Welcome to Stay in Medicine

Episode Summary

Dr. Janet Cruz and her co-author (and husband) Lee Elias welcome you to the podcast and introduce you to their book and their shared passion for changing medicine for the better.

Full Transcript

Janet 0:08

Hey, everyone, and welcome to our Stay in Medicine podcast. I'm Dr. Janet Cruz, and I have my co-author here, Lee Elias, my husband, as well -

Lee 0:19

Small details.

Janet 0:23

So we're here, you know, for this special edition in the podcast, really to introduce, you know, what we're doing, and the book we just published called Stay in Medicine.

So for those that know me so far, I'm a family physician, I am still practicing medicine, I'm still going through the same struggles that a lot of our, you know, physicians are going through, but I have a different approach. And this is where, you know, my husband really plays a key role as a team builder, as an individual that builds teams, which is something needed in you know, in medicine right now.

So first, I'm going to start with, I'm going to ask Lee, what does he think? or What does he see in medicine? That doesn't exist right now. And that kind of segues in terms of what we talked about in the book.

Lee 1:13

It's a great question. That's kind of why we wrote the book. Now, you know, I've been following my wife around for really, most of our adult lives at this point, I've seen her from undergraduate to med school, to residency to the military, to where we are now.

So I've had a lot of time to observe medicine from a kind of an outsider's standpoint. And as Janet said, I work professionally to build teams. That's what I do. Most of my work is in professional sports, but we've moved it to business and nonprofits. And in the conversations in Jan and I have had over like, nearly two decades now.

You know, there is a need for team building in medicine. And when we look at physicians and burnout, which is obviously the topic of the day, every day. You know, we realize there's no solution where you press a button, where there's an answer and burnout goes away, burnout is different for every single person that has it, in every single realm. And the trick to alleviating burnout comes through conversation, it comes through teamwork, it comes through working together.

And when Jan and I started researching what kind of team building properties, team building activities, team, building, anything that was in medicine, we found almost nothing. We did find some stuff on an individual basis when it came to burnout. But we found nothing. So we got very motivated and very passionate about writing our book, which dives into how team building and teams are essential for not just alleviating burnout, but helping medicine as a whole.

So I was really honored when the opportunity came up not just to work together as husband and wife, but to help the physicians of the world to help the medical field because team building is something I'm passionate about and medicine is something you're passionate about.

Janet 2:55

Absolutely. And in our venture, you know, having Lee see what I go through on a daily basis, or I went through on a daily basis, you know, for me was, was really kind of just a natural merge.

For us, you know, as physicians, literature has a lot of recommendations on what the physician needs to do, you know, to combat burnout. It's not realistic, we live in a system, we don't live in a bubble. And that's really what we try to address.

So how you analyze your clinics, how you, you know, have better relationships with your colleagues, how we keep that sacred patient relationship at the forefront of all of this, when we know that there are systemic pressures, that really keep us from taking care of the patients the best way we can.

So for me, at least right now, I work with a lot of, you know, younger physicians, a lot of medical students that really just don't know how to start, they recognize the system issues, they feel it, they see it when they see patients. And all of us can agree, the system is not working the way it should. And we can do better.

So a lot of these conversations that we have in our office spaces. A lot of these conversations that I've had with Lee over the years, you know, curb citing him, asking him how to approach things. We've taken that wealth of experience, and we've put it in our Stay in Medicine book for everyone to enjoy.

But also this is an invitation. This is an invitation for all of us that are still boots in the ground, that are doing clinical medicine, to come and share this conversation with us to share what our successes are in terms of addressing this, this, you know, multiple systemic issues, so that we can continue to feel our passions and continue to provide care for our patients.

Lee 4:59

We should also mention that we didn't just write a book on a whim. We've been putting this stuff into practice with multiple clinics, physicians at different levels for a few years now. So a lot of this is based off of the research that we've done, we're hoping to create a lot more research based on the book.

But this is something that is ready to go. Meaning that we are ready to work with clinics. We are ready to work with physicians to create a better environment for doctors and healthcare as a whole. Obviously, this affects everyone down the web from the top all the way down to the patient.

So that's something that we're really passionate about doing and you know, this podcast that you're watching or listening to, or if you're seeing the video for the first time, something Janet launched, where she's going to be interviewing different physicians.

Like that's one of the goals with this is to really keep the conversation going, the book for us was not enough, there had to be an initiative that went along with it.

Janet 5:49

Yeah. For me, the book is a start for everyone to know how to identify how tips — tips and tricks to get you through the day to start building something bigger. And I will be bringing in, you know, other physicians, other colleagues that are doing the same work that everyone else is doing, you know, what our listeners are doing, and what they bring to the table, what they have identified as problems, what they have done to try to, you know, take steps to a better future for all of us.

So, again, come join us in our conversations. Stay in Medicine. Our book is available on Amazon for all of our listeners here. But also, you know, join us, feel free to join us on our website. You could also email at team@stayinmedicine.com. I look forward to the conversations.

Lee 6:42

Yeah, bring it on. We're looking forward to it. We're excited about it.

Really, this is something that could become our life's work here. And it's meaningful work, just like all the work that you do out there.

So thanks so much for listening, and we appreciate you.

Janet 6:55

All right. We'll talk soon.