I Don't Care

While there have been many downsides to the unexpected changes we all needed to make in 2020, there were also improvements made to how we work and live. The upsurge in telemedicine is an example of such progress made in the face of adversity. On the latest episode of I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson spoke with Dr. Adam Saltman, Chief Medical Officer, Eko about the integration of telemedicine with digital technology and AI.

Telemedicine can allow for more convenient access to care and can help keep patients and health care providers safe. That being said, there are some crucial missing components that can limit the quality of patient care. For example, physicians cannot listen to their patients’ bodies on their own via video conference. Really listening to the patient's heart, lungs, and bowel sounds through a stethoscope can typically only happen face to face. Eko closes this divide between physicians and patients with their digital stethoscopes, which transmit high fidelity sounds to remote physicians in real time as if they were at the bedside. In addition, Eko AI analysis algorithms help physicians screen for AFib and heart murmurs.

According to Dr. Saltman, if they have the right technology available to them, physicians can overcome the distance based challenges of telemedicine. “When I listened to physicians say things like, ‘Well, I don't think a Zoom call is a really good physical exam,’ they're right. It's not a good physical exam,” Dr. Saltman said. However, he feels that if he can give them an EKG and therefore can give them heart sounds, lung sounds, bowel sounds, and whatever else they want to listen to, they can make telemedicine work. “Combined with that video, now they feel a lot more comfortable. They're getting a real medical evaluation. And the patients too, they feel that, wow my doctor actually listened to me even though I'm far away,” Dr. Saltman explained.

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While 2020 was a year of change and challenges for many, nurses, in particular, have risen to the occasion and shown up to provide support in a time when they are needed most. Their bravery, hard work and compassion during the coronavirus pandemic is something none of us should ever take for granted.

Kevin Stevenson, host, I Don't Care had the chance to speak to Dr. Karen Wade, Author, Career Clarity for Nurses about some of the issues hospital administrators and nurses are dealing with during the pandemic.

It’s understandable that many nurses are feeling burnout after months of working on the front lines. Dr. Ward wrote a book designed to help nurses stay on the job in the face of COVID-19 challenges and other pressing issues related to healthcare system flaws.

She explained that, even before the pandemic, there was a high rate of nurses considering leaving their jobs, and that number has increased from around 40% to 60% since the pandemic hit.

“I think that there's going to be kind of a reckoning at the end of this. I think a lot of nurses, just out of a sense of duty and devotion, are hanging in there as long as they can. But, at the end, I think they're going to take a breath, and they're dealing with a certain amount of trauma that they are exposed to every day, and they're going to need to take care of themselves,” Dr. Ward said.

She explained that nurses simply don’t have time to take care of themselves in the way they need to right now, and there may come a time when the dust settles that they begin to re-evaluate their future.

“Do I still want to do this? How do I take care of myself? It's going to be like a post-trauma, post-crisis experience, and it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. But we're trying to put programs in place now to help to help people have options to be able to deal with those issues,” Dr. Ward noted.

To continue this important conversation on the challenges nurses and healthcare workers are facing during the pandemic, check out the latest episode of I Don’t Care.

While 2020 has been a year of change and challenges for many, nurses in particular have risen to the occasion and have shown up to provide support in a time when they are needed most. Their bravery, hard work, and compassion during the coronavirus pandemic is something none of us should ever take for granted. Kevin Stevenson, Host, I Don't Care had the chance to speak to Dr. Karen Wade, Author, Career Clarity for Nurses, about some of the issues hospital administrators and nurses are dealing with during the pandemic.

It’s understandable that many nurses are feeling burnout after months of working on the frontlines. Dr. Ward wrote a book designed to help nurses stay on the job when many want to quit due to COVID-19 and other pressing issues related to healthcare system flaws. She explained that even before the pandemic, there was a high rate of nurses considering leaving their jobs and that number has increased from around 40% to 60% since the pandemic hit. “I think that there's going to be kind of a reckoning at the end of this. I think a lot of nurses just out of a sense of duty and devotion are hanging in there as long as they can. But at the end, I think they're going to take a breath and they're dealing with a certain amount of trauma that they are exposed to every day and they're going to need to take care of themselves,” Dr. Ward said.

She explained that nurses simply don’t have time to take care of themselves in the way they need to right now and there may come a time when the dust settles that they begin to reevaluate their future. “Do I still want to do this? How do I take care of myself? It's going to be like a post trauma, post crisis experience and it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. But we're trying to put programs in place now to help to help people have options to be able to deal with those issues,” Dr. Ward noted.

To continue this important conversation on the challenges nurses and healthcare workers are facing during the pandemic, check out the latest episode of I Don’t Care.

