Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

***SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING***
This episode discusses eating disorders and suicidal ideation. If these topics are triggering for you, please listen carefully or skip this episode all together. Take care of yourselves. And if you are struggling, please seek out professional help.

A person I consider my soul sister, Dr. Jillian Rigert, comes on the podcast to talk about how a life-threatening illness led her to leave surgery and shaped the person she is today. We talk about tying external validation to worthiness, the perils of unresolved toxic shame, anorexia and what it’s like to be stigmatized by the medical community, giving up on life, survival instincts, her path back to her essential self, the beauty of being witnessed in her vulnerable truth to begin her healing journey, and how important it is for all of us to have a community of support and unconditional love. We also touch on emotional manipulation, the problems with autocratic leadership, how surgical training culture and military culture compare, and finding compassion for your inner bully. Whether that inner bully wants you to numb out with substances, overworking, disordered eating or otherwise, your inner bully NEEDS your love and compassion. And if you want to help your patients heal, stay until the end and learn how to harness mindsight with “PARTS”.

Jillian is truly a one-of-a-kind human being, a beacon of truth and light, and a resource for all of you.

As Jillian said so poignantly, “Healing requires love not shaming”

Check out Jillian's Youtube Channel, A Life True to You, her TEDx talk, and her website. You can also find her on Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram.

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Enjoy salient snippets from 2024. I left out episodes #1 and #2, which are foundational and need to be listened to from start to finish. If you haven't checked them out, go back and listen. Have a great New Year and see you all in 2025!

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Good surgeons get sued. That’s the hard truth. Even if you do everything right. Even if you establish “know, like, and trust”. When the stars align, patients sue. And, as surgeons, the cards are stacked against us.

Dr. Pensa has experienced malpractice first hand and explains what it’s like to go through the misery of being tried TWICE. She embodies what it means to become a creator when circumstances make us want to fall into victimhood. She is a wealth of knowledge and a resource for all of us. Come back to this episode any time litigation anxiety seems too big to hold.

Gita Pensa, M.D., FAAEM, is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brown University, and is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on malpractice litigation stress and physician litigation support. Her open access podcast curriculum, "Doctors and Litigation: The L Word" is an introduction to the practical and psychological preparation necessary for malpractice litigation defendants, and is now used as a teaching tool in medicine, law, and the malpractice insurance industry. She works as a consultant to medical malpractice insurance companies, hospital systems and defense attorneys, and also is a well-being and litigation performance coach for medical defendants. She has been featured in forums such as Time magazine, SXSW, NPR, and the new PBS documentary "A World of Hurt: How Medical Malpractice Fails Everyone.” You can find more about her at https://doctorsandlitigation.com/ .

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

***SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING. This podcast discusses addiction and may be triggering for some. That said, most of us are addicted to something, be it behaviors like overworking, overeating, overspending, numbing out on socials, or some other substance or behavior that creates feel-good neurotransmitters. There is no shame in the human desire for comfort, which, at its heart, is the source of addiction. Take care of yourself, seek professional help if you need it, and listen with care.***

ENT surgeon, friend from residency, and burnout coach in training, Dr. Brett Cordes comes on the podcast to talk about how and why addiction upended his seemingly perfect life. He discusses what led him down that dark path, what it was like to be investigated by the Texas Medical Board (news flash: they treat doctors like crap), and the exciting new path his life is on now. 

If we had "most likely" contests in residency like we do in high school, Brett would have easily been voted "Most Likely to Succeed". His story illustrates how none of us are exempt from mental health struggles or substance abuse. We are NOT super humans. We are regular humans navigating a challenging, identity-consuming career and doing our best to manage those inevitable moments of shame, self-doubt, inadequacy, and suffering without crashing and burning. 

Does Brett's story resonate? He is a resource for you! Find him on instagram @the.burnoutdoc or email [email protected].

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Surgeons are humans, and all humans err. In this episode you’ll learn how to become the “architect of your experience” in the face of intraoperative mistakes. You'll also learn how fear and anxiety shrink cognitive capacity, and what you can do instead to expand your brain space. Take these immediately actionable and science-based tools with you to the OR, and you’ll be ready when mistakes are inevitably made.

Listen to Dr. Feldman Barrett’s talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_feldman_barrett_you_aren_t_at_the_mercy_of_your_emotions_your_brain_creates_them?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Learn about Internal Family Systems and “No Bad Parts” by Dr. Richard Schwartz here: https://ifs-institute.com/nobadparts

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Creating connections with patients can be fun and easy...if you know a few simple hacks. In this episode, otolaryngologist and veteran podcaster, Dr. Brad Block, enlightens us on how to give patients our presence simply and easily. Use these tips and you'll create relationships in which 1. patients feel seen, heard, and cared for, 2. you protect your time, and 3. you get rave reviews and explode your reputation.

