Transcript:

Will: [00:00:00] Knock,

knock,

hi! Knock, knock, hi! Hello and welcome to Knock, Knock, Hi! with the Glockenfleckens. I am Will Flannery, also known as Dr. Glockenflecken. And I am 

Kristin: Kristen Flannery, also known as Lady Glockenflecken. 

Will: We are thrilled to have you here with us today. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our show here We are talking today with a general surgeon and I’ve been thinking about new characters lately.

Mm hmm. I already have yeah, I already have a general surgeon I did I recently did a Sleep medicine doctor. That was that was the latest new character, which there’s still props up around the office That I used during 

Kristin: that was Perhaps your most ridiculous costume. It 

Will: was I had like the old timey Sleep hat [00:01:00] and a little fake candle to carry around And the nightgown 

Kristin: which I that was my contribution.

I was pretty proud 

Will: of that. It’s pretty good It was an incredibly uncomfortable nightgown. It felt like sandpaper But the reason I bring this up is because for a long time People have been asking for a veterinarian. Mm hmm And I’m now thinking that maybe it’s time to do it because that is all I’ve been thinking about lately is medical care for dogs because our wonderful, sweet, kind of dumb, very inbred, standard poodle who we rescued about a year and a half ago has horrible diarrhea.

And. It’s, it’s been my life for like the last three days, uh, it’s like constantly, like, just paying attention to his movements around the house. Like, what is he doing? Right. Where’s he 

Kristin: going? Cause he won’t tell us when he [00:02:00] needs to go out. He 

Will: just… He has very subtle hints. He’s not like an obvious, like, I’m gonna…

He 

Kristin: doesn’t stand by the door. He doesn’t whine. He doesn’t paw at you. He doesn’t, 

Will: he just… He does very little things like he’ll come rest his chin right on my leg. Sometimes if you’re lucky. But then other times he just goes to our most expensive rug and takes a giant dump on it because he can’t hold anymore.

I feel bad because he’s like he’s trying. 

Kristin: Yeah, I came in the other day and normally when you come in the door he greets you very excitedly as dogs tend to do and this day he just stood there and his little tail wagged a little bit. But not nearly to the full extent that he usually, you know It’s like he was afraid to move.

He was right. And so he was acting weird. I don’t know if we’ve we’ve mentioned this on the podcast, but he recently had a seizure also, and so I was a little concerned, you know? I was like, oh, this is kind of odd behavior. Is another seizure coming on? [00:03:00] But no, it just turned out that You got him outside. He was afraid.

To walk, because immediately when I said, Do you need to go outside? Bolted! And just was so excited, went over to where his leash was, and I was like, Okay! And so I got him outside, and then immediately Painted the town brown. Yeah. It was… It’s just awful. And you know what? I have never been more pleased with my decision.

You know, my negotiating terms around getting this dog. We made a deal. I never, I did not want another thing to keep alive. I love the dog. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a very sweet dog. It’s my dog. I just did not want to be responsible for another thing. And so I said, we can get this dog, but I am doing nothing for its caretaking.

This is not my job. This is your job and the children’s job. And I gotta say, I’m pretty pleased about that right now. 

Will: I am not so pleased. It has, it has, it has been a challenge. Mentally. Physically. I have scrubbed more things. Olfactorily. Than [00:04:00] I care to admit. And um, it’s uh, you know, having a dog is sometimes the most amazing thing in the world.

It can also lead to your darkest days. 

Kristin: You really That’s where I am right now. One day, oh. This really encapsulates the whole thing. You came home from work on Friday. You had gotten home early. You were all excited. You’re ready to see the kids. Start your weekend. You take one step in the door, and you step in a pile of poo.

And then you follow that pile. There’s just a trail, and there’s what, nine, ten piles total? 

Will: That was the first day of it. it was bad hour and a half cleaning up if you were upstairs in our house you would just hurt 

Kristin: there was a lot of swearing happening downstairs yeah man it’s been bad We’re gonna get all sorts of comments, you know, from people giving us suggestions.

So guys, we’ve heard the suggestions. We’re doing all the things, we’re 

Will: working on it. Okay? We’re, we’re, you know, we’re, [00:05:00] we’ve done everything, we’re doing the bland diet, we just pomp a little bit of medicine, like, we’re, we’re fine. Everything’s good. He’s gonna be just fine, but he’s just, but, but you may not, I, I might be.

The scarred from this experience. He’s seems to be taking it all in stride, eating, drinking, playing, uh, just, you know, between the, the very frequent dumps, that’s all. But, um, let’s get to our guest here. Uh, enough about our terrible experience. 

Kristin: It is relevant. I mean, it’s, we talked a lot of colorectal stuff 

Will: today.

Because again, our guest today, uh, which you guys all know him as Dr. Curran on. TikTok all over social media. He’s got a huge following, like over 5 million followers on TikTok or even more. Uh, he does a lot of wonderful videos, um, debunking myths in medicine and giving lots of like wonderful advice. You know, he’s a, he’s a surgeon, uh, in the national health [00:06:00] service over in the UK, and he’s a lecturer at Sunderland university.

Uh, he’s, um, uh, just a very accomplished, uh, physician, 

Kristin: surgeon, communicator and makes things really accessible and has a lot of creative and, um, humorous terminology that makes his videos 

Will: really fun. He’s amassed over 5 million followers on TikTok and elsewhere. And um, and so definitely check out his stuff on social media.

He also has a new podcast. It’s called The Referral with Dr. Curran. And uh, he also has a book coming out. Later this year called this book may save your life. Look for it in December of 23. Uh, he had a wonderful conversation with him, so let’s get to it. Here is Dr. Curran.

Dr. Curran. Thank you so much for joining us today. Uh, I will tell you that the TikTok algorithm just recently sent me a video of yours [00:07:00] about an eargasm, so, um, You know, it’s a nice little catchy way to get me to keep watching. That’s it’s, it’s, I love it. Thank you. You really got something good there. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Have you, are you an eargasmer or are you a cougher?

Uh, 

Will: uh, I’ve honestly, I don’t know. Yeah. Have you 

Kristin: ever used a Q-tip in your life? I don’t think he, uh, 

Will: not in my ears because I, I feel like I’ve been conditioned for medical training to, yeah. To never put a Q-tip in my ears. Yeah. So I, I will say I don’t think I’m a cougher, so I, I think I’m probably more of an, as weird as it sounds to say an eargasm, you never know 

Dr. Karan Rajan: until you find out.

