The Author: Jennifer George

[0:00] When you can communicate in such a way that you can Empower patients to become more independent which I think is fundamental to everyone’s needs that’s what I’ve learned throughout my and I’ve seen it obviously with my dad’s situation
I think at the end of the day everyone just wants to be so independent.

[0:19] Music.

[0:25] Paging dr. cook paging dr. cook dr. Kirk you’re wanted in the o.r. dr. Koh.

[0:32] Music.

[0:55] Hello everyone and welcome to prescription for success.

[1:00] I’m dr. Randy cook your host for the podcast which is a production of MD coaches providing leadership and Executive coaching for Physicians by physicians.
To overcome burnout transition your career develop as a leader or whatever your goal might be.
Visit MD coaches on the web at my MD coaches.com because you’re not in this alone.

[1:27] My guest today is a physiotherapist in Windsor Ontario.
She’s also a very accomplished author speaker and podcaster with a compelling message about how we communicate as caregivers.

[1:41] So thanks for joining me today as we hear Jessica George tell her story.

[1:47] Music.

[1:52] I am speaking today with.
Jennifer George author speaker podcaster and last but not least physiotherapist up in Chile Windsor Ontario.
Jennifer it’s great to have you here today I’m so excited to be here thanks for having me Randy well you were so kind to have me on your
podcast just a couple of weeks ago and it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to a similarly entertaining experience today and
regular listeners to our podcast will know that.
I like to get the origin story so let’s begin right there have you always been
resident of Windsor or where did you actually get your story.
I actually grew up in Leamington Ontario which is actually the Tomato capital of Canada were known for agriculture out in Leamington and that’s about 45 minutes away from here in Windsor
and then I
went to school did my University schooling in Windsor Ontario and then also did my Master’s in physical therapy in London Ontario which is a couple hours East and North
from here from leaving tonight yeah so I went to the University of Western there for my physio training and let me ask you where did the inspiration to
get into physiotherapy come from.

[3:19] That’s a good question I’ve been thinking about this without going to be too far back knowing you would ask so what I was in high school my senior year of high school I had kind of a physical health transformation I guess you could say I was
I was very athletic I was very active I experienced almost like a hormonal Surge and
combined with stress of being a teenager and I put on quite a bit of weight.

[3:44] And one one day I literally look down at the scale I was tipping the scale at a hundred and eighty nine point nine pounds and you know I’m five foot three so it was yeah and I was It was kind of interesting that I had the foresight to even
put that all together and just realize I wasn’t.

[4:01] Comfortable in my skin at that time and I thought oh my goodness and it was just a huge wake-up call for me and I got more physically active but not in the sense of Just Sports and Recreation that way it was more like
you know actively working out I cut you know monitored my food intake and what I was eating the quality of food
and ended up losing and had sustained have sustained it ever since and you were how old when you were doing this I was going into my grade 12 year grade 11 year so I would have been like 16 17 at the time and
yeah just it was kind of quite an accomplishment for a teenager
right I don’t think I really like realize that until now actually as I reflect back on it because I’ve sustained it ever since and
a lot of the practices like drinking water I’ve been doing ever since then yeah it’s kind of wild how that happened it was a blessing in a way for me
I guess so and I’m sure I don’t have to point out to you that there are a lot of teenagers particularly teenage girls who
become dissatisfied with their body image along about that time and it turns into a really really terrible problem you know anorexia and bulimia
but you actually it sounds like you put some science into it and did all the right things and have maintained it that’s really fascinating.

[5:25] Yeah exactly it was it really was for me to naturally put that together not really having that guidance otherwise it was just very intuitive I guess and just knew what I needed to do for me
and I was going to ask are there medical times or were there medical types in your family or were you the first person to get into the healthcare space yeah I know I was the first person.

[5:48] I have a lot of Educators in my family but in terms of healthcare and Medicine no I’m the only one and and and so it was this this sort of physiological transformation that.

