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Food for thought: Discussing Men's Health with Dr. Mihir Patel
4 Plays9 months ago
In honor of Men's Health Week, April and Alicia are joined by a special guest: Sound Hospital Medicine's Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mihir Patel. Dr. Patel brings personal insight and professional perspective to discussing the realities of men and their health. Why are so many men hesitant to schedule those regular checkups? What preventive screenings could save a man's life—especially one who feels perfectly fine? Tune in for a conversation that could inspire you (or the men in your life) to make that overdue appointment.
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Transcript
Introduction and Social Media in Commerce
00:00:00
Speaker
A lot of people use social media for various reasons.
00:00:05
Speaker
My guilty pleasure, I would say, is the Facebook Marketplace where people can buy and sell stuff easily.
00:00:13
Speaker
So the story on Facebook Marketplace is I bought my Rivian truck from Marketplace.
00:00:21
Speaker
This is on call.
00:00:23
Speaker
This would be really cool to just wear scrubs all the time and you don't have to think about what you're going to wear to work.
00:00:27
Speaker
That is awesome.
00:00:28
Speaker
We're here to answer your questions.
00:00:30
Speaker
We can sit down and discuss them.
00:00:32
Speaker
Wait, I gotta go.
00:00:33
Speaker
I'm on call.
00:00:34
Speaker
Wait, you're on call?
00:00:34
Speaker
I thought I was on call.
00:00:38
Speaker
Hey, everybody.
Meet the Hosts and Guest
00:00:39
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of On Call with April and Alicia.
00:00:42
Speaker
I'm Alicia.
00:00:43
Speaker
I'm April.
00:00:44
Speaker
I'm Mihir.
00:00:46
Speaker
Hey.
00:00:46
Speaker
We have a guest.
00:00:47
Speaker
Hi, Mihir.
00:00:48
Speaker
Welcome to the On Call room.
00:00:50
Speaker
Thank you for having me.
00:00:52
Speaker
This is my
Weather Talk and Personal Interests
00:00:53
Speaker
first on-call podcast and I'm super excited and nervous that what questions you guys are going to ask.
00:01:01
Speaker
It won't be so scary.
00:01:03
Speaker
I say welcome back to the on-call room in the clinical sense.
00:01:06
Speaker
Because it's probably been some time because Mehir is our CEO.
00:01:09
Speaker
But April, why don't you do the intro?
00:01:11
Speaker
Yeah, so Dr. Mahir Patel is our CEO of Hospital Medicine here at Sound.
00:01:16
Speaker
So, Mahir, we're excited to have you.
00:01:18
Speaker
And don't be scared.
00:01:19
Speaker
It'll be painless, hopefully, for you.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yes, most people make it out alive, Mahir.
00:01:24
Speaker
Yes.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yes.
00:01:27
Speaker
Well, it's been a while, April, since we've recorded.
00:01:30
Speaker
There's been lots of things going on in life, and we'll talk about those one day.
00:01:34
Speaker
But can I tell you the most exciting thing for me?
00:01:37
Speaker
Let's hear it.
00:01:39
Speaker
It's hurricane season.
00:01:42
Speaker
You are like the only person in the world that is probably excited about that.
00:01:46
Speaker
I was talking to, um, what was it?
00:01:49
Speaker
Um, one of our recruiters, I was at ASAP yesterday and, um, she's like, oh, I fell asleep watching the weather channel last night.
00:01:55
Speaker
And I was like, oh my gosh, you've got to listen to her podcast.
00:01:59
Speaker
I think it's a weather podcast.
00:02:00
Speaker
And all I do is talk about the weather.
00:02:02
Speaker
Um, and she, I was like, do you like it too?
00:02:04
Speaker
And she goes, yes.
00:02:04
Speaker
And I was like, fun fact, June 1st is hurricane season.
00:02:07
Speaker
She was like,
Buying a Rivian Truck on Facebook Marketplace
00:02:08
Speaker
okay, I don't like it that much.
00:02:09
Speaker
And I was like, okay.
00:02:12
Speaker
I started, I was kind of laughing.
00:02:13
Speaker
I was like, April would love to know this.
00:02:15
Speaker
And Mahir, I know you're in Texas, Dallas, right?
00:02:19
Speaker
That is correct, yeah.
00:02:20
Speaker
Do you guys get a lot of hurricanes?
00:02:22
Speaker
I know Houston gets hit.
00:02:23
Speaker
Does it come in for you?
00:02:25
Speaker
No, we are pretty inland, but we do get pretty crazy weather with tornadoes.
00:02:33
Speaker
So now I think I heard yesterday somebody's telling like the whole tornado alley is now moving and it would be more Dallas is in the way.
00:02:43
Speaker
So we get a lot of issued watch and crazy mothers.
00:02:48
Speaker
Oh, I don't I don't celebrate the disaster of it.
00:02:51
Speaker
I think I'm just incredibly fascinated by weather.
00:02:54
Speaker
And we hear like on nights I can't sleep.
00:02:55
Speaker
I just sit and watch the weather channel as hurricanes develop.
00:02:58
Speaker
So April gets tired of hearing me talk about that.
00:03:01
Speaker
She was like, did you ever see that movie Twisters?
00:03:03
Speaker
The people who chase the storms?
00:03:04
Speaker
That's like going to be Alicia.
00:03:06
Speaker
That's what I wanted to be when I grew up.
