A Physician’s Guide to Interviewing | Dr. Bradley Block, MD

In episode 242, Taylor interviews Dr. Bradley Block, MD, an ENT-Otolaryngologist and host of the Physician’s Guide to Doctoring podcast. They discuss the importance of nonverbal communication, why podcasting has been a key component for their fulfilment as physicians, and why you should never read one star reviews. 

This episode was also recorded live via Facebook, if you’d like to watch it!

Effective Conveyance

It’s obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way we interact with patients, not just limited to telehealth, but in person, too, because both doctor and patient are wearing masks.
Dr. Bradley Block has two takeaways:

Focus on conveying and interpreting nonverbal communication and being present with the patient.

Look at them and be present. Focus on what they’re saying. Don’t be distracted. Don’t think about the last patient. Don’t think about the schedule. Don’t think about the next patient. Don’t think about what’s going on at home. Just be present with your patients.

Dr. Bradley Block

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Bradley Block MD, Otolaryngologist (ENT) specialist dropping gems on The Happy Doc Podcast, episode 242. Check it out, link in the bio or listen on your favorite podcasting app.

A post shared by The Happy Doc (@happydocpodcast) on Jul 16, 2020 at 2:39pm PDT

On starting his podcast, The Physician’s Guide to Doctoring

Dr. Taylor Brana: It sounds like once you really decided to go for it, the pieces fell into it right away. I’m curious, do you feel like you’re kicking yourself you didn’t start a little sooner?

Dr. Bradley Block: Oh yeah. It’s the analysis paralysis that we all get. It’s gotta be perfect. And whenever someone asks for podcasting advice, the answer is always: just start. Just make an episode, and if it’s terrible, you will have learned a ton from just sitting down. Because you’re, at some point, you’re going to have to hit record.

Finding opportunities for fulfillment

Dr. Taylor Brana: You brought up a really good point, which I want to highlight, which is the fact that you’re doing this also for your own enjoyment, right? You’re kind of doing this for your curiosity. And I think that’s really important to highlight, because especially with physicians and physician burnout, a lot of times, one of the reasons we’re burnt out is we don’t have autonomy.

We don’t have freedom. We don’t have the ability to express ourselves. We don’t have something that’s fun for us. And this is one of the things I love to highlight about podcasting specifically is, when I do this, I really enjoy this process. I’m loving talking to you right now. I’m learning about you and learning about what you do.

I ask questions because I’m literally legitimately interested and this is fun for me. And so, you get to build that out for yourself. And that totally locks in to one of the key points of The Happy Doc. To find different opportunities to make us happy, to make us more fulfilled.

Episode References

• The Physician’s Guide to Doctoring
• ENT and Allergy Associates (NY/NJ)
• Episode reference: Nonverbal Communication from Behind the Mask with Blake Eastman | Physician’s Guide to Doctoring
• The Dip by Seth Godin
• Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
• The Culture Code by Daniel Foyle

Listen to the Physician’s Guide to Doctoring episode referenced: Nonverbal Communication from Behind the Mask with Blake Eastman and follow @PhysiciansGuide on Twitter.

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Transcript available on page two.