DRIVE TIME DEBRIEF: A Physician Wellness Podcast with The Whole Physician

By Drs. Cazier, Dinsmore and MorrisonBusiness Medicine Health & Fitness Mental Health Careers

DRIVE TIME DEBRIEF: A Physician Wellness Podcast with The Whole Physician episodes

July 06, 2023#69: Inappropriate Things Doctors Brag About with Kristin Yates, DO
In this episode, Kristin Yates, DO joins us to talk about Inappropriate Things Doctors Brag About (and why we keep doing it).
The reason we do this is likely because of both external and internal pressures, she says. External pressures in that it's what everyone else is doing. And internal pressures in that many of us have replaced our sense of inherent worthiness as a human with having to earn our worthiness through performance.
On the list of misguided badges of honor:
Exhaustion
Being Busy
Time without a Vacation
High Patient Volume
Versus what we SHOULD be proud of:
Spending quality time with fewer patients
Resting every day and using our vacation time
Cutting back hours if we need/want to
Getting a full night of sleep
Having a day of doing nothing
Doing this is seemingly an act of rebellion in our current medical system. But the more we start doing it, the more inroads we'll make in creating a better place for ourselves and those who follow.
Dr. Yates' Instagram
Dr. Yates' Rebel Physician Website
If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
If you're interested in a personal loan from Doc2Doc Lending, use our affiliate link: www.doc2doclending.com/thewholephysician
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance from Pattern, use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
22 min
June 29, 2023#68: Tips for Time Management with Dr. Christina Shenvi
On today's episode we talk with Dr Christina Shenvi who candidly helps us understand that we can't buy more time, but we can be wise about the time we are given. She comes with an incredible academic pedigree including Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, and UNC. She’s a mom of 4, a practicing emergency physician, educator, keynote speaker, and leader. She’s going to talk with us about how she gets everything done with tips for time management.
Here are some highlights:
Effort has three components: direction, intensity, and perseverance.
Reflecting on if you are moving in the right direction and applying the right amount of intensity and persevering for only a given amount of time.
How to approach a challenge:
Priority: Spend time on the right things. (Can always make more money or invest money and earn interest. Can never make more time, yet we’re often more careful with our money than with how we invest our time.) Get clear on personal priorities and big values. Make sure you’re going the right direction.
Strategy: Work in the right way. Architect your day/time. Deep work, shallow work, allocating time and deciding ahead of time what you will work on.
Efficiency: Anything that requires little brainpower or that you do repeatedly, find ways to outsource, delegate, make efficient, or create shortcuts.
Reflection: Activation barrier, and why managing time is all about managing emotions.
How to find Dr Shenvi:
website: timeforyourlife.org
email: [email protected]
Twitter: @clshenvi
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shenvi/
Books mentioned:
https://gregmckeown.com/books/essentialism/
https://comeupforair.com/
https://thework.com/instruction-the-work-byron-katie/
https://calnewport.com/writing/

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
If you're interested in a personal loan from Doc2Doc Lending, use our affiliate link: www.doc2doclending.com/thewholephysician
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance from Pattern, use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/vY4Kg
31 min
June 22, 2023#67: A "Physician's Guide to Doctoring" with Bradley Block, MD
Meet Dr. Bradley Block, otolaryngologist, husband, father, and the host of the Physician's Guide to Doctoring Podcast. We interviewed him today to get some of the best pearls he's learned over the years regarding physician wellness. He's gleans from personal experience as well as the phenomenal guests he's interviewed over the past 5 years.
We cover:
the motivation behind his podcast (hint: "everything we should have been learning when we were memorizing Krebs Cycle")
getting to the heart of what the patient is really worried about
how to use humor
some of his favorite guests so far
"knowing what's important to you and making sure you're living your life consistent with that"
the basic secrets to charting
negative visualization
a quick and dirty summary of vertigo/dizziness from an ENT's perspective
Resources:
Dr. Block on Twitter, Instagram, & LinkedIn
Physician's Guide to Doctoring Website
Dr. Block's Podcast Episode with Scott Dikkers
Dr. Block's Podcast Episode with BJ Fogg #1
Dr. Block's Podcast Episode with BJ Fogg #2
Dr. Block's Podcast Interview on Discussing Weight
Dr. Block's Podcast Interview with Drs. Jordyn Feingold and Sanj Katyal