[6:00] The you think LED you to physiotherapy is that what you’re saying yeah but not knowing it then so at that time I had to start applying to University
so this is kind of where it gets a little interesting too because I started applying to University and I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist considered that I considered psychology and I considered women’s studies at the time those were my three choices and I applied.
Then I took a fitness class because I have been becoming more active right and experiencing weight loss and feeling healthier
and during that I was nominated for a Kinesiology book award from the University of Windsor
so they had recognized something or my teacher had put some kind of referral in for that and then I thought well I had no idea what Kinesiology was at the time and so and yet I was doing it I was like oh my God this is what I love
the science of human movement so I changed my request my University program requests and I ended up switching to Kinesiology and I was luckily accepted able to do that and then when I got into kinesiology.
I was only like I’d like 22 I was young I didn’t know what I wanted to do I was nearing the end of that and I was top three in my class and I remember my guidance counselor and University saying
you know Jen your top three you need to go to medical school like you need to apply to medical school and he was just really trying to push that and it just wasn’t for me at the time.

[7:25] And then I learned more about like the Allied professions and.
Physiotherapy just spoke to me because it was the science of human movement and feeling through movement for me so
yeah and if you don’t mind I’d like to pick your brain just a little bit about why medical school didn’t seem to have.

[7:45] Any appeal the great question back then for me it was I just knew the demands on Physicians I just knew it was a 24 hour
operation and I just
I think back then what I thought I wanted for my life was a little more consistency you know I want to just kind of I don’t want to say nine to five but I did want like my evenings let’s say my weekends that type of thing so
that was kind of what I had envisioned at the time I do toy with it still do Randy I’m not going to lie to you well you never know I’m really impressed with the
degree of foresight that you had
at that point I think if most of us are honest in our 20s we are not particularly.

[8:34] Loaded with wisdom and for you to have
thought through it that carefully is again very impressive and and again I hear you saying that
perhaps it’s not entirely out of the question and I don’t think it should be I think we we see quite a number of late comers and freshman Medical classes nowadays and
they always make fabulous Physicians it’s good to hear actually it’s reassuring.
They thought it through but let’s get back to what really happened and when you got into the master’s program did you feel like you had
really found the perfect fit was it everything you expected.

[9:16] Yeah I really enjoyed my my program I thought it was very intense you know it was very strenuous and I had a hard time adapting just moving away
further from home for example and the course load was just double what it normally is an undergrad so it was just a lot at once but yeah I learned a lot it was a two-year program and there was you know other than your placements there was no.
There were no breaks and Christmas let’s say I think that was that as well so it was very fast it was done in the blink of an eye and it was during my second year.
Of my Master’s that my father fell ill so that changed everything to what I had envisioned for my life as a physio.

[9:58] Kind of took a turn as well and my dad so that it did.

[10:02] Yeah so tell us more about that yeah so I started physio School in 2005 and
the summer of 2006 I was on a placement and I was back home on a placement and living with my parents for the summer while I was on a placement there and my dad just wasn’t feeling well
and I did he know I’d always been a very aware that my dad my mom and my dad were very independent I was very grateful because they were older than the average parents.
First someone my age they were in their 60s at the time and my dad just wasn’t feeling good one day and he went to the clinic
and he come back with an antibiotic for what they thought was a throat infection I wake up at 3 a.m. to him vomiting.
Like projectile vomiting I like it woke me up and I thought to myself maybe it was just a side effect to the antibiotic that he had just gone
and so I decided to wake up because I heard my mom with him and my mom was kind of like.
What is this what’s going on like she you know I could just hear the uncertainty and fear in her voice so I woke up made my way down the hallway and I noticed my dad’s bedroom lights are on and my dad had these pure white sheets
and they were covered in blood clots and clots of blood and I was just you know I could follow the blood trail to the bathroom basically and I saw him
hunching over the toilet with his hands just up against the wall bracing himself and smeared Blood on the walls as well.