Will: What about you, Kristen? What. I don’t know. I haven’t watched this video. Yeah, so, so tell us because I’m sitting here talking about, we’re talking about eargasms, because Kristen has not seen this video. I have not, no. So why don’t you inform our audience what on earth we’re talking about here? 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah, I mean, I came across this video that one of my followers sent me on TikTok where [00:08:00] Some TikToker was sticking a Q tip in their ear and was making these pleasurable expressions and moaning noises and explaining, you know, in her words, uh, why did nature put a happy button in their ear?

So that’s why we should be using Q tips to, you know, to pleasure this happy button. And I kind of, you know, dug into this phenomenon a bit more. Yeah. And it seems like there is a small percentage of the population. Um, some pleasurable sensation, which occurs when you stimulate the inner ear and eargasm.

It’s an erogenous zone, apparently. And yeah, I made a video about it and, uh, came to your husband’s, uh, view. 

Will: I’m sure that, uh, that that video is probably causing Q tip sales to skyrocket. But I don’t, I don’t know if you’re, uh, you might not be an ENT doctor’s favorite person right now. Probably 

Kristin: not. I feel like for me, it’s more of like it.

Like it scratches and itch. It feels like an itch. Yeah. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: [00:09:00] Yeah, 

Will: I think for me too. And it feels good that it’s like But 

Kristin: in the same way that like scratching, like a dog, you know? Okay. Where if you scratch the dog deer and then kind of lean into it 

Will: like that. Well, you’re giving that dog quite a bit of pleasure whenever you do that, I suppose.

Kristin: Okay, I don’t like where this is going. 

Will: But this is, this is uh, uh, you brought something up though that, that I’ve found interesting in my own like content creation. Because whenever I I started on, you know, doing ophthalmology, I just assumed, like, I’m never going to have to even think about anything below the neck, like, ever again, and then I start putting together all these videos where I’m trying to talk about nephrology and cardiology, and all of a sudden, like, I find myself, like, Reading research articles, not for the, like the knowledge, but just for the, the trying to find the sound like I know what I’m talking about.

I’m sure it’s the same for you, right? Right. It’s for, it’s for the content. So you’re a surgeon, you know, you’re probably 

Kristin: still [00:10:00] remembers a lot more than you do. Probably. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: I will give you that. No, I, I agree with you. I mean, so I’ve always been interested in education and when I started using social media more for.

Public health purposes, health literacy of just the lay person. Um, yeah, I mean, I’m never gonna teach a room full of cardiologists about pediatric tetralogy of fallot and any weird congenital conditions, but I would back myself as maybe knowing slightly more than the average member of public about a certain medical thing, or at least be able to find out the information to explain it simply.

It does help me somewhat keep up to date with current trends and updates in medicine. And it’s interesting learning about things outside of my wheelhouse, which is general surgery and intestines and stuff. Um, but yeah, it’s definitely similar to you, you know, reading up on things, which I thought I’d never have to touch again, uh, is still quite useful.

And I think I, I quite enjoy 

Will: it. [00:11:00] So what, what, it was a few years back that you started your TikTok channel, which now has amassed like 5 million followers. Um, so a huge audience. Uh, and I assume it was around the time of the pandemic when, when you started making content, is that, is that about right? Yeah.

Was it 

Dr. Karan Rajan: before that? Uh, so on TikTok, I started around end of 2019 and just leading into the pandemic is when. You know, things started picking up for me when people were locked down, but I actually started my whole YouTube journey in 2012 when I was still a medical student. Uh, I was making videos, a final year medical student.

I was making videos, uh, about how to do an abdominal examination, how to do a respiratory examination. Um, so that kind of stuff I was doing back then. But with very little growth, traction, or engagement, um, had like a little cult following of maybe, you know, 10, 000 people watching my videos, but weirdly enough, the videos I was making back then, you know, how to do a cranial nerve examination, it fell [00:12:00] into some weird ASMR playlists on YouTube.

Um, yeah, and then people loved it. And I was like, yeah, it’s getting, you know, this video of me doing a bi manual vagina examination on a pelvic model dummy has got, you know, this many views and then I look at the comments and it’s all like. Uh, Oh yeah, do that again, doctor and stuff like that. So I’m like, 

Kristin: okay, the internet is a weird 

Will: place.

I have also found myself in the ASMR by accident wheelhouse. That’s happened to me a couple of times. There’s, there’s, uh, I think there’s a lot of people that, uh, kind of like the, the inner ear erogenous zone. It’s kind of like a, a, I don’t 

Kristin: know if 

Will: it’s the same, here, there you go. Look, we’re already finding research projects for med students here.

All 

Dr. Karan Rajan: right. You know, I literally, uh, so, you know, this whole new threads thing that’s come up now, threads apps. I posted something on [00:13:00] threads just based on the ear video saying, Oh, cause when I was looking at the The sexy ear literature, which of which there is very little. Um, I was looking at the incidents of people who get eargasm versus get a cough reflex, and there wasn’t much out there.

So I just posted a question for maybe epidemiological purposes. I said, Hey, how many of you guys, um, you know, when you stick something in your ear, get an eargasm or nothing or a cough or both just to collect data on this, and I got an email from two medical students the same day saying. I just saw you posted this thing.

Are you interested in doing a data on this or a paper on this? I’ll be happy to assist you. So yeah, there’s loads of potential for research based on what we do on social media. 

Will: There you go, you’re gonna be a full professor of social media before, before long, my friend. And so you’re, you’re, uh, you know, you’re a surgeon and I just, I think it’s fascinating that, that you, uh, found the time to, to, or, or the desire to leave [00:14:00] the operating room to start making content.

Uh, so what 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yes, you, you know, um, Leave the operating room, meaning, oh, so I, I’m still a full-time surgeon. Um, 

Will: I, I actually meant that, you know, you, you actually left physically the operating room to go and do something else because we know that, that surgeons have, have a problem with not operating at times.

Um, and, and so do you find it hard to keep that balance, to find that, uh, because, you know, the more you do something like, Create a social media presence, the more it can take over your life. And so, um, is it, do you find that challenging to, to, to keep that balance and do you feel yourself being pulled either back toward mostly doing medicine or thinking, Hey, you know, maybe it might be time to cut back on practicing and, and do more of the social media outreach.

Yeah, 

Dr. Karan Rajan: no, it’s a really good question and something which I’ve [00:15:00] struggled with in my head and I’ve gone one way than the other way so many times, um, when I first started out on social media, I really underestimated how much of a career it actually is. I mean, it’s a, it’s a career in its own right. And I used to almost.

Look upon influencers, you know, these kind of full time influencers quite, uh, condescendingly, I think, oh, it’s such an easy job, but then growing a following of, you know, X million followers, I began to realize it is a full time consuming juggernaut of a thing that you need a whole team for sometimes. Um, and I thought, wow, I can’t juggle these two careers.

