Managing Hospitals with Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christopher Longhurst

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Transcript

Will: [00:00:00] Knock, knock,

knock, knock. Hi, welcome everyone to Knock-knock. Hi, with the Glock Flecking. I am Dr. Glock Flecking. I’m Lady Glock Flecking. Together we are the Glock Flein, and we have an exciting show for you today with a great guest, uh, one that you may not have ever thought would actually come on a podcast with me.

Uh, and Dr. Christopher Longhurst, who is a Chief Medical Officer at U C S D Health. So it was exciting. Before we get into that, um, something in my life has, has, has returned, uh, and that is physical activity. . I, I, so I’ve been, I’m fairly athletic. Yeah. I would consider myself athletic. I played high school sports and I, I have played competitive ultimate Frisbee.

[00:01:00] I know some people are probably laughing at that. In fact, it’s, it’s, I’m somewhat of a cliche being like a, a ultimate Frisbee person who also tells jokes. I’m like the quintessential hippie for most people. Uh, but I played competitive ultimate Frisbee for 15 years. Yeah, a long time. Long time. And it really, up until the pandemic hit, and then I just, like most people stopped kind of doing things.

And it wasn’t until, um, Like last month that I decided to get back out into like a competitive sports space. Mm-hmm. , and it came in the form of indoor soccer. 

Kristin: Mm-hmm. . But it’s like, it’s a really cute kind of league 

Will: because it’s an all ages co-ed. So it’s, it’s men and women and uh, and it’s our, our team name.

So first of all, our team is made up of, uh, a lot of dad, moms and dads. In fact, almost [00:02:00] all moms and dads we’re all at least 35 

Kristin: years old and not just moms and dads. This is why it’s cute, it’s because it’s the moms and dads of the children who are. Our daughter’s 

Will: soccer team. Yeah. Like half the team is like, yeah.

The, we’re the parents of our children. They’re all on the same team. So we all, we know each other from like soccer games and practices and stuff. We’re like, Hey, let’s, we like soccer, let’s go, let’s, let’s form this indoor soccer team and, and, and see how it goes. 

Kristin: So our, you should name your team based off of the name of the 

Will: children’s team.

Oh, the chil, our children’s team is, uh, the, um, uh, jellybean Jellybean Tigers. Tigers. The Jellybean Tigers. Uh, but our, we actually have a name for our team. Oh, you do? What is it? Yeah, it’s bedtime at eight . Perfect. That is, that is actually our name. Bedtime at eight. Uh, and at first I thought this was like an over 30 league.

Mm-hmm. . I was mistaken. This is an [00:03:00] all ages league. And the reason I know this first couple games went great. Uh, we, we tied the first one and we lost the second one by one, one goal. So it was, it was very close, very, you know, pretty competitive. We had a lot of fun. And then we played the team made up of teenagers.

Oh boy. They showed up legit high school team, like a varsity high school team, . They ran us off the field, , the, the, uh, the amount, the stamina, the energy. It was overwhelming. And all of us, like our goal is just to not get hurt. . Like if we score goals, great, but if we can escape these games without seriously injuring ourselves, that’s a win.

Kristin: Isn’t it depressing that you used to be. We all did. Used to be like those teenagers, like that used to be. Oh yeah. And [00:04:00] in everyone’s minds you’re still kind of there. Yeah. Until you get out there and actually try it. Oh, I 

Will: remember like when you were, when I was like, you know, 17, 18, just I could get out of bed and immediately start sprinting,

Yeah. Like my legs would tear off my body if I tried to do that. Now, . And, and so, and this was like a, a perfect storm of like the old people. Mm-hmm. , you know, who still think they got it. Mm-hmm. to a certain extent, uh, trying not to get hurt. And then this high school varsity soccer team who, like the way they play like, is like they will never get hurt, ever.

Like, it’s impossible for them to get injured. And so that’s the way they play. And it was, it posed a very serious threat to our way of playing, of not getting hurt. And so, uh, um, there were some, some pulled hammies , a couple, a couple of, uh, Of rolled ankles. I just started cramping by the end of it, , um, and, and, [00:05:00] and this, it was like 20 minute halves.

So it was, it wasn’t like, uh, you know, we’d all play for like five minutes at a time if that. Um, and so, It was, we lost obviously . It 

Kristin: was, yeah. I wonder which two 

Will: had less fun. Eight. Eight to three. Oh, they were, they were having a ton of fun. They were enjoying themselves. Maybe it’d be too easy. Oh no. Are you kidding me?

Like it always feels good to blow out old people. Yeah. And so, uh, we lost eight to three. I scored two goals because see, whenever I played soccer growing up, I was a forward, so I was like, I, I scored a bunch of goals. Yeah. Like I’m really, I like, I, I feel like I’m pretty good at scoring goals. Sure. And I scored two goals against high schoolers.

Kristin: That’s nothing to, I’m very proud of that. Yeah. . That’s 

Will: right. You should all be very proud of me. 

Kristin: You know, I am surprised I was when it started and I have just continued to be surprised at how early. You start to get old, right? Yeah. Like, I [00:06:00] thought maybe I would start feeling old when I was a, a teenager, I thought I’d start feeling old in like, you know, my forties.

Mm-hmm. , it starts, like, started earlier, 29, 30 for me. It did. I was like, I mean, not, not a lot. It goes, it’s gradual. But that’s when I first started noticing like, Hmm. I’m not as surprised as I 

Will: once was. Yeah. I feel like thir like, yeah. Like 31, 32 day, like all of a, a sudden you’re like, uh, you can’t piss me off guard.

You, you move your neck a certain way and your week is ruined. Yeah, exactly. . Yeah. It’s, it’s that, that, that kind of stuff starts happening. So enjoy your youth, everyone. That’s right. Uh, enjoy your athletic years too. Really get the most out of those things, uh, because of eventually you’re gonna find yourself on a, on an over 35 indoor soccer team, playing against high schoolers and feeling your age.

That’s right. At least 

Kristin: you made it this far. I had to, I had to peek out at 15 in gymnastics. That’s gymnastics 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: age. That’s hard in my body. 

Will: All right, well let’s, let’s get to the, our guest today. Let’s do it. [00:07:00] How about it? Uh, so again, this is, uh, Christopher Longhurst, md, uh, he’s the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Digital Officer at uc, San Diego Health Associate Dean and Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at uc, SD School of Medicine.

So he is a pediatrician and a Chief medical officer, 

Kristin: whereas our daughter likes to say a 

Will: cardiologist. Oh, yes. Yes. She dropped that one. We have a very funny, we have two very funny daughters, uh, but our youngest dropped the cardiologist cuz she couldn’t come up with the name. What is a type of doctor that takes care of kids?

