Podcast appearances and mentions of Saul J Weiner

Medical training and practice habituates physicians to a culture that narrows the possibilities we see for finding joy and meaning in our work. We often become efficient task completers, stuck in routines, and prone to burnout.  Saul and Stefan discuss a set of questions that challenge physicians to look at their work and themselves in fresh ways, can be used for mentoring or teaching purposes, as prompts for reflective writing exercises, or to engage thoughtful colleagues (perhaps over a beer).  10 Questions (selected from On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients)  Think about a brief account of a patient interaction you recently had in which you think you functioned as a healer rather than just a task completer – meaning that you were able to help the patient beyond the narrowly biomedical aspects of care? Was there something you learned from this visit that you could apply more broadly? Think of interactions with patients that are rewarding and meaningful? Are they rare or common? Can you think of a specific one? Was there something you did differently that made the encounter memorable? If so, can you think of ways you could modify how you practice and interact with other patients so that more of your interactions are as satisfying? Do you see yourself as someone friends turn to when they are in distress or need guidance? If so, what is it that you offer them that enables you to be such a valuable resource? Is that part of you accessible to your patients during medical encounters? Can you think of an example? If not, why do you think that is? If you couldn't be a physician, what would you most want to do instead? How would it be similar or different from what you have sought in a medical career? Can you draw connections between your second choice and medicine to gain perspective on what you most love to do? Assuming you stay in medicine, how can you be sure you are most likely to find it? What's happened to your curiosity during medical training? What are you more curious about? What are you less curious about? Specifically, what questions do you find yourself asking or wanting to ask as you go through the day? How do you think your curiosity or lack of curiosity affects how you relate to and care for your patients and how you feel about your work? Do you feel your patients are benefiting from the distinct qualities that make you the unique person you are, or is that uniqueness not really a part of the way you relate to them? Do you feel you are interacting with patients in a manner that gives you a window into what makes each of them unique? Are many of your interactions rewarding? If so, in what ways? Are there certain types of patients who “get under your skin,” making you cringe when you see their names on your appointment calendar? Consider what might be going on during your interactions with them, utilizing the framework described in this chapter. Is it that you can't engage with them? Do you struggle with maintaining boundaries when they make incessant demands? How might you alter your behavior so that these encounters become opportunities to model healthy interaction and to provide them a brief respite from the chaos that is likely present in their other relationships? Have you ever felt resentment that a patient didn't show appreciation after you significantly helped them? If so, why do you think their show of gratitude is important to you? Does the doctor-patient relationship include an expectation that patients make their doctors feel good too? Could their indifference reduce your investment in their care? What if you learned from a patient's family member that the person actually does appreciate you but just isn't able to show it? Given what you know now, do you think you can have a career in medicine in which you find patient interaction rewarding and meaningful much of the time? If yes, are you on course to experience those rewards, or do you need to make some changes? If the latter, what are you going to do to make those changes? Are you going to live with low expectations or look for something more rewarding? Many, if not most, work environments have a fair amount of hassle, meaning you spend a good deal of time doing nuisance work and coping with difficult colleagues and bosses. These are manageable challenges, and they even provide an opportunity to learn to negotiate and adapt. Sometimes, however, workplaces become too dysfunctional to do your job effectively or facilitate meaningful change. They are beyond repair. How would you know when that line has been crossed? Have you experienced either or both of these situations? How did you respond? What did you learn? Saul J. Weiner, MD; sweiner@uic.edu 

Friends, I've listened to this podcast multiple times, in preparation for this write-up.  Each time I listen, I learn something new and continue to be blown away by what the ...