And definitely, I think at some point in the future. Maybe 10 years or 15 years. Uh, you know, when I’m a little bit more tired of surgery and things like that, I might cut down on the surgery stuff, but for me, I still really enjoy, you know, going into work, operating on people. And, you know, people talk about purpose in life and without sounding too cheesy, I [00:16:00] do actually.

Enjoy the immediacy of seeing someone with a problem, say appendicitis, or they’ve got a big hernia or a gallbladder issue, and you remove the offending organ or you fix something. And then the next day they feel great. I still love that rush of like adrenaline or dopamine or whatever it is that gives you that satisfaction of surgery.

So for the moment, I think I’ll try to juggle both somehow, but yeah. 

Will: I’m kind of in the same boat, except in the U. S., you know, a lot of, a lot of, uh, physicians are thinking about leaving, but it’s mostly because of the health care system and how it treats, uh, you know, patients and doctors. So I guess, uh, my next question for you is how’s the NHS treating you?

Dr. Karan Rajan: Uh oh. Ooh, that’s a whole, it’s like a, it’s like a whole crate of worms right there. It’s not even a cat. Do you 

Kristin: have the fifth amendment or something similar in the UK? 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah. So, 

Kristin: you know. If not, you can borrow ours. 

Will: Yeah. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: So the, [00:17:00] um, the, the NHS there, I mean, with every, with most healthcare systems in the world, there are flaws, there are positives, and I think.

You know, working in one system makes you acutely aware of the flaws more so than someone looking from the outside in, like, you know, a lot of people, when I post about content about the NHS or how it’s sometimes struggling with underfunding, et cetera, I’ll get people from other countries saying, Oh, you should look at America or you should look at so and so, but yeah, it’s not great, but I’m so aware of the last decade, how it’s deteriorated as well.

Um, and. You know, there are a lot of people. So this is a, there’s an interesting stat that I found about, uh, you know, trainees in general in the UK, doctor trainees. So in 27, uh, 2017, uh, 70% of junior doctors after completing their first two years of rotations. Continued on to higher training, whether they were family doctors or physicians or surgeons or whatever, right?

In [00:18:00] 2022, that number dropped from 70% to 30%. So only 30% of doctors after completing the first two years of general rotations were continuing on into training. The rest were either quitting medicine, quitting training, or leaving to greener pastures, uh, you know, to Canada or Australia or New Zealand. So.

That, that itself, uh, you know, shows you what is happening in the NHS. 

Will: Yeah. And it’s, uh, you know, I, I hear the same thing when I post about the U S healthcare system. I think it’s, it’s really important though, that we have, uh, physicians, people that are, they’re entrenched in the, whatever medical system you’re working in, that you talk about it on social media.

So I, I think it’s great, you know, just. Just pointing out what, what’s good about it. What’s bad about it, the flaws, the things that could be better. Um, and it’s, it’s not to compare yours to somebody else’s. It’s just like, Hey, the public, people may not know what we’re [00:19:00] dealing with here. And we don’t, they don’t know why this happens, why this bill isn’t paid for, why you have a prior authorization for whatever it is.

Uh, and, um, and so shedding light on that, regardless of whatever medical system you’re in, I think is hugely important. I 

Kristin: think social media is also really important for, you know, for physicians to be on right now and other kinds of, you know, clinically trained scientists, because there’s so much like health and wellness, the whole wellness industry, right?

There’s so much misinformation out there and people trying to profit off of the misinformation, um, even among people that seem like they might. You know, be experts in it, and I don’t know, I just feel like there’s a lot of really convincing snake oil salesmen out there right now, so it’s more important than ever, I think, for people who actually have a, you know, the medical training and the expertise to be there and to be educating the public and in a way that is accessible to the [00:20:00] general person, not just having all this information hidden in medical journals.

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah. And you know, you hit the nail on the head there. It’s those ones who are seemingly innocuous and, you know, very authentic and professional are the ones that are most dangerous. You know, you get these kind of, uh, you know, wellness gurus who clearly look like, you know, they’ve literally, you know, made their own PDF of their degree and.

You know, talk about, um, chakras and, you know, crystals and really weird things. Or, you know, the Gwyneth Paltrow school of goop, like, yeah, there’s that school, which obviously everyone laughs at and debunks. Right. But then there’s, there’s kind of like maybe a plastic surgeon who looks the parts and is like doing the good things, or, you know, some.

Cardiologist is doing the right things and then they get this amazing following and then they sell you their course or some dodgy Supplements or something like that and then you’re like damn you’ve got a huge audience and now you’re funneling them to some crap [00:21:00] Yes, right, 

Will: and that’s what I you’ve been really good about about You know, finding those people and just, just pointing out the, the fallacies, the arguments, the, the things that just are not good medicine that they’re talking about.

And I, I imagine that once you started making that type of content, it was like the floodgates just came, just opened up because, because. All of your followers, they send you everything, like you get, I’m sure you get tagged and like every, every one of these types of snake oil, uh, things that are being sold.

Well, and all 

Kristin: of their followers too, probably, probably both, right? Your followers saying, yay, keep up the great work. Here’s another example. And then all of the snake oil salesman’s followers saying. No, no, this is actually, you 

Will: know, how dare you, this help, this helped to my second cousin from my first, you know, aunt, I don’t know.

Yeah. 

Kristin: You know, it’s probably get a lot of, a lot of both kinds of mail , you know, 

Dr. Karan Rajan: that’s that. You know, that’s the thing, like I think when you take on the challenge of debunking something online, particularly when. [00:22:00] You are trying to debunk a video from someone with a large following online and maybe a following that’s even larger than your own, you do run the risk of exposing yourself to like a sort of a lynch mob where, you know, those zealots from someone who follows their, you know, keto diet.

The burning plan or whatever, then come for you. Uh, you know, so you do run that risk, but, and I’ve found actually over my few years on TikTok on the short format, social media, where things can be construed and taken out of misconstrued and taken out of context in those kinds of things. You need to throw a line between almost debunking something with science, but not bullying or belittling that person.

Um, and you know, because you don’t want to then start going along the lines. And I’ve seen a lot of creators do this, like good creators who debunk stuff, almost start to, um, you know, defame that person’s character rather than the content. You know, they kind of [00:23:00] belittle the person, how they look or what they’re trying to do and their whole personality rather than just the science.

And I think you need to. almost be very careful in the battles you pick because you can almost be this pariah where you know you are a self proclaimed police online and you just make enemies with all these people. 