Cardiologist. Cardiologist. I, it makes perfect sense. I think theological probably should be called that from now on. All right, well, let’s get to it. I’m excited about this. Yeah, he’s fun. All right. Here’s Chris.

All right, so we got Chris Longhurst coming to us from San Diego. Uh, and you look like you’re at work. You’re wearing a, a, a white button up collar shirt with a tie, and I do not look nearly as [00:08:00] professional as you. So thanks for bringing some, uh, sense of professionalism to this recording. This is great.

You bet. I like to wear a tie 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: every now and then, just so that my, uh, boss stays on her feet , you know, worries that I’m out interviewing somewhere. Did 

Will: you, did you, you didn’t just do it for me, it’s for your boss. No, it wasn’t just 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: for you. . We thought the Joint Commission might show up today. 

Will: Oh my God. . Is that, is that a possibility?

It is 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: a possibility. We’re we are in our 

Will: window. So how does that work? So you, so they, they contact you, say, Hey, we’re gonna come, uh, wait, wait. What is the Joint Commission? Oh yeah. Good. For, for people who don’t know. Yeah. Actually, Chris, why don’t you tell us who the joint commission. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: The Joy Commission is a accreditation agency that makes sure that we are, uh, as a hospital complying with all the CMS regulations.

And so, um, that’s a big deal. We’re, we’re always excited when 

Will: they show up because if you lose your accreditation, no, because if you lose your accreditation, Uh, the, everybody [00:09:00] has to find a new job, right? That’s how it works. You definitely 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: don’t wanna lose accreditation because billing CMS is an important part of paying all of our employees

Will: So, okay, so they give you a window, like how, how long is your window? It’s like when the 

Kristin: plumber comes to your house and you gotta sit around all afternoon, they show up at the very end. It’s 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: way worse than that. . It’s horrible, Kristen. So they give you like a three month window, but you usually kind of get a hint so that it’s like here or there.

We, we got a hint that it was maybe on one of our blackout weeks cuz we had a blackout day, you know? But, um, I canceled a trip to, uh, a family trip in November because we thought they were coming. Oh. And uh, here it is in, uh, oh man, February and they haven’t shown up yet, so, oh my goodness. We’re excited to welcome them sometime.

So, 

Will: so you, so you haven’t do, there’s like an insider, do you? Like I have a mole at the cm. We 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: wish we had a mole because then we’d know when they were coming. But we have no mal . 

Will: Uh, well at least at, at least you [00:10:00] are, you’re in San Diego and is, despite the stress of being an executive at a hospital, a big hospital system, um, doesn’t it just make your life just so much better?

Just being in San Diego? I say that as we’re in the middle of winter in Portland, Oregon, and it’s rainy and gray and awful year round. Dr. Flanner, I’m, I’m not 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: gonna lie it, it doesn’t suck here, but I don’t wanna really advertise it too much because we don’t want anybody else here. . 

Will: Fair enough, fair enough.

So what I thought, what I wanted to do right now is, is give people an idea about what, what a CMO is. What a what Because in, in med, and I’ve been guilty of this obviously I, of, of making fun of hospital administrators. Uh, and, um, somewhat mercilessly. I think a lot of people, you’re like a, a very common punching bag in the medical system, , and so, but I feel like maybe a lot of people don’t really know exactly what it is you do.

So, [00:11:00] uh, give us a, a quick little rundown. Well, first of all, 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: um, Dr. Funny, your, your readers and listeners should know I’m a huge fan, , and I particularly like it when you make fun impossible administrators because it resonates. You seem to capture it really well. But those are all the other people, not me, obviously , right?

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So, you know, I, uh, grew up, um, as a pediatrician and, uh, that’s how I think of myself to this day. So I, I happen to serve as the chief Medical Officer and Chief Digital Officer here at uc, San Diego Health, and there’s lots of fires that we put out every day and, and lots of great strategies we’re putting in place as a team.

But, um, ultimately my identity still is as a practicing 

Will: doctor. And you do still practice, you’re, yeah. I get to see 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: babies as part of our newborn service here 

Will: at U C S T. And whenever you were going through your medical education in the early part of your career, did you ever imagine that you would be doing this in the administrator role?

Dr Christoper Longhurst: [00:12:00] No, I most definitely did not. Now, I will say that, um, my father was an academic physician, an MD PhD, and he taught me that what he loved about his career is he got to do different things. He was in the lab some days, he was a cardiologist some days, and he was an administrator some days. And that definitely resonated with me.

And so I stuck around in academic medicine because I knew I could wear different hats, but I didn’t think that I would be a administrator, like a chief medical officer. In fact, I still have imposter syndrome, . And I can tell you when I was appointed, uh, a couple of years ago, it was like the worst imposter syndrome that I had had since intern year.

Really? Oh yeah. Big time. In what way? Well, you remember, um, will you walk into your internship and uh, suddenly, you know, you can sign prescriptions and you have an MD after your name, but you don’t know any more than you knew. Right. You know, when you were a fourth year medical student. In fact, potentially less if you took some time off.

Right? Right. Yeah. And so, uh, you’re walking around sort of feeling the weight of the world because your prescription error could harm another human [00:13:00] being. Right? And say, look everything up, double and triple, check it. And, uh, I felt similarly. Then 20 years later, becoming a Chief medical Officer, I had served in lots of other administrative roles as C M I, as cio, as Associate Chief Medical Officer.

Suddenly one day I was in the seat that people who I had really admired, uh, had sat in prior to me. And, uh, it raised the bar quite a bit and I thought, well, they can’t really be looking to me as sort of the head of physicians. Right, 

Will: right. And, and you’re , but they do look up to you, you’re, you’re, uh, 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: no, no, they absolutely don’t.

In fact, that’s how I got over it, as I realized that there’s no respect. Nobody looks at me that way at all. 

Kristin: Do they pity you instead for having to be 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: PET physicians? You know, it’s funny when I talk to people and they say things like, thanks for your time. I know you, you must be really busy with all the problems 

Will: in the hospital.

And 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: I think, gosh, yeah, you’re right. 

Will: There’s a lot of 

Kristin: problems. What, what is in a [00:14:00] CMOs job description? What are you, what all are you responsible for? 

Will: Do you get all the complaints? Does it all, does it all come to you? Are you the complaint guy? You know, um, I try 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: to help. Um, they don’t all come to, to me. We also have a physician group leader and other, you know, uh, doctors who are in our executive suite.