O terceiro princípio da Slow Medicine se refere à autonomia e ao auto-cuidado. Com as mudanças assombrosas da medicina e das relações sociais, temos deixado as decisões referentes à saúde e as intervenções direcionadas aos cuidados com ela nas mãos de outras pessoas, geralmente profissionais da saúde, das mais diversas áreas. Mas perder a autonomia e abrir mão de cuidar de si mesmo estão longe de ser situações desejáveis. No episódio de hoje, a conversa está pra lá de enriquecedora, com os médicos Ana Lucia Coradazzi, Daniel Felgueiras Rolo e Régis Vieira. Entra no papo com a gente! ---------------------------------------- O Slowcast é uma produção do Movimento Slow Medicine Brasil. Apresentação e produção: Ana Coradazzi e Daniel Rolo Edição: Ana Maio Convidado deste episódio: Régis Vieira Identidade visual: Ana Coradazzi Trilha sonora: cortesia da Allstars Music School de São Carlos/SP ---------------------------------------- Slow Dicas do episódio de hoje pra você conferir: Livros: - Listening For What Matters, de Saul J. Weiner e Alan Schwartz - Enquanto Eu Respirar, de Ana Michele Soares - My Mother, Your Mother, de Dennis McCullough - Auto-Cuidado Apoiado, da Secretaria de Saúde de Curitiba/PR Filmes e documentários: - Mar Adentro, de Alejandro Amenábar (2005) ---------------------------------------- Onde estamos: Site: www.slowmedicine.com.br Facebook: Slow Medicine Brasil Instagram: @slowmedicinebrasil YouTube: Slow Medicine Brasil Twitter: @slowmed3BR

(Note: This interview first aired back in May.) What do we mean by the phrase "patient-centered care"? And why is this expression being used more frequently in medical circles? Our guest is Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He tells us about his book, "On Becoming a Healer," which is essentially a med school-based memoir/study as well as a critique/guidebook focused on how to become a more competent, more compassionate physician.

Introducing a new podcast that takes a critical look at medical training and the culture of medicine. Explores how interpersonal boundary clarity and the capacity to fully engage are essential to effective medical practice, mentoring, medical education, and a nourishing career. Designed to challenge you, help you grow, and prevent burnout,    The podcast features Prelude by J.S. Bach, arranged for classical guitar by Sophocles Papas, and played by podcast host Saul J. Weiner. Used with written permission from Carl Fischer.

Medical students and physicians-in-training embark on a long journey that, although steeped in scientific learning and technical skill building, includes little guidance on the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of becoming a healer. On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press) is written for anyone in the health care community who hopes to grow emotionally and cognitively in the way they interact with patients, On Becoming a Healer explains how to foster doctor-patient relationships that are mutually nourishing. Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a physician-educator, argues that joy in medicine requires more than idealistic aspirations―it demands a capacity to see past the "otherness" that separates the well from the sick, the professional in a white coat from the disheveled patient in a hospital gown. Weiner scrutinizes the medical school indoctrination process and explains how it molds the physician's mindset into that of a task completer rather than a thoughtful professional. Taking a personal approach, Weiner describes his own journey to becoming an internist and pediatrician while offering concrete advice on how to take stock of your current development as a physician, how to openly and fully engage with patients, and how to establish clear boundaries that help defuse emotionally charged situations. Readers will learn how to counter judgmentalism, how to make medical decisions that take into account the whole patient, and how to incorporate the organizing principle of healing into their practice. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to help personalize the lessons for individual learners. Saul J. Weiner, MD is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the deputy director of the Veterans Health Administration's Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, and the cofounder of the Institute for Practice and Provider Performance Improvement (I3PI). Dr. Yakir Englander is the National Director of Leadership programs at the Israeli-American Council. He also teaches at the AJR. He is a Fulbright scholar and was a visiting professor of Religion at Northwestern University, the Shalom Hartman Institute and Harvard Divinity School. His books are Sexuality and the Body in New Religious Zionist Discourse (English/Hebrew and The Male Body in Jewish Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodoxy (Hebrew). He can be reached at: Yakir1212englander@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Medical students and physicians-in-training embark on a long journey that, although steeped in scientific learning and technical skill building, includes little guidance on the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of becoming a healer. On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press) is written for anyone in the health care community who hopes to grow emotionally and cognitively in the way they interact with patients, On Becoming a Healer explains how to foster doctor-patient relationships that are mutually nourishing. Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a physician-educator, argues that joy in medicine requires more than idealistic aspirations―it demands a capacity to see past the "otherness" that separates the well from the sick, the professional in a white coat from the disheveled patient in a hospital gown. Weiner scrutinizes the medical school indoctrination process and explains how it molds the physician's mindset into that of a task completer rather than a thoughtful professional. Taking a personal approach, Weiner describes his own journey to becoming an internist and pediatrician while offering concrete advice on how to take stock of your current development as a physician, how to openly and fully engage with patients, and how to establish clear boundaries that help defuse emotionally charged situations. Readers will learn how to counter judgmentalism, how to make medical decisions that take into account the whole patient, and how to incorporate the organizing principle of healing into their practice. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to help personalize the lessons for individual learners. Saul J. Weiner, MD is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the deputy director of the Veterans Health Administration's Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, and the cofounder of the Institute for Practice and Provider Performance Improvement (I3PI). Dr. Yakir Englander is the National Director of Leadership programs at the Israeli-American Council. He also teaches at the AJR. He is a Fulbright scholar and was a visiting professor of Religion at Northwestern University, the Shalom Hartman Institute and Harvard Divinity School. His books are Sexuality and the Body in New Religious Zionist Discourse (English/Hebrew and The Male Body in Jewish Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodoxy (Hebrew). He can be reached at: Yakir1212englander@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

