Tebowing Your Message: Applying the Principles of Tebowmania to Your Endeavors

Well, the Broncos' season is over, but not before Tim Tebowmania reached a fever pitch.  I knew it was nearing insanity when both my wife and mother-- neither of whom had ever watched an NFL game on their own before-- each independently told me they were planning on spending their Saturday night watching the game.  Needless to say, I was amazed.

It seems like everyone has an opinion on Tim Tebow.  Some people love him, others hate him.  The one thing that's agreed upon, however, is that everyone is talking about him.

What I find most remarkable is not that a young football player has taken the country by storm, but how he's done it and how clear has been his message.

Ask anyone-- and I mean anyone-- what they think about when they think of Tim Tebow and I bet you get a handful of answers, but they're all centered around Tebow's faith, his values, and his clean-cut image.

Now, you might think Tebow is an idiot, or you disagree with his message, or you think he's an overhyped player, but the key is that you're thinking about him and you know what he stands for.

Stop and think about that for a minute: When you think about Tim Tebow, you don't first think about football, you think about his message.

And I find that fascinating.

Whether you agree with Te

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Physicians + Money Management

If you've been in medicine for even a little while, you know there are a number of taboo subjects that just aren't discussed.

One of the most important discussions that medical students do not have while in training is the subject of money and overall financial management.

Last, at our most recent Medical Fusion Conference I was able to sit down with Dr. Setu Mazumdar, an Emergency Medicine physician turned financial manager.  Setu gives his perspective of "financial independence" in this interview.  Check it out...it's worth watching.  Hopefully, by learning a bit about finances while in training you'll avoid some of the common pitfalls of physicians and money.

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Emergency Medicine + Perception Problems

I was thinking this week about how Emergency Medicine physicians are perceived in busy Emergency Departments.

For those of you who aren't medical people or don't work in Emergency Medicine, a busy ER is a crazy place.  There is a constant push to make every action more efficient.  Patients are being taken to and discharged from rooms as quickly as possible so the ill in the waiting room can be evaluated.  Activities that aren't completely necessary are eliminated, simply because of the crush of needy people waiting for care.  

There is a mountain of medical literature discussing the issue of ER overcrowding, and a current focus on training physicians to eliminate any testing that isn't absolutely required.  Twenty years ago physicians working in ERs did full work ups on patients.  Today, the focus is on singling out that handful of tests that will give the physician a clear picture of the patient's pathology, so a decision can be made as soon as possible and the patient moved into the hospital or discharged home.  

Now, insert into this chaos two physicians, we'll call them Dr. Flippant and Dr. Effective (for the sake of comparing two styles and nothing more, let's make these physicians both male).

Dr. Flippant walks into a patient room having barely reviewed the chart.  He interacts with the patient in a superficial way, barely asking questions because he really isn't interested.  He does a cursory physical exam, orders no tests, and sends the patient home.  His total time in the patient's room is under three minutes, after the patient waited hours to see him. 

Now let's look at Dr. Effective.

Dr. Effective walks into a patient room having thoroughly reviewed the patient's data.  Because his ER is so busy, he begins his patient assessment the moment he enters the room, guaging the patient for unlabored breathing, ability to move in a symmetric and balanced way, and appropriate responses to questions.  He notes the color of the patient's eyes and skin, the smell of the room, and whether the patient is perspiring.  All these things are taken in within the first few moments of the physician-patient interaction.  Dr. Effective asks a few questions that are targeted, and purposely phrased to limit long responses but give maximum data for his decision making.  He does a focused physical exam, limiting the exam to the body part or parts that will quickly allow him to determine if this patient needs further testing.  Once complete, his very targeted-- yet appropriate and effective-- assessment has determined that the patient needs no further testing, and he sends the patient home.  His total time in the patient's room is under three minutes, after the patient waited hours to see him.

Now here's the problem with the perception of these two physicians...