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
If you're interested in a personal loan from Doc2Doc Lending, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: www.doc2doclending.com/thewholephysician
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance from Pattern, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
25 min
June 15, 2023#66: Spotlight on Physician Suicide with Michelle Chestovich, MD
We are honored to host a special guest who is so brave to advocate for such a special topic. In this episode, Dr Michelle Chestovich shares her beautiful and heartbreaking story of how she lost her sister to suicide She has become a voice and an advocate for not only awareness but "normalizing" this conversation. She is bringing it out of the darkness that is usually hides it and illuminating it with the amazing tools she learned by certifying as a physician coach. We are so glad she is with us on this episode and join her as allies in the quest to bring physician mental health to the forefront of every wellbeing initiative.
Favorite moments from Dr Chestovich:
The work that you are doing is certainly helping people because I think it begins, number one, raising awareness, and number two, normalizing that we too are human and we can have problems with our brain. Just like we can have kidney stones and back problems, our brains can get sick too, and in fact, we're at higher risk for such things.
And again, this is like my town cry. Not only are we all at risk, but number two, children aren't gonna save us.
I mean, I get it that it's part of our culture that we so identify with our profession, particularly physicians, but maybe we can realize like we are amazing humans outside of that. When we take that hat off, we're still pretty badass.
Where to find Dr. Chestovich:
Re-Mind Yourself Podcast
#11 Exhaustion
https://www.mamadoclifecoach.com
Instagram: @Mamadoclifecoach
988 - Physician Support Line
Medscape Article - https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2023-lifestyle-burnout-6016058?icd=login_success_email_match_norm

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
If you're interested in a personal loan from Doc2Doc Lending, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: www.doc2doclending.com/thewholephysician
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance from Pattern, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
If you are interested in finding out more about Lumos and their new tech to help with night shift, click here! (We are not affiliated - just interested in solving the problem or circadian rhythm disturbances in shift workers.)
The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/vY4Kg
47 min
June 08, 2023#65: Entrepreneurism - Starting a Loan Program for Docs with Dr. Kenton Allen
Today Kenton Allen, MD, MBA, FASA joins the show to talk about starting Doc2Doc Lending with another co-resident. After experiencing his own difficulties within the existing banking systems, he helped re-write the script for how doctors can get funding for transitions, side-hustles, fertility journeys, credit card consolidation, and more. He shares:
why they started their own lending program to fill a void
the difference between secured and unsecured loans
the importance of developing positive financial habits and educating yourself
the importance of understanding your own financial priorities, which can widely vary from person to person
the importance of being proactive about financial conversations with significant others to prevent significant discontent later
be choosy with opportunities for side hustles:
is it with the right people?
is it something you really believe in?
is it the right timing?
Mentioned:
The White Coat Investor
If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
If you're interested in a personal loan from Doc2Doc Lending, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: www.doc2doclending.com/thewholephysician
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance from Pattern, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
If you are interested in finding out more about Lumos and their new tech to help with night shift, click here! (We are not affiliated - just interested in solving the problem or circadian rhythm disturbances in shift workers.)
The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/vY4Kgo
27 min
June 01, 2023#64: Judgment within Medicine
Today the three of us sat down to talk about judgment within medicine. This conversation started at a conference we recently attended. We listened to an amazing lecturer give his account of what keeping empathy looks like and how it helps us care for our patients and others, like our colleagues. It is also a way to take care of ourselves. We are taught and modeled this idea that what ever service you are on or whatever your role is in taking care of a patient, that if something isn't done or said how you think it should be said, then we immediately judge that person. We judge management of patients, outcomes of patients, etc. We also judge the people that are on the same team as us working together to achieve the same goal! So we introduce another side to consider and ways to keep ourselves in the judgement-free zone.
Favorite moments:
And so when we judge, we tend to dehumanize each other and we can also do it in our, in our own patient care. But really, we have to normalize this conversation and we have to be able to kind of take a step back and consider that. Hmm. I wonder what's going on today. We talk about in coaching, like maybe try to be a little more curious than furious.
So this is just a conversation just to start bringing awareness because I would argue it would be a much better culture if we could start being allowed to be vulnerable, if we could stop going instantly to judgment, because we weren't even there in the room
Curiosity keeps us open to the possibility that there may be more to the story.
This is between me and me and how I wanna show up and I wanna show up as the most empathetic, non-judgmental person that I can. Realizing that my brain's default is going to be judging.
References:
https://sholarichards.com/judging-others/
https://brenebrown.com/book/atlas-of-the-heart/