Kristin: Right. We don’t need to like continue the tribalism. We’re trying 

Dr. Karan Rajan: to bridge it. Exactly.

Yeah. 

Will: Exactly. Avoid the ad hominem attacks. Yeah, and 

Kristin: I think that’s really important to focus on the science because I think that a lot of people out there in the general public, you know, have just enough education and biology or chemistry or what have you, uh, that they what those people are saying or selling sounds like it might make sense, right?

And they and they feel like, okay, this makes sense to me. So I’m going to give it a shot. And they might not know that it doesn’t unless they hear the good science from someone else. And then, you know, that will make more sense to them of why the good science, you know, [00:24:00] is what it is and and why this bad science is bad.

And I think a lot of people. probably the majority of people are somewhere. They’re not the zealots, right? They’re just the general public that has a general education and they just need better information. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah, I think I was doing this, um, uh, an example of this was I was doing a talk recently for the NHS talking about the responsible use of social media.

And I was giving this talk to probably a room of 150 NHS bigwigs and leaders. You know, these really. Very old consultants who probably had never used social media before. And some of the examples I gave of positive examples of why social media can be used for good. Um, and during the, you know, the research for making that PowerPoint presentation, I just searched my name online to see, you know, what came up.

And I recommend never searching your name online. But the point is, I was on this, I was like, Uh, the title of this Reddit thread and that’s usually not a good thing, [00:25:00] but this one was okay. Cause it says, uh, Dr. Curran debunks vaccine myths. I looked into it and this person, the original poster, the OP had posted a link to a COVID vaccine video that I’d done, uh, very early on in the pandemic talking about the science of why and how it works, the mRNA vaccine.

And this person’s blurb was along the lines of. You know, I wasn’t sure, I wasn’t too sure about taking the vaccines. I was really hesitant, but watching Dr. Karim’s videos, he made it quite simple. He wasn’t condescending. There was no pressure and it made sense. So I’ve taken the vaccine now. So that almost validates the stuff you’re doing online.

And you know, it’s just one person, but that one person could explain the same thing to 10 people. And then, you know, who explained to another 10 people. So the kind of. R number of the health virus is a good one. Right. 

Kristin: Yeah, and that’s just the one person who’s commenting. For every one that’s commenting, there might be ten that are doing the same thing and you just don’t hear about it.

But it 

Will: is hard to, to [00:26:00] read negativity about you online. So how do you, because I’ve certainly faced that myself. How do you personally deal with that and not let it affect you, or at least try not to let it affect you? 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah, I think it’s very difficult. Just like you said, it’s, um, it’s never nice to hear or see something against your personality or something, something you stand for.

Um, and you know, it doesn’t get a lot easier with experience. I mean, I still see the occasional, you know, it could just be one comment in a sea of 200 comments, you know, or which is just negative. And the direct, the hundred other 199 are positive. But, you know, our human psychology narrows in on that one, and we think the world’s ending and we’re being canceled.

Um, and I think it’s just being aware that, you know, You know, you’ve also got millions of followers online. I’ve got millions of followers and there’s a reason that people followed us. You know, they’d not just click follow [00:27:00] just so they can hurl abuse at us. There may be some people who do that, but the majority of people have found some value.

So I kind of. Take that, uh, perspective of there’s a reason I’ve gained a following doing what could be considered, you know, boring videos. I’m talking about science and health and medicine, which isn’t a traditional route to growing on social media before 2020 already. Um, so there’s a reason that this type of content has engaged with people.

So even if I see that negative comment, you know, I think, you know, it can’t please everyone. So you grow thick skin and, you know, we’re, we’re both in medicine. We know you’ve got to have a degree of thick skin. So I think that helps with just. Being exposed to the constant low grade negativity, you just tend to ignore it over time.

Do 

Will: you, uh, you’re a, um, an educator, and do you, uh, train, you know, I don’t know, registrars? Is that what that’s, what, like, the equivalent of a resident in the U. S.? Yeah, so, um… Right, 

Dr. Karan Rajan: registrars. Equivalently, we have just, like, [00:28:00] registrars, and senior house officers, and foundation doctors who are, like, the juniors.

Will: Are you, yeah, that’s right. So I always struggle with that. I feel like I’ve heard the terminology so many times. I still can’t get it right. Um, do you, so you’re, you’re training the next generation of doctors. Do you have them in your operating rooms and you’re, you know, you’re giving lectures to them, correct?

Dr. Karan Rajan: Is that right? So, uh, you know, there’ll be, um, depending on the caseload that’s there, they’ll go, we’ll, you know, I can take them through depending on their level. Parts of certain operations. So if it’s a, you know, a straightforward, uh, laparoscopic appendectomy, a keyhole surgery to remove someone’s appendix, um, I can take a, uh, a training, um, registrar or a training SHO through the case.

Um, and then if it’s someone even more junior, there may be a small part of the case I may let them do or just teach them how to close the skin. So it all depends on that. And that’s also like a different type of education, which I really enjoy. Yeah. And so 

I 

Will: was going to ask how, how you. [00:29:00] How do you approach social media whenever you’re mentoring and educating?

Do you, I assume the people that you’re, you’re educating, they’re aware of your social, your online presence. What advice do you have for them? How does that play into your, your, your day job? I’ll say, 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah, I thought it would play a bigger part in terms of how it would maybe cause barriers or obstacles, but actually, you know, You’ve probably experienced the same when people recognize you in the hospital, your colleagues that work with you, it’s, you know, usually almost always favorable, you know, it’s, it’s reviewed and looked upon, uh, with approval and they like that.

And actually, even when I’m in the operating room, you know, the, the scrub nurses and the, the runners and the, uh, operating department practitioners and the list is they usually always aware that, Hey, this guy’s on social media or I like your videos, whatever. And just from a training perspective as well, I actually find it doesn’t affect.

how I train things. And in fact, being online, making videos, I would say. [00:30:00] anecdotally or certainly, you know, objectively for me, it’s improved my communication skills. And as a trainer to junior doctors and junior surgeons, that communication is key. So, you know, I’ve had some good trainers and some bad trainers in my career.

So I know what to avoid and you know, what to try and improve on. So, um, communicating with that junior, how to do certain things, how to improve. Uh, I think that always helps. And You know, people kind of look towards me as a mentor almost because they see me so often online, they feel like they know me, you know, it’s kind of a weird parasocial relationship.

So, you know, even people I’ve met for the first time, they get really comfortable with hanging out with me in the operating room or somewhere. And I think that’s in my favor and in their favor as well. 