Medical students and physicians-in-training embark on a long journey that, although steeped in scientific learning and technical skill building, includes little guidance on the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of becoming a healer. On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press) is written for anyone in the health care community who hopes to grow emotionally and cognitively in the way they interact with patients, On Becoming a Healer explains how to foster doctor-patient relationships that are mutually nourishing. Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a physician-educator, argues that joy in medicine requires more than idealistic aspirations―it demands a capacity to see past the "otherness" that separates the well from the sick, the professional in a white coat from the disheveled patient in a hospital gown. Weiner scrutinizes the medical school indoctrination process and explains how it molds the physician's mindset into that of a task completer rather than a thoughtful professional. Taking a personal approach, Weiner describes his own journey to becoming an internist and pediatrician while offering concrete advice on how to take stock of your current development as a physician, how to openly and fully engage with patients, and how to establish clear boundaries that help defuse emotionally charged situations. Readers will learn how to counter judgmentalism, how to make medical decisions that take into account the whole patient, and how to incorporate the organizing principle of healing into their practice. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to help personalize the lessons for individual learners. Saul J. Weiner, MD is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the deputy director of the Veterans Health Administration's Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, and the cofounder of the Institute for Practice and Provider Performance Improvement (I3PI). Dr. Yakir Englander is the National Director of Leadership programs at the Israeli-American Council. He also teaches at the AJR. He is a Fulbright scholar and was a visiting professor of Religion at Northwestern University, the Shalom Hartman Institute and Harvard Divinity School. His books are Sexuality and the Body in New Religious Zionist Discourse (English/Hebrew and The Male Body in Jewish Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodoxy (Hebrew). He can be reached at: Yakir1212englander@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine

Medical students and physicians-in-training embark on a long journey that, although steeped in scientific learning and technical skill building, includes little guidance on the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of becoming a healer. On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press) is written for anyone in the health care community who hopes to grow emotionally and cognitively in the way they interact with patients, On Becoming a Healer explains how to foster doctor-patient relationships that are mutually nourishing. Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a physician-educator, argues that joy in medicine requires more than idealistic aspirations―it demands a capacity to see past the "otherness" that separates the well from the sick, the professional in a white coat from the disheveled patient in a hospital gown. Weiner scrutinizes the medical school indoctrination process and explains how it molds the physician's mindset into that of a task completer rather than a thoughtful professional. Taking a personal approach, Weiner describes his own journey to becoming an internist and pediatrician while offering concrete advice on how to take stock of your current development as a physician, how to openly and fully engage with patients, and how to establish clear boundaries that help defuse emotionally charged situations. Readers will learn how to counter judgmentalism, how to make medical decisions that take into account the whole patient, and how to incorporate the organizing principle of healing into their practice. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to help personalize the lessons for individual learners. Saul J. Weiner, MD is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the deputy director of the Veterans Health Administration's Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, and the cofounder of the Institute for Practice and Provider Performance Improvement (I3PI). Dr. Yakir Englander is the National Director of Leadership programs at the Israeli-American Council. He also teaches at the AJR. He is a Fulbright scholar and was a visiting professor of Religion at Northwestern University, the Shalom Hartman Institute and Harvard Divinity School. His books are Sexuality and the Body in New Religious Zionist Discourse (English/Hebrew and The Male Body in Jewish Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodoxy (Hebrew). He can be reached at: Yakir1212englander@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kathryn Tristan is a Research Scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine on the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine. She studies our biological immune system and its diseases. She also is interested in the “psychological immune system” that represents our constellation of thoughts and feelings meant to protect us. www.whyworrybook.comSaul J. Weiner, MD is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago,  the deputy director of the Veterans Health Administration's Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, and the cofounder of the Institute for Practice and Provider Performance Improvement (I3PI). He is the coauthor of Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care. http://www.contextualizingcare.org

