The SurgeonMasters Podcast

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

Jeff welcomes to the mini-podcast Ryan Inman, MBA. Ryan is the founder of Financial Residency - a free financial education podcast for physicians and Physician Wealth Services, a fee-only financial planning company. The topic of our discussion in this episode is Financial Training!

Ryan joined Jeff on the mini-podcast to talk about financial training for physicians. As the husband of a pediatric pulmonologist, he knows from personal experience that physicians are highly intelligent. Having met many of his wife’s colleagues and hearing lots of stories, he knows that surgeons don’t receive much training in managing finances for business, and perhaps more importantly for our personal goals and financial wellness (wealth).

Ryan’s goal is to arm physicians with the knowledge they never received during medical school and residency. Does that sound familiar? *Ahem, cough, SurgeonMasters.*  Ryan started the Financial Residency Podcast to help physicians increase their financial literacy. Through his experience with his financial planning, Ryan understands that many of his clients, and physicians in general, are coming out of school with over $200K in debt. Despite that, he knows that lifestyle inflation is one of the most common first mistakes that many make.

Training on any subject begins with the basics. Then knowledge and success build with repeated practice.

How do we avoid lifestyle inflation and achieve long-term financial goals?

Here’s what Ryan suggests:

• Step 1 - Take Control Early (or Now!) - Evaluate your financial situation. What is coming in? Where is your money going? Remember, it’s NEVER TOO LATE!

• Step 2 - Understand Your Financial Goals - Importantly, how will this make you happy?

• Step 3 - Create a Plan that will achieve these goals! What are your priorities so you achieve these first? Developing a plan and following it will help you get there.

While these basics steps describe WHAT needs to be done, HOW you do this is up to you. How will you improve your financial training and wealth?

Any of the above will require you to at least learn the basics. We hope you will add to your training with our podcast with Ryan Inman.

Ryan is Founder and Owner of Physician Wealth Services LLC, a fee-only financial planning firm created to help physicians and their families, like his, take control of their finances and position themselves for a bright financial future. His wife, Taylor, is a Pediatric Pulmonologist. His goal is to provide trustworthy, unbiased financial advice to dedicated, hardworking people like her.

He has an intimate knowledge of the pains, struggles, and joys that come from a career in medicine. He knows what it’s like to be buried in debt while his physician spouse makes next to nothing, spending every fourth night in the hospital. He understands what physicians are going through; he and his wife have been there.

He started his fee-only practice to help physicians sleep well at night knowing they have a trusted advisor guiding them toward financial independence. While Physician Wealth Services is his family practice, Ryan is also the host the Financial Residency podcast, a free resource to help physicians increase their financial literacy

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

Jeff welcomes back to the podcast sleep medicine specialist and Chief Medical Officer of Optimism, Dominic Munafo, MD. The topic of sleep hygiene is so important, Jeff invited Dominic back to give us more tips for simple adjustments that can improve our ability to sleep and function during important moments.

Dominic tells us that morning light sets the body’s circadian rhythm, which can impact our ability to function during the day and sleep at night. But what if we’re working during the night and need to be alert on the drive home? In this case, there is a balance we can strike between proper light exposure and limiting light to improve our alertness and sleep health.

What are three ways Dominic suggest we can improve our sleep hygiene?

• Suggestion 1 - Think about how light is impacting your body.

• Suggestion 2 - Improve the amount of sleep - quality and quantity!

• Suggestion 3 - Take a nap! Augmenting our sleep when we can is important to our long-term health.

Jeff and Dominic understand this is not easy! And yet it is so important.

“Sleep hygiene is one of my biggest struggles. On the other hand, I truly believe it is never too late to try to get better. I am taking Dominic’s knowledge to create my own plan to improve my sleep hygiene. More effective naps to recover post-call! Observing how light impacts my alertness.” - Jeff Smith

If you’re not familiar with Dominic Munafo, he is board certified in Sleep Medicine and Internal Medicine. He has more than 25 years of experience diagnosing and treating patients with sleep-disordered breathing. Dr. Munafo received his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Baylor and then completed

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

Jeff welcomes to the podcast physician (and physician coach) Dr. Michelle Mudge-Riley. Michelle is the founder of Physicians Helping Physicians and Scout A Career. The topic of our discussion in this episode is Run Towards Positive!

