The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Dr. Pamela Buchanan: Saving Healthcare Workers from Burnout & Telemedicine Services

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

Dr. Pamela Buchanan: Saving Healthcare Workers from Burnout & Telemedicine Services Strongmedicinestl.com Drbstrong.com About the Guest(s): Dr. Pamela Buchanan is a board-certified physician, speaker, and thought leader dedicated to transforming healthcare and promoting mental well-being. With over 20 years of medical experience, Dr. Buchanan has become a notable voice in her field, particularly through her TEDx talk on the emotional flatline phenomenon faced by healthcare workers during the pandemic. A fervent advocate for self-care, she authored the "Oxygen Mask Principle" and serves as an ambassador with the Lorna Breen Foundation, focusing on preventing physician suicide and addressing burnout in the medical profession. Her work now extends to physician coaching and telemedicine wellness services. Episode Summary: In this episode of The Chris Voss Show, Dr. Pamela Buchanan joins Chris to discuss the critical state of healthcare professionals' mental health, emphasizing the importance of self-care and resilience in a high-stress environment. As a highly esteemed physician and TEDx speaker, Dr. Buchanan shares her personal experiences during the pandemic and the emotional toll it took not only on herself but on healthcare workers globally. Her insights shed light on the dire need for systematic changes to tackle the alarming burnout and suicide rates among physicians. Delving into her work for the Lorna Breen Foundation and her efforts to help healthcare professionals manage stress and burnout, Dr. Buchanan outlines the alarming statistics on physician suicide and burnout, emphasizing the urgency of this public health issue. With her upcoming book, "Blackface White Coat: The Anatomy of the Emotional Flatline," she aims to offer a beacon of hope and practical advice for doctors, drawing from her vast experience and personal reinvention. Dr. Buchanan also explains the impactful strategies she employs in her coaching practice, aimed at helping doctors rediscover their purpose and achieve a balanced, fulfilling life. Key Takeaways: Physician Suicide Crisis: Dr. Buchanan highlights that one physician dies by suicide every day, equivalent to an entire medical school class being lost annually, underscoring an urgent call to action. Burnout Among Healthcare Workers: The healthcare profession has seen a 41% reduction in its workforce post-pandemic, with 68% of remaining workers experiencing severe burnout. Self-Care as a Necessity: Emphasizing the "Oxygen Mask Principle," Dr. Buchanan advocates for healthcare professionals to prioritize self-care to sustain their ability to care for others. Reforming Healthcare Systems: There is a critical need for institutional support for doctors, including mentorship and mental health resources, to prevent burnout and encourage a healthier workforce. Personal and Professional Balance: Her coaching focuses on aligning professionals with their initial motivations for entering medicine, helping them find balance and fulfillment across all areas of life. Notable Quotes: "You cannot pour from an empty cup, and we need those who care for others to care for themselves first." "Physician suicide—the bill of healthcare burnout—is like losing an entire medical school class every year." "Our whole training is about soldiering on… but it's so sneaky how you end up burned out and overwhelmed." "Healthcare is one of the cornerstones of modern society… What good is a hospital if there's no one to run it?" "Doctors who are saving lives should not be miserable doing it."

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready, get ready, strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times, because you're about to go on a monster education rollercoaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. It's Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the big show. We certainly appreciate it. TheKritsvossShow.com.

We've been around for 16 years, over 2,300 episodes, bringing you all the amazing people, their stories, their journeys of life. And as we always say on the show, stories are the owner's major to life. That's how we kind of learn we're not alone and the problems we have. I'm sure everyone's got problems, right? Or is it just me? Anyway, so be sure to share your family, friends, or relatives. Go to Goodreads.com 4chesschrisfoss linkedin.com 4chesschrisfoss chrisfoss1 on the tiktokity and all those crazy places on the internet opinions expressed by guests on the

podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the chris foss show some guests of the show may be advertising on the podcast but it is not an endorsement or review of any kind uh today we have an amazing young lady on the show we're going to be talking to her about her insights her experience and some of the things and you're going to learn about from her because that's the whole point of the show to learn stuff you're not learning stuff on the show what the hell are you doing i'm just drunk and listening chris it sounds fun anyway we have dr. Pamela Buchanan on the show. She is a board-certified physician, speaker, and thought leader dedicated to transforming healthcare and championing mental well-being.