In each case above, the time constraints limited these two physicians to less than three minutes with their patients.  However, one of these examples was a flippant, sloppy physician and the other was an effective and appropriate physician.  

The difficulty is that if you're the patient in the room, it's almost impossible to ascertain which example is treating you.  Both spent little time at your bedside.  Both asked few questions.  Both did limited exams, and neither ordered any tests.

Now, if you couple this with the confounding variable that Dr. Flippant is a charming, visually appealing person, and Dr. Effective has a more curt personality and frumpy look, the perception issue becomes even more difficult.

To the untrained eye, these physicians did the exact same thing with both their patients.  The difference between these physicians was the processing that was going on internally.

Even an excellent physician-- working efficiently and effectively taking care of a large number of patients-- in a busy ER  frequently gets feedback from patients and families that he "didn't spend time with me" or he "wasn't interested in my problem" or he "didn't even order any tests." It is difficult to explain to these idividuals that the physician was actually acting appropriately, when the patient is incensed that after their long wait time "that's all the doctor did."

What's worse, if you're the patient, you have really no way of determing which doctor took care of you.  How can you be assured that you saw Dr. Effective and not Dr. Flippant?  The unfortunate thing is that unless you have medical training or a medical family member interacting with the physician, it's almost impossible.

In my view, this is one of the most difficult issues in contemporary Emergency Medicine-- the very subjective and often skewed perception issue.  It's unfortunate, and it's a big problem for patients, and for the good physicans out there trying to take care of them.

Why Autoimmune Disease Affects Your Career

Here is a useful clinical analogy that can have great impact on your professional and personal life.

Did you know that there are more people diagnosed with an autoimmune illness than cancer and heart disease combined? That is startling given the numbers of people with each of those ailments.

Unline cancer and heart disease, though, autoimmune disease tends to cause much more daily morbidity and distress. And unfortunately for all of us, autoimmune disease is rapidly on the rise with new cases diagnosed every single year.

To refresh your memory, autoimmune disease takes the shape in many forms: MS, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Celiac, Type 1 Diabetes, Psoriasis, Lupus, Sjogrens, Scleroderma, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Crohn's Disease are just a few of the top autoimmune diseases. Each of these carry their own unique challenges for patients, but each is similar in what is the root cause.

In my view, autoimmune illness represents a disordered and misbehaving immune system--an immune system that is in haywire. Under normal conditions, our immune system identifies vialbe vs. dead tissue and removes the cell turnover from our bodies so that new cell growth can occur.

When a patient has an autoimmune illness, their immune system has misfired (for reasons we do not fully understand) and now starts its assault on viable tissue. In general, this cascade of events takes place due to a "perfect storm" that arises. Here is my simplistic model:

1. Over time there is mismanagement of cortisol due to

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Traditional Book Publishing is Not Dead

I'm going to a book signing tonight at a local bookstore for one of our new releases Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life.  

This is a neuroscience book with a coaching approach--not surprisingly written by a psychiatrist and coach team.  It was released as part of book publishing's traditional campaign that begins annually in January, "New Year, New You." 

Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life has come out of the gate with a bang, and people are quickly snapping up the exisiting copies.  I hear it's going to be standing room only.  The event was announced in advance, and people signed up for seats.  Aren't bookstore events dead?  Mostly, but not completely. 

Why all the buzz about this book?  Two reasons:

1. the BOOK, and
2. the AUTHORS. 

Let's start with the BOOK.

Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life is a book for smart people about how to do more in less time by first getting your "house" (that would be your brain) in order.  It's the "one-two punch" with first understanding the neuroscience and then having simple but effective tools to implement.  Frankly, it's the book that every CEO should be giving to his or her employees to increase efficiency and productivity.  In book publishing, we call this a great "hook".  Great hooks usually develop when the content is superb and combined with a fascinating concept that is new.  Not surprisingly, people are buzzing about this book (read the early reviews on Amazon).

Now, let's turn to the AUTHORS.