Um, so we work together as a team. But, uh, one of my primary roles as the chief medical officer is overseeing all of our medical directors. So, you know, community hospital might have a few dozen, uh, physicians with administrative funding for medical directorship in different areas or clinics or service lines, et cetera.

And many academic medical centers, it’s much larger. So here at U C S D, we’ve got, uh, you know, over 150 medical directors. That was common at Stanford where I came from as well. And so all of those medical directors need to, um, be aligned and, uh, marching towards goals that help to the enterprise to better care for patients.

So that’s part of my role 

Will: that, um, that sounds really important. Yeah, it does. [00:15:00] It’s certainly not something that, that I don’t think I could ever do. Um, and I, I’ll, I’ll stick to just skits. How about that? Just dressing, it probably involves a lot of, like, organiz organization. I am actually getting a lot of good ideas from your appearance here.

I could really kind of tailor my hospital administrator’s c o character, uh, based on, you know, this interaction right now. Um, and so, uh, I, I do wanna say that I’m, I’m glad that my depiction. You know, peop leadership positions in a hospital, uh, did not turn you off from, from joining us today. So really, I, I’m curious.

he’s undoing the tie. He’s, he’s taken off his tie . Um, uh, so, so now Joint Commission’s gonna 

Kristin: walk in . Yeah. 

Will: Yeah, I’m sure that’s probably, that’s probably something that a joint commission requires is for you to . 

Kristin: Wait, wait. Are, how, how far are we taking this? ? He’s, he’s still going now. Seems like he’s, uh, maybe getting undressed in there, [00:16:00] so maybe we move it along.

Will: Uh, so when did, when did you go through residency? How far? So I, yeah. I, uh, 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: started with the class of 2000 medical school, but during medical school I found that I had an interest in combining my passion for computers and information technology with healthcare delivery. And so I took some time off and did a master’s degree in health informatics.

So I, I finished medical school in 2001 and my residency training at Stanford was from 2001 to 2004. As you well know, those are some of the, uh, highlights of, uh, everybody’s career and definitely where memories 

Will: are made. Yeah. Can you share some memories from that time in your life? Well, will 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Kristen, I’m, I’m not a great sleeper

I, I don’t get to sleep easily. I don’t stay asleep easily. So, you know, adjusting to life 

Will: in the call room. It’s funny because you used, especially, you do kinda look like you just woke up, but that’s, that’s neither here nor there. Okay. Keep going. Adjusting to life in the call room was difficult 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: and, uh, uh, [00:17:00] especially when you’re on call every fourth night, so you’re your post call every fourth day.

You know, it was a, a grind, particularly, you know, before work hour restrictions. Mm-hmm. when you would stay sometimes post call for continuity clinic, you know, all the way till five o’clock without sleep. So, um, I found that, uh, I had problems initially. Um, Waking up for my pager. Oh, no. And, uh, a couple times, I mean, the nursing staff had to come like knock really loudly on the call room door because the pager was beeping, but I was just sleeping right through it.

Oh no. Um, no, you know, to be honest, part of the reason I was sleeping through it is because I found I could get to sleep easier with earplugs in. Oh, okay. Um, and so the earplugs didn’t, didn’t help me hear the pager. Sure. . Um, and so then I started putting the pager on vibrate and I tried, you know, sticking on my pants, but roll off the scrubs,

So finally I found that, um, a formula that worked for my entire residency, which was, I, I would go to the call room after you got, you know, [00:18:00] it worked for the day done and the mission’s done. Maybe you could lie down for an hour. And I put a headband on. Oh my God. And the pager was on to vibrate on my headband.

Just right on your forehead. And it was, it was a little traumatic on my forehead. Yeah. Like when somebody paged me and my whole head started vibrating. 

Will: But I bet it woke you up. It successfully 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: woke me up. I didn’t miss pages and, you know, problem solved. 

Will: Yeah. I, I, I swear most doctors have. Sometimes rational in your case, but irrational fear of missing a page.

Right. But pagers, they, they’re so loud. I’m, I’m impressed that they just didn’t wake you up, period. But, but I, I felt that same kind of anxiety around like, going to sleep when I’m on call. You know, and I’d similar to you, like I, I’d put the pager i’d, I’d bring the stool over, like right next to my sleeping head and put the pager like within four inches from my face.

You know, I never went so far as to put a headband on. But, uh, , because you [00:19:00] hear horror stories. Like I remember a, a, a resident who had, was a few years ahead of me, went to sleep with the pager on his belt and somehow was sleeping like on. The button of the pager. And so it blocked pages from going through and just stuff like that just like really freaks you out, right?

Is like, oh, if, if, if no one pages me a first day intern, people will die kind of thing, which is not quite how things work in the hospital. But not quite 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: accurate. I think you 

Kristin: might die not that far from 

Will: actress if you don’t answer it. Yeah. Not that, not that you’re right. Not that far off. But yeah, it , you know, um, you’re mostly gonna get in trouble with other people, I think if you’re, if you do that

So that, do you still, do you, do you, are you on, do you ever, are you, do you take call as an administrator? Is there like an administrator on call? ? There is an 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: administrator of all On Call. There’s also, um, medical center physician on call that help with, uh, thorny uh, clinical issues. [00:20:00] And so we do take call.

Um, but uh, these days it’s really just cell phone 

Will: based. Gotcha. You don’t strap your cell phone to your head anymore. There’s no cell phone strapped to the 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: head, although, um, You know, might not be a bad idea. , 

Will: were you a, um, uh, so aside from having difficulty waking up, did you have any other difficult, like, situations that you encountered in your training?

Uh, lots of difficult 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: situations in my training. Um, and lots of funny ones as well. I mean, um, knowing that I was gonna become a pediatrician, I, I thought, gosh, you know, I want to be like the patch Adams, right? I, uh, I learned to juggle in, in college. I learned, you know, like card tricks and tying a bow tie and balloon animals in medical schools part of like the pediatric interest group, right?

Oh my gosh, . Yeah, none of that was helpful at all. Never really got a cho like opportunity to bust out my juggling 

Will: skills on rounds. or balloon animals? No. There might’ve been one or two balloon animals. I bet [00:21:00] you’re fun at parties though. You totally outlawed latex. Yeah. You, you must’ve been a big hit with your kids’, uh, uh, birthday parties and stuff, right?