With 20-plus years of medical experience, she is a TEDx speaker known for her powerful talk on emotional flatline. Describes my last 10 marriages. It explores the emotional toll of the high-stress ER during the pandemic. As the author of Oxygen Mass Principle, Dr. Buchanan teaches self-care as a revolutionary act for working mothers, healthcare professionals, and high achievers. She's currently an ambassador with the Lorna Breen Foundation that has a focus to prevent physician suicide.

We can't have that. We need these people to save us. Her work extends into physician coaching and consulting. She is passionate about coaching physicians throughout burnout so they can stay in practice. Burnout is bad. So her mission is to, very bad. It can hurt sometimes. That's what the drinking is about that I referenced earlier in the show.

In a way. People are getting drunk and I'm going to listen to the show and tune out. Don't do that, folks. Be good to yourself. She's on a mission to help people break free from burnout, prioritize self-care and live with purpose, and she runs a wellness and weight loss telemedicine site as well. Welcome to the show. How are you, Doc?

I'm doing great. Thanks for the introduction, and thanks for having me on. I didn't write it. You didn't. But thank you for coming on. We really appreciate it. Give us your.com so people can find you on the interwebs. DrBStrong.com is where you can find me and get onto the mailing list so that I can share medical health tips with you weekly.

And then what's the title of the new book that's coming out? So I've been working on a new book based on the TED talk that I did when I talked about my personal neurodivergence, my story and, you know, physician suicide, how I overcame burnout. And it's going to be called Blackface White Coat, the Blackface White Coat Anatomy of the Emotional Flatline. And that should be out within the next six weeks. It should be available on Amazon, wherever fine books are sold, I guess. It will be, as well as Dr. B. Strong will be on my website as well. And I will send out any of my newsletter subscribers the information. And people should check out your TEDx talk as well. And I will send out any of my newsletter subscribers the information. And people should check out your TEDx talk as well. Emotional Flatline. So give us a

30,000 overview of what's in the new book and what you do. Okay. So I am a physician. I've been a physician for the last 20 years. And I work in the emergency room in rural Missouri, about one hour outside of St. Louis. And kind of the book goes through what I went through as a physician during the pandemic, the stressors that go along with being a physician and how it's so sneaky. It's so insidious how you end up burnt out and overwhelmed because as a physician, it's taught to power on, to soldier on. Our whole training is about that. It's not fun and games like you see on Grey's Anatomy or Chicago Medicine. That is not real life. It is quite stressful.

It's not a bunch of people sleeping together and basically. There's that. There's actually a lot of that. How is she going to cope? But it's not as cute as it is on TV. It's usually messy with wives coming and throwing things. Everyone's hair isn't perfect. No, not perfect tv it's usually messy with with wives coming and throwing things everyone's hair isn't perfect no no not perfect it's very messy yeah why are you covered in blood let me tell you a story that's usually what i say to the cops when they show up in the house the so it's kind of

a would you say it's kind of a memoir of what happened during covid because i mean we it was a real crisis time for everybody but especially especially our doctors and nurses, because they were the medical people holding us together and, you know, having to make the hardest decisions in the world. And, you know, you couldn't hold hands with the person as they were passing away. Sometimes you couldn't be in the room with them. And I mean, it probably had to take more of an emotional toll on you guys than it ever had taken before in that scenario. More than you know, and it's like I don't have words for it. And many of us just didn't deal with it, but I felt like I had to deal with it.

I was just powering on and working a lot, but one of our colleagues committed suicide during that time. So it made me take a hard look. Am I okay? Let me make sure. And I found that getting mental health care actually is super duper complex. I guess that's by nature for the insurance companies, but it's very difficult to get help. And so it gave me a better understanding. And I feel like I'm a better doctor because I understand what a patient goes through to get mentally healthy. And now you help other doctors help themselves. Do you have any stats off the top of your head

on how big a doctor, healthcare provider suicide is by chance? Oh yeah. One physician dies per day from suicide. And that's about a whole medical school class wiped out every year. And I didn't even know that until I was dealing with my own depression. I did not know. It's not much talked about. I don't hear it on the news. It seems like it should be. But I thought maybe the public would be afraid. But it's something we need to address.