Kristin: I wonder if there will, you know, before too long, if, if social media. You know, as a doctor will be part of the medical education and if there will be, you know, people like you that are, that are involved in [00:31:00] actually teaching the younger generation of doctors, how to be on social media as part of the medical curriculum.

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah, I think that 100% needs to be a thing. That’s like such an accurate and such a well made point because, um, if you think now the current generation of medical students, almost all of them have some online presence, right? And if you look at the kind of like. older generation, you know, 10 years above them who are at the end of their training or towards the end or already, you know, attendings or consultants in the UK, they generally don’t have social media practices.

I mean, you would be probably the rarity in your cohort, right? Um, but almost every medical student, they’ve got an Instagram profile, TikTok profile. So yeah, we do need some safeguarding or education on safe use of social media. Well, let’s 

Will: take a quick break and we’ll be right back with Dr. Kern.

Hey, Kristen, do you know why a stethoscope is so hard to use? 

Kristin: Um, [00:32:00] because there’s no heartbeat in an 

Will: eyeball. That’s actually a really good point, but also the heart is quiet. The sounds are somewhat distant and sometimes you’re in a noisy environment and you’re trying to listen to all the beeps and boops and whatever other noises there are in the heart.

Uh, but… With Echo Health’s 3M Littman Core Digital Stethoscope. It’s easier than ever. You get 40 times sound amplification, active background noise cancellation. Honestly, even an ophthalmologist could figure it out. I 

Kristin: also really could have used one of those before I had to do 10 minutes of CPR on you.

It leads to earlier detection, better outcomes, something that’s definitely meaningful 

Will: for us. And we have a special offer for our U. S. listeners. Visit echohealth. com slash KKH and use code NOC50 to experience ECHO’s digital stethoscope technology. That’s E K O health slash KKH and use NOC50 to get 50 off, plus a free case, plus free [00:33:00] engraving with this exclusive offer.

Today’s episode is brought to you by the Nuance Dragon Ambient Experience, or DAX for short. This is AI powered, ambient technology. It just sits there in the room with you, just helps you be more efficient, and it helps with reducing clinical documentation burden. 

Kristin: Yeah, and that can help you feel less overwhelmed and burnt out, and just kind of restore the joy to practicing 

Will: medicine.

And we all want that. So stick around after the episode, or visit nuance. DAX. That’s N U A N C E dot com slash discover D A X.

All right. Now we’re back with Dr. Curran and Curran, you, you gave us a few, um, we always like it when guests bring stories, especially, uh, stories from their. Early years as a physician or as a student and, um, and so you, you gave us some fantastic examples here. So I, we [00:34:00] always love a good rectal exam story.

Do we? So could you, maybe I’ll just speak for myself, uh, but, uh, enlighten us, please. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah, so this was, this was very awkward for me and, um, you know, It was a learning point, you know, I see every, uh, rectal exam as a learning point and this certainly was. So this was when I was a second year medical student, uh, and I was on my first ever surgical block and at this point I’d already almost told myself that I want to become a surgeon.

I didn’t know what type of surgeon, but I knew I wanted to do something with my hands. So I was really eager and excited for this. Now, um, the attachment I was on was in general surgery, you know, the thing that I happened to go on, and we were on a ward round with this senior colorectal consultant, deals with bowel related stuff and bowel cancers.

And he had just, um, you know, I think a week ago operated on this patient we were seeing now on the ward round. And he asked me, he looked around the, sort of the, the ward, [00:35:00] uh, the round, and it was me and another medical student. And he said, you boy, and he pointed to me, and this is a really old school surgeon, like classic dinosaur stereotype surgeon.

He’s like, you boy, um, examine this patient now. And I said, yes, sir. And I was examining the patient, did the abdominal exam, everything. And then the patient who knew the surgeon really well, they were kind of like, you know, you know, best buddies, you know, thick as thieves. Um, The patient called the, you know, the consultant, the surgeon by his first name said, Steve, I think he should do a rectal exam.

And then the surgeon said, Oh yes, good idea. Do a rectal exam now and tell me what you find. And I obviously saw this patient had a stoma, had a major operation through the, you know, the, the clips in the middle of the wound. And so, you know, he was doing the rectal exam and I went down. To, you know, get the patient in position, do the exam and the bottom was sewn up.

There was no hole, there was no rectum, there was no anus. It was just like a, like a teddy bear with [00:36:00] stitches, you know, like a barbie butt. And I later found out, well that day I looked up, you know, it’s something called, colloquially called by patients. Barbie butt surgery where the entire anus and rectum is removed.

Oh, 

Will: really? Patients call it 

Dr. Karan Rajan: that? Yeah. Barbie butt surgery. They love that. Yeah. So I was like, I was like, I couldn’t hide my, just, I was like. What is going on? 

Will: I really set you up for that didn’t they? 

Kristin: And were they cracking up because they were in on the joke. 

Will: I’m sure Well, that was a very nice of your supervising surgeon to put you through that.

Oh boy Actually, that, that’s a good segue into our game today. Oh, perfect. Because… I’m scared. Uh, Barbie butt syndrome, or whatever it is, um, is, uh, a, just one of the numerous [00:37:00] interesting phrases you’ll hear from Dr. Kern’s videos. So I actually have a list of phrases that have appeared in your videos. Okay, yes, and these are out of context, so I’m going to say a phrase, and I want Kristen to try to guess what that is referring to.

Oh, that is going to 

Dr. Karan Rajan: be fun. This is going to be 

Will: fun. And, if she can’t… You have to tell me, do you even remember saying this in one of your videos? Okay. Oh boy. Here’s the first one. Ahem. Louis Vuitton colon. 

Kristin: Oh. Ah. Oof. Louis Vuitton is like a fancy colon? Rich person colon? That’s a good guess. Um, handbag colon.

Someone maybe… Carrying your colon on your arm. 

Will: Maybe someone who just, uh, spends a lot of money on their colon? Yeah, 

Kristin: could be, right? 

Will: Do [00:38:00] you were on

Dr. Karan Rajan: the right track there, Kristen. It’s, uh, it is a fancy colon. Um, it was a video I did on, um, a melanosis coli where the, the colon is tattooed. It’s got this leopard print style pattern to it. If someone like, you know, chronically, I would 

Kristin: never have guessed tattooed colon. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Oh, it’s wild. You need to look up, uh, not Louie’s on codon, but melanosis coli.

It’s incredible. It’s incredible. 

Kristin: There you go. Okay, wait, but what is the purpose of doing this? 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Oh, you don’t do it voluntarily. Well, it’s not something you control, but if you take, like, if you chronically abuse senna laxatives, like senacides, uh, your colon starts getting tattooed with this, like, these black pigments.

