On Becoming a Healer
Health & Wellness Podcasts
Two physicians, through dialogue and interviews, take a critical look at medical training and the culture of medicine and explore how interpersonal boundary clarity and the capacity to fully engage are essential to effective medical practice, mentoring, medical education, and a nourishing career. This podcast builds on Dr. Weiner’s book, On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). Hosted by Saul J. Weiner MD, and Stefan Kertesz MD MSc
Two physicians, through dialogue and interviews, take a critical look at medical training and the culture of medicine and explore how interpersonal boundary clarity and the capacity to fully engage are essential to effective medical practice, mentoring, medical education, and a nourishing career. This podcast builds on Dr. Weiner’s book, On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). Hosted by Saul J. Weiner MD, and Stefan Kertesz MD MSc
Location:
United States
Genres:
Health & Wellness Podcasts
Description:
Two physicians, through dialogue and interviews, take a critical look at medical training and the culture of medicine and explore how interpersonal boundary clarity and the capacity to fully engage are essential to effective medical practice, mentoring, medical education, and a nourishing career. This podcast builds on Dr. Weiner’s book, On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). Hosted by Saul J. Weiner MD, and Stefan Kertesz MD MSc
Twitter:
@OnHealer
Language:
English
Episodes
Rescuing medical professionalism: Could “cup-of-coffee conversations” do more good than committees and letters-to-the-file?
5/26/2022
Medical students may be subject to professionalism review by committees, most commonly for “unreliability” such as not responding to emails, falling behind on compliance requirements, showing up late for assignments and so on. Then they hit the wards, and frequently experience mistreatment by residents and attendings (many of whom also don’t answer their emails etc…), most commonly in the form of public humiliation. This seems like a recipe for cynicism and burnout, rather than growth as a...
Duration:00:36:57
Why Residents Unionize
4/21/2022
Many residents are not doing well, psychologically, and sometimes physically -- and with good reason. High levels of mistreatment and harassment, patient care that some experience as moral injury, and a lack of voice in the workplace, contribute to burnout and can adversely affect the kind of physicians people become. A growing path to empowerment is unionization. What are resident and fellow unions doing to create healthier training environments? Today we hear from a recent residency...
Duration:00:35:46
Opioids and the physician-patient relationship: What are we getting wrong?
3/15/2022
The opioid crisis was precipitated by physicians overprescribing opioid pain medication, egged on by the pharmaceutical industry, contributing to suffering and death from addiction and overdose. Now, many physicians are forcibly cutting patients off of opioids and refusing to prescribe in the setting of a backlash, contributing to suffering from pain, and death from suicide. Saul and Stefan consider some of the striking similarities in how we -- the medical profession -- are getting it wrong...
Duration:00:39:10
False Positives Traumatize Patients...If Clinicians Aren't Careful
1/19/2022
On January 1st, the New York Times ran a story about prenatal genetic tests that are "usually wrong" -- but they got it wrong. These are actually just tests to tell if someone is high risk. The real story is that clinicians are not communicating with patients about what these tests mean, causing confusion and trauma. This happens across medicine and we discuss how to avoid it.
Duration:00:30:14
Healing Interactions: What are they made of?
12/26/2021
There are two qualities we may experience in others who comfort and ground us when we feel vulnerable and lost. First that they engage with us, meaning that they are fully present with a sense of shared humanity. Second, that they respect our personal boundaries and know their own. Such boundary clarity makes them a safe sounding board. In this episode, first aired last May, we explore the interdependence of engagement and boundary clarity and their essential role in healing interactions.
Duration:00:27:54
Kind People on Airplanes
11/24/2021
Lately we've been hearing about bad behavior on airplanes. Here we discuss an incident in which a passenger unselfconsiously stepped up at an inconvenient time to assist a group of passengers in a tough spot. Saul and Stefan reflect on the qualities of people who go through life making the world a better place in small ways. As millions travel during Thanksgiving, we thought this episode (originally released last year) might inspire those flying the not-always friendly skies.
Duration:00:19:33
When an attending yells at a resident
10/28/2021
Our guest, a physician a few years out of residency, describes an experience from her training when an attending yelled at her and hung up the phone when they were discussing a patient. We talk about resident abuse, its impact on patient care, and what can be done about it.