Birthday party 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: is probably, you know, more helpful. In fact, uh, my now wife who you guys met mm-hmm. , uh, was a professional nanny when we met. And I remember that, uh, people would tell her, oh, you’re so lucky you’re marrying a pediatrician. He’s gonna be so useful, . And my wife is like, yeah, he’s, he’s useless.

Like, unless the kids are sick, in which case he says, you know, I can’t be their doctor to the doctor. So, pretty much, you know, completely useless. Whereas my wife, who, um, has raised several other, um, children before we got married, uh, you know, is very, very 

Will: useful. You think, you think you’re useless. Imagine being an ophthalmologist.

That’s, I think that’s if we, that’s true. If we’re creating a list, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s, that would be a fun thing to do. Go through like the top five, like useless professions in like a nonclinical, like, you know, just being at home with [00:22:00] your family. 

Kristin: I think, you know, a list of people that would be more useful 

Will: radiologists than you all probably be up there.

Pathology, I mean, but they understand like diseases pretty well. Mm-hmm. . And so like, I think what you really need is, is a nurse. Yeah. I think nurse nurses are probably like the best. Yeah. You know, cause they got like the, the triaging skills and the right and followed by whoever 

Kristin: the primary caretaker is.

Yeah. Yeah. We need, regardless of whether they have any medical 

Will: training, my problem is I need too much equipment. Like I require too much stuff to do my job. Uh, pediatrician though, I mean, you, you really don’t have much of an excuse, Chris. You’re, you’re you. You don’t, you need a stethoscope and some stickers and a, and some safety suckers, and then you should be able to do anything.

And a unicorn headband. . That’s right. Do you, do you have a unicorn headband? I, I can’t remember if I gave you one. You didn’t give me one, 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: but I did pull it out. I’ve got pictures of us. 

Will: Oh. Oh, that’s right. Wow. Oh, that’s right. It was homemade. You, he made Jared. So I went, uh, just backstory. I, I did, uh, the reason Chris, I know each other [00:23:00] is, uh, because I came and gave a talk to, uh, or both of us did together.

Yeah. Our whole family. Yeah. We 

Kristin: brought 

Will: the kids with us to the, it was all of ucs, like the whole hospital was invited and mostly, um, the trainees and med students. And, um, and so when I showed up, Chris had fashioned a, oh, let’s be honest. Did you do it yourself or did someone do it for you? Yeah, no, my chief of staff because when you get on, you get other people to do stuff for you.

Uh, so, um, uh, made their own unicorn headbands, which I was very impressed by. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Jared is like Jonathan. I mean, I can’t 

Will: live without him. Jared is great. I’m, I’m, I’m impressed that you actually set up your own audio and video for this podcast yourself. I assumed I would see him in there. Getting it all ready for you.

I mean, you don’t even drive your own car. You let your car drive for you. So , so as your role of the cmo, um, I’m sure you have gotten [00:24:00] pretty good about managing like difficult confrontations and like, uh, um, what do you call it, like conflict resolution? Is that a big part of your job? I imagine it. , I would say 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: it’s not a small part of 

Will: my job.

Is it? Is it the least your least favorite part of the administrator role? Actually, I, I’d like to hear what that is. . Um, 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: the conflict resolutions always come up, you know, any leadership role. By the time things, um, get escalated to you, they’re, they’re not easy problems to solve. Right? Yeah. And, uh, it’s always a trick to understand where people are coming from, what they’re looking for.

Um, you know, good compromise means that nobody’s happy. Right? And, uh, they can be, um, uh, you know, coming out of a situation, you, you can have sort of a win-win. You can’t have a lose one because that’s always olds loose. Mm-hmm. . Oh, so, so lots of opportunities to help people see bigger picture. Sometimes the answer is not, uh, no, but not now.

[00:25:00] Um, so a variety of things, you know, have, uh, been effective. Basically the same things you use with your patients and pediatrics. Mm-hmm. . Or 

Kristin: your children As a parent, I would think it’s just, that’s exactly right. These are all just grown up children. So a lot of the same, 

some 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: of us not so grown up 

Will: I’d say.

I’d say so. That’s 

Kristin: fair. . Yeah, I mean that’s what you’re doing I think as a parent is just basic, you know, this is how it works to be a human and to, to interact socially with people. So I think there’s probably a lot of overlap. There 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: are definitely Fridays I go home and I think about that book. You know, everything I need to know.

I learned in kindergarten and I think, man, if we just had some posters of those learnings, you know, around the hospital, which would be really helpful. , 

Will: you should do that. Yeah, it could do a little, um, information campaign poster and you know, everything you need to know. Just have a 

Kristin: kindergarten teacher come and help with your Oh, that’s a good idea with 

Will: decorating your hallways.

It’s not a bad idea. . Um, [00:26:00] and so you said you work, you still work, uh, about what, a half day a day clinical seeing patients? Yeah, that’s right. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Um, when I was at, uh, Stanford, I worked as a pediatric hospitalist, uh, which was much more of a high acu uh, setting. It was something I really enjoyed in the pediatric hospital medicine group there.

It’s fantastic. Part of the reason that I could continue doing that sort of on a pretty part-time basis is because it was where I had trained, right? I remembered, uh, you know, all the nooks and crannies and I knew all the subspecialists and, and how to get things done and who to contact. And moving here to uc, San Diego, with a larger administrative role.

Um, first of all, I knew I wouldn’t have as much time to practice clinically. And secondly, this is an adult health system. So the only, um, pediatrics we have are, are the babies, uh, newborn, uh, neonatal intensive care unit. And then occasionally we get pediatric patients in our emergency department, in our burn unit, which is the only regional burn unit.

Um, and so it was a natural transition for me to, uh, go to sink Babies. I’ll be honest with you, as a, as a [00:27:00] resident, newborn medicine was not my favorite. Um, stop. Oh, really? Um, particularly before you have kids, you know, there’s a lot of healthy children. Your baby’s so beautiful. And then suddenly you have kids and it’s a whole different perspective.

You know what it’s like to be in that bed. Yeah. All the fears that you’re bringing in, all the hopes and dreams. And actually I’ve had a lot of fun doing newborn medicine, uh, uh, down here. Um, I spent, uh, about seven and a half years moonlighting at neonatal I c u as well, um, before I, uh, paid off all my loans.

Um, and the painter headband, you know, worked really well. Incu setting where I was the 

Will: moonlighter . But um, that sounds terrifying. . Well, I mean, just a neonatal I ICU by itself. Yeah, that sounds like the scariest possible place in a hospital. Um, uh, and so moonlighting, like being the only, I assume the only physician kind of on the unit, right?

