Stimulus Blog and Podcast

Chances are that some of the decisions you make (or don’t make) come from a place of internally throwing your hands up and feeling like you have no say in the matter. The opposite of this mind-frame is called ‘agency’, or acting with agency. When you act with agency, you own your decisions and act with specific intent. It’s not always easy to get there, however.

The thought of taking a break during a busy work day can sound impossible if not contrary to the ethos of our job. The reality, however, is that taking a break is not only possible, but will likely make you clinically sharper, more efficient, and possibly even happier. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Russell walks us through how to take a break within the constraints of our clinical responsibilities as well as pitfalls to avoid when taking a pause from patient care.

Bob Ross is best known as the mellifluous host of The Joy of Painting, yet there are things he can teach about how to effectively care for trauma patients. In this episode, we cover: how Bob Ross can help invoke calm during crisis, the Chuck Norris mode of trauma resuscitation, why Bob Ross is your trauma room spirit animal, finding your feet, the power of acknowledging mistakes.

Strategies on managing finances during a bear market, the dangers of market timing, the value of a written investment plan, how The White Coat Investor invests his money, and why a good financial advisor can sometimes be the best couple’s therapist.

None of us are immune from stress, especially now. This is a critical moment for us to look out not only for our own mental health but that of our colleagues. In this episode, psychiatrist Dr. Melissa Shepard sits down with our good friend Dr. Neda Frayha to discuss the mental health challenges facing health care workers in the COVID-19 pandemic, and some concrete, tangible tools to help us get through this period. 

Breathwork coach Ryan Cheney walks us through how we can make breath work for us, not just with us

This episode will give us strategies to mentally prepare for each day during the COVID pandemic. It will show us how to find an anchor to ground us so that rather than feeling like we’re constantly running defense, we’re actually on offense. 

At the end of the day, have you made the world a little better? My guess is that you have, even if only in a small way. That’s certainly true of today’s guest, Dan Bissell, MD. Dan is co-founder of Portland Street Medicine, a medically focused non-profit dedicated to caring for the homeless. What’s unique […]

We can’t immediately change the process of medicine, the stuff that is kind of a drag and wears us down. What we can change, however, is our mindset. In this episode, we dissect several practices for shift preparation with a common goal of operating at a peak level of performance and experiencing more joy in […]

In this first episode of Stimulus, we learn from two masters in the art of de-escalating those who are agitated and upset.  Jose Pacheco, RN, known affectionately to his co-workers as ‘The Drunk Whisperer’, has a specific sequence to this approach, which he’s going to walk us through, step by step. The good news is […]