The Doctor's Journal, with Dr. Larry Burchett, MD

My good friend Kai Brown returns from Australia, with his unique perspective as an Australian living in the US over a decade, having lived in the pandemic in both countries, and how different they did it.  The US has over 31,000,000 confirmed Covid cases to Australias 31,000, with over 560,000 deaths in the US vs under 1000 (909 to be exact) in Australia.  Kai's experience, of quarantine when he arrived, of police enforced and fines to traveling between states and their contact tracing, show why our pandemic is a complete embarrassment on the world stage, with half a million gone because of it.  Some of this was hard for me to talk about...history will not be kind to America on this one.  But this podcast offers a unique perspective from a man in both worlds.  

No, it's not over, but the pandemic has started to end.  Now what?  What am I going to do without another fire to put out? What's next? For me, and for you. Making a plan for our mental health.  Getting our mammograms and prostate checks so we don't get cancer. And putting a trip on the calendar 6 months out.  That's what I think's next.

Your mental health is private. There remain many barriers to helping people feeling better, like stigma and shame. If you or someone close is thinking about hurting themselves, call 1-800-273-8255 (TALK), go to the nearst ER or Crisis Stabilization Unit.  Here's what we do in the ER for suicidal folks.

This part may be hard for you but, this discussion is not about what's best for your patients or society--it's about what's best for YOU, helping YOU pull through, - Pandemic Burnout with Dr. Dike Drummond, Burnout Specialist - helping you recharge, and call me ambitious, even get YOU from survival to KICK ASS. It can be done. I've seen it. And I look forward to supporting YOU as you both fight the most meaningful battle we've got, and care for the most important soldier (yourself). Can we really go from Burnout to Inspired, in the middle of the pandemic? 

Having breakfast with ER nurse Shelby on a day without any patients, I just hit record, and you get to be a fly on the wall...let's just say Shelby speaks her mind.  Let the distracting sounds ground you to our break room breakfast.  Shelby refused the vaccine, I challenge her, we talk Covid and small towns, and then...Cathy, our housekeeper, who was curiously watching for 20 minutes, chimes in and steals the show, revealing how she ended up in California from New York (by literally throwing a dart at a map), and she tells the story of how she was shot by a friend but lied to the police when she was a teenager.  This might be my favorite episode yet.  It starts slow, but starts to heat up minute 20 or 30 when Cathy enters...

The second half of our conversation about burnout, moral injury and medicine. The frustration of working in a system fundamentally not really about what is best for the patient, limited by money, profits and big powers. Dr Jenab shares on her own burnout, and we talk about what to do about it.

What exactly does a contact tracer do? What is the biggest source of COVID19 in her experience making calls? What makes her remain optimistic?  Why did she decide to help out as a contact tracer?  Contact Tracer Rene Mulligan informed me of what it's like, which I'd never heard the inside scoop before, very interesting.

Focusing on the intersection between healthcare, our economy and the political divide. Dr. Jones and I have a conversation about his perspective and learnings on how we can come back stronger and more united after the pandemic.
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Proud father and husband who also happens to be a primary care physician, Dr. Kermit was raised on a small farm in South Haven, Michigan and spent much of his childhood taking care of cows, chickens and harvesting blueberries. After obtaining engineering and chemistry degrees from Georgia Tech and Clark Atlanta University, he attended Medical and Law School at Duke University, in North Carolina.From 2007 to 2009, Kermit proudly and honorably served his country as a Navy casualty evacuation doctor with a Marine helicopter squadron out of Camp Pendleton, California. And he served as a White House Fellow in 2012. Currently he practices internal medicine and advises on health policy in Northern California. He is a member of the California bar and speaks Hindi and Urdu.

& this is how I feel.

Back from vacation, I walked into a full ER overflowing with hospital admits with nowhere to go. The surge is real. Good thing I'm rested. Also, let's talk about how burnt out medical folks can survive this pandemic.