[11:30] And he had just got to be pretty disturbing it was I actually like it was it was very scary and I thought oh my goodness like I’m gonna pass out I literally thought I was going to pass out from what I had seen so I made my way back to the bedroom I called 911
and we eventually found out that my dad had end stage liver cirrhosis
and they had to do at that time and it’s off esophageal varices they had to band him up and to that he was good and he was like his normal self again everything was fine and
we didn’t really know the extent
of liver cirrhosis we knew my dad had it he had been treating it with an antiviral bad for many years so he was being closely monitored but it I guess because it was on stage like he was probably at the 10 year mark at that time and we didn’t really know that we he always went to his
appointments alone I don’t even think he really understood that there was like a definitive timeline for it and that this could happen so.
Then that’s when we found out so I was so happy that he was feeling himself again you know as energy levels were good and I remember his doctor saying to me like you know this will happen again and that was when we recognized and it did it he Hemorrhage three or four more times after that.

[12:39] Thankfully never died.

[12:41] And then we found out he had actually liver cancer too and then we kind of had to browbeat a little bit we really Advocate you did yeah for him to be on the transplant last after that so it was
it was quite a journey so from 2006 to February of 2007 and my final year he received the call that there was a matching liver in February of 2007 so they had to be.
Pretty exciting that had to be a point of significant optimism for you at least temporarily yeah
we were very hopeful at that point because we knew he was dying because he was becoming you know more fatigued and he was jaundiced and he wasn’t eating as much like we knew he wasn’t well what was so interesting about that that and the timing of it was I was
in school in London there and that’s where they do the transplant so that’s where my dad’s team was and so to University Hospital that you’re close by.
Freight so to me Randy it was just like this is how it’s supposed to be so I thought great my dad’s going to have his transplant he’s gonna
do the transplant and then he can recover at my apartment that’s really what I thought he would come home after let’s say a week or two and wrong would just recover here and then he could do his outpatient visits from here like it would to me it just
it just seems so fitting like I just thought it was meant to be this way so he went into that surgery I went to school I didn’t even really get to see him through and through it but.

[14:08] My family did obviously the transplant surgery were talking yeah yeah sorry he went into the transplant surgery he was a little bit nervous and he actually had said am I the thing about my dad is that he was very intuitive himself
and so my dad jokingly I said to the transplant doctor you know I don’t want to do this again are you sure you’ve got the right lever
or something along those lines and he was making a joke reasonable yeah it was just joking and and I mean the doctor actually told him you know you always have a choice Jimmy right and and we really didn’t believe in the sense that we.
We could wait any longer because we knew time was of the essence room so we took the risk and from what we understand.
The organ did come the liver did come from a non heart beating donor which isn’t as common.

[14:56] They were hopeful that it would soften in his body and that it would it would work out okay.

[15:01] So they did the surgery he got through it like a chant there were residents watching it medical residents from all over watching it because he was a little bit older than the average candidate at the time and.
Yeah so within I can’t remember if it was 24 hours later.
But I’ll never forget I walked into the ICU with my sister and we just wanted to check in on him and he opened his eyes and he you know we gave him the thumbs up
and he had such relief that he had gone through and we could tell and then he closed his eyes at that point and he never woke up after that so we had found out.

[15:35] Fast forward that the liver wasn’t taking like they thought he went into multi-organ system failure like he couldn’t beat him off the vent everything was just
going downhill so this was if I can get technical with you and maybe you don’t know the answer to this but this was not if I’m hearing you right this was not so much
an episode of rejection as it was a poorly functioning transplant is that right
exactly so that was one of the questions so my dad’s transplant surgeon was an amazing is an amazing person I felt like I could I could ask him that question because
you know I actually asked him that specifically I said was it my dad who rejected the liver or was the liver just not taking like it was just and he said no it was the liver
so I was I appreciated that and and so at that point he only had like they had to put him at the top of the Nationwide list in Canada
for a liver because he was going to die sure he was shutting down so fast and I was at home studying for an exam.

