Leadership! - Life Improvement Strategies for the Surgeon Who Wants More... in 10 Minutes - Episode 32

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 Basil Besh, MD, orthopaedic hand surgeon and physician leader. The topic of discussion is leadership, a quality Basil describes as natural to physicians and “intrinsic to the profession.”

Whether or not you take on a more prominent role as a leader, you are leading your patients and care teams. You must actively work to develop this leadership skill over time. When you graduate medical school you are not the same leader you will be 10 or 20 years into your career.

So what steps does Basil suggest we take to improve as leaders?

• Step 1 - Seek out other good leaders, guidance and knowledge.
• Step 2 - Keep working and advancing this craft.
• Step 3 - Don’t drink your own Kool-Aid. Stay grounded.

Most importantly, simultaneously leading and following will lay the groundwork for continued improvement as a physician leader for your patients and your colleagues.

Basil R. Besh, M.D., is a board certified orthopaedic surgeon specializing in hand, wrist, and elbow conditions in Fremont, California. He serves in numerous leadership roles, including 2018 president of the California Orthopaedic Association, and as a member of the Board of Directors of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the AAOS Board of Councilors, and the board of directors of the Western Orthopaedic Association.

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

The Now! - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 31

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

On this episode, Jeff welcomes back Karla McLaren, our Healthy Empathy expert to the mini-podcast. Karla shares with us her concerns about the level of compassion fatigue and burnout in our healthcare system. She indicates that a big part of the problem is the emotion work we do day-in and day-out, as well as the lack of acknowledgement we pay to this type of work.

So what can we do?

Karla suggests we bring cognitive awareness to the situation and the work we’re doing.

Here are three steps to bring a mindful, cognitive pause to your emotional work:

Step 1 - Get in the Moment: Stop what you are doing (no matter how briefly). Allow yourself to acknowledge your emotion.
Step 2 - Name the Emotion: Use an adjective to name the emotion you are experiencing.
Step 3 - See What You’re Doing: Add a breath and allow your mind to process the moment - “The Now!”

Most importantly, adding this cognitive pause brings increased awareness to the emotion work we do and gives us another tool to hopefully prevent or manage burnout.

If you’re not familiar with Karla McLaren, M.Ed, she is an award-winning author and social science researcher. Her lifelong work focuses on her grand unified theory of emotions, which revalues even the most “negative” emotions and opens startling new pathways into self-awareness, effective communication, and healthy empathy. She is the founder and CEO of Emotion Dynamics, LLC. Karla is also the author of The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill (2013), The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings are Trying to Tell You (2010), and the multimedia online course Emotional Flow: Becoming Fluent in the Language of Emotions (2012).

The Now is a perfect example of how surgeons can improve their effectiveness inside and outside of the OR.

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Get To! - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 30

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

On this episode, Jeff welcomes back Dr. Todd Swenning to discuss the importance of “Get To!”

Todd points out that compromise is often defined in negative terms. If we want to encourage conflict resolution, collaboration, and teamwork - we need to shift to a positive approach.  

To do this, Todd suggests several ideas to practice: 

• We get to solve these complex problems.
• We get to adjust our language from “have to” to one of “get to,” “will do,” or “going to.”
• We get to experience the rewards of this win-win mindset.

Most importantly, start changing your language to "Get To" to improve the collaborative success. 

Dr. Todd Swenning is the Director of Orthopaedic Trauma at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California, and Medical Director for the Institute of Clinical Orthopedics and Neurosciences. He is actively involved in policy making and advocacy with the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, as well as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. His dedication to education, teaching and patient advocacy have led to national and international humanitarian trips. 

"Get To" is a perfect example of how surgeons can improve their effectiveness inside and outside of the OR.

Safe Haven - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 29

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

On this episode of the podcast, Jeff welcomes back spine surgeon and chronic pain researcher Dr. David Hanscom to discuss how our home should be a safe haven away from negativity and judgment. This seems like a no-brainer, yet David and Jeff indicate that it might not be as simple as it sounds. Whether we realize it or not, we often bring emotional baggage home from work, which can directly impact our relationships with loved ones.

David explains that our families and loved ones are our greatest source of support and ALSO our biggest triggers that feed pain, anxiety and stress. When we create a safe haven in the home, we can foster more of the love and support versus those triggers that promote negative feelings.

A safe haven in the home leads to healthier lives and more enjoyable medical practices. 

To do this, David suggests several steps to start creating a safe haven: 

• Step 1: Leave negativity and anger outside of the house. Step outside if you need to argue.

• Step 2: Involve your family in the process and never discuss pain (work stress and anxiety). 

• Step 3: Listen and do not give advice.

Creating a safe haven in our homes provides a barrier or respite from the stress and anxiety that comes with the practice of medicine in our current environment. 

If you aren't familiar with Dr. David Hanscom, he is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in complex spine problems. He's co-founder of “Awake at the Wound,” a process which brings athletic performance principles into the operating room. He's also the founder of the Direct your Own Care project (DOC), a structured rehabilitation protocol for chronic pain, and author of Back in Control: A Spine Surgeon’s Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain.

Making your home a Safe Haven is a perfect example of how surgeons can improve their effectiveness inside and outside of the OR.

Learn more from Dr. Hanscom on his website at www.BackinControl.com or on his program pages:

Create a Safe Haven – Family 
Healing Begins at Home – DOC Starting Point 

Batching - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 28

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

On this episode, Jeff welcomes back Jonathan Cabin to the mini-podcast. Jonathan and Jeff share with us a social media strategy we can use as a performance improvement tool in our personal and professional lives - Batching!  Jon describes batching for Jeff as a system for completing all of your social media tasks at once to avoid disruption and improve productivity. He explains that batching similar tasks can help improve our time management by minimizing instances of switching costs.
 

To do this, Jonathan suggests several steps to start: 

• Step 1: Choose a recurring task you complete on a regular basis, like posting on social media or checking email. 

• Step 2: Set an intention around batching the task you choose. 

• Step 3: Implement your batching system and monitor it for continual improvement! 

Most importantly, by implementing a system to complete all similar tasks at once you avoid disruption and improve productivity.

If you're not familiar with Dr. Jonathan Cabin, he is a board-certified facial plastic & reconstructive surgeon with a private practice in Beverly Hills, California. His areas of expertise include surgical and non-surgical facial rejuvenation, primary and revision rhinoplasty, facial reconstruction, and migraine surgery. In addition to caring for his patients, Dr. Cabin writes on the topics of performance-enhancement for physicians, surgical coaching, and bringing joy and meaning back into the practice of medicine. 

Batching is a perfect example of how surgeons can improve their effectiveness inside and outside of the OR.

What other ways can a batching strategy improve performance? Email Team@surgeonmasters.com your system of batching!