Physician Self Care Tips for 2020

With the dawn of a new year and decade, why not take a moment to reflect on a few simple self care tactics and strategies that can alter and improve the course of life.

Important, but Less-Often-Considered Aspects of a Physician Job Search

A veteran emergency physician shares his insights into some lesser explored aspects of choosing a great physician job. Topics covered include job shadowing, evaluating physician density, advantages smaller job markets, contract review, and revealing questions to ask during interviews.

How Emerging Technologies Are Shaping the Future of Healthcare

Imagine a world where complex health issues can be solved or prevented with relative ease. As lifespan increases, technology innovators race to outpace the growing demands of the planet’s expanding population.  Medical technology companies create faster, more, and less expensive answers to patient care needs. Engineering and science have converged, making medical practice easier for physicians, more effective for patients, and less costly to the system struggling to hold it all up…

Technological Change and Disruption in Medicine

You must change or risk permanent disruption. Opportunities are abundant, and the correct mindset will help ensure relevance as exponential technologies and those pioneers pushing the edge and disrupt the healthcare marketplace.

Why Every Physician Needs a Side Hustle

Like it or not, there are companies in existence seeking to commoditize healthcare. While physicians still earn a decent living in the US, other countries see it differently. Also, telemedicine has become essential in providing access to care, but the compensation is racing to the bottom. When I took my first telemedicine consult around six years ago, each case paid $50-75. Present day, some companies offer a paltry $10-14. Most Telemed work is 1099, and after the self-employment and other taxes, the per case rate is plain sad.

Working as a Team with Your Hospital’s Emergency Physicians

Good interpersonal relationships among physicians are critical in fostering excellent patient care. With ever-expanding mandates, both governmental and administrative, along with the changing landscape of medicine, physician-physician relations are often strained. These and other systemic factors contribute to physician angst and can lead to disruptive behavior and relationships. Tempers flare and conflicts develop over perceptions about another doctor’s ability, motivation, and decisions.

How One Doctor Lost $67,500 in Less Than a Minute

…I was not fully vested and would have to forfeit over $67,000.

Poof…Gone forever.

Holy shit. Seriously?!?

What a painful lesson. One I never want to repeat, and one I hope you never have to face. If only I would have used a financial advisor at the start, this painful lesson could have been avoided, before plowing blindly ahead into investments I didn’t fully understand…

How Physician Choices Can Lead to Burnout

An impossible task would be to find a physician who has never wished to rewind time, even if just for a brief moment long enough to make a different decision. Patients are increasingly complicated and decision making cumbersome and pressured by the scarcity of time.  As a generality, physicians pride themselves on their decision-making prowess, but this same skill can be clouded by ego and error…

Life in the trenches is difficult at best. Medicine continues to advance at an exponential rate, but physician burnout remains constant. Who will step forward with a solution before all the healers are destroyed?

The Most Important Questions Physicians Should Ask During a Job Interview

To paraphrase Tony Robbins, the quality of your questions determines the quality of your life.

Interviewing for a first attending job, considering a lateral move, or negotiating a contract all require poise, openness, and intuition to arrive at the desired end. 

As physicians, we are experts at teasing out the details necessary to make a diagnosis. Digging deeper is critical to saving lives. The same applies to our futures. 

Musings from My Mentors

Perhaps the quickest way to accelerate progress in life and career is to find a mentor. Another is to hire a coach. I did both. Here are a few lessons I learned along the way.