Michelle joined Jeff on the mini-podcast to talk about physician side-gigs - a passion of hers and the focus of a company she founded, Scout A Career. Michelle tells us that when she first transitioned to a non-clinical career, she found it incredibly challenging. Through her early personal efforts and the outreach of others in a similar position, she realized there was a big need for this type of assistance.

Now Michelle helps physicians feel hope and make changes when they’re angry or burned out. One helpful strategy Michelle champions is finding a side-gig to provide a positive alternative from the potential drudgery of routine life.

If one already has so much “to do,” how and why would one add a side gig? The benefits are numerous, and Michelle highlights strategies to have your side gig allow you to do both.

• Suggestion 1 - Choose a side-gig that will compliment your daily routine or weekly schedule. What might those be?

• Suggestion 2 - Choose a side-gig that leverages your background and training. What additional steps can you add now to bring you closer to your side-gig?

• Suggestion 3 - When you ignore the negative and run towards the positive, the process works much better.

Michelle Mudge-Riley, DO, MHA, RDN, Founder of Physicians Helping Physicians and Scout A Career, is a peer coach for other physicians. She has spent the past 15 years assisting physicians with career strategy. Her coaching specialty is long-term career strategy, exploring a non-clinical career, and optimizing physicians' skills and passions to rediscover meaning and purpose in their work.

She has conducted seminars and spoken on topics related to change management, career transition, motivation, physician burnout mitigation, wellness and health education. Dr. Mudge-Riley has also been published in a variety of books and journals including Physicians Practice magazine, ConsultantLive, The Physician Executive Journal and The DO.

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

Jeff welcomes to the podcast sleep medicine specialist and Chief Medical Officer of Optisom, Dominic Munafo, MD. The topic of discussion in this episode is Sleep Hygiene!

Most surgeons could probably use more sleep, including Jeff Smith, MD!  While that may not always seem possible, there are simple ways to improve the sleep you are already getting. If we are sleep deprived, can we minimize the long-term effects on our health? Evidence from a study out of Sweden says we can. Knowing that there is a health opportunity for sleep recovery, even surgeons can make some improvement. With improved attitude and habits about sleep, we can maximize our return on investment.   

What does Dominic suggest we do to improve our sleep hygiene?

• Suggestion 1 - Curate your sleeping environment - Your sleeping environment should be cool, dark and quiet.

• Suggestion 2 - Watch the timing of your caffeine, nicotine and alcohol intake. The body goes through alcohol withdrawal 3-4 hours after drinking.  

• Suggestion 3 - Take a Nap! A nap can boost creativity, increase alertness, reduce stress and clarify decision making.

If you’re not familiar with Dominic Munafo, he is board certified in Sleep Medicine and Internal Medicine. He has more than 25 years of experience diagnosing and treating patients with sleep-disordered breathing. Dr. Munafo received his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Baylor and then completed a Pulmonary/Critical Care fellowship at the University of California San Diego, and joined the institution’s faculty in 1993 as an Assistant Professor. In 1995, he entered private practice in San Diego and worked there until becoming Sleep Data’s Medical Director in 2000. Dr. Munafo thought that his medical training had exposed him to the extremes of sleep deprivation, but nothing could have prepared him for the sleep deprivation of being the father of three boys and a girl. He and his wife JoAnna love to swim, bike and run.

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

Jeff welcomes back to the mini-podcast advocate and SurgeonMasters team member, Paul Hiller. On this episode, the team discusses the important role asking questions plays in performance improvement.

Jeff explains that the old method of teaching and providing advice are not as effective as newer education models designed to engage critical components of the adult learning cycle. A truer path in the performance improvement process is through asking honest, contemplative questions.

What are these critical steps in the performance improvement process?

• Step 1 - Write down and ask yourself a series of self-reflective questions. You can also use The 8 PRACTICEs Performance Improvement Tool.

• Step 2 - Reflect on your notes and design a plan for performance improvement.

• Step 3 - Put YOUR plan into action!

Once you put your practice into action, repeat the cycle for continued performance improvement.

At SurgeonMasters, we are driven by a passion for performance improvement and a strong desire to deliver excellent patient care. To do so, it is critical we care for ourselves with healthy and sustainable practices that promote well-being and prevent burnout. The 8 PRACTICEs is a methodology designed to bring awareness, intention and purpose to your actions.

Asking Questions is a great example of how surgeons can improve their effectiveness inside and outside of the OR.