Join us as we delve into the paradigm-shifting ethos of trauma-informed care with renowned expert Dr. Megan Gerber. Dr. Gerber is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and serves as Medical Director of Women’s Health for VA Boston where she directs the Women’s Health Fellowship. Dr. Gerber edited the textbook, “Trauma-informed Health Care Approaches: A Guide for Primary Care.”  We discuss the framework for trauma-informed universal precautions, as well as basics about the prevalence of trauma, strategies for integrating a trauma-sensitive approach into primary care, practical changes for the office environment,  modifications for physical exam methods, and more.   We recognize this topic may bring up upsetting thoughts or memories for some of our listeners. We will provide some self-care and trauma-informed resources in our show notes. The practice of medicine, especially during times of national crisis, can increase our exposure to traumatic events and reactivate difficult memories, predisoposing folks to depression and suicide risk. We just want to reiterate that you are not alone. If you are struggling with thoughts of harming yourself, the national suicide prevention lifeline number is 1-800-273-8255.    Listeners can claim Free CE credit through VCU Health at http://curbsiders.vcuhealth.org/ (CME goes live at 0900 ET on the episode’s release date).    Show Notes | Subscribe | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com | Free CME!   Credits Producer/Writer/Graphics: Beth Garbitelli Co-Producer: Paul Williams MD Hosts: Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP, Beth Garbitelli  Editor: Molly Heublein MD (written materials); Clair Morgan of nodderly.com Guest: Megan Gerber MD, MPH, FACP   Sponsors Join the ACP Community! Join the American College of Physicians today! Post-training physicians can take advantage of an exclusive limited-time $100 dues discount. Visit acponline.org/member and use the code ACPDISCOUNT. Discount is only available until June 30, 2020.     VCU Health CE We are excited to announce that the Curbsiders are now partnering with VCU Health Continuing Education to offer continuing education credits for physicians and other healthcare professionals. Check out curbsiders.vcuhealth.org and create your FREE account!   Time Stamps Intro, disclaimer, guest bio (0:00 - 4:09) Guest one-liner (4:24) Picks of the Week*: Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon; Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard; Molly’s Challah on King Arthur Flour website from cook/food writer Molly Yeh; OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale with Pull-Out Display; Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu, Amazon Prime; Devs on Hulu, Amazon Prime; Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series (Book 1 of 40: The Color of Magic, Night Watch) and The Wee Free Men; On Becoming a Healer by Saul J. Weiner MD (10:16)  Kashlak Cases (14:39) Epidemiology of trauma (16:11) Trauma and #MeToo (19:04) Defining Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) (19:56) Integrating TIC into primary care (23:42) Screening in TIC (25:56) Containment and retraumatization (29:56) Inquiring about trauma (31:39) Recap and Office Visit Mechanics (36:24) Building the Relationship (38:56) Common Inquiry Mishaps (39:46) TIC Physical Exam (41:14) Resources for Patients (45:24) Office Environment (48:56) Provider Burnout (50:56) TIC in Covid-19 (53:24) Take-home Points (57:14) Outro (65:44)   *The Curbsiders participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon. Simply put, if you click on our Amazon.com links and buy something we earn a (very) small commission, yet you don’t pay any extra.   Goal Listeners will gain fluency in trauma-informed care practices, methods, and perspectives in order to deliver compassionate care to patients who have experienced trauma and reduce the impacts of trauma in the healthcare setting.    Learning objectives After listening to this episode listeners will…   Define trauma-informed care and discuss the various forms of trauma.  Develop increased awareness of prevalence of adverse childhood experience, post-traumatic stress disorders, sexual violence, and intimate partner violence. Foster a safe, calm, welcoming clinical environment for patients who have experienced trauma.  Manage trauma disclosures and assess appropriate next steps for care and referrals. Cultivate advanced communication skills and strategies on the topics of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and other trauma-related experiences.  Be able to engage in harm reduction strategies when caring for patients with trauma history.      Disclosures Dr. Gerber reports no relevant financial disclosures. The Curbsiders report no relevant financial disclosures.    Citation Garbitelli EC, Gerber MR, Williams PN, Heublein M, Watto MF. “#218 Trauma-Informed Care with Megan Gerber MD”. The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast. https://thecurbsiders.com/episode-list June 8, 2020.  