[16:34] Praying that my dad would find but I don’t know where to come through for him so I’m trying to juggle school and finish school and I can’t even imagine.
Well you know it was tough because I mean lucky like I actually did fail my exam my written exam the first time I wrote it because I didn’t really study for it I was so consumed with my dad’s situation and
it was my dad’s surgeon who actually advocated for me to write it again I actually went to him and he was he just knew everything we had been through one of the most difficult times in my life for sure.

[17:09] I can imagine
but that’s not the end of the story no it’s not so a donor did come through thankfully and my dad my dad underwent the second surgery he was critical he got through it though
and we were hopeful again so you go on this roller coaster of emotions as you know you know sometimes.

[17:29] Devastating news and then more hopeful news and the devastating news so that’s kind of what we were experiencing throughout this whole time.
So basically we were told he was stable but critical and then one morning so that he would they were just wandering in the ICU and they were still fully supporting him at that time with you no ventilation and everything.
Then I got a call one day on my way to school that my dad had a seizure so being in physio school and being almost done I knew that that was not a good sign because my dad didn’t have any no neurological history of anything.
And so.

[18:02] Yeah so he ended up having a seizure and then neurology became involved so now we have a neuro team who becomes involved doesn’t really know my dad at all
basically hooked him up to EG to assess and they basically told us he had no neurological activity and that they recommended that we pull him.

[18:21] Take them off of life life support
so this was all happening super super fast like I found myself morning my dad all of the sudden and a way around the round table with my mom and my sister there and thankfully again.
When my dad’s transplant surgeon we call them an angel actually he was there during that discussion and
we just nobody really knew why this was happening and that’s what was so interesting like they assumed there was maybe a hypoxic brain injury but
again I know these are risks of surgery but nobody still really knew exactly what was happening or what could have happened right and I think holding on to that uncertainty for us was what gave us faith in a way
and my the transplant surgeon said you know what his liver is doing well actually and it all just happen fast the surgery and everything right so he said let’s just give him the weekend and let’s see if he makes any
recovery and then later that night he started to show signs
of recovery neurologically started to respond to simple commands and squeezing the hand things like that at the bedside and his lungs came back yeah it was remarkable and literally the neurologist I just quoted him he said he was.
I was standing on one side of my dad he was standing on the other observing me AG again and he said you know this was remarkable your dad’s story should be documented
never did I think I was going to be documenting it.

[19:43] At one point that are no but I you know he did say that and that meant a lot to me and then again we became really hopeful.

[19:51] Right and then we really had no idea what we were in for what my dad would be in foreign terms of the course of his stay in hospital and the chronicity of his needs after
he really was assessed to be at long-term care level while in hospital and he eventually came home a year to the day of his
transplant to our house and he knew who we were you know nobody expected him to walk talk eat Breathe Again on his own or know who we were and he was able to do all of that
with some assistance mind you but he was able to do all of that hi I’m Rhonda Crowe founder and CEO for empty coaches
here on RX for Success we interview a lot of great medical professionals on how they grew their careers how they overcame challenges.
And how they handle day-to-day work I really hope you’re getting a lot of great information.

[20:45] But if you’re looking for an answer to a specific problem management or Administration challenge.
Or if you’re feeling just a bit burnt out like maybe you chose the wrong career.
Well then there’s a faster way to get the help you need now it’s not counseling it’s coaching.
RX for success is produced by MD coaches a team of Physicians who have been where you are I know you’re used to going it alone.
But you don’t have to get the support you need today visit us at my MD coaches.com to schedule your complimentary consultation.

[21:20] Again that’s my MD coaches.com because you’re not in this alone.

[21:28] We’ll get back to our interview in just a moment but right now I want to tell you a little bit about physician Outlook
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[22:32] And now let’s get back to today’s interview.

[22:34] That’s pretty astounding by well it’s it’s it’s very astounding
it is you know in a University Center of that type they’re actually pretty good well they’re better than pretty good.
Amazing to prognosticating about these sorts of things are fairly profound.
Turn around to say the least but yet there was a great deal of work to be done want to tell us a little bit about that
so like so he eventually came home and and so I was living in London at the time just finishing up my schooling at that time and my plan originally was to stay in London I had done a placement in Rheumatology loved it there at st. Joe’s Hospital
and.