Prior to March of 2020, Oliver Esman, Managing Partner, Strawn Arnold & Associates did the vast majority of his recruiting work face to face. Today, Esman reports that 95% of their recruiting work is done virtually. “I spend my life on Teams and Zoom and FaceTime and people are adapting to it. You know, I think before people were worried that they were missing something on a virtual interview, missing the personality, not getting all the information, really getting a true sense of the candidate. And that’s just people have gotten more comfortable with doing things virtually,” Esman said.

This week on I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson sat down with Rajesh Midha, Chief Strategy & Operating Officer of Bottle Rocket, to discuss how the company has personalized digital care through smart navigation that removes the pain points patients experience.

Midha detailed how the company started in 2008 on the day after Steve Careers announced the Apple app store. Since then, Bottle Rocket has worked with leading healthcare providers to improve their patient journey, efforts that culminated with the creation of the highest-paid patient app in the country with a 4.8 rating in the app store.

It’s the first video episode of “I Don’t Care” and we’re starting strong! Join Kevin as he talks with Jaret Reddick, the founder, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of Bowling for Soup.

Jaret takes Kevin through his long battle with depression, including the struggle of just talking about it out in the open, and the effect it was having on him while he was on the road touring. “You never know what somebody is dealing with internally.” Jaret notes that, while he was initially afraid of what people would say when he revealed his internal struggles, the reaction he gets more than anything is gratitude for his willingness to speak on it.

Mental health is a topic that was trending well before the pandemic took its toll, but it is even more important that we have open conversations about mental health now. Pathways to Empower, which provides resources to help teach people the brain science of building resilience and fostering mental health is doing just that.

Kevin Stevenson, Host, I Don’t Care had the opportunity to speak with Donna Volpita, Founder & Education Director, Pathways to Empower to learn more about how we can all work towards mental wellness. One way to keep the conversation going on such a challenging topic is to embrace mental health literacy. “Literacy is just an understanding of a subject. So mental health literacy is just the ability to understand and talk about mental health. So just like, you know, literacy in terms of books is can you talk about reading? Can you have a discussion about the novel? And math is having discussions about math things, but mental health literacy, right now, there's such a stigma,” Volpita said.

She went on to explain that teaching people how to take care of their mental health is just as important as teaching them about physical health. That being said, Volpita acknowledges that these conversations are not easy to have. “But we don't talk about mental health and very few people feel comfortable talking about mental health. Now, we are seeing that this next generation is much more comfortable,” Volpita noted.

Her goal is to make mental health much more of a common discussion. “We would like to change the paradigm in mental health to be more about being proactive. How do we prevent mental health issues rather than being reactive and only be about treating mental health issues?” Volpita said.

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The world's largest trade association, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) represents over 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations spanning the United States and more than 30 other nations. A proactive voice of science and for science that will drive a “bio revolution”, BIO is committed to speaking up for the millions of families around the globe who depend upon their success, driving a revolution that aims to cure patients, protect our climate, and nourishes humanity by:

Uniting and empowering biotech innovators and their ecosystem to improve lives

Removing barriers to innovation

Championing broad access to biotech breakthroughs and scientific equality

Catalyzing resilient and sustainable bio-based economies

Dr. Jeremy Levin, Chairman & CEO of Ovid Therapeutics Inc., and BIO’s Executive Committee Board Chair, joins Kevin Stevenson, host of MarketScale’s I Don’t Care podcast, to discuss his company, which concentrates on discovering cures for rare diseases of the brain, why the primary focus of his career has been on finding medicines, and BIO’s role in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“I joined BIO with the idea that new medicines are important to people—they’re important to you, important to me. I wanted us to put the track of the industry only on finding new medicines to cure diseases. When COVID hit, the biotech industry stepped forward,” stated Levin. “This is not one company—this is multiples companies. This is not one approach to vaccines—there are at least six different approaches. This is not simply companies making products—you’ve got to have a safe drug and an effective drug. And we have one arbiter for that, and I am proud to work with them every day of the week—that’s the FDA.”

Listen to Previous Episodes of MarketScale’s I Don’t Care Right Here!

A best-selling author, a by-lined CIO Magazine columnist, and host of the highly-subscribed The Big Unlock podcast featuring healthcare and technology C-level executives, Paddy Padmanabhan is the CEO and Founder of Damo Consulting—a growth strategy and digital transformation advisory firm that works with healthcare enterprises and global technology companies. In response to the pandemic and changing consumer preferences, Padmanabhan, along with co-author Ed Marx, recently released his second book Healthcare Digital Transformation: How Consumerism, Technology, and Pandemic are Accelerating the Future, an essential handbook and guide for digital health and digital transformation leaders in healthcare.

And on this episode of MarketScale’s I Don’t Care podcast, host Kevin Stevenson sits down with Padmanabhan to discuss the sudden upscaling of virtual care capacity, the mainstreaming of telehealth, the mounting momentum of healthcare digital transformation, and the cybersecurity risks that are sure to accelerate concurrently.