Patients feel reassured when they have a doctor with a good “bed side manner.” Is that a teachable skill? Dr. Saul J. Weiner, professor of medicine, pediatrics and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, joins host Krys Boyd, to talk about practicing medicine that goes beyond medical charts. His book is “On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring About Your Patients.”

What do we mean by the phrase "patient-centered care"? And why is this expression being used more frequently in medical circles? Our guest on ST Medical Monday is Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He tells us about his new book, "On Becoming a Healer," which is essentially a memoir/study/critique/guidebook focused on how to become a more competent, more compassionate physician. As was noted of this work by Dr. Ronald Epstein, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry: "Dr. Weiner's fierce, insightful, and sometimes hilarious reflections make for a must-read for health professionals, for anyone considering or going through medical training, and for those who accompany them along the way."

When clinicians listen to patients, what do they hear? In Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care (Oxford UP, 2016), Saul Weiner and Alan Schwartz provide a riveting account of a decade of research on improving outcomes by incorporating patients’ individual life contexts into planning of care. Their groundbreaking studies showed that physicians, while getting the biological details largely correct, frequently disregard personal circumstances that lead to medical errors. Such an assertion might appear intractable or unfit for empirical study, but Listening for What Matters describes a series of creative experiments that strongly support it. From placing fake patients into real clinical contexts to measure the appropriateness of recommendations, to recording interactions between real patients and doctors (for which they developed a system, Content Coding for Contextualization of Care), and finally training groups of medical students to ask about individual context, Weiner and Schwartz build a case for the existence of a widespread problem while simultaneously offering compelling solutions. This is the first of a pair of interviews on communication in health care, to be followed by Samuel Morris Brown’s Through the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When clinicians listen to patients, what do they hear? In Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care (Oxford UP, 2016), Saul Weiner and Alan Schwartz provide a riveting account of a decade of research on improving outcomes by incorporating patients' individual life contexts into planning of care. Their groundbreaking studies showed that physicians, while getting the biological details largely correct, frequently disregard personal circumstances that lead to medical errors. Such an assertion might appear intractable or unfit for empirical study, but Listening for What Matters describes a series of creative experiments that strongly support it. From placing fake patients into real clinical contexts to measure the appropriateness of recommendations, to recording interactions between real patients and doctors (for which they developed a system, Content Coding for Contextualization of Care), and finally training groups of medical students to ask about individual context, Weiner and Schwartz build a case for the existence of a widespread problem while simultaneously offering compelling solutions. This is the first of a pair of interviews on communication in health care, to be followed by Samuel Morris Brown's Through the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine

When clinicians listen to patients, what do they hear? In Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care (Oxford UP, 2016), Saul Weiner and Alan Schwartz provide a riveting account of a decade of research on improving outcomes by incorporating patients' individual life contexts into planning of care. Their groundbreaking studies showed that physicians, while getting the biological details largely correct, frequently disregard personal circumstances that lead to medical errors. Such an assertion might appear intractable or unfit for empirical study, but Listening for What Matters describes a series of creative experiments that strongly support it. From placing fake patients into real clinical contexts to measure the appropriateness of recommendations, to recording interactions between real patients and doctors (for which they developed a system, Content Coding for Contextualization of Care), and finally training groups of medical students to ask about individual context, Weiner and Schwartz build a case for the existence of a widespread problem while simultaneously offering compelling solutions. This is the first of a pair of interviews on communication in health care, to be followed by Samuel Morris Brown's Through the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

