Dike Drummond MD

Recent Posts

Physician Take Back Your Practice - STOP acting like a Good Resident

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Most people believe that your medical education sets you up to be a successful practicing physician.

Unfortunately that is not true.

Today's 63% physician burnout rate should give us some clue, that our traditional medical education does not guarantee a successful practicing physician.

Investing your 20's to complete the slog through medical school, residency and fellowship does produce two consistent outcomes.


1) You learn the bare minimum to practice in your specialty.
I say bare minimum because no one graduates from the education process completely capable of practicing independently - especially with the work hour restrictions of today's residency programs. The breadth of the knowledge base in any specialty is so large now and yet the number of available teaching hours within residency programs has been cut by 1/3 compared to residencies before work hour restrictions were put in place.

2) You are also taught - and subconsciously conditioned - to be a good resident.

The complete medical education process takes from 7 to 16 years. At the end of that marathon, everyone who survives is programmed to be a great resident.

  • Fortunately for the industrial practice of medicine, great residents make compliant employees.

  • Unfortunately for the graduating physician, the same conditioning sets us up for burnout in the first place - especially since 73% of physicians become employees these days.

 

Residency is not about success in your future practice.

Tags: resident burnout, stop physician burnout

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The Camel Fears the Last Straw - Don't Make This Mistake

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Listening to doctors on the internet, there's so much doubt, second-guessing and escapism - dreaming of side gigs and non-clinical jobs and more.

Some even go as far as questioning their choice to go into medicine in the first place.

For most, giving up your medical career would be a classic error in judgment you will always regret.

The core reason for wanting to escape your current reality is our shared loss of autonomy as practicing Physicians. Over the last 25 years we've seen a generational loss of control over all aspects of your practice - the structure of your team and the contents of the hours of your work day.

How did this happen?

The single source of this tragedy is the shift in Physician's relationship with their job.

Today 73% of American doctors are employees - you probably are too.

In just one generation we've gone from physician partners and owners to simple cogs in the machine of the healthcare industry - RVU generators and nothing more.

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Physicians: How to  Build Your Ideal Practice and Eliminate Fear of Failure in the Process

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

The key to building a more Ideal Practice is a clear target for your efforts.

Think of it as a Bullseye in an archery range where you aim yourself at the heart of a new and better on-the-job reality.

In this short physician video training lesson, let me show you a two-step process to get crystal clear on your Ideal Practice "target" and take the steps to build a better Job, Practice and Career.

Along the way I will show you how to completely eliminate any fear of failure.

Tags: stop physician burnout, ideal practice

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Is now a threshold moment for Physicians, the End of Our Beginning?

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Are you feeling it too?

Something has definitely shifted into a new, unstable and uncertain tilt
and there appears to be no going back. 

Is THIS ...  is the post-Covid "New Normal"?

Tags: physician quality of life

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Doctor Patient Communication – The Universal Upset Patient Protocol VIDEO TRAINING

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Doctor Patient Communication – The Universal Upset Patient Protocol

VIDEO TRAINING:

A 6-step structured conversation to deal with upset and angry patients simply, quickly and empathetically.

Tags: Physician Coaching, doctor patient communication

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Physician Workplace Gender Bias - 3 things Men Must Stop Doing Now

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Stop Physician Burnout: 3 Things Men Must Stop Doing to Decrease Unconscious Gender Bias in the Healthcare Workplace

Two surveys in the last three years show a remarkable transformation of the US physician population. 

  • In 2019 the majority of US medical students are women for the first time. (1)
  • Athena health surveyed 3500 of their client practices in 2017 and found 60% of physicians 35 or younger are women. (2)
  • In 2022 53.8% of medical students are women (3)

With this gender shift in full swing, you would think unconscious gender bias against women would be rolling towards extinction ... right? Not so in my experience (and yours too I suspect).

Tags: stop physician burnout, Bias and Discrimination

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The US Healthcare Industry Collapse threatens every doctor's practice

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

The writing is on the wall as the US Healthcare delivery "System" begins to crumble and fail, leaving patients and doctors out in the cold.

Here are 4 signs of the rapidly approaching Thelma and Louise moment for healthcare.

AND what you need to do to protect your practice and your livelihood NOW

Imagine YOU were a doctor working within one of the systems below, when the hammer came down. Each of these macro events instantly destroys the performance of your care team and your practice EVERY TIME !

DON'T just sit there waiting for the pink slip that kicks you to the curb without warning.

It is time for ACTIVE MEASURES to DEFEND YOUR PRACTICE.

Tags: stop physician burnout

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The #1 Habit for Physician Practice Satisfaction

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Without this habit, each of us is stuck in the grip of Einstein's Insanity trap.

Here's a 3 minute video to show you how and why this habit is the key to both your practice satisfaction and the prevention of physician burnout.

Tags: stop physician burnout

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The seven holes in medical education that set doctors up for burnout

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Our physician coaching team and I have experience with thousands of doctors over the last 13 years who've come to us burned out, exhausted and wondering how much longer they can keep going like this.

We have developed a structured method to help them recover from burnout through a laser focus on new actions aimed at building their Ideal Practice.

Tags: stop physician burnout, medical education

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Life lessons You can learn from My Stroke

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

It's been a month since my stroke - a reality-altering  shot across my bow by the grim reaper himself.

My recovery?

Physically I have some very mild left hand  and left leg weakness

Congnitively I am back to normal and perhaps even better than before in some ways.

The big change is in my heart, my spirit and my moment-to-moment perceptions of reality and priority.


This brush with mortality - no one gets out of here alive, remember? - has placed a shimmer on all my senses and the scent of gratitude on every waking experience.

Tags: stop physician burnout

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