Um, at uh, I don’t imagine you were getting a whole lot of sleep. No, not a lot 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: of sleep. I [00:28:00] didn’t have to wear the headband that much cuz I’d just stay up. Babysit the sick kids and go to the delivery. So it was a lot of fun and I learned a ton. And, uh, the neonatologist came in when needed. But, uh, you know, there were times when you were doing procedures by the book, with the book at the bedside , literally 

Kristin: by the book

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Yeah. I remember, um, doing one particular procedure and the, the nurse who was assisting and caring for the baby looked at me and said, now, Dr. Long Nurse, um, you’ve done this procedure before. Right? And I said, absolutely. It’s not gonna be a problem. . Yeah. 

Kristin: You’re cut out for administration, . 

Will: Yeah. I, I think you always got the right answer.

I’ve noticed here, , or at least, at least you have, it’s true or not, at least you have the answer that’ll piss off the fewest amount of people. That’s right. Very diplomatic. That’s, I think that’s probably a key, a key part of it. Uh, did you, uh, important question. Uh, did you ever have to consult an ophthalmologist?

Yes, in fact, 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: um, we love our pediatric [00:29:00] ophthalmologist in the neonatal ICU cuz retinopathy, prematurity is something that can, um, cause blindness. As 

Will: you know, that’s also one of the scariest things in ophthalmology. And so credit to not only pediatric ophthalmologists, but retina specialists, I think it’s different with because 

Kristin: the eyeball, even the adult eyeball is already very small.

So then, Neonatal sized and then yes, put it at the very back of the eyeball and make it even smaller. Cuz it’s just the retina. Like how do you even 

Will: Yeah, it’s a, it’s a really difficult thing. Um, and actually as a resident, I, I didn’t get, I learned about retinopathy of prematurity, but maybe once or twice did I ever step foot in a neonatal icu cuz it’s like a, is as specialized care as you get.

In fact, I’d say probably most pediatric ophthalmologists don’t treat r O p because there’s only, you know, so many places, right? There’s not a lot of community hospitals that have, you know, neonatal ICUs that can handle that type of [00:30:00] care. Um, but it is, it is very specialized and, um, and very challeng. very challenging work.

So I do not envy the, uh, I’m glad we have shout out to those people. My god, that’s, that’s, that’s tough work. And, um, and you, I’m also, you, you, as an ophthalmologist, you have to go to the hospital, which as we’ve covered in this podcast, is not the easiest thing for us to do. So it’s not the easiest thing to find 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: an ophthalmologist to come to the hospital, which is part of the reason we’re so grateful for our retinal specialists to do, uh, is a requirement for every, every, uh, level three nicu and for good reason, because it helps to prevent really bad outcomes in these babies.

And so, oh wow. Okay. Desperately, uh, needed specialty. And it kind of reflects something that, that I love about being in this role as well, which is that, uh, as much as everybody likes to complain about the electronic health record and, uh, you know, the hours. Pit and the staff and anything else they can find to complain about

Um, ultimately people have all gone to, gone into, uh, [00:31:00] this profession for, um, a similar reason, which is wanting to help people. Yeah. Um, you know, there’s lots of other ways to make money, um, possibly lots more money. I’m watching this show Billions Now and like, well, if I wanted to be rich, obviously I should have been a hedge fund, you know, uh, manager, stock 

Will: Trader, or a Nanny for the Stars.

That’s right. Or a Nanny to the Stars. Yeah, that’s right. . 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Um, you can get paid quite well if you, uh, end up in that role. . 

Will: Well, I, I, it’s, and I’m sure like with the pandemic, it’s just been so much more difficult having to, you know, navigate some of the issues that healthcare workers have about their jobs, about being overworked and feeling underpaid and undervalued.

That’s probably just the pandemic’s just made that so much more difficult, um, uh, to, to, to manage. And, uh, but having that. Underlying grounding, you know, um, motivation of patient care I think is probably pretty helpful, right? Absolutely. To 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: fall back on that, [00:32:00] that’s probably what ties us all together. Um, but we’re definitely in the sea change.

You know, uh, there were generations of physicians before you and I will, who, uh, you know, went into the profession knowing that they would essentially be on call 24 7. Um, and I remember, um, uh, when I started training and there was a transplant surgery fellow, and, uh, he literally took call every day. And I, I saw him in the hospital once.

I was like, where do you live? And he is like, here, . And I was like, no, no, no. I mean, are you, you close by? And he goes, well, I have some stuff in a storage locker close 

Will: by. Oh my goodness. You know that that was straight outta one of my skits. Yeah. it, it is. And 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: that, that was sort of a, you know, generation of, uh, learners who, who felt there was nobility in that complete sacrifice of one’s selves.

Right. Um, in fact, that’s where the term house officer comes from. Yeah. Right. Um, but uh, you literally live, it’s a new, uh, era and people recognize the need to take care of themselves if they’re [00:33:00] gonna take care of others in a humanistic and and empathetic way. . And so, uh, I think we as a profession and as a society will need to struggle with that cuz we already pay so much for healthcare in the United States.

Um, understanding, you know, well how can we rebalance things if it’s gonna take more workers to do the same amount of work, uh, that there’s not a lot of great options. Yeah, 

Will: agreed. Well, let’s take a little break and then we’re gonna come back with, uh, Chris Longhurst, uh, C M O at uc, SD hospital system and we’re gonna play a little game.

It’s gonna be fun, but probably also a little bit uncomfortable for you. So we’ll be right back with Chris.

Kristen, you know that as an ophthalmologist I don’t tend to get excited about stethoscopes. I do know that, yes. But I have around my neck the Echo Health’s 3M Litman Core Digital Stethoscope. This thing is incredible. It’s got active background noise cancellation up to 40 times amplification. That’s pretty impressive.

It. I could [00:34:00] practically hear the individual myocytes talking to each 

Kristin: other and I have one too. And mine is rainbow. Yours as much cooler than mine. I know. I might just wear it around the house with its noise cancellation so I don’t have to hear you and the kids. 

Will: That’s fair. Yo, this thing would be perfect gift for anybody in healthcare.

What? So we have a special offer for our US audience. Visit ecohealth.com/kk h and use code knock 50 to experience echo’s digital stethoscope technology. That’s Eko o health slash kk h and use knock 50 to get $50 off. Plus a free case, plus free engraving with our exclusive offer.

All right, we are back with Chris Longhurst. All right, Chris, we, Chris 

Kristin: Christ, you’re used to sing. Kristen. 