I suspect that these authors, Paul Hammerness, MD (a psychiatrist and researcher at Harvard Medical School) and Margaret Moore (aka Coach Meg who is co-founder of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School) are a lot like the people that come to FreelanceMD.com.  They are smart and cutting edge and focused on trying to make an impact in their chosen fields — psychiatry and coaching, respectively.  They have a wide network of friends and colleagues who are very supportive of their work.  This is the first book for both of them, and this wide network is helping them to get the word out.  If you happen to know someone who knows these authors — let's call her Mary — at some point in the near future, you'll likely see that Mary has posted something about this book on her Facebook page, tweeted about the book on Twitter, shared info about it on LinkedIn, blogged about it, or at the very least, the good old fashioned way of getting the word out — actually mentioned the book in live conversation.  Mary is one of hundreds of people who are helping them to get the word out.  I'm sure I'll meet some "Mary's" tonight — people who are connected to these authors and will help make up the standing room only crowd.

It's been less than two weeks since Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life was released, and after just a few days of being "real authors", Margaret Moore and Paul Hammerness can tell you--books are not dead!

Making Things Happen As A Physician In Transition

Overcoming the obstacles between dream and reality.

You’ve thought a lot about leaving clinical practice and transitioning to a non-clinical career.  You considered starting your own internet business or writing a book or investing in real estate.  You thought you had a good idea at the time.  So, what’s keeping you from making it happen?   

As a physician, you’ve probably considered many great ideas—or dreams—about your future.  But those dreams have little value, if you don’t follow through and make them a reality.

If you have encountered obstacles in executing your ideas, you are not alone.  Countless ideas with the potential to transform lives—concepts for new medical products or models for new businesses—are probably conceived and misspent in the hands of talented physicians every day.  The ideas that move people forward are not the result of tremendous creative insight—or inspiration—but rather of masterful planning and management.

Successful entrepreneurs tell us that ideas don’t just happen by accident—or because they are great.  Whether you have a solution for an everyday problem or a bold new concept, you must transform your vision into reality.  Far from being some stroke of creative genius, this capacity to make ideas happen can be learned and developed by anyone. 

Success depends on making things happen

Whether you are in clinical practice or in industry, success depends on developing and executing new ideas.  You may come up with creative solutions to medical problems every

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Why Being An Expert Is Making You Useless On Facebook

Free from Frontdesk

The Deal: This free deal for Members comes from the social media guru's at Frontdesk; 5 simple tips that will stop you from acting like an expert (or jackass) on Facebook and hurting your business and professional reputation. Instead of falling into the same traps as everyone else, Frontdesk has put together a quick-reading report that will put you on the path to using Facebook to benefit your business instead of hurting it.

The Story: 1 out of every 8 minutes spent online... is spent on Facebook.

Facebook is 800 million strong and it's not letting up. As a physician, if you're in private practice you're going to be using Facbook. In this report you'll find the 5 common things that almost everyone does to position themselves as an 'expert', and why these practices backfire.

Why Being An Expert Is Making You Useless On Facebook

This may be a surprising headline from a community that is teaching you how to become know a though-leader in your field. After all, isn’t Facebook the social network and isn’t being know as an expert what we’re all after?

Sure, 800 million people represents an amazing opportunity…but it can also be a little daunting, and a little scary. With so many people watching, even the slightest mistakes are magnified.

As many doctors have learned (the hard way), Facebook marketing isn’t just a matter of throwing up a few posts and waiting for the “likes” and accolades to start trickling in. Here’s some straight talk; most of the advice you hear about Facebook is junk… Not just useless but advice that can actually hurt your reputation and drive paying customers and clients away.

The good news is, you can learn from them without committing them yourself.

In this free report from Frontdesk you'll discover some of the most common blunders that could turn your business’ Facebook page into a deadly weapon – and why your well-meaning mistakes could be making you useless on Facebook.

Of course this report is only free for Members only.