00:03:08
Speaker
Yeah, I should have.
00:03:09
Speaker
I should have.
00:03:10
Speaker
No, I'm not that much of a thrill seeker.
00:03:12
Speaker
I like to do it from a safe space.
00:03:15
Speaker
So, well, we got an action packed episode today.
Icebreaker Questions with Mihir: Interests and Hypotheticals
00:03:19
Speaker
So I do want to jump in.
00:03:20
Speaker
Mihir's got a lot to share and we'll talk about why we invited him today.
00:03:25
Speaker
But I did want to ask Mihir a question.
00:03:27
Speaker
We were talking before we got on and I asked him to save a story because we're talking about social media.
00:03:32
Speaker
And he was talking about Facebook Marketplace, which is completely unfamiliar to me.
00:03:38
Speaker
So tell me here first about what is Facebook Marketplace and tell me what you bought.
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:03:44
Speaker
I think the, as I was sharing with you, like a lot of people use social media for various reasons.
00:03:53
Speaker
My guilty pleasure, I would say, is the Facebook Marketplace where people can buy and sell stuff easily.
00:04:00
Speaker
And you can, it's almost a Google search engine within Facebook.
00:04:03
Speaker
You can find anything.
00:04:05
Speaker
So I'm crazy about cars.
00:04:08
Speaker
I love electric cars.
00:04:10
Speaker
So the story for on Facebook marketplaces, I bought my Rivian truck from marketplace.
00:04:17
Speaker
It's crazy.
00:04:18
Speaker
I found somebody I met with the completely stranger guy.
00:04:21
Speaker
When I look old to you.
00:04:25
Speaker
And I survived and I got the truck.
00:04:27
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't got scammed.
00:04:28
Speaker
But be careful if you do that.
00:04:31
Speaker
But it is amazing to see like what people buy and sell on Marketplace.
00:04:35
Speaker
So if you didn't see it, check it out.
00:04:38
Speaker
Are they good deals?
00:04:40
Speaker
Very good deals.
00:04:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think usually.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:43
Speaker
April, you know what you're looking for?
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm actually surprised that you don't know about this because you are way more social media than I am.
00:04:50
Speaker
But yes, I know like
00:04:51
Speaker
I know people like friends, family that sell things on there and I'll peruse it every now and then.
00:04:56
Speaker
Like I have two kids that are going to have driver's license here in a couple of years.
00:05:00
Speaker
And I'm like, I can get like a pretty cheap car that, you know, I don't care if it gets a few dings in it, you know?
00:05:07
Speaker
Well, I bought my first car off of eBay, so I guess it's the same thing.
00:05:10
Speaker
It's the same thing.
00:05:12
Speaker
Yeah, but it was at a dealer, but that's where they were listing it.
00:05:15
Speaker
But I only I don't know about it because I'm not on Facebook.
00:05:17
Speaker
Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'd know something.
00:05:20
Speaker
But that's that's crazy.
00:05:22
Speaker
I might make that a let's break the ice question.
00:05:25
Speaker
OK, I'm going to hold that next thought.
00:05:28
Speaker
All right.
00:05:29
Speaker
We do, before we get into the episode, we always do with our guests a let's break the ice round just to kind of warm up.
00:05:37
Speaker
And we, for April and I, just rapid fire some questions at you.
00:05:40
Speaker
So first thing that comes to mind is how you answer.
00:05:45
Speaker
Are you ready to play, Mihir?
00:05:46
Speaker
Yep, let's do it.
00:05:47
Speaker
All right.
00:05:49
Speaker
April, you want to start?
00:05:50
Speaker
Sure.
00:05:50
Speaker
All right.
00:05:51
Speaker
Well, in true April fashion, I'm going to stick with a food related thing for my first question.
00:05:55
Speaker
So we're coming up on hot weather, you know, especially in Texas.
00:05:59
Speaker
So Mahir, what is your favorite like cold summer treat after you've been out in the heat all day?
00:06:05
Speaker
Like what is it that you want to have at the end of that day to cool you down?
00:06:09
Speaker
I was going to say beer, but I quit drinking.
00:06:12
Speaker
That's cool.
00:06:13
Speaker
You can say that.
00:06:14
Speaker
Oh, you quit.
00:06:15
Speaker
So right now it's the, usually what we do is a fruit salad.
00:06:21
Speaker
So any fruits, like especially mango, it's my favorite fruit.
00:06:26
Speaker
So I would probably have my wife or somebody help cut it for me and then you can eat it.
00:06:33
Speaker
I was just going to add, I don't make any attempt to go to kitchen, by the way.
00:06:36
Speaker
That's
Mihir's Career Path: From Medicine to Leadership
00:06:37
Speaker
how food works I have.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:39
Speaker
So you can't cut a mango.
00:06:40
Speaker
I can't figure out how to cut a mango.
00:06:42
Speaker
I watch YouTube videos all the time to figure out how to do it.
00:06:45
Speaker
We actually bought a mango in our Southwest road trip last year when we were in, I think it was Santa Cruz.
00:06:52
Speaker
We were on the beach and they were selling mangoes like in the cart.
00:06:56
Speaker
And so we bought mangoes, but they were already cut.
00:06:58
Speaker
So we didn't have to deal with cutting them on the beach, but it was fun to have them on the beach.
00:07:02
Speaker
Fruit salad sounds amazing right now.
