- Hey guys, you've been asking
for me to make more content. So let's do it! Every Wednesday 8 p.m. we're gonna have a new episode for you, where I'm gonna tackle
the newest headlines, the craziest articles, maybe touch on some research, and give you some updates
on what I'm up to. To kick off this Wednesday's show, I decided to watch a medical drama that just came out last night. You've been asking for it, and you got it. New Amsterdam, let's go. Bee-woop! - Dr. Bloom, she's dead. No pulse, no BP, cyanotic, rigor mortis. - I need a defib ventilator, ALS, and resuscitation team. Now. - That's impossible, she's dead. - Well, at least you
didn't kill her twice. - If she wasn't dead, you need to start doing chest compressions if you're getting a defibrillator. So, I'm not sure what
happened in that scene. - [Max] Going somewhere? - [Helen] I have to tape segments with The Morning Show and Megyn Kelly, then give the keynote address at the Oncology Conference in Vail. - [Max] I'll take that for you. - [Helen] Thank you.
- I've done a couple segments on Megyn Kelly. - [Helen] (laughs) You're
funny. I'll be back next week. We'll lunch at the tavern. My treat. - [Max] Unlike the
previous medical director, I actually expect you to practice medicine at this hospital because, I don't know, that's your job? - You're funny. - You said that. - I'll tell you what, I'll
continue giving speeches all over the world
because you can't afford the kind of publicity
I give this hospital. - I understand what
they're trying to set up. One doctor actually wants
to practice medicine, the other doctor's trying
to be more media savvy. This is something I have
to reevaluate sometimes, like how much time am I spending practicing medicine versus
doing media and social media? I think it is important to do media, as long as you're doing it the right way. Because you can deliver a
very meaningful health message to millions of people instead of the 30-40 that you may see in your office. Plus you can get notoriety and funding for your hospital, for a non-profit, for disease research. I think those are very
useful uses of social media and media in general that
sometimes go overlooked. While I don't necessarily agree with how she presents herself, I kind of understand her message and where she's coming from. - Will everyone in the
Cardiac Surgical Department please raise your hands? Don't be shy, just get 'em up there. Great. Great, thank you. You're all fired. (crowd murmurs) Any department who places
billing above care, no matter how much money
you make this hospital, you will be terminated. Oh I am serious. - Whoa, I doubt that that's what happens. Just because, number one,
people have contracts. And number two, you're gonna
be hurting a lot of people who need cardiac care that
won't be able to get it from your hospital because
you just fired everybody, so-- - [Iggy] Can we do something
about healthy food? - What do you wanna do about it? - Uh, have some. (laughter) - That's so true. If you walk into any hospital cafeteria, it's all wings, burgers, fries, and it makes no sense because they just walked
out of their meetings with their doctors and maybe
are even out of surgery and we're telling them, "You
need to eat healthy food." And then when they walk
into the hospital cafeteria, they're bombarded with fried stuff. It makes no sense. - [Max] So just tell me what you need, what your patients need. and I don't care if it's not covered, I don't care if the board said no. Let's get into some trouble. Let's be doctors again. - It's incredibly dramatized. Unfortunately a medical director can make all those decisions, because as much as we
want to be self-righteous and help everyone and change the system, it takes work, it's a
step-by-step process, it's not, "Let's have one meeting, "and I'll change everything
because I'm Superman." - I read your files, you
have the lowest billing rates in the department. What's wrong, you don't like surgery? - I love surgery. - [Max] Then why did you perform half as many procedures
as your colleagues? - Because my patients didn't need them. Because there's other ways to help people than by cutting them open. - It's a very important statement to make. One of the things I try
encourage my patients to do when speaking with their
surgeons is to ask a question, "Do I actually need this
procedure or surgery?" Because a lot of times,
as the saying goes, "If you're a hammer, everything's a nail." When you're a surgeon,
you're meant to operate, and this isn't to down-talk surgeons, because what they do is amazing
and incredibly necessary. But there are times where there
are unnecessary procedures being performed. The first procedure that comes to mind that's been statistically
probably over-performed in our society is cardiac catheterization, where they put a stent in your heart. And I'm not talking
about putting a stent in when someone's actively
having a heart attack, that's obviously crucial. But I'm talking about in patients where there's not a clear benefit, or at least not a clear benefit over doing just medical therapy,
giving them medications, changing their lifestyle,
that sort of thing. And cardiac catheterizations
are a huge moneymaker for hospitals. So you see hospitals shift their focus on performing these procedures and not focus on prevention, on focusing on lifestyle factors. - Stop. Everyone, back away from the patient. Masks on. Now. (faint speaking) - Does he have tuberculosis? (phone ringing)
- [Nurse] Check. - Ebola?
- [Nurse] Nothing left here. - What's going on here?