Will: Kristen. That’s right. . Chris, we are going to, uh, play a little game I came up with like last night. [00:35:00] Um, that’s called, do we have the budget for this? Do we have the, so what I did was I went to Twitter and I posed a tweet, , he’s already nervous.

He’s already nervous about this. I, um, I said, uh, okay, you have , you have a meeting with the CMO at your hospital, and you can give him that. You can give that person one request and they have to fulfill that request. All right? What is that request? Uh, and the only caveat, I said, you can’t ask for more money because I mean, like, that’s something probably everybody would, would’ve a and some people still asked for that as one of their things.

Um, and so I just said, you can’t ask for more money. I got about a thousand responses Chris. All right. A a thousand replies and quote tweets about this. Uh, and what I’m gonna do is go through some of my favorite, some of them, uh, some of also some of the more popular ones that I saw. Okay. So. We’re gonna start [00:36:00] with perhaps certainly one of the most popular, uh, requests of the C M O, which would be free parking.

So, Chris, do we have the budget for this?

Dr Christoper Longhurst: No. . 

Will: What’s the parking situation at u c ucsd? Well, it’s funny 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: you bring that up because that’s one of the most common complaints that we face, not only from our physicians, but also from our, uh, patients. Yeah. So, being part of the university, we do not offer freight parking. We’re not allowed to. We have a parking garage where patients have to pay for parking.

Oh, no. And, uh, we have, uh, a doctor’s parking lot. In fact, one of the most angry physicians I, I’ve encountered that in this role, uh, thrown into the, uh, C-suite once bitter about the fact that he’d seen multiple people in the doctor’s parking lot without the doctor’s permit. and he wasn’t wrong and we, you know, said, Hey, we’ll we’ll go check into this.[00:37:00] 

But that was like one of those deescalating kind of situations that you train for and you’re active shooter, 

you 

Will: know, , that sounds like one of those things where you say, okay, yeah, we’ll look into this, but you never look into it. I looked into it in 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: like in 48 minutes and uh, we actually did a cleanup and, uh, put up some new signs and did some patrolling and Gotcha.

You know, towed all the patients that parking. Oh good. Oh gosh. parking sucks. You can’t 

Will: solve that one. Parking. Yeah. That’s, that’s a really, that’s a difficult one. Parking is, is challenging. Um, okay, so the next most common, this is gonna be the hardest one, I think. Um, more nurses. Increased staffing. Now I, in my practice, like we’re, this is a constant thing, trying to get more staffing, trying to get more.

So, so Chris, do we have the budget for, so I saw some requests are like quadruple the staff and which sounds easier said than done, I imagine, but, uh, do we have the, [00:38:00] do we have the budget for this, Chris? Yes and no. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Oh, okay. So the answer on this one is that in California where we have mandated ratios of nurses can care for no more than four patients, even in low acuity settings, it’s actually not a common concern that we get is the round of staffing.

Mm-hmm. concern we hear is a type of staffing because as you know, we’ve experienced this great resignation. Mm-hmm. and nurse staff in particular difficult to hire. So we’ve partnered with local colleges, we’re trying to get graduates, but everybody wants the experienced, uh, uh, best nursing staff for their patients.

And so we’re always trying to balance, you know, how do we use contractors and travel nurses, float pool versus kind of the staff who we can employ schedule, right? Mm-hmm. . Okay. 

Will: Those are, so I didn’t realize that there was a, a mandated, a mandated, uh, staffing ratio in California. That seems like a, a, actually a good idea for other places [00:39:00] to incorporate because it’s a patient 

Kristin: safety.

Yeah. How common is that, do 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: you think? Right. So I can’t speak for other states. Um, I can say when that passed, there was a lot of support from the nursing unions in California, and I’m sure that that’s because there had been some abuses of staffing ratios and, and appropriate things done. Oh, yeah. Um, but it’s not always the case that, uh, you know, that that improves safety as well.

So there’s some arguments on both sides. It is what it is here in ca. and, uh, you know, keeping up with those ratios is gonna cost a predictable amount of money when those nurses are not our employees, but travel nurses and the like, who make a lot more, uh, that’s when the budget, uh, gets busted. Gotcha. In fact, uh, just to, to take a tangent for a minute, uh, I’m quite worried the next couple years hospitals are gonna be a difficult position.

Did you know last year was the worst, um, year on, on record financially for hospitals since they kept records really, and over half of HO hospitals ran in the red. Um, [00:40:00] and it’s really, uh, at least three things driving this, right? One of ’em is the great resignation and the cost of labor has gone up 10, 12, 13%.

Mm-hmm. . And that’s really difficult to sustain. Right. And then combine that with things like more unionization, demanding higher wages, et cetera. Mm-hmm. The second is the supply chain costs, right? So just like your eggs cost more like inflation’s hitting the hospitals. So now imagine that you’re paying, let’s say 15% more for supplies, 12 to 13% more for labor.

But then you’re gonna negotiate with payers like say Anthem and Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and they offer you 1% rate increases, right? And hospitals already run on this tiny thin margin. So how do you reconcile all that? That’s really, really difficult, that it’s gonna be a tough couple years. 

Kristin: I think that speaks to something that is on people’s minds right now.

Like I think the, the patient perspective or the, the non-medical or hospital perspective is [00:41:00] these procedures are so expensive and it costs me so much money to come to the doctor or to get a surgery or, or whatnot. And I think the perception is that that’s because the doctors are pocketing that money, right?

That, that you guys just get paid so much. So Chris, can you speak to where does all that money go if it costs so much? How come hospitals are in the red. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: It’s a great question. And, uh, we are not pocketing money now. Uh, it’s not a poorly paid profession. I mean, you, you see the ophthalmologists sometimes walk out with cash strapped around in their 

Will: chest.

not supposed to talk that here. But, but for the rest of us, um, 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: you know, the, the, uh, compensation is, or the compensation procedures and surgeries and things like that, it’s covering a lot of different things, right? It’s not just the physicians. It’s all the staffing, the supplies, the electricity, the technology, everything that goes into providing care safely, right?

And in fact, um, you can provide some of the same procedures at lower cost in outpatient settings, right? And there’s been a, a [00:42:00] movement towards that, but it’s a balance. You can’t overdo that because sometimes those procedures, while. May have complications, and if you have a complication having one of those procedures, you better damn well be in a setting where you’ve got the support to rescue.

Will: Yeah, exactly. All right, well we got a, a number of these, so let’s, let’s keep going. So I’ll, some of them, you know, we’re only like one or two people asking for. Um, so this is from, um, a user, um, at Empiric game said, um, they would ask for a second bladder scanner for a seven floor hospital. So Chris, do we have the budget for a second bladder scanner for a seven floor hospital?