00:07:06
Speaker
My question for Yumi here is, if you could swap jobs with anyone, anywhere around the world, fictional or real, who would it be?
00:07:14
Speaker
Just for a day.
00:07:15
Speaker
Just for a day, I would probably go work at a tech company.
00:07:21
Speaker
Any tech company?
00:07:23
Speaker
Microsoft.
00:07:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:24
Speaker
I didn't know you were a tech guy.
00:07:26
Speaker
Probably swap a job with Satya Nadella, maybe.
00:07:29
Speaker
Go and work in Microsoft.
00:07:31
Speaker
Interesting.
00:07:34
Speaker
All right.
00:07:36
Speaker
Just to, I know you both got the different reaction, but I'm really- I was going to ask, are you a tech guy?
00:07:42
Speaker
With a tech background and always, the fun story was always wanting to be an engineer.
00:07:51
Speaker
So I'm a physician and engineer's body kind of situation where I had a choice that I can take a path to go towards medicine or medical services or go towards engineering.
00:08:04
Speaker
And at that time, we chose medical field, but my brain was always fixated on engineering.
00:08:11
Speaker
So that's why the tech thing comes out.
00:08:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:14
Speaker
Interesting.
00:08:15
Speaker
All right.
00:08:16
Speaker
That sounds like your local IT support.
00:08:20
Speaker
Anytime we do Microsoft Teams meetings, when people can't figure out how to share screen, I'm there to help you.
00:08:26
Speaker
Well, now I need a call when I have a tech issue.
00:08:29
Speaker
Were you the guy that wore the construction vest for Epic Rollouts when you were working clinically?
00:08:36
Speaker
Maybe.
00:08:38
Speaker
I figured that's normally the tech guys of the group or women of the group that do that.
00:08:44
Speaker
That's funny.
00:08:45
Speaker
Did people ever offer to pay you to write their notes for them?
00:08:48
Speaker
We used to have physicians all the time who saw me typing and were like, April, can I pay you to write my notes?
00:08:52
Speaker
I'm like, no.
00:08:53
Speaker
I think they asked me, so the weirdest thing they asked me recently is somebody asked me about how do you fix your home Wi-Fi?
00:09:03
Speaker
And I was able to help them through...
00:09:06
Speaker
kind of like navigating through and changing some of their settings on the Wi-Fi and they offer me the to pay.
00:09:14
Speaker
And I'm like, no, sorry, I'm helping you.
00:09:18
Speaker
The knowledge I gathered over the years, how to fix somebody's Wi-Fi.
00:09:22
Speaker
Interesting.
00:09:23
Speaker
All right.
00:09:23
Speaker
Well, now we know who to call for help.
00:09:25
Speaker
Well, everybody, Mahir's number is, just kidding.
00:09:28
Speaker
It's still IT help desk at Sound Physician.
00:09:31
Speaker
No official job for you here, huh?
00:09:36
Speaker
All right.
00:09:37
Speaker
And just hit one for Mahir.
00:09:38
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:41
Speaker
All right, Mahir.
00:09:42
Speaker
My next question is, if you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
00:09:48
Speaker
Costa Rica.
00:09:50
Speaker
I think we've been twice so far in Costa Rica.
00:09:55
Speaker
And it kind of gives you the vibe of like very relaxed Sandy beach, but at the same time you can do
00:10:02
Speaker
lot of crazy adventures of doing the trails, walking around.
00:10:07
Speaker
People are very nice and laid back and food is amazing.
00:10:13
Speaker
And something you can learn how to cut or do is coconuts.
00:10:17
Speaker
I learned that over there.
00:10:19
Speaker
That's it.
00:10:20
Speaker
That's the only thing I know how to cut, probably.
00:10:23
Speaker
But I think that that would be one destination I would, if I had to retire or go one more time, I would go there.
00:10:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:31
Speaker
You went to Ibiza, didn't you?
00:10:34
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:35
Speaker
I think I heard that.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:37
Speaker
How was that?
00:10:39
Speaker
That was pretty wild.
00:10:40
Speaker
So that's not a retirement plan.
00:10:45
Speaker
I heard that.
00:10:46
Speaker
I was like, I don't think I've ever met somebody that's gone to Ibiza.
00:10:49
Speaker
So I was just curious how that was.
00:10:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:51
Speaker
So the spectrum of talking about Ibiza, my spectrum on the music goes from anywhere from Coldplay
00:11:01
Speaker
to go all the way to Arvin Van Buren for techno and trance music.
00:11:07
Speaker
So I'm a crazy fan for Arvin.
00:11:10
Speaker
And that's why I went there to Amitza because he was performing live.
00:11:15
Speaker
Oh, nice.
00:11:17
Speaker
I love Coldplay.
00:11:19
Speaker
That's probably my number one favorite group or even just Chris Martin as an artist in general.
00:11:26
Speaker
So I'm with you there.
00:11:27
Speaker
And those concerts are amazing.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yep.
00:11:30
Speaker
All right.
00:11:31
Speaker
I'm learning more and more.
00:11:32
Speaker
Jeez, okay, let's do this one.
00:11:36
Speaker
What's one thing that people get wrong about you?
00:11:40
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I can tell you.
00:11:43
Speaker
A lot of the people think that I'm born and brought up here in the U.S.,
00:11:54
Speaker
They think like you grew up here and you went to med school here.