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
If you are interested in finding out more about Lumos and their new tech to help with night shift, click here!
If you'd like to earn CME credit for listening to this podcast, follow this link: https://earnc.me/fnAPK9
The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/fnAPK9
26 min
May 25, 2023#63: Physician Wellness with Al'ai Alvarez, MD Part 2
In this episode, we continue our interview with Dr. Al'ai Alvarez, a national leader and educator on physician wellness. He's an emergency physician, clinical associate profession of emergency, and the director the Physician Wellness Fellowship at Stanford.
We discuss:
creating environments where we can talk and acknowledge our lived experiences
lessons from the Mission Critical Team Institute and the subsequent formation of the High Performance Resuscitation Team
how to deal with the residue of working in medicine
relationship-centered care
gratitude
focusing on the "goosebumps moments" and being reminded of the good things that we do
finding your passion
what is the 1% you can do or stop to make your life better
Wise words from Dr. Alvarez:
"...each one of us has the capacity and the ability to make a choice of what is within our control, what is beyond our control, and what do we want to do with all the things that are facing us. And I hope that people feel that sense of empowerment...[and make] a choice that is alignment with their values. What is truly aligned with myself, my core being, and focus more on that, and do more of that. ... I hope that it'll also inspire people to think about ways to be kinder to yourself. Because then, as much as we try to be kind to everybody else, and do all the good things for other people, we often forget ourselves. And if there's, the one thing that I can leave you, is that all of my work is really rooted in self-compassion. How can we show up for others by taking care of ourselves in a way that is healthy?"
Resources:
Mission Critical Team Institute
Stanford's Physician Wellness Fellowship
The Body Keeps the Score
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
Couldn't join us for our FREE CLASS: "Too Much to Do and Not Enough Time," Said Every Doctor Every Day? Check here for the replay.
If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
30 min
May 18, 2023#62: Physician Wellbeing with Al'ai Alvarez, MD Part 1
Dr. Alvarez is joining us today to talk about all things wellness in medicine. I met Dr Alvarez at ACOEP Spring Seminar last month. He is an emergency physician and clinical associate professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) at Stanford University. He is the Director of Well-Being and co-chair of the Human Potential Team at Stanford Emergency Medicine. He gave 2 lectures titled, “Beating the Blame” and “Well, for what it’s worth”, both resonated with me due to the work we do at The Whole Physician. Stanford is setting the standard for what meaningful wellness in the workplace looks like when implemented as a whole institution approach. Everyone at the table and everyone engaged at all levels. There is so much experience Dr Alvarez imparts that we had to do a part 1 AND part 2. So stay tuned...
Most favorite memories:
"I think that kind of gives you a sense of how vulnerable I'm willing to be to share about myself because I, this is me, and hopefully it can get as much as you can from that lived experience that I have."
"Hey, what happens when these are my strengths? And also I'm getting feedback and anonymous evaluations that I'm overwhelming, like these two things. Like how do I coexist? Like how do I have the duality of like, I have a lot of personality, I have a lot of energy as you can tell. And also that's overwhelming to people."
"Human Potential team which is an awesome team in our department. Our job is to really like understand, think, dissect, and break apart the dilemmas that we encounter in our practice. Not just clinical, but academic space. And not necessarily find solutions because there are dilemmas there's usually no solutions, but can we be creative enough to address parts of it that will at least make it easy for us to empower us to be better at our work and to find meaning in our work."
Resources:
Twitter: @alvarezzzy
https://www.lizandmollie.com/book/
"No Hard Feelings"

Couldn't join us for our FREE CLASS how to work in the dumpster fire of healthcare without getting burned? Check here for the replay.
If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
If you'd like to earn CME credit for listening to this podcast, follow this link: https://earnc.me/fnAPK9
The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/fnAPK9
30 min
May 11, 2023#61: Smaller Steps
Sometimes the smallest changes in habits can lead to huge results. Sometimes trying to change too much all at once backfires. In this episode, we discuss just how life changing it can be to start with smaller steps.
Little bursts of exercise can have a bigger impact than you might suspect.
Starting with just cleaning your sink can lead to an organized house.
Eating ice cream in a bowl instead of a carton can lead to losing 100 pounds.
The important thing is just get on the ladder, and that's easier with lower rungs. A ladder with many easily accessed closely-spaced rungs can, after all, lead to the exact same place (and many times easier) as a ladder with widely-spaced, difficult rungs.
Resources:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Importance of Smaller Steps Video (with picture of the ladders mentioned)
YouTube Video with References Regarding Brief Workouts
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
FlyLady
Change Anything by Kerry Patterson
Marie Kondo
Losing 100 Pounds with Corinne Podcast