And then on top of that, 68% of doctors are burned out. And that's one of the most recent studies. And after the pandemic, 41% of healthcare workers left the field. So my thought process is that this is not sustainable. We can't all quit. And I don't think people who are doing such a great service to humanity, such as saving lives should be miserable doing it. Oh yeah. I mean, we, we need to, we need to keep these folks around. We've had a lot of doctors and healthcare providers on the show. And one thing we've talked about is, you know, we've, like you said, we had a lot of people leave over COVID the business. There's a lot of people are leaving over, you know, the trying to get insurance payouts

and lawsuits and all this sort of riffraff that goes around this sort of thing. But they also talked about, you know, generationally, you know, a lot of younger kids, you know, they're more interested in becoming TikTok influencers and Instagram influencers than they are being doctors. And even just the glut of the population, you have the boomers that are retiring, you have much smaller generations coming in to fill the void. And, you know, there's not enough support out there. And some of the doctors that have come on my show have said, we're in for a real crisis, especially in smaller areas like the one you're in, where there's not going to be enough rural hospitals, not enough rural doctors. When I think there's already a severe shortage as it is.

So we have some real problems coming down the pike. We do. And there are problems we can't afford to ignore anymore. And it's just, you know, and the reality of it is you either doctors either do one of two things. Some have the luxury of being000 in medical school debt. So they have to work whether you like it or not. And I think there's a better way to work and it's a better way to reframe your mindset to be able to do this kind of work that we do, this very important work. And you guys work long hours, long shifts. I don't know how you guys do it. My brother interned, I think, to eventually become a shifts. I don't know how you guys do it my brother Interned I think to eventually become a doctor. I think he end up some sort

He just hell I think it's a radiologist or something He does the he holds the thing that scans the women's bellies that are pregnant and that sounds weird doesn't it? But you know, it's radiology thing. I don't know. I'm clearly not in the medical field But you know the long hours you the medical field, but you know, the long hours you guys have to work, you know, sometimes these, these 24 hour 18 hour shifts or something like that. Do I have that right? We do. That's speaking more so of residency. When you're in residency training, what you see on Grey's anatomy,

there are, you can work up to 30 hours on that overnight shift. And yes, that is brutal. And when I was doing it, that was back in 2005, you were on call every three days. So every three days you can expect to work a 30-hour shift. And yes, it was a group and it was exhausting. I remember some times where I drove home and didn't know how I got there. But one time I always talk about is I remember sitting at a stop sign waiting on it to turn green. And that's not a stop sign. It was not a stop light. It was a stop sign.

Wow. You need more coffee. No, I mean, I've often wondered how people can deal with that. Trust me, when you're young, maybe you can pull it off. But definitely as you get older and you know the the body breaks down and stuff and you know you guys experience life and death too i can i'm i'm i'm a huge dog fan and i would love to go do volunteer work at a at a dog clinic or dog shelter sort of thing but i i i can't i couldn't handle the death i couldn't handle the loss i couldn't handle see the injury i'm just not i'm just not built that way and you know i have a lots of

reverence for people that can and they can handle that but there is a lot of high suicide in in vets there's high suicide in psychologists i believe there's high suicide in doctors and i imagine part of the debt that they go through is is you know I did mortgages for 20 years I would I would meet doctors that have been out of school for 10 20 years and then they would still be owing so much money that that they basically were still living on minimum wage I remember one guy he was a he was a pharmacist and he made really good money per year. But by the time he got done paying all of his debts for his college work, he could just afford a simple cookie cutter home that everyone else had. I was just, wow. Exactly. And I think that's why

the public doesn't get that. Many people have the misconception that doctors are rich, but not always. There are some who have the savvy to make other outside investments, but just the day-to-day physician work is not what's going to create wealth. And in today's world where insurance companies fight you for everything, I mean, I've heard a lot of doctors have quit. So you do coaching to help these docs. Let's get into some of the offerings that you do on your website and how you work with them. Do you work with all different types of doctors from any field and healthcare providers? Yes, I work with doctors, pharmacists. I've even worked with some executives, health care executives and other executives because we have the same problems. It's the same kind of high expectation, not enough time and just not enough hours in the day. So it seems like