00:11:59
Speaker
But in reality, I went to med school in India.
00:12:02
Speaker
I was 26 year old when I came to US.
00:12:07
Speaker
Most of the people get the wrong that, oh, you grew up here somewhere, either in Kelly or Texas.
00:12:14
Speaker
That's how people think about me.
00:12:17
Speaker
Interesting.
00:12:18
Speaker
I did not know that about you.
00:12:21
Speaker
All right.
00:12:22
Speaker
Well, thank you for that.
00:12:24
Speaker
All right.
00:12:25
Speaker
Well, yeah, thank you for that.
00:12:27
Speaker
And so the reason that we have some here to be our guests today is because June is, excuse me, Men's Health Month.
00:12:35
Speaker
And so we wanted to bring me here on to talk a little bit about, you know, as from a physician's perspective, preventative medicine and men and how important that is, but also you being a leader, we wanted to talk with you a little bit about work-life balance from the perspective of a male leader in our organization.
00:12:54
Speaker
Mahir, if you want to start out, if you could just tell us a little bit about your background and your story, you can tell us as much or as little as you want about your history.
00:13:04
Speaker
Oh, for sure.
Balancing Work and Life: Strategies and Challenges
00:13:05
Speaker
I think I just started on that particular history.
00:13:08
Speaker
So I grew up in India, did my math school, came to U.S. and I paid my dues in Northeast, where I went to Connecticut to do my residency in Sound.
00:13:22
Speaker
was my first job as a hospitalist.
00:13:26
Speaker
And I'm still with town after 12 years later.
00:13:28
Speaker
And that tells you the story about how
00:13:33
Speaker
very successful venture we have with Sound.
00:13:37
Speaker
And as you raise your hand, there are like a lot of leaders and mentors in Sound has helped me grow into this role.
00:13:45
Speaker
And you raise your hand, you get more responsibility at Sound.
00:13:49
Speaker
And I think that is true for any successful organization to grow from the then.
00:13:54
Speaker
All of us on the call have all grown at one or other time from a different role to a different role and do more.
00:14:03
Speaker
I'm very fortunate to be here and with sound.
00:14:08
Speaker
My alternative, if you ask me before, or it's a real story on
00:14:14
Speaker
when at the junction of when I was finishing my residency before I took the role with hospitalist at Sound was I'm going to go and do a GI fellowship.
00:14:25
Speaker
So I was chosen to be chief resident, was going to do GI fellowship in one of the Yale campus in Connecticut.
00:14:33
Speaker
And I had a moment where I thought I can't see myself
00:14:40
Speaker
being GI physician, doing colonoscopy every day.
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:44
Speaker
And I had that moment of realization that I probably want to do something else.
00:14:52
Speaker
And then I saw Sound advertisement, took a leap of faith, and I wanted to move to warmer weather.
00:14:59
Speaker
So I moved to Louisiana and took my first role with Sound as a hospitalist, and the rest is the history.
00:15:07
Speaker
All right.
00:15:08
Speaker
Well, then you did some leadership stuff after that.
00:15:11
Speaker
Your first role was sound.
00:15:13
Speaker
Then you moved to CMO, right?
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:17
Speaker
Don't dip us here.
00:15:18
Speaker
We've got a CEO on the line here.
00:15:20
Speaker
No, absolutely.
00:15:22
Speaker
I think I told somebody that I have played every single role as a clinical leader can play at sound, including kind of like the
00:15:34
Speaker
RMD role, CMO, associate CMO.
00:15:37
Speaker
I did the stint with Value Based Care as a transitional market medical director before.
00:15:43
Speaker
So I have a lot of that experience built in and now the CEO of hospital medicine.
00:15:48
Speaker
Now there's one more role to play.
00:15:50
Speaker
I told John, give me a little bit more time before we got to the new role.
00:15:56
Speaker
It's just a fun story.
00:15:58
Speaker
I just wanted to highlight that because I think that's impressive to see somebody, you know, make that move through an organization.
00:16:05
Speaker
And we had Tiffany on as well.
00:16:08
Speaker
And she made similar moves through the org.
00:16:10
Speaker
And I just think it's inspiring.
00:16:13
Speaker
So that's the only reason I was pushing you there.
00:16:16
Speaker
I want to ask you a question.
00:16:19
Speaker
I saw some data recently that I guess like with respect to preventive care that women, I think there's like 70 point, like 76 out of 100 women see their, do their yearly visit with their docs versus 45 out of 100 men.
00:16:38
Speaker
So it looks like men aren't really great at seeing the doctor.
00:16:42
Speaker
When was your last checkup, Mahir?
00:16:44
Speaker
Be honest.
00:16:46
Speaker
Last checkup was November because I got the questions before.
00:16:52
Speaker
I figured out when was the last checkup.
00:16:54
Speaker
If you ask me, it was probably six months ago.
00:16:57
Speaker
The fun story behind that.
00:17:00
Speaker
You stated the statistics right.
00:17:04
Speaker
I think there is a correlation.
00:17:06
Speaker
I think I'm pretty sure that 70% of the women are pushing their husbands to go seek men health care, right?
00:17:13
Speaker
I think that's true.
00:17:14
Speaker
And that is very true in my case because my primary care for my wife and I are the same person.
00:17:22
Speaker
So every time she visits, he reminds her to make sure that I make an appointment and show up on time.