When clinicians listen to patients, what do they hear? In Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care (Oxford UP, 2016), Saul Weiner and Alan Schwartz provide a riveting account of a decade of research on improving outcomes by incorporating patients’ individual life contexts into planning of care. Their groundbreaking studies showed that physicians, while getting the biological details largely correct, frequently disregard personal circumstances that lead to medical errors. Such an assertion might appear intractable or unfit for empirical study, but Listening for What Matters describes a series of creative experiments that strongly support it. From placing fake patients into real clinical contexts to measure the appropriateness of recommendations, to recording interactions between real patients and doctors (for which they developed a system, Content Coding for Contextualization of Care), and finally training groups of medical students to ask about individual context, Weiner and Schwartz build a case for the existence of a widespread problem while simultaneously offering compelling solutions. This is the first of a pair of interviews on communication in health care, to be followed by Samuel Morris Brown’s Through the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saul J. Weiner, M.D., and Alan Schwartz, PH.D., join Mark Alyn to talk about their new book, Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care. The book is based on 10 years of groundbreaking research conducted by the authors and explains how and why doctors commonly fail when diagnosing and treating patients. With federal grants, Weiner and Schwartz conducted studies, which first sent actors, called Unannounced Standardized Patients (“USPs”) and then real patients, to hundreds of doctor's visits with hidden audio-recording devices so that the research team could listen and analyze the results of the visits. This is their story.The focus behind the experiments was to find out how often doctors picked up on “contextual red flags” alluded to by the patients. These are clues that something is going on in a patient’s life that needs to be addressed for a care plan to be effective. So, if a patient drops clues that he is unable to afford an expensive brand name medication after losing health insurance coverage, then Weiner and Schwartz would observe whether the doctor picks up on the clues and prescribes a lower-cost generic medicine. The studies document that physicians are frequently overlooking crucial clues about patients’ individual life circumstances and making medical errors as a result. These mistakes by doctors are costly and pervasive and can be prevented. Weiner and Schwartz explain how doctors and other health-care professionals can learn to listen better, ask the right questions, and get better results.In their interview with Mark, Saul and Alan will discuss:- Some of the most surprising things they learned while conducting these experiments—stories from the trenches revealed by the actors and patients that went into the doctors’ offices undercover.- Why doctors so frequently miss patient clues that they are struggling – termed “contextual red flags” - even when these red flags seem obvious to the reader.- What our medical schools can do to better train health care professionals to listen and engage with patients on an individual level so that patients’ health care outcomes are better.- Why contextualized care is more cost effective and why it doesn't have to take any more time out of a busy doctor's day than the current way care is delivered.- What patients can do to better their, or a loved one's, care if they don't feel their health-care professionals are listening to them.The book is available from Oxford University Press and can be bought online via Amazon, Oxford, or another retailer.

Saul J. Weiner, M.D., and Alan Schwartz, PH.D., join Mark Alyn to talk about their new book, Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care. The book is based on 10 years of groundbreaking research conducted by the authors and explains how and why doctors commonly fail when diagnosing and treating patients. With federal grants, Weiner and Schwartz conducted studies, which first sent actors, called Unannounced Standardized Patients (“USPs”) and then real patients, to hundreds of doctor's visits with hidden audio-recording devices so that the research team could listen and analyze the results of the visits. This is their story. The focus behind the experiments was to find out how often doctors picked up on “contextual red flags” alluded to by the patients. These are clues that something is going on in a patient’s life that needs to be addressed for a care plan to be effective. So, if a patient drops clues that he is unable to afford an expensive brand name medication after losing health insurance coverage, then Weiner and Schwartz would observe whether the doctor picks up on the clues and prescribes a lower-cost generic medicine. The studies document that physicians are frequently overlooking crucial clues about patients’ individual life circumstances and making medical errors as a result. These mistakes by doctors are costly and pervasive and can be prevented. Weiner and Schwartz explain how doctors and other health-care professionals can learn to listen better, ask the right questions, and get better results. In their interview with Mark, Saul and Alan will discuss: - Some of the most surprising things they learned while conducting these experiments—stories from the trenches revealed by the actors and patients that went into the doctors’ offices undercover. - Why doctors so frequently miss patient clues that they are struggling – termed “contextual red flags” - even when these red flags seem obvious to the reader. - What our medical schools can do to better train health care professionals to listen and engage with patients on an individual level so that patients’ health care outcomes are better. - Why contextualized care is more cost effective and why it doesn't have to take any more time out of a busy doctor's day than the current way care is delivered. - What patients can do to better their, or a loved one's, care if they don't feel their health-care professionals are listening to them. The book is available from Oxford University Press and can be bought online via Amazon, Oxford, or another retailer.