Couldn't join us for our FREE CLASS how to work in the dumpster fire of healthcare without getting burned? Check here for the replay.
If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
If you'd like to earn CME credit for listening to this podcast, follow this link:
CME for Small Steps to Big Change Podcast
23 min
May 04, 2023 #60: What To Do When We Feel Shame and Guilt
What is the difference between feeling guilty and spiraling into shame? On today's podcast, we dive deeper into these two very poignant emotions. Shame is when the focus is on self, it's not really on a behavior. You actually label yourself as bad or negative or not good enough. Which then makes you feel unworthy of love, belonging, or connection. So it's really not a positive change driver because you really don't feel like enough. Guilt is also a feeling and it's more or less like I did something bad. So it's focused more on a behavior. It's a thought that you made a bad choice and then you get that uncomfortable feeling. Like you made the decision in a way that was against something that we value or we believe or some sort of moral standard that we have for ourselves. And so it actually can be a driver of positive change. During medical school and residency training, the constant perfectionism bred shame and it led to unhealthy coping mechanisms. We were taught that we do not make mistakes and if you did, you should feel shame. We shame each other as colleagues when we bring cases in front of peer review or M&M conference. Knowing that we all have been there and the goal is actually to learn and move on, sheds light on the dark places we go when we feel shame. Empathy is the antidote to shame and guilt. To build resiliency, we must understand that self-compassion, common humanity and mindfulness are the recipe for healing and overcoming the thoughts that breed these feelings.
Resources:
https://brenebrown.com/books-audio
Atlas of the Heart

Couldn't join us for our FREE CLASS how to work in the dumpster fire of healthcare without getting burned? Check here for the replay.
If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and online courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.
For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcomed to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime
29 min

About DRIVE TIME DEBRIEF: A Physician Wellness Podcast with The Whole Physician

From the publisher's feed

🔥 Doctors Feeling the Burnout? We’ve Been There—and We’re Here to Help You Climb Out of the Fire. 🔥

Drive Time Debrief: A Physician Wellness Podcast

Welcome to Drive Time Debrief, the anti-burnout podcast built just for physicians and healthcare providers who are ready to reclaim their joy, purpose, and well-being.

Hosted by the physician-coaches of The Whole Physician, this podcast delivers honest conversations, evidence-based tools, and practical strategies to help you navigate burnout, set boundaries, and find fulfillment in and outside of medicine.

Whether you're heading into a shift, decompressing on your commute home, or sneaking in a sanity-saving moment during your day, you’ll get bite-sized insights that speak to the *real* challenges of medical life—with compassion, candor, and a dose of humor.

If you’re tired of white-knuckling your way through your career and ready to feel like yourself again, you’re in the right place.

Episodes include:

- Physician burnout recovery stories

- Coaching tools for stress, imposter syndrome, & difficult dynamics

- Self-compassion, mindset shifts, and boundary-setting

- Conversations on career pivots, family life, and rediscovering joy

Hit subscribe and join us for a weekly debrief—because your well-being deserves to be non-negotiable.

You wouldn’t head into battle without armor, so why are we sent into the chaotic Dumpster Fire of Medicine without the tools we need to protect ourselves?

Medicine was supposed to be your calling. Instead, it feels like it’s breaking you—turning altruistic, purpose-driven, bright minds into frustrated, disillusioned, and exhausted shadows of who we used to be.

How do we know? We’ve been there. We’ve lived the long shifts, the impossible expectations, and the emotional toll. And we’ve watched too many of our peers struggle silently.

We’re The Whole Physician—three Board-Certified Emergency Physicians (and physician burnout experts) on a mission to rewrite the story of medicine. Our podcast isn’t just another pep talk. It’s a lifeline—and a quick remedy for burnout you can take with you wherever you go.

Whether you’re driving to your next shift, heading home after a long day, or taking a rare moment to breathe, our episodes are packed with practical tools and mindset shifts that actually work:

- Find hope for the future and a renewed sense of purpose

- Rediscover joy in your work and life

- Repair and strengthen relationships (even the one with yourself)

- Quiet the mental chaos and ease emotional exhaustion

- Realize you are NOT alone.

This is your space. A space where doctors like you—who keep showing up no matter what—get the care, support, and tools you deserve. You are our people. It’s about time someone put YOU first.

🎧 Ready to reclaim your hope and joy? Listen now.

Learn more at www.thewholephysician.com.

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