00:17:29
Speaker
So that's why I go on time.
00:17:31
Speaker
Otherwise, you're right.
00:17:33
Speaker
A lot of the men's, I think it's, and there are a variety of reasons.
00:17:36
Speaker
I think the number one reason being just lack of time or lack of priority and the mindset that I feel fine.
00:17:47
Speaker
And that I feel fine is what drives a lot of the men's away from the doctors, as well as it's just like, that's not something I need to do right now.
00:17:57
Speaker
That is something I would need to do when I'm older.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yes.
00:18:01
Speaker
And in our head, the older is something more like 60s.
00:18:07
Speaker
Not 30s or 40s.
00:18:09
Speaker
Yes.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yes.
00:18:10
Speaker
Well, it's funny that you say that, too, about your wife, because my husband and I, our annual visits are, like, due at the same time.
00:18:17
Speaker
So I just schedule his when I schedule mine.
00:18:19
Speaker
Like, this is when you're going, you know.
00:18:22
Speaker
So he doesn't have a choice.
00:18:24
Speaker
I think I have more of a man mindset.
00:18:26
Speaker
You don't go?
00:18:30
Speaker
Yes, I do.
00:18:31
Speaker
But I'm not in that 75 that does it every year.
00:18:36
Speaker
I've just seen too many young asymptomatic people come into the hospital with very abnormal labs that they had no idea about.
00:18:43
Speaker
So I'm like very anal about going every year.
00:18:47
Speaker
So you should go, Alicia.
00:18:48
Speaker
Thanks.
00:18:49
Speaker
You should go.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:50
Speaker
Oh, I am.
00:18:51
Speaker
I do.
00:18:51
Speaker
I do.
00:18:51
Speaker
Don't get me wrong.
00:18:52
Speaker
I don't not go.
00:18:53
Speaker
I just I don't think I'm I do my mammogram every year.
00:18:56
Speaker
But well, second year.
00:18:58
Speaker
But yes.
00:18:59
Speaker
I'm not as good.
00:19:01
Speaker
And sometimes I wonder if it's because it's more of avoidant.
00:19:05
Speaker
I am.
00:19:06
Speaker
I need to look at myself there a little bit, too.
00:19:09
Speaker
I feel fine here when you said that I connected to that.
00:19:12
Speaker
I do feel fine, but I know I know better.
00:19:15
Speaker
So, yeah, well, I think there's also to that their avoidance is real.
00:19:18
Speaker
Like, oh, well, I don't want to know something's wrong.
00:19:20
Speaker
So if I don't go, I just won't know, you know, as well.
00:19:24
Speaker
Maybe as I get older, I get more worried.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:28
Speaker
It's not like we are, this is an analogy may reflect, I think like most of the men think about like your health as your car.
00:19:40
Speaker
In your car, there's no engine light on, everything is fine.
00:19:44
Speaker
But the funny thing is for our health, there is no engine light comes on.
00:19:48
Speaker
And there are a lot of silent diseases and other things that can perpetuate to the point where you wouldn't know until you're kind of pretty end stage or pretty severe symptoms.
00:19:59
Speaker
So any of the symptoms when you get for any health diseases are sometimes too late because you've waited too long.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yep.
00:20:09
Speaker
Well, this
Reflections on Career and Impact
00:20:10
Speaker
is a downer for me today.
00:20:11
Speaker
Yeah, I know, right.
00:20:13
Speaker
I'll be there.
00:20:15
Speaker
I go, I go, I go.
00:20:16
Speaker
Don't get me wrong, but just.
00:20:19
Speaker
All right.
00:20:19
Speaker
Well, Mahir.
00:20:19
Speaker
So in that spirit, so what is the one screening test that you think every man over 40 should make non-negotiable?
00:20:28
Speaker
Like they have to get it done regularly.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think like there are many evidence based literature out there for like diabetic screening, high blood pressure screening, etc.
00:20:40
Speaker
I think the one prevalent thing is what I have found out in a lot of my similar age friends that are going through is sleep apnea.
00:20:55
Speaker
kind of like overall work style is becoming a little bit more sedentary, like virtual platform working from home, uh, and a high stress job.
00:21:03
Speaker
Right.
00:21:04
Speaker
So you're not, you're, you're traveling, you're not eating right and you're, you're gaining weight.
00:21:09
Speaker
And then suddenly, boom, you don't know.
00:21:11
Speaker
And you have this silent sleep apnea where, um,
00:21:16
Speaker
people miss or forget.
00:21:19
Speaker
And then that perpetuates to the point where now you have obesity-related or sleep apnea-related, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillations, and all other panderas of box opens up.
00:21:34
Speaker
It is not widely talked about.
00:21:38
Speaker
So when you go to your primary care, they don't talk about sleep apnea, etc.
00:21:42
Speaker
or how do you sleep.
00:21:43
Speaker
They talk about everything else.
00:21:44
Speaker
They talk about your blood pressure, they talk about what you eat, do you exercise or not, but that's not something that comes on.
00:21:52
Speaker
So if you're going to meet with your primary care this year, I think the recommendation that I have, my personal recommendation would be talk about sleep apnea.
00:22:01
Speaker
Or if you are somebody who is a tech gadget heavy, use your Apple Watch or something to check your sleep.
00:22:11
Speaker
Or are you snoring?
00:22:12
Speaker
Do you have apnea?