[23:22] Again that happened by chance because my dad happened to be at the hospital so I wanted my placements and London at that time and fell in love with Rheumatology but I also knew that I had a calling to go back home and help my mom take care of my dad.

[23:34] So that was what I did so I went back home and I and again even at that time I thought it would be short-term wasn’t expecting to be at home with them for.
I moved out and 16 so long time but nine years that I was at home
examine my dad I moved out in 2016 to be closer to work at that time and my dad passed in 2018 so he lived like 11 extra years longer than anybody expected him to
and I really believed it was largely because of my mom and she carried him through a lot.
And it’s amazing because you know his transplant team would refer to him as Lazarus.

[24:12] Because they literally just had no medical explanation in a lot of ways for his recovery.
Yeah I can believe that from what you’ve described I’m sure that all of those very professional people were quite astounded.
And as one would expect.
This entire episode had to have had a profound effect on the person that you’ve become yeah and in fact.
It led to the book that we mentioned in the in the opening which I was telling you earlier that I have read a good bit of it and am.
I’m very much involved in it it’s a great piece of work but can you tell us about how that experience
sort of took you into this next stage of being a very accomplished author.
Yeah you know it’s interesting or any in this this is something I might chat about later but you know when you look back things start to become more clear and I will never forget when I was in the ICU with my dad the one day I went to visit him.
And I knew he was going to start physio that day and I was about to start practicing at some point so I thought well I’ll learn from a professional in the field and then I’ll see my dad as well and visit with him.

[25:33] And it was that moment with the physio that really shaped my practice and I didn’t even know it at the time but my dad was I remember walking into the ICU room and my dad was just dangling at the bedside he was sitting upright.
Yeah the trach instill and he was just kind of all over he wasn’t really following the commands of the therapist and the instructions and the therapist was sitting on a stool in front of them.
And I could sense the therapist was really frustrated with my dad and so.
So the therapist thought that you’re the that your dad was intentionally being obstreperous or.

[26:09] I don’t know if it was intentional but I think they were just making it about themselves in a way you know they were so busy I just sense that they just have time to.
Kind of help settle him or just even just to be there with him because I had walked in and you know the therapist had said to me I need you to think like a therapist and not like his daughter what would you do in this case.

[26:32] Really yeah that’s what was said and and you know this is not even something I remembered that much until my dad passed and I wrote my book because I that book was
I wrote the book after he passed and all of these things came back to me and they really did shape
my practice and I remember saying to the therapist I looked at my dad and I looked at the therapist I couldn’t believe I was asked that like I was kind of like oh my God like how can I have I can tell you that I’m shocked yeah like how do you
how do you not like think like it’s not like you know what I mean like how do I just not be my dad’s daughter like it just didn’t make sense to me I was just so caught off guard and
I said well I am thinking like a therapist and I would continue to treat
according to his goals might be you know the patient’s goals or until the doctor told me otherwise or there’s something else medically coming up right and that was kind of my response and
I’ve actually committed to that ever since but again not knowing it that’s actually what shaped
my practice in terms of empathizing and listening and just being present and compassionate it’s such a huge part of my practice well it had to been a really profound experience for you and I can understand how it easily
could have been apparently has been life-changing or at least live shaping for you the book is called and I love this communication is care.

[27:54] Nine empowering strategies to guide patient healing communication is care.

