January 10, 2018

Wisdom from a patient:

Below is a quote is featured in this article about patients who are referred from one ER to another due to lack of insurance. WE hear a variation of this every shift at UofL.

“Like awful, man. Awful like a piece of trash, because if you don’t have the money or health insurance you ain’t worth nothing.”
-Patient and human being

Book to check out:

The Silo Effect. One of those books that might have been more effective as a long magazine article, but still illuminating. We all operate in our professions within silos, usually isolated from other fields (remember Total Internal Reflection). In medicine, most doctors operate within specialties, isolated even from most other physicians. No surprise that when leaders make efforts to breakdown this silo organization, and bring different groups together, cool things start to happen.
Great example from the book: Data crunchers in Bloomberg’s NY City Hall dissolved beaurocratic boundaries and solved several problems (e.g. reducing deadly house fires). I encourage all of you to engage with friends and family in other fields (or specialties within your field) to expand your understanding of the world. You might discover ways to improve your own work environment. 

More Finances:

Here is an interesting summary of data from the IRS on the wealthiest Americans. The top 0.25%. Many interesting findings. Very rich people do not spend a high percentage of net worth on their homes (or on “other personal assets” aka stuff), as covered in The Millionaire Next Door. Surprisingly, they do not have much money in retirement accounts, or in passive investments like index funds / mutual funds. Large portions of these folks net worth reside in private businesses. 

Clean Snack:

Busy Bars are grass-fed whey protein bars. Small but filling. Low carb. Not sickeningly sweet as often happens with artificially sweeteners. Also fulfills a criteria for me: they do not melt if kept in a backpack or hot car. 

Quote:
People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.
Tim Ferriss

Martin Huecker, MD, is co-editor in chief of the free, open access Journal of Wellness. He is an Associate Professor and Research Director in the Department of Emergency Medicine (EM) at the University of Louisville. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Dr. Huecker graduated from UofL’s EM Residency Program and (Chief Resident in 2011). He works full time seeing patients and teaching residents in the UofL Emergency Department. His diverse research interests include substance use, accidental hypothermia, and healthcare professional wellness. Dr. Huecker is also a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician (DipABLM). He loves books, (cold) trail runs, dogs, and coffee. His wife is an OB/GYN and they have 4 children with cool names.