00:22:14
Speaker
How's your heart rhythm while you sleep, et cetera.
00:22:16
Speaker
And if you see any signs, get sleep apnea study because that can prevent a lot of the downfall impacts on having high blood pressure or atrial fibrillation.
00:22:29
Speaker
Because that's number one cause in terms of like silent disease, which people don't realize they may have.
00:22:36
Speaker
I don't think I expected you to come with that answer.
00:22:38
Speaker
And I even have more questions now.
00:22:41
Speaker
But let me just ask, if I were a man going into my primary's office, how I know you mentioned, hey, if you see the signs or symptoms, ask for a sleep apnea study.
00:22:52
Speaker
But for the lay person who's not in medicine, how would you recommend they approach that conversation?
00:22:58
Speaker
with their PCP?
00:22:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think like if you have any sort of symptoms where you have daytime sleepiness, that you feel tired and sleepy in the morning, if your partner or spouse mentioned that heavy snoring at night and then in between pause, that you stop breathing.
00:23:18
Speaker
If you have like chronic sinus related issues where you feel like congested all the time,
00:23:24
Speaker
you're a mouth breather.
00:23:27
Speaker
The last thing I would say is anybody who has a little bit BMI in the overweight to obese situation,
00:23:36
Speaker
Those are the key red flags that you should ask your PCP.
00:23:42
Speaker
What your PCP will do, they can do like a calibrated sleep scale and talk about quality of sleep.
00:23:50
Speaker
Based on the scoring, they may recommend overnight sleep study or they may recommend something like you can wear wearable where you can track how you're sleeping at night.
00:24:03
Speaker
So those are the things I think you should have conversation with your PCP.
00:24:07
Speaker
I think that for a completely layman person, if you're not sleeping right at night and you feel groggy in the morning or you need afternoon nap every single day, those are the signs where you're not sleeping right at night.
00:24:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:26
Speaker
Wow, that was actually...
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's definitely not what I expected you to bring either, but it's a good point.
00:24:31
Speaker
Not at all.
00:24:32
Speaker
I like it.
00:24:32
Speaker
I mean, I'm a curveball.
00:24:34
Speaker
I love it.
00:24:34
Speaker
Look at you, throwing us curveballs all around the place.
00:24:38
Speaker
All right.
00:24:38
Speaker
Well, let's switch gears a little bit to work-life balance.
00:24:41
Speaker
So you're a CEO.
00:24:44
Speaker
So question is, do you actually unplug or is it just something that we tell ourselves that we do and you don't actually do it?
00:24:54
Speaker
I think the answer
00:24:57
Speaker
In my head, the work-life balance is a little bit more like a misnomer.
00:25:04
Speaker
Work is part of your life.
00:25:05
Speaker
It's always a life balance.
00:25:08
Speaker
It's not a work-life balance.
00:25:11
Speaker
As you mentioned, our role as a leader doesn't start at eight or doesn't stop at five.
00:25:20
Speaker
It's always on and you have to figure out
00:25:23
Speaker
like how you balance that part where you are spending time with family or you're doing something, personal stuff from either investing time in your exercising or traveling, et cetera.
00:25:39
Speaker
So for me, it's more like life balance, like how do you balance your life with work?
00:25:45
Speaker
And do I unplug?
00:25:47
Speaker
Yes, I do.
00:25:48
Speaker
And that is mostly my unplugging main thing is stop checking emails after a certain time.
00:25:56
Speaker
And that will help you try to kind of like relax and not worry about next day, et cetera.
00:26:01
Speaker
So 7 p.m.
00:26:03
Speaker
if you've
00:26:04
Speaker
email me after 7 p.m.
00:26:05
Speaker
Central time, less likely I'll respond.
00:26:09
Speaker
But that's the unplugged time where I'm like, I'm done.
00:26:12
Speaker
That's the part where you have to have your life balance.
00:26:16
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:26:16
Speaker
I wonder how long that taught you, like how long
00:26:20
Speaker
it was for you to teach yourself that.
00:26:22
Speaker
Cause I, April, it just took me back to when we first started together.
00:26:26
Speaker
And I think we were on the phone till eight, nine, like late.
00:26:29
Speaker
And you were the one that kind of taught me, like, you gotta step away.
00:26:32
Speaker
And I just had the hardest time.
00:26:34
Speaker
I mean, how long did that take you?
00:26:35
Speaker
I had to tell her I'm not talking to you anymore.
00:26:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:37
Speaker
I'm like, but we got more things to finish.
00:26:38
Speaker
What do you mean?
00:26:39
Speaker
You know, like, um, but when, when did you, when did you learn?
00:26:43
Speaker
Was that just something automatic for you or?
00:26:45
Speaker
No, I think that this is probably, um,
00:26:48
Speaker
It took me three, four years to figure out what is the right balance and where you have to disconnect.
00:26:57
Speaker
Because I think that the industry we are in, we take care of patients.
00:27:03
Speaker
Anything and everything we can do to support our clinician
00:27:07
Speaker
in APPs who then take care of the patient is something that we set a very high bar and we want to make sure that we support in any case in all emergencies, etc.
00:27:19
Speaker
But I think sometime it kind of like then it becomes routine.
00:27:23
Speaker
And it's super hard to break out of it.
00:27:25
Speaker
So it took me like roughly three years, give or take, to find that balance and be like, okay, at this time, I now stop email.