And it looks like a leopard print, like the kind of Louis Vuitton 

Will: style. You’re forgiven for thinking people would voluntarily get their colon tattooed because they do it for their eye. They do all[00:39:00] 

Kristin: sorts of things. podcast 

Will: the weirdest things. Okay, all right, here’s the next one. Okay. I have a feeling we’re sticking with the colon theme for a little while here. Well, you know. Tufted tailpipe.

Kristin: This feels related to Barbie butt surgery. What is a tufted tailpipe? A tufted tailpipe. Okay, oh boy. I would think it’s the interior. It would be part of the colon or the rectum. And you’ve had to sew it in such a way that it’s become tufted. Like kind of a… Like pillowed in little pieces. That’s a great…

Will: Like bubble wrap. That’s a great guess. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: So I, I meant it to mean like as tuft as like a, you know, like a tuft of hair. So a hairy butt. Oh, okay. Tufted, tailpipe. You know, the tailpipe is the, you know, the end hairy bot. 

Kristin: Just be like a, like a, a language issue [00:40:00] issue between America, 

Will: and the uk. Anybody listening?

If you have a hairy, but you don’t, you have a tufted tailpipe. That’s right. That’s a, that’s a much, it sounds so much cuter. That’s a much fancier way. A 

Dr. Karan Rajan: rabbit, 

Will: you know. Yeah. Alright, here’s the next one. Cheeky tingle. 

Kristin: Cheeky tingle. Cheeky tingle. Well, it, well, okay, so cheeky I’m guessing doesn’t mean your cheek.

It probably means like the UK cheeky. 

Will: Maybe or what or it might be cheeks. I don’t know which cheeks you’re talking about. 

Kristin: Oh, oh, well I’m gonna die. You just gave it away then just some butt cheeks Your your butt cheeks are tingling. Maybe 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Nerve pain. I don’t remember the specific video but cheeky tingle.

I think like a little unexpected You know, thing tingle. Like, yeah, one of those. 

Will: Maybe a little paresthesia of the perianal area of the body. Who [00:41:00] knows? Um, honestly, some of these, I don’t really know the context. I had help with this. So, all right. All right. Here’s another one. Okay. Uh, Endometrial prison. Do you remember saying this?

Endometrial prison. 

Kristin: Um, is that like, what would be the opposite of a euphemism? Like a bad, it’s a bad connotation. Yeah, okay. Uh, I don’t know, there’s a word for that, but anyway, is that, is it referring to a womb? 

Will: Yes. Yes. Yes. The uterus, which is where the endometrium is 

Kristin: found. Yes. But that’s the idea, is that your womb is an endometrial prison for the fetus.

Oh. 

Will: Is that it? Did she nail 

Dr. Karan Rajan: it? Hail jail babies. You 

Will: got it. What was the context of that? 

Dr. Karan Rajan: So there was this video that I found online where this guy was like. I’m trying to freak people out about how babies look on MRI scans, you know, like they look really [00:42:00] freaky on MRI scans. And then I just showed several more ultrasounds and CTs and MRIs where the babies look like, you know, evil aliens inside, you know, and I said, quote.

endometrial prisons, like these little babies are trapped inside this womb and they’re waiting to be paroled, you know, their kind of due date. So yeah, I just went with it. If 

Will: you haven’t been convinced yet to watch this guy’s videos, like, please, please do it. All right. Even 

Kristin: unborn children are, 

Will: uh, I think, I think, I think this one’s a pretty obvious one, so we won’t spend much time on it.

Chocolate exit pipe. Oh dear. That’s what we’re 

Kristin: experiencing with our dog right now, I think. Oh my 

Will: god. Oh, we’ve got a, we’ve got a A dog that has colitis. We’ve got a diarrhea situation going on in our house. Um, okay. All right. I got two more here. Um, post op snoo snoo. I think that’s how you say it. Did he say it correctly?

Post op 

Dr. Karan Rajan: snoo snoo. You’ll know this if you watch Futurama. [00:43:00] Oh, no, 

Kristin: I don’t. 

Will: You do. I have watched Pretty Trauma. It’s been a long time, so I don’t remember the reference. Oh, 

Kristin: post? I don’t even There’s no way out. There’s no way. Yeah. What is it? Tell us. So, 

Dr. Karan Rajan: post op after surgery, and uh, Snoo snoo refers to the act of coitus, sexual intercourse.

Because in the Futurama episode, there were these Amazonian women who, you know, said death by snooze nooze. You know, they would kill any weaker men by just having sex with them. So that’s where snooze nooze came about. Oh, stop 

Will: snooze nooze. All right. I love it. That’s great. Okay, last one. Nose boner. 

Kristin: Okay, 

Will: um.

We’ve already talked about ear boners. That’s true. How 

Kristin: about a nose boner? Uh, it’s just like a really good smell, like your grandmother’s cookies. 

Will: Oh God. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Bon 

Kristin: and grandmothers do same. No, that’s not good. No good 

Will: cookies. I don’t think it has to be from your grandmother, but yeah. You know. Oh, 

Kristin: um, okay. So that’s not it.

What 

Dr. Karan Rajan: is it? [00:44:00] So, yeah, similar to your ears and the genitalia, your nose actually has erectile tissue, which is for conserving water, and it’s part of the nasal cycle. So, When it swells up and eng gorges, you get a nose bone. There you go. Wow. You learn 

Kristin: something new. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah. Nose, bone. So what you, you know, like, um, when you feel that one nostril feels like blocked, that’s because the Yeah.

Erectile tissue. The turbinate is engorged and it’s kind of swollen up then. And that’s the kind of your, that’s what it feels like to 

Will: have a nose boner. I’m not a fan of nose bones. No, 

Kristin: that’s no fun. That was, it’s that like when at night it’s harder to breathe through your nose than in the morning ’cause.

Dr. Karan Rajan: So we all have nose boners all the time, like as part of the nasal cycle, we’re only most people breathe through one nostril at one time and it switches over every couple of hours or so with the dominant nostril. So the non dominant nostril, which is not involved in the breathing at that time is the one with the boner because it all kind of swells up [00:45:00] and the air is not preferentially going through that one.

Will: Can you get nasal erectile dysfunction? 

Kristin: I bet you can. Where you can just breathe better? 

Will: You probably, I’m sure you 

Dr. Karan Rajan: can. that’s another study for any medical 

Kristin: students out there. There you go. Why would we have that? Why does, why, evolutionarily, why on earth did that develop? 

Dr. Karan Rajan: I questioned this as well, and um, I found it was for water conservation, so it, Maintains the humidity in our nasal passages.