[28:00] Here expand on that for us maybe I can share a story with you if that will help this happened recently I was working with the patient.
And he had a fall and he was a young guy and more than anything his pride was hurt.
So I had a student at the time he was with me and I said okay you know so-and-so had a fall we’re going to talk with them about about the fall
and you know part of physio the goal is to kind of minimize fall risk that’s one of the biggest things that we try to do
sure so at first the patient was a bit closed off he didn’t really want to talk about it just again he had said he was just kind of embarrassed by it and I just reassured him and let him know he had he had severe ataxia
and and I kind of let him know I just said you know this is a very common thing Falls are very common.
And they’re very possible for everyone they can happen and if we talk about it.
Then we can help you prevent it from happening again so he felt more comfortable in Sharing at that point and he went through it he explained everything and he felt so much better talking about it but I will say it probably took us a good.

[29:09] Half an hour to just chat about it and my sessions generally or 45 minutes to an hour that I get in hospital with my patients so
my student Anaya so after that happened we got into physical treatment after that and my student and I were doing our stats and my student said to me you know he goes Jen’s so technically.
Do I just document that we only did a half an hour of therapy because we talked for about a half an hour with so and so about the fall and I.

[29:38] I turned to my student and I said well don’t you think communication is care
did you think that was healing for him and he said yeah and I said well that that counts like it’s still time counted even though it wasn’t physical therapy in a way for me that
that’s what I mean by communication its connection its interaction that’s healing for patients
it’s profoundly effective when you see it when you agree.

[30:07] Absolutely absolutely and that was you know he didn’t have a fall after that and he was able to go home and you know he actually
yeah he actually reached out either when he bought home and just to let us know he was okay and that things were going okay so it’s yeah it’s
when you can communicate in such a way that you can Empower patients
to become more independent which I think is fundamental to everyone’s needs that’s what I’ve learned and I’ve seen it obviously with my dad’s situation I think at the end of the day everyone just wants to be so
independent the subtitle nine empowering strategies to guide patient healing and those sort of translates into nine chapters
which I think is really brilliant and for just a moment or two here I’d like to pick your brain about some of those that I found.

[31:00] Particularly compelling Define and align your purpose how do you.

[31:07] How do you go about doing that that’s a good question I really have found that our well-being.
Matters when it’s part of the intervention it’s part of the interaction with our patients and when we are burned out when we are stressed and overwhelmed and we have lost our sense of self
it shows in our interactions with patients it comes out in some way.
And you know we also see a no burnout and self-reported errors from
from Healthcare Providers as well that’s a known fact and so for me to finding a lightning purpose is really starting with my intention to practice you know what is my purpose for being here and for me it’s bigger than.

[31:50] Just a paycheck right it’s bigger than job security its impact and so for me that reflecting and
setting my intentions is really important and just having my own self care regimen things like gratitude and play and creativity those are big parts and obviously movement for me is really important in meditative as well
yeah
I kind of have the the feeling that if you can’t do that if you can’t Define and align your purpose that’s just about a guaranteed path to burn out right there don’t you think.
Yes absolutely and I think that’s a big reason why there is burnout I think providers are not feeling aligned with.
Where they’re at and also with their own sense of self so the idea of that chapter is more to look at your personal purpose and also your professional purpose and bringing those two together.

[32:43] And hope they align and it’s not an easy thing it sounds simple but it’s it’s not.
Love in her work so let’s look at another one practice with compassion and empathy is that something that you find sort of.
Blatantly absent and the world that we practice in today I mean we would like to thank all of the healthcare providers.

[33:07] On the planet or.
Hippa thetic and compassionate but is it rare I don’t know that it’s rare I just think it’s not given me the wait.

[33:17] But anything else is given right like in terms of other skill sets I think it’s important to recognize that our ability to empathize.
And our ability to then.
Provide compassionate Solutions and get into action and service that way for our patients is just as equally as important as just administering
an intervention of some sort without that empathetic connection I guess you could say
the right about that you know I hear comments from from patient sometimes you know this describing their care experiences and they’ll say something along the lines of you know I really like that at provider
and they can’t really say why but they just had a connection with them you know what I mean and I think it’s that extra.
It’s just that extra that is easily sensed by others more than I think we recognize
and that kind of leads me into and I’m not going to dissect every chapter in your book
because I want everybody to read it but it’s sort of leads in that leads into the very next one on the list and which is to listen presently and come
completely there is a lot to digest and that little instruction it has that something that that you think
comes with difficulty to most people or is it just a matter of being conscious of this is what you need to do.

