Physician's Guide to Doctoring with Bradley B. Block, MD

Positive Philosophy: Ancient and Modern Wisdom to Create a Flourishing Life

Dr. Sanj Katyal is a radiologist and a student of positive psychology.  He wrote the book that he wished he had read 20 years ago and he in order to share what he has learned with us.  He combines the philosophy of the ancient stoics and Bhagavad Gita with the relatively new, science-backed positive psychology to help us live our best lives.  We cover the trap of hedonic adaptation and how this applies to physician finances and how this concept can cause an initially exciting profession to b...

Nothing to Fear, Just a Dislocation Here

We discuss what every physician should know about the management of acute orthopaedic injuries that any of us may encounter in our lives and when to worry and when to reassure.  And how to reduce a dislocated shoulder.  We also discuss what sports she wouldn't let her son play and the answer certainly surprised me.   Dr. Nancy Yen Shipley is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon, with additional fellowship training in sports medicine and arthroscopy. Her professional interests include spor...

Doctor Identities on the Blockchain

Leah Houston, MD had her physician identity used for billing after her employment concluded.  This led to the epiphany that caused her to start HPEC.IO, an organization that is trying to give physician's back control of their identities using blockchain technology.  This could be useful for doctors that want to switch jobs or states without having to have every bit of information independently verified.  We first discuss what blockchain is and then get into how she plans to implement it to n...

No Fibs about A Fib with Doctor A Fib

Dr. Percy Francisco Morales is a fellowship-trained electrophysiologic cardiologist who felt that he could help more people by developing an alter ego and creating online content.  As physicians, we tend to answer the same questions again and again, so he thought it would be helpful for patients if he made an atrial fibrillation FAQ and thus Dr. A Fib was born.  We discuss the risks associated with a fib, management options, why coumadin is becoming a thing of the past, and new procedures.  ...

Helping Doctors Heal the World Through Coaching

Dr. Dianne Ansari-Winn had her own battles with burnout until she turned to a physician coach, then became a coach and now teaches coaches.  There are executive coaches, sales coaches, tennis coaches, but until recently, not many physician coaches.  With the increase in physicians dissatisfied and unfulfilled by their careers, the "physician coach" is responding.  Dr. Dianne and I discuss why our field has been slow to realize the importance of coaching, her five-step physician vitality reco...

Bad words: why language counts when discussing weight with our patients

A few months ago, there was a HuffPost article entitled "Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong," by Michael Hobbes.  It discussed the struggles of people who have obesity and how the medical system has failed them.  It quoted Stephanie Sogg, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Weight Center at MGH (notice how it isn't called the "weight loss center").  In it, Dr. Sogg describes her approach as "being nicer to her patients than they are to themselves." Given that this article lambasted...

Social Media Part Deux: Doctoring in the Blog-o-sphere

Dr. Dana Corriel is known to some as the godmother of doctors on social media.  This all started with her personal blog, which she created for creative catharsis and to help inform patients on a larger scale than the 1:1 office visits.  She now manages a multiple facebook communities and has a presence on almost all social media platforms.  We discuss the hows and whys of being a doctor on social media with "one of the top 10 internists to follow on Twitter."  One of her tips: a consistent...

How Physicians Should Buy Their Homes with Dr. Moves

Dr. Ramey had a pretty negative experience buying his first home as a med student, so he took matters into his own hands.  His wife got her real estate license, he got his, and how he helps med students, residents, and attendings around the country buy homes.  He walks us through the entire process from tip to tail, and we discuss for whom a physician loan would be appropriate, the advantages and disadvantages of such a loan, as well as the other types of loans available. He also has an ex...

The Real Estate Physician - Cherry Chen, MD

Dr. Cherry Chen, the Real Estate Physician discusses this potential source of stable, predictable, passive-income as an alternative to investing in the stock market.  We discuss how she made her foray into this field, the tax advantages of real estate investment, why she chooses multi-family commercial real estate via syndication over crowdfunding or individual units, and how picking a syndication is like picking a doctor. http://therealestatephysician.com https://www.facebook.com/TheRea...

The Frugal Physician: A Primary Care Physician's Journey to Financial Independence

In residency, we have to live with less.  Less money.  Less time.  Less dignity.  And after finishing, we are rewarded for our herculean efforts with higher income.  Sometimes the time and dignity come back, too.  In today's episode, the Frugal Physician and I discuss the pitfalls that can come with that increased income and how falling into the materialistic abyss brings with it more financial stress and often less happiness. We discuss her journey to frugality and lessons learned along the...

Acute Flaccid Myelitis

Acute Flaccid Myelitis is a polio-like illness that tends to start with symptoms of an upper respiratory tract illness and leads to flaccid paralysis.  There are more questions than there are answers, but Dr. Uzma Hasan, pediatric infectious disease specialist, walks us through what we do know so we can all be better prepared if we encounter this illness.  

My Neck, My Back, My... Goodness

Seth Grossman, MD, a fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon, discusses his most common consults; how to differentiate emergent spine injuries from less emergent issues, and why both patients and practitioners alike should be doing yoga, Pilates, and trying to fly like Superman.  

Present Your Medical Device Idea to Industry

Michael Graffeo is a 20 year veteran of the medical device industry.  He discusses how to put your best foot forward, prevent reproducing the mistakes of the past, and why it isn't just important to just present why your idea is so great, but possibly even more important to discuss why it isn't a risky idea.

Going Below the Belt: Refractory Pelvic Pain

As an otolaryngologist, if I had a patient who mentioned pelvic pain, I'd send them to an OB-GYN, or urologist.  I'd never think to send them to a physiatrist, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation.  This is why Dr. Tayyaba Ahmed is on the show today.  She treats the muscoloskeletal causes of pelvic pain and patients that she often sees have been refractory to multiple other treatments.  Dr. Ahmed is a fellow of the Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and a membe...

Benefits of Social Media for Physicians and Their Patients

Dr. Shikha Jain has amassed 1000 twitter followers in a year by making breakthroughs in oncologic research accessible to non-physicians and colleagues alike on twitter.  She is also the moderator of two physician Facebook groups.  We discuss the importance of having an online presence in order to build your practice and why physicians in particular need an online presence in order to combat the spread of misinformation by facilitating the spread of peer-reviewed, science based, relevant info...

The Physician's Road

Eric Tait is an internal medicine physician with an MBA and his own private equity investment firm, which he manages while still practicing medicine.  He has found the keys to happiness and fulfillment as a physician and wants to share it with the profession.  He breaks it down into paths or touchstones, broken down into wealth, practice, health, relationships and personal development.   Find more about Dr. Tait at the links below. https://www.facebook.com/thephysiciansroad http://vern...

Improving the Patient Experience

Common Misconceptions about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Poopisode

The ideas expressed on this podcast are those of the interviewer and interviewee and do not represent those of our respective employers.  This podcast is intended for medical professionals.  The information is to be used in the context of your own clinical judgement and those on this podcast accept no liability for the outcomes of medical decisions based on this information.  As the radiologists like to say, clinical correlation is required.  This is not medical advice and even though the ma...

Introduction to Advocacy for Physicians

The ideas expressed on this podcast are those of the interviewer and interviewee and do not represent those of our respective employers.  This podcast is intended for medical professionals.  The information is to be used in the context of your own clinical judgement and those on this podcast accept no liability for the outcomes of medical decisions based on this information.  As the radiologists like to say, clinical correlation is required.  This is not medical advice and even though the ma...