Absolutely, yes. Okay. You can have what is a bladder scanner. So it’s, uh, you gotta, you use a bladder scanner to determine how much urine is in the bladder and whether or not you need to do a catheter. You know, drain the bladder. Oh, okay. Because it can be dangerous to, man. I still remember some of this stuff.

Look at, look at that. That’s bladder [00:43:00] scanner is well, bladder scanners for everyone. . Everyone gets a bladder scanner. Okay, here we go. Um, 24 7 childcare. Oh, 24 7 childcare. This came from a couple users at Gong Gas Girl asked for it. So do we have the budget for 24 7? Childcare? 24 7 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: is difficult, but we should be supporting childcare and in fact that’s something that, uh, is a benefit for us here in the health system.

Being part of a university. There is childcare for university employees and so it’s definitely not 24 7. That would be hard to do. Um, and 

Will: that’s something that we should be. 

Kristin: Awesome. Well, and I, what’s the implication there? Like, are, are they asking, asking for free childcare because they work here or? 

Will: I think everybody would love expensive, cheap, would love affordable childcare.

I think probably affordable childcare. 

Kristin: So if the university employee childcare is still prohibitively expensive, is that helpful? 

Will: Yeah. I don’t know. [00:44:00] I just don’t, I don’t think like, and certainly have, you know, single parents who would, who potentially would benefit from like an overnight childcare situation.

But, uh, that would be, or if you’re the night shift, um, or if you’re anybody but an ophthalmologist . Um, okay. Uh, let’s see. Let’s do it now. So, um, here’s one. Uh, forgive all medical debt. at pkk. Asked for that. Uh, so Chris, do we have the budget to forgive all medical debt? Absolutely not. I was, I was afraid you’d say that 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: for keeping medical debt is beyond the scope of the Chief Medical 

Will: Officer

You don’t, you don’t have the authority to make that decision. No, I 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: do not. But that’s probably good advocacy for our US Surgeon General and, and other healthcare leaders and, uh, the federal government. There 

Will: you go. There you go. So ask those people for sure. Don’t ask your local C M O, uh, because they won’t be able to accomplish that.

Uh, non-dairy [00:45:00] creamer in the doctor’s lounge. Some people had a little bit more of a, um, uh, got a, a higher level view of, of this question. . So non-dairy creamer in the doctor’s lounge. Absolutely. Do we have the budget for that? We do. I, you know 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: what knowledge, and we have the budget. Sharon’s gonna go do right 

Will: now,

Um, alright. I got, uh, just a few more. I really actually like this one, a nursing level family or patient liaison for each specialty available to be contacted for up to two weeks post discharge. I love that. I think that’s a great idea. I love that as well. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Um, we have a, uh, family and patient experience team and uh, they actually do provide services along those lines, sort of an Obed Smith person kind of role.

Um, can review things, provide advice, et cetera. So, um, I think that’s a really important, um, opportunity for any health system to [00:46:00] provide. And there’s actually some regulatory requirements around it. For example, did you know that every written complaint requires a written response? Oh, 

Will: really? No. I did not know.

Kristin: Is it common for, for hospitals to have those sorts of things, or is that just like a perk at U C S 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: D? I would say that it’s universal for hospitals to have those sort of things. The, the question is what is the culture? How is it resourced and staffed? Yeah. Is it a complaint department, you know, uh, that’s reporting through legal.

That gets back to written complaints. Is it a patient and family experience department? Um, and not to boast, but I think we’ve done a good job of really trying to, you know, um, align with patients and, and be advocates for the right care. Because truth be told, uh, we don’t always provide the right care.

Right? And there’s a lot of, uh, opportunities to learn from 

Will: that. And what’s great is that Chris is personally responding. He’s doing the right, the written 

Kristin: response. It stays up at night, the written complaints, right? Handwritten. 

Will: So thank, thank you for that. That, that’s exactly correct. , . Um, [00:47:00] so this next one came from, uh, uh, McLemore.

Mr. Actually, uh, several people said this. Um, they would ask for the resignation of the CMO and the abolishing of the position

Maybe if we did that, then we’d have a little bit more money for non-dairy creamer in the doctor’s lounge. Or maybe we could have 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: both, but I hear you . Um, it’s funny how easy it is to, uh, point at others and, uh, find, uh, problems instead of solutions. But, uh, you know, it takes, uh, people in leadership roles to help make, uh, health systems run.

Yeah. And uh, from my perspective, the more physicians who have trained and come up through, uh, the same, you know, practices, we all have that, that are representing that the better. Right. I think 

Will: it’s a deeper understanding. Yeah. And that’s a refrain I heard a lot with the response to this tweet was, you know, more, more people who have taken care of patients who have been in the system, you know, really [00:48:00] helping people in that way, moving into leadership roles, which I agree with.

I think that’s a great, uh, uh, thing to have both perspectives, right? To have that patient care perspective. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Um, yeah. Well we were talking earlier about kind of the sea change in medicine. Right. You know, uh, generations have moved through. And, uh, I remember hearing about the sea change in hospitals from, uh, one of my former CEOs.

And, uh, he was talking about the fact when hospitals started, it was really like the late 18 hundreds, right? Some of the first hospitals in the United States and who ran the hospitals, doctors, right? Yeah. And, uh, doctors owned and ran hospitals right up until the fifties and sixties. And that’s when this idea of healthcare administration again, came about, um, concomitant with the advent of cms, uh, you know, which was signed in the law in 1965.

And, uh, by the eighties and nineties, this concept of kind of managed care and, uh, you know, health maintenance organizations peaked, right? Mm-hmm. . Um, but his prediction was that, uh, we would see the pendulum [00:49:00] begin to swing back with more and more physicians helping to lead, you know, health systems. I, I wanna be clear, I’ve worked with some amazing healthcare administrators who don’t come from clinical backgrounds.

Um, my CEO has a master’s in public health and she’s phenomenal. One of the most empathetic, you know, um, healthcare leaders I’ve worked with. I also think that having more clinicians, physicians, nurses, and others in leadership roles will be good for healthcare as well. 

Will: There you go. Uh, and then, uh, you got two more.

All right. This came from at Harlem Medic, uh, double Ply Toilet paper. . Do we have the budget for Double Ply Toilet? 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: You know, that’s a phenomenal idea. We don’t have the budget for it in all bathrooms, but we have the budget in the doctor’s lounge, . 

Will: Oh, that’s it. The rest of you? Uh, I don’t know. Use, uh, bring a towel.