we are trying to live and do the impossible, but nonetheless, we try. And then what I often see in all of these types of people is burning the candle that both ends to the point where there's something that makes you stop usually the body keeps counting catches up for the most part i work with women and what i see in women generally is a health issue is usually the thing that brings them to me meaning that they become ill they can't really work in the capacity in which they were working one of the things that brings them to me, meaning that they become ill. They can't really work in the capacity in which they were working. One of the things that I know is that women have 80% of the autoimmune diseases that occur. And so there's a gene that could be turned on or not turned on,

but stressors are one of the things that cause it to express itself. And once it expresses itself, then you end up having an autoimmune disease. What's an autoimmune disease? Things like lupus, things like rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, things where your body is attacking its own body. And that's more common in women for those reasons. It's like women work themselves to death, literally. And that's why I feel like this type of coaching is very important. And I do feel like we need to keep physicians in practice, specifically women. We've had people on the show that have talked about that very thing that you mentioned, the body keeps score. And it seems like we tend to house trauma in different parts of our body.

And it festers. And, you know, if we don't really take care of ourselves and clean it out, I think I had some folks on the show that talked about how caretakers, you know, people work in old home facilities. My sister's in a care center with MS. You know, they deal with a high amount of depression. They actually have higher Alzheimer's, I think, and other diseases that come to them because of the stress, the loss of sleep. Even like human caretakers. I can see where human caretakers suffer and stuff. And of course, doctors, you know, you guys, I can't imagine working in an ER room for a shift and being not moved by any sort of tragedy that's come before you in a human element. And I mean, I can't imagine that, you know, that that doesn't take some sort of toll, whether it's conscious or subconscious.

And so I think it's important that we have this and we recognize that, you know, people need to time out. People need to, you know, take care of themselves. They need to do self-care and heal. Am I on the right track there? That's exactly. I probably couldn't have said it better myself. It's just that those who care for others need to prioritize caring for themselves. We have to do that because you cannot pour from an empty cup. And when you come into the hospital for an emergency you want your doctor on you want him or her well rested and in a good mind mind state that's what we need to do we need to those who are taking care of their world whenever i stop by the er i grab some starbucks coffee and and give my doc a back massage rub

you know and i hire one of those people that comes in, the NFL people that beat you up and make an ice bath for them and stuff. I just try and... That's how I show up to work every week. I do. I show up at Starbucks. I do.

I struggle with the nurses. I do a massage. I was like, let's have a good shift. Mindset is everything. Yeah. And then what you alluded to before is one of your keynotes that you've done is the oxygen mask principle. Tell us about that because that kind of flows into this. Yeah. The oxygen mask principle, I wrote a book about that and also do a keynote

about that. And it's about prioritizing your self-care. And the principle I have is that you take care of yourself first. You think about yourself first and imagine a reality where you have everything you need. You take real actionable steps towards doing that. And you set boundaries and you protect your time. And by having that and teaching that to physicians, because physicians are taught to take care of everyone else. We know how to do that. Oh, so well. But we are not taught to take care of ourselves and the things that are taught to take care of everyone else. We know how to do that oh so well. But we are not taught to take care of ourselves and the things that are important to us. And so that's why you see such a high divorce rate in doctors.

I know a lot of doctors that have very estranged relationships with their children and family. Because just prioritizing and creating some harmony. Because there's no balance. When you're a doctor, there's no balance. You're lopsided in terms of the time you have, especially depending on what kind of doctor you are, but you can make harmony. And I teach doctors to schedule you first and then put everything else next. Yeah.

I'm a single guy who runs big singles groups where we do meetups and people meet for, because that used to be the way we used to meet up and work and, you know, dating apps really haven't been that great. And I've tried dating nurses and it's hard because, you know, you'll have a date with them and they're like, ah, I gotta, you know, I got called in and you know, they're working these long shifts. It's usually, sometimes I have to pick a weird day, like a Tuesday to go out as opposed to a weekend. And it's, I can see how it's hard on relationships. It's hard on family. I can see how it's hard on women.