[34:39] Both I think definitely being conscious of it is.
Hugely helpful I think that’s one of the like listening for me is one of the things that I know consciously I am always trying to improve on.
And.
Yeah and I think in combination with just like actively listening for example what I mean by being present is not feeling like you’re you’re being.

[35:04] Pulled in other directions when you’re in the presence of the patient as much as possible so if I’m in the presence of the patient I’m not thinking about the next person that I have to see it 10:00.
I’m trying to stay as present as possible to the person who I’m with because if my mind’s all over the place I know I’m really not taking in everything that I should be taking in so I think being just a wearer helps for sure yeah and and and that.
Unquestionably requires some effort I don’t think there’s anybody employed in the healthcare space that doesn’t have a lot of Demands.
I have one that hangs over your head to be able to isolate yourself from that and.
Focus on the person right in front of you takes a significant amount of conscious effort to do exactly that.

[35:52] Was was the writing of this book do you think it was therapeutic for you at all definitely I think that.
I think of that was a big part of it my dad had died in May of 2018 and I wrote.
Spock I started writing the book in October of 2018.
It was definitely my way of staying connected to him I think because it was when it happened when I made the decision to write it it was like it just came to me so clearly it was like everything I ever
experienced personally and professionally came together and I said way yeah it looks sort of effortless on the page.
Yeah and that’s exactly how it felt so it didn’t take me very long to write I knew very clearly what the 9 strategies were going to be like I saw that and I I looked forward each day coming home after work and writing.

[36:45] Sometimes I would write like once a week and I would just write a big chunk of that once but it did come very effortlessly in a way because I experienced it with a lot of it with my real-life experiences and
it was my way of staying connected to my dad but it was also my way of reminding myself to never lose sight of the bigger picture of why I’m practicing and.
You know what why my patients are are there as well
good for you and I know you’re blogging now do you do you think there will be more books I think I will write another book I’m waiting almost I don’t know if I’ll get that same
that same call like I did for this one I’ve been waiting for that that inspiration I guess you can say but I have been writing because I love to write
I’ve always told myself I would write a book I never knew at the time would it would be so when I wrote this book I knew for sure I was going to be writing it.
And I didn’t hesitate at all and now I’m just kind of.
You know I’m writing but I don’t have a clear picture yet but I know it’ll cover well I’ll look forward to that one.

[37:48] Thank you you’re also podcasting tell us about the podcast so yeah so the podcast evolved from the book in a way so I wrote my book launched in July of 2018
and then in the fall of 2019 you know I thought about the book and I thought well I could be doing more for providers
okay then you know my whole life you know when I started practicing I’ve been on both sides of the system and I still am right just personally and professionally and so I wanted to support provider’s more because I could sense this shadow
looming over Healthcare this has been pre covid and I could sense there was this dark shadow over health care and that providers work
burning out they were struggling and I thought if I could just do something so I started the podcast more to support provider’s
as opposed to just kind of patient care experiences but it’s a combination of both so it’s a podcast to help Healthcare Providers manage stress prevent burnout.

[38:45] Take care of themselves show up as their as their best versions of who they are so that they can create the best patient experiences
because ultimately it’s for that provider whose intention is doing that is to be there for
and provide the best experience as possible and one of the sources of brno is feeling like we’re not having that impact sometimes and kind of diving into that
well again much like the book I have found the podcast to be really valuable
sometimes it’s just you talking to us sometimes that you talking to a guest but the ones that I’ve sampled
they have always been worth the time so thank you for that and congratulations on your success thank you Randy and thanks for listening to it too
appreciate that well I have really enjoyed this conversation and what I would like to do at this point is get out of your way.

