Succeed in Medicine

Ep448 - Creating a Healthier Medical Culture: A Conversation with Dr. Colin West

34min | 03/25/2025

Description

This episode is sponsored by: Set For Life

Set for Life Insurance helps doctors safeguard their future with True Own Occupational Disability Insurance. A single injury or illness can change everything, but the best physicians plan ahead. Protect your income and secure your future before life makes the choice for you. Your career deserves protection—act now at https://www.doctorpodcastnetwork.co/setforlife

_____

Burnout and distress are pervasive in medicine, but improving physician well-being requires more than just resilience training and pizza parties. In this episode, Dr. Colin West shares the latest research on physician burnout, highlighting how workplace culture significantly impacts well-being. He and Dr. Bradley Block discuss the flawed "just tough it out" mindset ingrained in medical training, the systemic factors that contribute to distress, and the importance of aligning work with meaning, values, and purpose (MVPs) to maintain fulfillment in a medical career.

They also explore practical solutions for physicians in various practice settings, from small groups to large institutions, emphasizing how addressing inefficiencies and reducing administrative burdens can enhance both job satisfaction and patient care. The conversation covers the role of coaching, social connection, and leadership in fostering a healthier medical culture, offering valuable insights for individual physicians and healthcare leaders alike.

.

Three Actionable Takeaways:

Burnout is not an individual problem—it’s systemic: While personal coping strategies help, real change requires addressing workplace inefficiencies, excessive administrative burdens, and leadership approaches.
Well-being initiatives must go beyond surface-level fixes: Yoga and mindfulness have value, but true solutions require structural changes like reducing unnecessary tasks and fostering social connections.
Investing in physician well-being benefits everyone: When doctors are supported, they perform better, stay in their jobs longer, and deliver higher-quality patient care.

About the Show:
The Physician’s Guide to Doctoring covers patient interactions, burnout, career growth, personal finance, and more. If you're tired of dull medical lectures, tune in for the real-world lessons we should have learned in med school!

About the Guest:
Dr. Colin P. West is a Professor of Medicine, Medical Education, and Biostatistics at Mayo Clinic, specializing in internal medicine. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Iowa. Dr. West's research focuses on physician well-being, burnout, and evidence-based medicine. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and co-chaired the 2019 National Academy of Medicine consensus study on clinician burnout.

Website: https://www.mayo.edu/research/faculty/west-colin-p-m-d-ph-d/bio-00027800

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-west-57821b82/

About the Host:
Dr. Bradley Block is a board-certified otolaryngologist at ENT and Allergy Associates in Garden City, NY. He specializes in adult and pediatric ENT with interests in sinusitis and obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Block also hosts the Physician’s Guide to Doctoring podcast, focusing on personal and professional development for physicians.

Want to be a guest? Email Brad at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more!

Socials:
...

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

This episode is sponsored by: Set For Life

Set for Life Insurance helps doctors safeguard their future with True Own Occupational Disability Insurance. A single injury or illness can change everything, but the best physicians plan ahead. Protect your income and secure your future before life makes the choice for you. Your career deserves protection—act now at https://www.doctorpodcastnetwork.co/setforlife

_____

Burnout and distress are pervasive in medicine, but improving physician well-being requires more than just resilience training and pizza parties. In this episode, Dr. Colin West shares the latest research on physician burnout, highlighting how workplace culture significantly impacts well-being. He and Dr. Bradley Block discuss the flawed "just tough it out" mindset ingrained in medical training, the systemic factors that contribute to distress, and the importance of aligning work with meaning, values, and purpose (MVPs) to maintain fulfillment in a medical career.

They also explore practical solutions for physicians in various practice settings, from small groups to large institutions, emphasizing how addressing inefficiencies and reducing administrative burdens can enhance both job satisfaction and patient care. The conversation covers the role of coaching, social connection, and leadership in fostering a healthier medical culture, offering valuable insights for individual physicians and healthcare leaders alike.

.

Three Actionable Takeaways:

Burnout is not an individual problem—it’s systemic: While personal coping strategies help, real change requires addressing workplace inefficiencies, excessive administrative burdens, and leadership approaches.
Well-being initiatives must go beyond surface-level fixes: Yoga and mindfulness have value, but true solutions require structural changes like reducing unnecessary tasks and fostering social connections.
Investing in physician well-being benefits everyone: When doctors are supported, they perform better, stay in their jobs longer, and deliver higher-quality patient care.

About the Show:
The Physician’s Guide to Doctoring covers patient interactions, burnout, career growth, personal finance, and more. If you're tired of dull medical lectures, tune in for the real-world lessons we should have learned in med school!

About the Guest:
Dr. Colin P. West is a Professor of Medicine, Medical Education, and Biostatistics at Mayo Clinic, specializing in internal medicine. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Iowa. Dr. West's research focuses on physician well-being, burnout, and evidence-based medicine. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and co-chaired the 2019 National Academy of Medicine consensus study on clinician burnout.

Website: https://www.mayo.edu/research/faculty/west-colin-p-m-d-ph-d/bio-00027800

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-west-57821b82/

About the Host:
Dr. Bradley Block is a board-certified otolaryngologist at ENT and Allergy Associates in Garden City, NY. He specializes in adult and pediatric ENT with interests in sinusitis and obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Block also hosts the Physician’s Guide to Doctoring podcast, focusing on personal and professional development for physicians.

Want to be a guest? Email Brad at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more!

Socials:
...

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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