You mentioned women suffer a lot from it because they're being mothers. They're trying to be caretakers of their family as well as being caretakers to people in the hospital. It's a big burden. I can't even imagine it. I have a boundary against seeing blood in movies. That's a big burden i can't even imagine it like i i have a boundary against seeing blood in movies that's how big i'm one of those people almost passes out when you take my blood i'm that big of a baby and you know there's that's my boundary but you know it's something that's important for you guys to set as well and take care of yourselves and and maybe i mean does the

public need to support you guys more i remember at the start of covid it was really wonderful to see people outside hospitals honking and stuff like that if you remember that but then it all kind of died off into some really hateful shit it did you know so that's probably part of the anatomy what i call the anatomy of the burnout of some health care professions because yes, that was that sharp swing. We love you and we hate you now, because you're perpetuating whatever you think about COVID. People became stressed and then they needed a source to thwart the anger towards. And so there's the healthcare system for a while. I noticed firsthand people coming into the ER just mean, just mean, saying the most heinous, awful things. And you're thinking, man, I am, you know, giving it all I got here. I've not seen my family in extended period of time.

So it felt like a slap in the face. And I think that that that was part of what led some people to leave. They're like, I wish my life because you you really did. We really wished our lives. Yeah, you guys did. In the beginning when we didn't know. I don't know too many people who have the experience I had where I was worried about whether or not I would kill my family. Yeah. You know, was I bringing something home that could kill them?

And so I stayed above the garage and I was very isolated. You know, and you didn't have anybody to decompress with and talk about what you've seen for the which was horrible it seemed like you're already isolated with covid right but you know your family's staying away from you they're actually scared of you i remember that and i was horrified if i have a son who has a autoimmune issue and he takes a medicine that causes his system to be weaker and so i thought that if he got covered for me i could not live that down and so i was so careful yeah i had a good friend of mine whose wife worked in one of the hospitals in california and they had to separate the house and

put all sorts of stuff up and you know he would talk about the challenges and what they were going through and and yeah i mean and then if you've got someone who's on immune, I was always worried about passing it to my mother who was older. My sister, of course. My mother used to go see my sister at the care center every day. And then it got to where we can only go wave it through the window. And yeah, it was a pretty interesting time. And I would hope that we've learned some lessons from it. And I would hope that books like yours are going to, are going to inspire people to really rethink this because if we don't take care of our caretakers, there's

not going to be anybody to take care of us. I guess that's kind of selfish to say, isn't it? It is not selfish because healthcare is one of the cornerstones of modern society. Okay. And so what good is a hospital if there's no one in it to run it? And I can't just stand back idly and watch one by one, day by day. Doctors that I know, I have several friends who are completely done, have washed their hands. Nurses that I know that have decided, I'm just going to stay at home and be a stay-at-home mom. And that's okay, but we can't all do that because our society is aging. We have the baby boomers getting older and older. Now my generation is Gen Z will be older. And I think about me as I get out of my forties and become older, I want someone there to take care of me.

So we need to support the younger generation in medicine. And our systems are flawed. They don't work. The paradigm needs to shift. And so that's why I do physician coaching. My hope is that as I speak about this, like I do at conferences and workshops, that eventually this will be second half. We'll have physician coaches at most facilities, at medical facilities.

And so we just need a movement where we train those peoples. Is there anything like that in, you know, like in high school, you can go see the high school nurse there, eh? Is there, is like anything like that in a doctor's office where you can go, you know, have a, you know, you can go see him and say, hey, I need to show the crown or need to talk to somebody about something? Is there any sort of resources like that that are offered through the medical system? Not consistently.

And that is the paradigm shift and change. They say, be the change you wish you could see in the world. I wish that was there for me. And that's what I'm creating. Maybe I just got into espresso. Maybe I should just drag my expression machine down a little clear and I'll just be, I'll just be a cheerleader and I'm pretty good at that.

And I think, you know, my blood is 50% espresso. I mean, I don't, if you're not drinking coffee, what are you doing, man? My blood is 50% espresso. I mean, I don't. If you're not drinking coffee, what are you doing, man? That's one of the first questions I ask when I have to be a doctor.