[39:40] Let you let you have an opportunity to speak from your own soul so I’m going to close my mic and we’ll all listen very intently while Jennifer George gives us her prescriptions for success
I’m happy to do that thanks Randy so my prescriptions for Success the first one is reflection and intention
I think if you’ve been listening to my story I think finding our way forward we can connect the dots looking back
we can’t predict the future we don’t know what the future holds but in reflecting what I would love for people to do is kind of think of a time in their life where they felt most at ease if you’re struggling right now professionally where you’re at can you think of a time where maybe things.

[40:25] Felt like they were in place and what was going on in your life then
be non-judgmental about your Reflections be open just think of it as just kind of getting to know yourself a little more closely and oftentimes the answers are just in our own story
intention is the other part of that so intention is more about our purpose for practicing and for me and tension is just bigger than you
so I admit as I mentioned earlier it’s bigger than job stability is bigger than a paycheck you know what is your purpose for practicing there’s a greater force there and imagine someone like your patient may be asking you what is your purpose for being here today and their presence and that might give you some
ideas to what your intention might be and to remain true to that moving forward
another thing is taking our ego out of it as Healthcare Providers coming from a place of purpose and intention
to practice and be there for patients rather than practicing out of fear or worry or insecurity or fear that someone is trying to find fault.

[41:30] And just understanding that if you can be on the side of practicing in the best interest for your patience that you have nothing to fear
I think it’s really important to not make our patients decisions as well about us.
So recognizing that it’s not about us and that we are doing enough as long as we are informing patients and we’re keeping them safe and we help their well-being at heart the decisions they make are Theirs to make
number three is trusting your inner guidance I think.
Our inner Guidance with our competency combined is so powerful and I think that’s what makes.
Our experience in healthcare so unique and so purposeful for us.
Every decision that I’ve ever made as a professional whether it was good or whether it was not so good and poor looking back it was because I either didn’t trust my gut.

[42:23] In my inner guidance or because I did and oftentimes when I did it led to more favorable outcomes and fulfillment with my practice number 4
I just want you to know that if you’re struggling right now in the workplace one of the things I do talk about on my podcast is toxicity and Healthcare can be ironically a very toxic environment sometimes so all it takes is just one.
Trustworthy Connection in your workplace or in your profession or if you’re you know if you’re on social media and you have you no support groups all it takes is one powerful connection and Healthcare
to to sustain you through the hard times and to find fulfillment and joy in your work again and finally my last
recommendation because I am a writer and I love to write I would love to see Health Care Providers tap into their creativity.
More you know I used to think I wasn’t creative
oddly enough and what I do know now for sure is that every healthcare provider is creative we have creativity and us because Healthcare isn’t art as well at the end of the day and so I would love for you to think about
what is something that you can do that you find yourself losing track of time with and whatever that might be for you to do more of that into add more of that into your life
and you will see in doing that just this expansion happening around you.

[43:49] And greater fulfillment with your overall being so those are my five prescriptions for success I hope they will help you as they’ve helped me through my journey
there is a lot of wisdom there Jen and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being here to share with us before we go I want to give you an opportunity to
tell people where they can find you and where they can find the book
thank you Randy so my my website is Jennifer George dotco my podcast is called the healthcare provider happy hour and it’s on all platforms my book communication is care is available.
If you just Google it it’s available everywhere Barnes and Noble Amazon and it’s available in ebook format or in paperback format
and it’s a good book I was just going to offer I downloaded it from Kendall Within
less than a minute after getting the title I was already reading and it’s a really great piece of work so once again Jennifer George thank you so much for being with us it’s been a great pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me I appreciate it was fun.

[44:54] Music.

[44:59] Thank you so much for listening with us today remember you can get more information about our guests as well as hear them face my rapid fire questions at our patreon site and while you’re there you can also subscribe to the podcast.

[45:14] Give us a rating and hopefully offer suggestions on what you’d like to hear in future episodes.

[45:20] Thanks very much to Ryan Jones who composed and performs our theme music.

[45:25] That’s all we have for now so please be sure and fill your prescription for success with my next episode.

[45:32] Music.