Saul J. Weiner, M.D., and Alan Schwartz, PH.D., join Mark Alyn to talk about their new book, Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care. The book is based on 10 years of groundbreaking research conducted by the authors and explains how and why doctors commonly fail when diagnosing and treating patients. With federal grants, Weiner and Schwartz conducted studies, which first sent actors, called Unannounced Standardized Patients (“USPs”) and then real patients, to hundreds of doctor's visits with hidden audio-recording devices so that the research team could listen and analyze the results of the visits. This is their story. The focus behind the experiments was to find out how often doctors picked up on “contextual red flags” alluded to by the patients. These are clues that something is going on in a patient’s life that needs to be addressed for a care plan to be effective. So, if a patient drops clues that he is unable to afford an expensive brand name medication after losing health insurance coverage, then Weiner and Schwartz would observe whether the doctor picks up on the clues and prescribes a lower-cost generic medicine. The studies document that physicians are frequently overlooking crucial clues about patients’ individual life circumstances and making medical errors as a result. These mistakes by doctors are costly and pervasive and can be prevented. Weiner and Schwartz explain how doctors and other health-care professionals can learn to listen better, ask the right questions, and get better results. In their interview with Mark, Saul and Alan will discuss: - Some of the most surprising things they learned while conducting these experiments—stories from the trenches revealed by the actors and patients that went into the doctors’ offices undercover. - Why doctors so frequently miss patient clues that they are struggling – termed “contextual red flags” - even when these red flags seem obvious to the reader. - What our medical schools can do to better train health care professionals to listen and engage with patients on an individual level so that patients’ health care outcomes are better. - Why contextualized care is more cost effective and why it doesn't have to take any more time out of a busy doctor's day than the current way care is delivered. - What patients can do to better their, or a loved one's, care if they don't feel their health-care professionals are listening to them. The book is available from Oxford University Press and can be bought online via Amazon, Oxford, or another retailer.

Saul J. Weiner, M.D., and Alan Schwartz, PH.D., join Mark Alyn to talk about their new book, Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care. The book is based on 10 years of groundbreaking research conducted by the authors and explains how and why doctors commonly fail when diagnosing and treating patients. With federal grants, Weiner and Schwartz conducted studies, which first sent actors, called Unannounced Standardized Patients (“USPs”) and then real patients, to hundreds of doctor's visits with hidden audio-recording devices so that the research team could listen and analyze the results of the visits. This is their story.The focus behind the experiments was to find out how often doctors picked up on “contextual red flags” alluded to by the patients. These are clues that something is going on in a patient’s life that needs to be addressed for a care plan to be effective. So, if a patient drops clues that he is unable to afford an expensive brand name medication after losing health insurance coverage, then Weiner and Schwartz would observe whether the doctor picks up on the clues and prescribes a lower-cost generic medicine. The studies document that physicians are frequently overlooking crucial clues about patients’ individual life circumstances and making medical errors as a result. These mistakes by doctors are costly and pervasive and can be prevented. Weiner and Schwartz explain how doctors and other health-care professionals can learn to listen better, ask the right questions, and get better results.In their interview with Mark, Saul and Alan will discuss:- Some of the most surprising things they learned while conducting these experiments—stories from the trenches revealed by the actors and patients that went into the doctors’ offices undercover.- Why doctors so frequently miss patient clues that they are struggling – termed “contextual red flags” - even when these red flags seem obvious to the reader.- What our medical schools can do to better train health care professionals to listen and engage with patients on an individual level so that patients’ health care outcomes are better.- Why contextualized care is more cost effective and why it doesn't have to take any more time out of a busy doctor's day than the current way care is delivered.- What patients can do to better their, or a loved one's, care if they don't feel their health-care professionals are listening to them.The book is available from Oxford University Press and can be bought online via Amazon, Oxford, or another retailer.