- This is Max. - We have a patient in
the ED from Liberia, presenting with all the signs of malaria, Lassa Fever, TB, or-- - Ebola. - Oh no! - [Max] The first thing we
do is call the mayor's office and the CDC if we even
suspect Ebola virus. Now, the patient is in isolation chamber with negative pressure air flow. That chamber is equipped
with every available medicine should the patient need himself medicated. - [Team Member] What about us? - Ebola isn't airborne, but
if you develop symptoms, you will join him. Until then you will help him. Everyone interacting with the patient is required to wear personal
protective equipment at all times, no shortcuts, ever. - So this is interesting
because Ebola is a disease caused by a virus. It causes a high fever. It actually causes you
to bleed internally, which leads to organ failure. It doesn't really present
with any unique symptoms: abdominal pain, headaches,
muscular pain, fevers, low blood pressure. So it's difficult to understand if someone has Ebola or something else. You have to rule it out. The reason why they suspect
it in this gentleman is because when they
opened his documentation, they saw where he came from. And in an area where you
have high rates of Ebola, like in West Africa, you automatically wanna
assume that someone has Ebola so that it doesn't
contaminate everybody else. We don't have evidence of
it spreading through air, but we have evidence, a lot of evidence, of it spreading through
blood, mucus, semen, basically bodily fluids. And why Ebola's dangerous? It has a death rate of
basically one in two. And even higher in some circumstances. - You know pens and pencils aren't allowed outside the classroom. - The pen's attached to my journal. - Okay, you'll have to
give me the journal then. - No. - [Teacher] You'll get
it back in the morning. - It's mine. - Jemma, give me the journal. Jemma, don't do this. Jemma, please-- - [Jemma] It's mine! (Jemma screaming)
(bystanders murmuring) - So when you have a patient who has a psychiatric condition, it's important to not be provocative in any situation because
the situation can escalate a lot quicker than it would with someone who doesn't have that condition. In this case, perhaps
some more conversation, maybe calling up the doctor, because she has such a
great relationship with him, could've fostered better communication and had her give up the pen without causing that much of a scene, and her actually hurting
a healthcare provider. So, it was handled poorly, but obviously healthcare worker abuse is not welcome in any situation. - Jemma? - Keep it. Like, what's the point? (slams book) - Return them to baseline and
put them through the system. That's my job. - Well, if you can't help Jemma as a doctor, then just help her as a human being. - Am I allowed to do that? - You are now. - Well I always say be a human first. One of the most overlooked
parts of being a doctor is helping someone human to human. A lot of times, because
we have so many patients to take care of, we lose
ourselves in the job and focus on checking
boxes, and making sure that we write our notes carefully
so that we don't get sued. But in reality we have to not forget that we're taking care
of another human being. - [Max] Mrs. Marteen, you could stay here. But in this case, the treatment
is worse than the disease. And with so little time, maybe there's someplace
else you'd rather be? - Not every patient wants to spend their last few months
or years in a hospital going in and out of treatments, so it's good that he's doing that, although this is very,
very, very simplified because she should have an
evaluation by an oncologist, who's a professional in that specialty who can decide whether or not the patient would benefit or would not
benefit from treatment. She should maybe even
get a second opinion, because, as it's shown before, doctors make mistakes. Maybe this doctor's mistaken. So, I agree with the idea
of giving patient options, but I do not agree with the
way he's going about it. (helicopter whirring) (machine beeps) - Oh no.
- Hemoptysis, he's crashing! - It looks like Ebola
because he's bleeding out. Hemoptysis, meaning that
he's coughing up blood. I'm not sure if that's
more he's vomiting blood than coughing up blood. But I wouldn't say he's crashing. Crashing means his heart's stopping. So, I would call this
more of a rapid response. So this is very dangerous
because protocol is now gonna say that she has to be kept in
observation and isolation. Because who knows if she contracted Ebola, and if she did, then she will bring it to other people in the United States, and it could start an epidemic. (machine beeps) - [Max] Lauren? - [Lauren] I know what
you're gonna say, that was-- that was stupid, I violated protocol. - (clears throat) Lauren, your glove. - [Max] Alaim, that shot
they gave you in Liberia, they might have thought it was Ebola, but it wasn't. It was the Lassa virus,
which is just as deadly. Except, as Dr. Bloom can tell you, the Lassa virus can be treated with antiviral medication,
which we gave you. - You still probably should
have him in isolation, just because you don't want
the rest of the staff to get it and need antiviral medication. - [Helen] You need to slow down. - Yeah. I get that a lot. - You have cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma. - How does she know that?
- But you knew that, didn't you? How can I help? - I applaud this show for taking a stance on showing all of the difficult things that can happen within medicine, how we definitely need
to switch things up, and it gets me excited that
people are talking about this. This show obviously has a lot
of dramatic twists and turns. All in all, I'm pleased with this show. I think it was fun to watch, I wanna see more episodes. I wanna know what you guys thought. So jump into the comment section, tell me what you thought, tell me if you want me to
watch more of this show, because I think I'm a New
Amsterdam fan right now. And I like the acting. I think it's well acted and
well written that's for sure. This is the first video
for my little video series that's gonna happen every Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I think I'm gonna call
it Wednesday's Checkup. Let me know if you like that title or if you want something different. Again, jump in the comment section. And as always, stay happy and healthy. (light music)
