveraging Health Savings Accounts for tax benefits. Learn the pros and cons of different business structures like LLCs and S-Corporations, and get tips on transitioning from employee to entrepreneur. Gain insights on rental strategies that can optimize your financial outcomes while navigating the complexities of multiple income streams. Lastly, understand when to use TurboTax and when to seek professional help for your unique tax situation.

Explore the personal journey of navigating burnout within the medical field. Hear cautionary tales that highlight the gap between initial enthusiasm and the harsh realities of residency. Discover the importance of recognizing one’s value and addressing burnout’s root causes for a more fulfilling career. This discussion offers both practical insights and relatable experiences that resonate with many professionals.

Psychological safety is a crucial factor in creating a healthy and effective workplace. It involves a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. This episode delves into the intricacies of psychological safety, particularly in high-stakes environments like medicine. We explore how rigid hierarchies, cultural biases, incivility, and unrealistic expectations can hinder psychological safety and how fostering a culture of openness and vulnerability can lead to better team performance and resilience. We explore various strategies to enhance psychological safety, including setting clear expectations, modeling vulnerability, and showing gratitude. Finally, we provide actionable tools for leaders to create a psychologically safe team environment.💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡Guest Bio: Kim Bambach, MD  is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at The Ohio State University and Assistant Director of the Kiehl Resident Wellness Endowment We Discuss:What is “psychological safety”?Google's Project AristotleWhy psychological safety is important, even on a SWAT teamThreats to psychological safetyThe Korean Air Crash of 1997Contributors to trainees feeling psychologically unsafeCollegiality between specialties and its impact on psychological safetyThe Psychological Safety ScaleSix key leadership behaviors to create a culture of psychological safetyMentioned in this episode:Awake + Aware Bend May 5-7, 2025 | Our in person live event Ready to reset, recharge, and level up? Awake + Aware is a game-changing 3-day workshop where you will learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited. 🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event!Awake + Aware Bend 2025Never Lame. Never Spammy. Always Fresh.If you’d like a few minutes of career-elevating curated kickassery delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter. Sign up for our Newsletter5 Free Tools To Make Medical Practice EasierScripts for your least favorite conversations. The quick and dirty guide to calling consults. A 10-minute "Driveway Debrief" to switch off from work. My favorite documentation templates. Step-by-step guide for delivering the news of death. Free Resources Link

What would you do if your job ended tomorrow? The discussion dives into tangible strategies for navigating sudden job loss in medicine. It highlights the power of networking and mentorship, essential for exploring new opportunities. The importance of planning for career disruptions is emphasized, along with dealing with the emotional aftermath of being fired. Tips on managing burnout and ensuring job satisfaction are shared, illustrating how a proactive approach can lead to fulfilling career paths even in uncertain times.

In this discussion, Dr. Jason Hine, an emergency physician and founder of SimKit, shares his journey from practicing medicine to launching a successful business. He emphasizes the need for a solid business plan and understanding the knowledge gap between clinicians and entrepreneurs. Jason explores the balance between passion and financial success, outlining the importance of involving family in entrepreneurial pursuits. He also highlights the significance of identifying customer pain points and developing effective marketing strategies tailored for healthcare.

Dan McCollum, an emergency physician and Director of Teaching and Learning at the Medical College of Georgia, dives into the transformative concept of locus of control. He discusses how focusing on what we can influence leads to greater happiness and success, especially in high-pressure medical environments. The conversation touches on the power of small bets for significant change, the role of Stoicism in handling stress, and the importance of cultivating resilience to combat burnout. McCollum shares practical strategies for personal growth and embracing a proactive mindset.

Medical debt has a strange and storied history in America. Stretching back to colonial times, physicians and patients alike have grappled with its harsh realities. In recent years, hospitals have resorted to selling medical debt to third parties, who then aggressively pursue patients. In today’s episode, medical historian Luke Messac, MD, PhD, guides us through the past and present landscape of medical debt, examining perspectives from patients, providers, hospitals, and governments. We delve into a form of indentured servitude in the name of debt clearance, the birth of nonprofit hospitals, a pivotal shift in the 1980s, feasibility of operating healthcare under free market principles, medical economics in the 1600s, hospitals suing patients, and the emergence of medical debt as its own thriving industry.💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡Guest Bio: Luke Messac MD, PHD emergency physician and medical historian whose research focuses on health care's history and political economy. Luke is an attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an Instructor in Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the author of two books, No More to Spend: Neglect and the Construction of Scarcity in Malawi's History of Health Care and most recently, Your Money or Your Life: Debt Collection in American Medicine. We Discuss:Hospitals suing patients over debtThe Service Credit Program | Indentured servitude in the name of debt clearanceNonprofit hospitals were born out of the almshouse tradition, where charity care was part of the missionThe 1980s were a turning point for medical debt in the United StatesWith cuts in government medical spending, hospitals cut costs by limiting charity care and aggressively pursuing unpaid debtsWhy healthcare cannot operate in a pure free marketHospitals used to refuse care to patients and the courts supported itPatient dumping and the rise of EMTALACollecting money from patients has been an issue for hundreds of yearsIn the 1600s, doctors could be arrested for charging too muchDebtor's prisonDoes suing patients to recover medical debt improve a hospital's bottom line?In the early 2000s, Yale New Haven Hospital put liens and foreclosing on patients' homes as part of a debt collection strategyMedical debt collection has now become a thriving industryHow third-party medical debt collectors operateRIP Medical Debt buys and forgives medical debtIs buying and forgiving medical debt better or just forgiving it upfront?Dollar For is a nonprofit focused on helping patients navigate financial assistance programsSome hospitals are making financial assistance easier to accessState legislation is starting to address medical debt collectionNational approaches to medical debtMedical debt is prevalent around the world, but the US stands apart among wealthy countriesThe consequence of copaysPaul Farmer and caring for the destitute sick. The jungle hospital that's carrying out Paul Farmer's vision in GuatemalaRudolf Virchow - Physicians are the natural attorneys for the poorMentioned in this episode:Awake + Aware Bend May 5-7, 2025 | Our in person live event Ready to reset, recharge, and level up? Awake + Aware is a game-changing 3-day workshop where you will learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited. 🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event!Awake + Aware Bend 2025Never Lame. Never Spammy. Always Fresh.If you’d like a few minutes of career-elevating curated kickassery delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter. Sign up for our Newsletter5 Free Tools To Make Medical Practice EasierScripts for your least favorite conversations. The quick and dirty guide to calling consults. A 10-minute "Driveway Debrief" to switch off from work. My favorite documentation templates. Step-by-step guide for delivering the news of death. Free Resources Link