So what kind of coffee do you like? It's either you like coffee or you like Red Bull. Otherwise, I'm concerned. I'm concerned. Ain't no way. There's ain't no way you're getting through this doctor life without some kind of stimulant. And I hope it's not the illegal kind of stimulant. So I'm like, soft, Red Bull, some type of energy drink, five-hour energy shot.

If I go down that line and you don't drink those, I need a new doctor. If I ever go see the doctor again, I try and avoid them. They're wonderful people. I haven't been thinking about blood and needles but if i ever go you you remind me i'm just gonna drag my coffee machine in there i'll just set up you know because er sometimes takes a while i think nowadays so i'll just drag my espresso machine i'll make free espresso who wants espresso yeah i know he's bleeding i know he's bleeding out of the table, but I mean, this is really good beans right here. I have a scalpel in one hand and espresso in the other. I'll just hand him out.

The doctor will be like, nurse, scalpel, Chris, espresso. Yeah, exactly. Can I get a biscotti with that? So let's talk about your other website where you do telemedicine services. Talk to us about what that is. And I imagine that's kind of geared more towards consumers. That is geared towards consumers, but I use it in my coaching program. I talk about marrying your mind, your body, and your spirit all together because I do believe that the reason that many doctors are so disconnected is that we're disconnected from our purpose.

And so you figure out what your purpose is. And I help people go through that journey because your purpose is the best of what you have to give to others. So it's really honing in on that through an introspective journey that I take you through. And we kind of connect to your why. Now, when you know what your purpose is, then you can be more fulfilled in what you do. And if you have fulfillment and work, then it's not like I have to make you do it. You're connected to your why. And most people become doctors. We don't just want to be doctors. It's been a dream since, you know, you've had this romantic fantasy about it. But somehow you grow up and actually do it. It becomes a nightmare, but it does not have to be.

And so when I, in my coaching program, we talk about that, you develop your purpose. And now let's talk about the second part, the big elephant in the room. Many doctors are completely unhealthy and that's because we're stressed out and we're not taking care of ourselves. We are working so hard, keeping you alive that we're not even considering our own issues, right? And that's evidence in some studies. One of the things that made me really think about myself is that there was one study that said the average age of an ER physician was 57 years old. There are other studies that say it's older, but if 57 is it, then I say I'm in my forties. I need to slow it down. So I talked to

doctors and we talked about how can we really optimize your health, make sure you're moving, make sure that you're actually doing all the things you tell your patients to do. And from there, you got your mindset and you're working on your health. And that talk about how you can be fulfilled in your job and in your purpose, whether that be staying in medicine or some people decide they want to do a side hustle and work less with medicine or start a business. Yeah. Whatever. According to the internet, take it for what it's worth. According to recent data, the average age of a licensed physician is around 51.9 years old. So I'm 57.

I can barely get up out of bed I'm 49 I have a lot of energy and the medicine is not going to take me out of my 50s man I'm not going to do that I have learned a lot in the last couple years about how to take care of myself 50% expresso blood level

evidently this helps I was like the Sabrina song own me expresso yeah me expresso that's in fact I drink a regular coffee today a k-cup coffee because I was too tired to make the expresso and warm up the machine on stuff and I was like I'll just have a coffee to get me seated so that I can you know get the body to move take back on the falling off parts and stuff that fall off at night. I'm 57. That's normal.

At least what I've been told by my doctor. He drinks a lot, though. A lot of what? I'm just making up jokes. He drinks a lot of coffee. So anyway, I woke up this morning, had a K-cup, and I was like, this is the most grossest water ever. And I'm like, oh, God.

Get the espresso maker going. Maybe someone should make a really strong, high-caffeinated coffee for doctors. Your website's called Strong Medicine. Maybe we should have a Strong Medicine coffee you should sell. Yeah, you know, I have to focus my energies too many hats and I get nothing. That's true. That's true. You know, there is kind of a, in the strong medicine and logo, there is kind of a coffee

bean there. It looks like a brain, but I'm pretty sure it's a coffee bean. That or I'm just obsessed with this restaurant. My brain is made of coffee. In the strong medicine website, that's weight loss coaching and the ability to prescribe the GLP-1 medications to help weight loss. Because obesity is the root cause of so many chronic diseases. And taking care of obesity decreases hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, just to name a few. That's true.