00:27:36
Speaker
I have email two in the morning.
00:27:37
Speaker
So that tells you the story that I didn't learn this on day one.
00:27:42
Speaker
That we all work hard and it's all nonstop and the email don't stop coming.
00:27:48
Speaker
And I think the further you get in leadership too, I'll say, I don't know that we realize that people are watching us, people that work underneath us or that our colleagues, even just our colleagues, sometimes people above us, they're always watching what we're doing.
00:28:08
Speaker
And Mahir, one thing with you, I remember when we started working a little more closely together last year, I remember you made a comment
00:28:16
Speaker
about PTO and how important that was for you to actually step away and take that time.
00:28:24
Speaker
And that kind of leans me into this question of like, what's your non-negotiable outside of work?
00:28:31
Speaker
Like the thing that grounds, you know, no matter how busy your life gets, what is your non-negotiable?
00:28:37
Speaker
I think if I'm not traveling and I'm home, the kids bedtime, which is right around 7.30, that's unnegotiable.
00:28:47
Speaker
If I'm outside for dinner, I try to finish early and be back on time.
00:28:53
Speaker
That's the time where I'm not answering your phone call.
00:28:59
Speaker
My phone is not even on me at that time.
00:29:02
Speaker
That's the disconnect part.
00:29:04
Speaker
I think the grounding part to your question is we all at a time have to take some time off.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:15
Speaker
Sometimes for us, it's not a full PTO that you can take two weeks off at a time because there's so much work and there's so many things dependency on you where you can be completely disconnected.
00:29:28
Speaker
You have to check in periodically what happens, etc.
00:29:32
Speaker
But that's still a disconnect from the time.
00:29:36
Speaker
I think the rule I made, this is probably to your question, Alicia, around two years ago where
00:29:45
Speaker
Any team member, any of my team member are overseas or they're out of country, even in Mexico.
00:29:52
Speaker
I'm not allowing or approving their email access.
00:29:57
Speaker
That helps them truly disconnect.
00:30:01
Speaker
Otherwise, it would be you're taking the burden and baggage with you and you're bringing that baggage with you, so there's no point of taking time off.
00:30:10
Speaker
It's like you're working from a different location.
00:30:15
Speaker
I feel like taking time off is very important.
00:30:20
Speaker
We all have a tendency to find work.
00:30:24
Speaker
If you look, it's always there.
00:30:27
Speaker
There is always more work and there is more improvement.
00:30:31
Speaker
I think sometimes when you see a gap in your calendar, there is a guilt.
00:30:37
Speaker
Yes.
00:30:38
Speaker
We all carry where, oh, there's a gap in the calendar, I need to do something about it.
00:30:44
Speaker
We quickly forget that the meetings that you go to is not finishing your work.
00:30:51
Speaker
The work you do is during the gap, is when you're connecting, problem solving, et cetera.
00:30:58
Speaker
If you see gaps on your calendar, that is something, don't have tendency to fill them up with other meetings.
00:31:07
Speaker
Because otherwise you're not going to be able to complete your work in time or manner.
00:31:12
Speaker
So those are some non-negotiable or ground rules.
00:31:16
Speaker
All right.
00:31:17
Speaker
Yeah, I love that.
00:31:18
Speaker
I like it.
00:31:20
Speaker
So do you think men in leadership feel pressure to choose between ambition and being present at home?
00:31:26
Speaker
Do you think that that's a challenge for them?
00:31:27
Speaker
100%.
00:31:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:30
Speaker
So we live in the world, I call them,
00:31:34
Speaker
I don't know if this is a true terminology or nomenculture, but it's the sandwich model.
00:31:40
Speaker
I'm a millennial in all honesty, born in 84.
00:31:46
Speaker
The sandwich generation is something where you're taking care of both dependent generation for you.
00:31:58
Speaker
What do I mean by that is you're taking care of your elderly parents,
00:32:02
Speaker
and others, and they need your help, they need your support, etc., in day-to-day or month-to-month life.
00:32:10
Speaker
Then also, you're taking care of your kids.
00:32:13
Speaker
The way we all were raised, our parents probably didn't pay this much attention to the grades, what we're learning, your after-school activity, your in-school activities, etc.
00:32:27
Speaker
I truly feel like we are in that sandwich model,
00:32:31
Speaker
where there is a lot of expectations from you to be Superman and do everything.
00:32:38
Speaker
So provide for your family, also be present at every single events, birthday parties, etc.
00:32:46
Speaker
Be socially available to make sure that you have a friend circle, etc.
00:32:50
Speaker
And then also be available taking care of your sicker or elderly parents.
00:32:56
Speaker
So it's super hard from
00:32:59
Speaker
at this generation's men's leader to be at everywhere and everything.
00:33:03
Speaker
And it does come in a way of your ambition, what do you want to do versus like being present at home.
00:33:10
Speaker
But I think that's where the part of life balance comes in.
00:33:14
Speaker
If you set up your right ground rules, a lot of the people are able to achieve that.
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:20
Speaker
I think that's a good point.
00:33:22
Speaker
I think it too.
00:33:22
Speaker
Like, I mean, when we think about it, like,
00:33:24
Speaker
you know, being a mom, I always think of the mom guilt, right?
00:33:27
Speaker
But there's also dad guilt, right?
00:33:29
Speaker
And I think we sometimes forget that.