Duration:00:25:49
When your patient has a Swastika tattoo
9/9/2021
Our guest, a resident physician, describes her reaction and what followed, when she discovered a symbol of hate tattooed on her hospitalized patient's leg. Most of us appreciate that as physicians we don't get to choose who are patients are, and that all deserve good care. But is there more to it than that? Can one grow as a physician and person, and even feel privileged when caring for patients who one might otherwise shun?
Duration:00:38:56
About me being racist: A conversation that follows an apology
7/28/2021
Saul reached out to a former colleague whom he worked with closely so that he could apologize for something he did many years ago that he now sees as racist. Saul is a white man and his former colleague, a subordinate at the time, is a black woman. Because of his apology, along with their longstanding relationship, they are able to have an open and honest conversation about how it affected her life, why it happened and how to prevent and respond to racist behavior in the workplace. Stefan...
Duration:00:47:03
About me being racist: A conversation that follows an apology
7/24/2021
Saul reached out to a former colleague whom he worked with closely so that he could apologize for something he did many years ago that he now sees as racist. Saul is a white man and his former colleague, a subordinate at the time, is a black woman. Because of his apology, along with their longstanding relationship, they are able to have an open and honest conversation about how it affected her life, why it happened and how to prevent and respond to racist behavior in the workplace. Stefan...
Duration:00:47:03
The Dartmouth Debacle: Why the culture of medical education needs to change
6/21/2021
In a widely reported incident, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine accused, suspended and expelled medical students for cheating based on faulty data -- and then retracted the decision amidst a large public backlash. During the episode students were allegedly given only 2 minutes to defend themselves and were encouraged to plead guilty. When they complained about the administration online, the school passed a policy on social media that would ban some forms of communication. In this episode,...
Duration:00:47:12
Vaccine Hesitancy and the Doctor-Patient Relationship
5/17/2021
A primary care doctor in solo practice in a small mid-west city who is deeply trusted by his patients talks about talking about vaccine hesitancy.
Duration:00:23:35
Engagement and Boundary Clarity:
5/9/2021
We feel safe and can open up in conversations when there is full and open engagement combined with a clear, respectful sense of personal boundaries. Why are such exchanges so rare and yet so important to medical practice and to the good life?
Duration:00:32:11
Judgementalism
3/22/2021
Physicians are neither judges nor God, and yet we seem prone to judge our patients...and ourselves. Saul and Stefan discuss.
Duration:00:25:37
Contextualizing Care: What it means and why it matters
1/19/2021
Saul and his research team have listened to and analyzed thousands of audio recordings of medical encounters for clinician attention to the life context of each patient when planning their care. Here is what they've learned.
Duration:00:27:13
Part 2: International Medicine
1/3/2021
In Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Bhalla, hear what makes for a good fit for a long term career practicing medicine and leading projects in international settings
Duration:00:25:15
Part 1. International Medicine
1/3/2021
A physician describes what attracted her to international medicine where she’s worked for Doctors Without Borders in many challenging places. Guest: Naina Bhalla MD, MPH
Intro and Outro are Prelude by J.S Bach, arranged by Sophocles Papas, with permission from Carl Fischer. Also, Largo from Four Seasons by Vivaldi, arranged Per-Olov Kindgren. Guitar played by Saul Weiner.
Duration:00:43:52
My Learning Disability
11/29/2020
Stefan interviews Saul about his experiences becoming a doctor with a learning disability, leading to questions such as: Does struggling with multiple choice tests mean you won't be a good doctor? How do grades shape our self image and the culture of medicine?
Duration:00:21:46
Asking patients "Why?"
11/10/2020
What should a doctor do when a patient behaves in a way that doesn't seem to make sense? Saul and Stefan discuss a case.
Duration:00:16:10
Part 2: “This is what I trained for.”
10/31/2020
In Part 2 of our interview with Dr. John Scala, hear how an experienced primary care physician in solo practice responds to the pandemic, particularly as he thinks about the physician-patient relationship, the well being of his staff, and personal risk.
Duration:00:28:11