Okay. Oh, all right, 

Will: all right. There you go. And I guess, uh, you know, the, the bad thing is you’re not able to breathe very well during sex. So. I guess so. Assuming, uh, uh, that, that the nasal, you know what, let’s just move on. I think, I don’t think, I don’t think we need to, to belabor, um, the erectile tissue of the nose.

Anymore. Um, all right, let’s take one more quick break and we’ll come back with dr. Kern

[00:46:00] Hey kristin, it’s almost dinner time. I know i’m hungry. Who’s gonna cook dinner? Not it I guess it’s me, but I don’t like cooking. I don’t like it either, but we have every plate now. Yeah, it’s great It makes meal time so much easier And it’s really high quality stuff, too. Yeah. Yeah, like the other day, I made these Kung Pao beef bowls.

Awesome. Better than I could have ever done on my own. On your own, for sure. And what the hard thing about cooking for me is like, you gotta do it every day. Yeah. Multiple times. People have to eat every day. Yeah. So annoying. But, every plate has big batch faves. It’s it’s it’s you can cook a meal once and you can get multiple meals out of it 

Kristin: I love it like that or if you need to go to a party with a whole bunch of people and you’re supposed to bring Something 

Will: there you go, and you can customize every plate meals as well You can swap in proteins and sides depending on what you like proteins vegetables.

It’s great And it’s got a lower price point. It’s very competitively priced. That’s true. That’s always good. So get started with EveryPlate for just 1. 49 per meal by [00:47:00] going to everyplate. com slash podcast and entering code 49 KKH again, that’s just 1. 49 per meal at everyplate. com slash podcast and enter code 49 KKH.

All right, we are back with a fan story. So, uh, we always encourage our listeners to send in their own medical stories because we love stories here. And so our story today, uh, and hopefully, uh, I’ve not read this. And so we’re all three of us here are hearing this for the first time. Uh, so. This is, this comes from the sleepy nurse.

The sleepy nurse says, um, she listened to our interview with Dr. Fitzharris, uh, and triggered a memory for her. In the course of my nursing career, I have only seen leeches used a handful of times. When I have seen them, they were used for free flaps. This is where surgeons, you know, Dr. Kern, you don’t tell us what a free flap is.

Yeah, I’m sure you’re probably 

Dr. Karan Rajan: aware. Flaps and grafts, when you [00:48:00] take a piece of tissue from one area and you keep its blood supply, you transfer it to another area and use plastics and burn surgery. Exactly. 

Will: So there was once a patient on my unit, she says, with a, with a free flap graft in his mouth. Guess where they put the leeches?

But that was not where, not nearly as bad as another patient I had. With an amputated penis that was reattached. I can’t imagine what those gentlemen went through and I hope they are both doing okay. Me too. I can’t, did they put the leech on the penis too? I don’t, I guess you can put leeches. See, this is something that was new to me, actually.

When we talked about this, have you ever seen leeches used in a clinical 

Dr. Karan Rajan: setting? I’ve seen, uh, leeches used. When I did a rotation years ago in plastic surgery, I mean, the leeches were fantastic for the microvascular joints they did between blood vessels, but never in [00:49:00] intimate areas like that. These were like on the chest or the arm.

Um, but genitalia, that makes me cringe as well. What is 

Will: the, there was a movie. Does it stand by me? There’s a, there’s a movie. I have this flashbulb memory of a movie. Uh, I think that’s the one where the kids are like going on like a, they’re, they see the dead body, they’re running away or something. They, they go into like a swamp and they end up with leches all themselves.

And one of them like, oh, yeah, yeah. Looks and down. Yeah. And like he’s got blood anyway. Right? Um, uh, so the Leach thing, I honestly thought that that I had no idea that that still happened. And yeah, we’ve gotten a 

Kristin: lot of comments about that actually, ever since that episode was released. Apparently people have really strong feelings about leeches.

Are 

Dr. Karan Rajan: there? I don’t know. So just get them. Yeah. So, um, as far as I’m aware in the NHS anyway, in the UK, where I work, once a leech has been used for one patient, it has to be destroyed. Um, for, you know, uh, public health purposes and for infectious infection control [00:50:00] purposes, because it’s a biohazard. So anything that’s a leech, which has had its blood meal literally has to be incinerated.

Uh, and also, there are also maggot farms, uh, where there’s a, there’s a maggot farm, medical grade maggot farm in Wales, where the NHS essentially get its entire supply of medical grade maggots for, for wood healing. Um, I feel like I 

Kristin: need to update my advance directive now, like, please never use maggots on me.

Oh 

Will: no, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s fine. Medical, they’re medical grade maggots. They’re fine. Yeah. Poor, poor leeches. Yeah, I know. Hey, at least they, they get a nice meal though, right? Like final meal, the, you know, last, last supper kind of thing. Yeah, that’s request. All right, well, I think that’s a good, podcast episode.

Um, so dr, uh, Curran, thank you so much for, uh, for talking with us. I know you got a couple of things. You got a podcast, you got a book [00:51:00] coming up, tell us all about, and what’s going on in your life right now. What you got coming up? Uh, 

Dr. Karan Rajan: yeah. So first of all, thank you so much. You guys for having me on the podcast is great.

I’ve been watching, you know, your videos for over a year, first on Twitter. And then when you started on Tik TOK and YouTube, I’ve been following you everywhere. So like, it’s a great insight for me too. No, what’s going on, you know, in medicine and like kind of healthcare politics in the U S but also fun to know that the stereotypes are the same in America as did I 

Will: get the, did I get the surgeon, right?

Dr. Karan Rajan: Is that the surgeon, right? And the best is you’ve got the, uh, the emergency room doctors who are cycling everywhere, but in the, in the UK, it’s like the, the anesthetists love the cycling. Um, oh yeah. Anyway, uh, screw the eighties. I, I do hear 

Will: that feedback actually from anesthetists here too. Like, they was like, Hey, they’re not the only ones that like to ride a bike

I’m like, you know, I’m sorry, I only have one bike helmet. Alright. 

Dr. Karan Rajan: So, oh yeah, so you, you, you nailed that. So I love those videos. Thank, appreciate it. Um, but [00:52:00] yeah, I glad that we got to connect, but in my life, uh, right now, I spent the last 18 months or two years writing a book called this book may save your life, which is coming out in December of this year.

Actually. So, uh, it’s going to be an exciting few months leading up to that. And, um, yeah, just released a podcast, which I started, um, out a month and a bit ago. Uh, it’s called the referral with Dr. Curran. I’ve literally, you know, like six episodes in very early days. It’s just like a, a go to podcast for debunking myths and medical facts and hopefully tips to improve people’s lives.