You'll learn:
- how it's not about shaming yourself for not listening deeply enough but instead about showing up with presence
- that giving patients your presence is an investment that actually saves you time
- the importance of engaging with patients about a subject that's completely different than medicine
- what it means to appreciate how their symptoms affect them and how that makes them feel
- the power of noticing eye color
- how bringing enthusiasm and humor can elevate the patient's experience
- what it means to identify the "question behind the question" and how to use your "marmoset response"
- how we are uniquely positioned to build patient self-confidence and self-efficacy

Bradley Block, MD, is a general otolaryngologist and partner at ENT and Allergy Associates on Long Island. He is the creator and host of the Physician’s Guide to Doctoring, a personal and professional development podcast for practicing physicians, which has over 400 episodes and almost half a million downloads. This covers all topics that affect the lives of physicians, in and out of the exam room, one of which is doctor-patient communication. He is also the CEO and the Doctor Podcast Network, which provides community and services to physician podcasters.

PhysiciansGuidetoDoctoring.com
@physiciansguide on Instagram, Twitter, Threads
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradley-block-md-1712a6127/
https://www.youtube.com/@physiciansguidetodoctoring

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Physician contract lawyer, Michael Johnson, comes on the podcast to talk about protecting your freedom and your value, and getting it in writing. First, you must get clear on what you want. You may think it’s a big paycheck, but your desires often evolve, and you do yourself a service to make room for future changes of heart. Then, make sure you understand your employer's motivations. What do they want from you? Approach the negotiation with a mindset that you are actually hiring them. You’re the highly skilled and knowledgeable asset, and you get to decide how much you want to pay a potential employer to take care of the back-end business stuff.

Some take aways:
- There are 3 main components of physician contracts: work obligations, compensation, and exit strategy
- Employers may have the power to unilaterally change your work obligation clauses; look for this in your contract
- 40% of physicians change jobs in the first 5 years, so know the legal and financial penalties of exit (how much will it cost me if I change my mind?)
- Get clear on what's most important to you: control and autonomy, scholarship, or compensation?
- There are 3 established insurance-based practice models: true classic academic, perpetual employment, and business owner/private practice
- Direct care/concierge is the one practice model that gives you 100% control, freedom, and autonomy, but it comes with potentially more risk and less upfront compensation
- You are a small business, and your potential employer is an entity to which you outsource the business end of medicine--billing, collections, equipment, staffing, marketing, etc.
- Employers can still subtly or not-so-subtly discriminate against women and BIPOC physicians even if they have standardized the compensation plan
-Don’t let financial needs blind you, and always prepare to pivot
- Everything is negotiable, even if they say it’s “non-negotiable”

Follow Michael on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/physiciancontracts
Get his course here: https://physiciancontracts.com/

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Author, speaker, and coach, Brad Stulberg comes on the podcast to talk about what surgeons can learn from performance athletes. He researches and writes about mental health, mastery, meaning, and excellence. He is bestselling author of the books The Practice of Groundedness and Master of Change. He regularly contributes to the New York Times and his work has also been featured in the Atlantic and Wall Street Journal, among other publications. He is a co-founder of the Growth Equation, a newsletter and media platform dedicated to the art, science, and practice of excellence.

Some of the pearls we cover in this conversation:
- Building a strong foundation to ride the highs and lows
- Becoming okay with acute failure to achieve chronic gain
- Addressing failure to achieve mastery
- Consistency over intensity
- How simplifying your practice can monumentally improve your life
- The importance of going all in in a way that is sustainable
- Striving is the point
- World class suffering does not equate to world class performance
- Minimum effective dosing to diversify your identity beyond "surgeon"
- 3 causes of physician burnout
- The clutch state and raising the floor
- Stress + Rest = Growth
- Showing up as a fallible human to create psychological safety for your team
- The middle ground is where genuine excellence lives
- Anyone can crush the day, but it takes intention and compassion to sustain excellence

Here's how to find him and work with him:

https://www.instagram.com/bradstulberg/

www.bradstulberg.com

https://t.co/6XWf8OT0it

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”-Viktor Frankl.

This episode is all about the space between stimulus and response, circumstance and action, event and reaction. That space is an opportunity.

In this podcast, I discuss what happens internally when you get the dreaded postop call, "Doctor, your patient is bleeding (or insert postop problem here)". I explore what happens in your brain when you let yourself react by default vs accepting the invitation to enter the space and consciously meeting the moment.

Learn more about Laura Jack and the Compassion Code Academy here: https://www.laurajack.com/

Get her book here: https://thecompassioncodeacademy.com/book/

I want to hear from you! Email me your story at [email protected] or text me at 262-893-0303.

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

If you get the pre-OR jitters or you deal with anxiety on a daily basis, these two lessons on anxiety will be exceptionally useful for you. As someone who has dealt with anxiety my entire life, standing on the TEDx stage was a pinnacle moment for me where my self concept evolved from someone who is terrified of public speaking to someone who can deliver a powerful speech for an audience of humans. I used two concepts to ground me in my purpose before standing on the red dot, and you can use these same concepts to ground you before you operate.

If you have a big idea to share, Cesar can help you get to the stage! Join his mentorship here: https://www.cesarcervantes.tv/

I highly recommend Simon Sinek’s courses to hone your delivery and understand your “why”: https://simonsinek.com/

I want to hear from you! Email me your story at [email protected] or text me at 262-893-0303.

Get all your free resources here: melthackercoaching.com/resources

www.melthackercoaching.com