00:33:31
Speaker
So it's a good point.
00:33:34
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:35
Speaker
I was just curious, you're giving great advice and it sounds great, but sometimes we don't always take our own advice.
00:33:41
Speaker
We know that you do for the most part we hear, but what would your family say?
00:33:45
Speaker
What would they say if you say like, I disconnect, I do these things, but would your family say if they had to describe your work life
00:33:54
Speaker
or your life balance?
00:33:55
Speaker
What would they say?
00:33:56
Speaker
How would they describe it?
00:33:58
Speaker
I'll give you my wife's perspective.
00:34:03
Speaker
Your second office is American Airlines Admirals Club.
00:34:08
Speaker
That's how she describes overall.
00:34:12
Speaker
And there is no...
00:34:14
Speaker
There is no way to kind of like fix a lot of those things because that's kind of like your work responsibility plus travel.
00:34:23
Speaker
I think what I do best and what they appreciate the most is when I'm here in town, when I'm home, you're home.
00:34:30
Speaker
So you're not trying to kind of like do multiple things off the phone, be present.
00:34:38
Speaker
And that's what they appreciate the most.
00:34:40
Speaker
I think as my six year, seven year old says,
00:34:44
Speaker
When he grew up, he wants to be a doctor like mom who sees the patients.
00:34:51
Speaker
And he describes my role as dad talks to the doctors and tell them what to do.
00:35:00
Speaker
That's when kids are like, mom talks on the phone all day.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:03
Speaker
My kids don't think I do anything because I'm sitting at home.
00:35:05
Speaker
So they're like, do you actually work?
00:35:07
Speaker
I'm like,
00:35:07
Speaker
That's exactly right.
00:35:09
Speaker
But I think what they appreciate the most, now he realized, he sees my car at home and he's like, okay, so you're not traveling.
00:35:17
Speaker
But if you're traveling, where are you coming back?
00:35:20
Speaker
And that's what is the part where grounds us in terms of like, when you're here, you're here.
00:35:25
Speaker
You're not trying to multitask.
00:35:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:30
Speaker
That's important for them to feel like you're present when you're there.
00:35:34
Speaker
All right, well, we'll wrap it up with one last question and we'll go back to the career because we've talked a lot about the home life.
00:35:39
Speaker
So as you reflect on your career so far, what are you most proud of?
00:35:43
Speaker
Like what accomplishment gives you the most pride?
00:35:48
Speaker
I have still far more to go and that's just the personality that I have.
00:35:54
Speaker
I think what I'm most proud of or most, I should say like,
00:36:04
Speaker
grateful for is the opportunity I got at the right time at Sound.
00:36:10
Speaker
And when I speak with my friend, they speak really highly of what I do.
00:36:15
Speaker
I don't feel that way.
00:36:17
Speaker
Obviously, I think when you're in this position until you speak with the team member, et cetera, and the impact.
00:36:24
Speaker
And what I'm most proud of is the part what we were able to accomplish last year to empower our clinician, empower our team,
00:36:34
Speaker
in bringing national expertise more locally and giving them that autonomy and support and tools.
00:36:43
Speaker
And I think that's so far, I think I feel like I have accomplished something that I always, that healthcare is local and we are able to do that now at Sound.
00:36:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's important for them to have that local.
00:36:56
Speaker
I mean, they're the ones that are working day in and day out at that facility, right?
00:36:59
Speaker
Like they should be making those decisions.
00:37:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's good.
00:37:03
Speaker
And that's how you grow more leaders, right?
00:37:04
Speaker
Is giving those responsibilities down.
00:37:06
Speaker
So I also think it's that top down or well, they say bottom up, but
00:37:12
Speaker
we hear like we were talking earlier, people look to leaders to model expectation.
00:37:20
Speaker
And I do think it's so important that you practice what you preach.
00:37:24
Speaker
And I will say that you absolutely everything we've talked about today is not stuff I knew about you because you told me, but because I watch and people watch and I do just appreciate that you practice what you preach.
00:37:37
Speaker
And I think that's a good model for just even where healthcare heads in the future.
00:37:42
Speaker
And
00:37:43
Speaker
our leaders coming in and out of sound and our clinicians as well.
00:37:47
Speaker
So I just appreciate you for that.
00:37:50
Speaker
Thank you.
00:37:51
Speaker
I think I have been told, I think it's super easy to tell the truth.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:58
Speaker
You don't have to remember it.
00:38:01
Speaker
You don't have to memorize.
00:38:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:03
Speaker
That's true.
00:38:04
Speaker
All right.
00:38:05
Speaker
Well, thank you, Mihir, for joining us today.
00:38:07
Speaker
It was great to have you.
00:38:08
Speaker
And as always, thank you to our listeners for tuning in.
00:38:11
Speaker
And we would love to hear from you.
00:38:13
Speaker
If you have any suggestions on new topics you want to hear about or feedback for us, you can reach us at our email, which is oncallpodcasts at soundphysicians.com.
00:38:22
Speaker
We're also on LinkedIn and Instagram at On Call with April and Alicia.
00:38:26
Speaker
All right.
00:38:27
Speaker
Until the next time, you guys stay well and we'll stay on call.
00:38:30
Speaker
Bye, everyone.
00:38:31
Speaker
Have a good week, everybody.
00:38:32
Speaker
I appreciate it.
00:38:33
Speaker
Thank you.