Oh, 

Will: I 

Kristin: got to check it out. And is that what the book is too? Debunking 

Dr. Karan Rajan: myths? Uh, the book is really interesting. It’s a combination of like history, medical history, which I love. And, you know, Dr. Fitzharris, which you had on, that inspired me. And, um, also kind of personal anecdotes from my time as a medical student, as a doctor, you know, stories, weird, crazy stories, but also, you know, debunking stuff, but also health tips that are science based, so a mishmash of everything.[00:53:00] 

Will: And maybe a little bit on Noseboners. I don’t know. Uh, you know, They’re all Noseboners 

Dr. Karan Rajan: in the book. They’re all Noseboners in the 

Will: book. Well, definitely check it out. That’s, uh, called, This Book May Save Your Life. Uh, and that’s, when is that? Uh, 

Dr. Karan Rajan: December. It’s coming out in December, right? 28, 

Will: yeah. Alright, so check it out.

And definitely follow, uh, Dr. Kern on, uh, TikTok. And you’re on YouTube as well? 

Dr. Karan Rajan: Yeah, I’m everywhere. Instagram, all 

Will: the places. 

Kristin: Threads, 

Will: now. Threads, that’s right. Well, thank you again for coming on. It’s a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you 

Dr. Karan Rajan: so much.

Will: Well, Kristen, what did you learn today from this episode? 

Kristin: Oh, I learned about Barbie butts. That’s one thing I learned. Tufted tailpipes. Tufted tailpipe. Not what I thought it was going to be. 

Will: Endometrial prisons. It’s quite a pessimistic view. 

Kristin: He certainly has a way with words. I love it. It makes it very 

Will: [00:54:00] memorable.

And, and definitely engaging, like, I, I am definitely, I’m going to be watching every single 

Kristin: video. You can see how he’s gotten so many followers. It’s very shareable. Absolutely. 

Will: Uh, so, and, and thank you for the stories and. And, uh, for listening, uh, there’s lots of ways to reach out to us. If you have any stories, you have any guest ideas you want to, you want us to, uh, anybody you want us to talk to, you can email us knock, knock high at human dash content.

com a visit us on any of our social media, uh, accounts, all the places where all the places, uh, kick it with us and our human content podcast family on Instagram and tech talk at human content pods. Thank you to all the wonderful listeners. Leaving feedback and great reviews if you like like hear this on a something that you can like Like please like do the like thing where you hit the like Yeah, like like it share do the like do the 

Kristin: share if you really like it follow leave us a review all the things Yeah, if you don’t like it 

Will: just move along.

Yeah, if [00:55:00] you don’t want to But if you do leave a comment or subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube We can give you a shout out like today At SomebodyElse6673 on YouTube said, I can’t even imagine how this family could get any more wholesome. When the aliens ask who should represent Earth to the galaxy, I’m voting for the Glockenspiel.

Thank you so much. Very nice. That is all I ask of you. Is that you, you just let me represent humanity To the aliens To the aliens who might want to destroy us You know, they’ll see me show up as the neurologist and they’ll love it, it’s gonna be great Um, 

Kristin: so Just don’t show them your tufted tailpipe 

Will: Thank you for that Uh, full video episodes of this podcast are up every week on my YouTube channel at DGlockenflecken We also have a Patreon, lots of cool perks, bonus episodes where we react to medical shows and movies We have [00:56:00] something new we need to react to, and film it, and post it.

Uh, you can hang out with other members of the Knock Knock High community. We’re there, we’re interacting, we’re commenting. Early, ad free, episode access, interactive Q& A, livestream events, a lot more. Patreon. com slash Glockenflecken, or go to Glockenflecken. com. Speaking of Patreon community perks, new member shoutout to Beth, Heather S.,

and Angie M. Hello! Welcome. Knock knock. Hi. That was lame, wasn’t it? That was kind of lame. Anyway. Uh, alright, and shout out to all the Jonathans. We have a virtual head nod as always to Patrick, Lucia C, Sharon S, Omar, Edward K, Steven G, Ross Box, Jonathan F, Marion W, Mr. Grandaddy, Caitlin C, Brianna L, Dr. J, Chaver W, Jonathan A, Leah D, Kay L, Rachel L, and P and Derek 

Kristin: N.

We just got to do a hangout with all the Jonathans. We did! It was really fun to put some faces to name. Yeah, 

Will: we got to, we got to chat, ask each other [00:57:00] questions, learn about our lives. It’s, it was, it was, we shared a lot of laughs too. That was a lot of fun. My mom made an appearance. She sure did. Oh, did she?

She did. Yeah, and we had a great time. She, she loved it, we loved it, uh, and everybody loved getting to hear more about… Childhood. Patreon roulette time. So this is, uh, goes to a random shout out to someone on the Jonathan tier of Patreon. Nope, emergency medicine tier. Oh, emergency medicine tier of Patreon.

Shout out to Karen B for being a patron. Thanks, Karen. Thanks for listening. We are your hosts, Will and Kristen Flannery, also known as the Glockenfleckens. Special thanks to our guests today, Dr. Curran, our executive producers, our Will Flannery, Kristen Flannery, Aaron Corny, Rob Goldman, and Shanti Brooke.

Our editor and engineer is Jason Cortese. Our music is by Omer Binzvi. To learn about a Knock Knock High’s program, disclaimer, and ethics policy, submission, verification, licensing terms, and HIPAA release terms, you can go to Glockenfleckens. com or reach out to us, knockknockhigh at human content. com for [00:58:00] anything else you need from us.

Uh, we’re here for you. Knock Knock High is a human content production.

Goodbye.

Hey Kristen, do you know why I got into medicine in the first place? 

Kristin: To spend your evenings on documentation, of course. Uh, 

Will: no. Actually, that never even crossed my mind. Weird. I got into medicine to actually take care of patients. To be able to form relationships with them. That is a better reason. And care for them.

To listen to them. To actually look at their eyeballs while I’m treating their eyeballs. Well, I would 

Kristin: hope that you look at where 

Will: you’re treating. It’s an important part of being an ophthalmologist and it’s easier than ever with the Nuance Dragon Ambient Experience or DAX for short. This is AI powered ambient technology.

It’s just in the room with you and it helps you be more efficient and reduce clinical documentation burden. Uh, it basically lets you get [00:59:00] back to being a physician and practicing the way you want to practice. So it’s like 

Kristin: having a Jonathan. 

Will: To learn more about the Nuance Dragon Ambient Experience, or DAX, visit nuance.

com slash discoverDAX. That’s N U A N C E dot com slash discoverDAX.