I mean, I have enemies that say that because i'm fat i'm a chronic disease but that's another story um so you did on the website you prescribe a zempic and and some of those different things that people are using now to lose weight yeah those if your insurance will cover them and also there's an option to buy the compounded version if your insurance will not cover it ah so do you have to self option to buy the compounded version if your insurance will not cover it. Ah. So do you have to self-administer the compounded version? Is that where you go home and...

You have to self-administer any type of version. Oh, do you? They are all injections, and you have to give them to yourself. Oh, boy. I hate needles. I get testosterone supplement, but they shoot me up for that. But that's about all I can handle. They do it for you i mean you know they're they're obviously

it's not hard it's extra for that okay yeah and i do it on purpose because if i try to jam myself with a needle i probably pass the hell out i'm a baby are people like that. I don't know why I tend to find that more in my male patients than female patients. I don't know. I don't know, man. I don't know. I started testosterone therapy a year and a half ago. And up until then, I probably had, I don't know, 20 shots in my life. Now I've had 5 billion.

So I'm getting there. I don't know. So people can do a, how does it work with the telemedicine services, strong medicine? Do people reach out to you? It's pretty self-explanatory. Okay. There's a sign-up sheet on there, and then that goes to the assistant and alerts him to sign the patients up. We do a video visit, and your medicine's prescribed.

If you don't have any contraindications, there are people who should not take that medicine. Oh, really? Wow. So you make sure that they're all in the right place for all that stuff and help them. I noticed that you have some nutrition tips here on the website. Nutrition is probably important too in losing weight. That's the key that people forget. They think that I would take a shot and do whatever I want. Yeah, go to McDonald's again. One thing about these medications is you won't feel like eating those things. But if you're not eating the right things, if you're not getting enough protein, you'll find that you will lose weight that you don't want to lose.

You'll lose muscle mass. And then you will look. You'll have a lot of cellulite. And you won't enjoy the look that you have. The thing that we see in the news. It's called a zympic butt, and you don't want that. You want to definitely work out regularly, build your muscle, get enough protein so that you look spelt, and you have good cosmetic appearance when you lose as well.

That'll get the chicks. I have something, I think there's a medical technical term to it. It's called fat ass. Fat butt. Okay. All right. I get it. So people can reach out to you there.

They can book a consultation, all that good stuff. They can reach out to you on your website. Give everyone a final pitch out on everything they do, how they can get in contact with you, et cetera, et cetera. All right. For any physicians and executives who need coaching and are burnt out, I'm starting a cohort that begins in March and I'll be giving information on my website about the webinar. And you can reach out to me at drbstrong.com. That's drbstrong.com. Also text STRONG to 55444 where I can send you tips, like five tips about

not burning out. So five tips to combat burning out. I can send you tips, like five tips about not burning out. So five tips to combat burning out. I can send that to you. And when you text 5544, text STRONG to 55444. Because we need our medical doctors. I'm getting old. And like I said, the body parts are falling off. So I'm going to need somebody eventually that I'm going to move to. I don't know.

Zimbabwe. I don't know. I don't have a joke for this. So I'm just going to run with Zimbabwe. I don't know, Zimbabwe. I don't know. I don't have a joke for this. So I'm just going to run with Zimbabwe. I don't know why Zimbabwe just seems like a nice place to go. Do they have free healthcare there? I think that's what I'm trying to imply. That's probably where you should go as you get out of the place. Canada or Mexico. I've often thought that I'm like, I don't know.

I wonder if it's getting so bad here with the healthcare system that I'm going to have to be, you know, one of those. You know, in the 70s, my grandmother used to always go to Mexico for all her medications because they were cheaper there. Like antibiotics. It's still the case. It's still the case. A lot of people do that. They go to Mexico to get their medicines.

But now it can be certain medicines you get. You wonder if they're safe or if they're laced with something that you don't want in your medicine. That's true. Thank you very much for coming to the show. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks, Doc. And thanks to Ronis for tuning in. Go to Goodreads.com, 4Chest, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com,

4Chest, Chris Foss, Chris Foss1, the TikTokity, and all those crazy places on the internet. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you next time.