Kristin: Bring your own, yeah, . Bring your own double ply. . 

Will: Oh, no, . Oh. All right. And, and one [00:50:00] more. The last one. You know, a lot of people asked for this. This is probably the most, uh, common request, a functioning slit lamp in the emergency department. By a lot of people. You mean you, oh, maybe I, yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, it’s, you know, I just, I saw it, uh, in my head and so I assumed everyone else was asking for it as well, so, um, yeah.

Yeah. You 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: know, I think it’s really critical that every emergency department has a functioning sweat lamp and that every newborn nursery has a functioning, transcutaneous bilirubin, uh, checking, 

Will: uh, machine. You heard it here first. All right. This is coming from, uh, a Chief Medical officer at a major health system.

Every emergency department needs to have a slit lamp and whatever it is that he said. That’s the second thing. . . All right. Thank you so much, Chris. So we’re gonna, uh, come back here in just a second with, um, our, uh, a couple of fans stories before we let you go. Okay. Be right back. Sounds great.[00:51:00] 

Okay. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite medical stories that were sent in by you, the listeners. We still have Chris Longhurst here. He is gonna listen to these stories with us. All right. So we have, um, uh, this is an anonymous story. As a pre-med student in undergrad, I worked. Urgent care clinic as a medical assistant, one particular patient encounter will always stand out amongst the rest.

As I began triaging this patient who was complaining of a sore throat, she asked if she could get a covid test as well, not thinking much of it. I asked her if she had any known sick contacts. Recently the patient replied that she hadn’t been around anyone sick, but she was concerned she may have contracted Covid 19 from her pet hamster.

Apparently the hamster had seemingly died, so she administered C P R with mouth to mouth rescue breaths to it. Miraculously, she told me that she was able to successfully resuscitate her pet hamster, but it died anyway. Shortly after she was at least comforted to [00:52:00] learn that she could not contract covid from her beloved pet boy.

Did our scribe get a thrill out of typing up that H P I? I, this is incredibly impressive to me. See, like, can you, ima like CPR on a, on a hamster, successfully resuscitate a hamster. I, whoever sent that in, I, I’m, I am, I’m just very impressed. By that, if you’re listening to this, you should write a book about, um, or at least a guide on hamster resuscitation.

In my opinion, that’s quite 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: a story. Isn’t that great? Although it’s possible, the hamster died of attention nemothorax after the resuscitation , 

Will: it’s, Hey, you know what? At least the hamster got a few more minutes. Um, so there you go. I like that. That’s great. All right, Alex. Uh, this is a story from, um, uh, user Alex.

Uh, I have a medical story from my intern year. On my first overnight shift, my resident went to take a nap and left me the phone being nervous. When I got a phone call for an admission, I quickly write down patient information and ran to [00:53:00] wake up my resident. Unfortunately for me, my resident was sleeping on the futon in our conference room, which had a glass door that was closed.

I didn’t see the door and ran into it hard enough to split open the skin just above my eyebrow. I grabbed some tissues and thought I was able to stop the bleeding before we went to see the patient. But after we got back to the workroom, I saw blood had actually been dripping down my head. Oh no.

Probably the entire time I had to go back to the ED for stitches and only have a small scar. . I like that this the, there’s an assumption here that the, that we have to make as the listener, uh, that the patient noticed blood dripping down their doctor’s head and did not say a word about it.

Oh, man, that’s great. We all have stories. I, I, I love like trainee story, like stuff like that. I feel like it only happens to like, people in training. It’s, it’s great. We all have stuff like, not like [00:54:00] that, but, you know. Anyway. All right. Thank you for those stories. Send us yours. Knock, knock high@human-content.com.

Chris, thank you so much for joining us. Uh, it’s, it’s really, I, I love chatting with you and I love hearing your perspective on all things administration. 

Kristin: Thanks for giving us some of your time on Jared’s busy day. Yeah, 

Will: you 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: bet. And thank you guys for, uh, everything that you do. It’s really, uh, making a difference.

Now, do 

Will: you have something that you want to promotes? Anything going on in U C S D? I understand there’s a, um, you’ve got a, a new Center for Health Innovation, is that right? 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Yes, we do. In fact, uh, we’re just preparing to announce, um, a large gift for Center for Digital Health Innovation. Which is really going to be taking advantage of these new technologies to transform the way we deliver care.

So, um, besides you on Twitter, a lot of the other chat has been about chat, G P T and all the amazing responses it can have. Let’s think about in a meaningful way, how. AI and other types of technologies can help [00:55:00] support the delivery of better patient 

Kristin: care. Is Jonathan gonna be replaced by chat? 

Will: G p t? Uh, I think Jonathan might be the author of Chad gp.

He might be chat. He might, he is Chad gp. G T p. Nope, it’s possible four. 

Dr Christoper Longhurst: Jonathan got into medical school, . 

Will: Well that is, and that is health innovation.ucsd.edu. If you wanna check that out. And Chris, we can find you on Twitter. You are Follow this guy. He is, he is. Great. Um, Chris Longhurst, I’m not sure what your handle is, but Yeah, I think you’re the only Chris Longhurst out there.

So ca longhurst ca longhurst, that’s what it is. All right. Well, thanks again for being here and we’ll let you go back to your very important busy job. Take care.

Oh, it was so much fun talking to Chris. Yeah, he’s a blast. Yeah, it’s, you know, it’s, uh, I appreciate people who can kind of laugh at themselves. Mm-hmm. , and I mean, I’m pretty like merciless to, to like CEOs and stuff [00:56:00] and people in these, in, you know, leadership positions, uh, you know, uh, in my, in my content and making skits and I, I appreciate that someone like him can see the truth in it and still laugh at themselves.

And so, um, but it was really cool to hear his perspective on a lot of the common issues that people are having in healthcare. 

Kristin: Yeah. And you can tell that he, like, he cares. Right. I think that’s what makes a good healthcare administrator is that empathy and, and being able to take different perspectives.

And I think where, where it can go wrong is when you don’t have that and. 

Will: I still think he could, you know, he could probably forgive all medical debt. I, 

Kristin: I don’t, oh, I was gonna say, he could probably spring through the two play . I mean, 

Will: at least the two-ply. Yeah. And then we’ll talk about forgiving all the medical debt.

All right. Um, so, uh, yeah, thanks for, uh, thanks to Chris and, uh, thank you for the stories. Uh, and if you have any other stories to [00:57:00] share, please let us know. All right. We wanna, uh, hear what you thought about the episode. Uh, do you want us to bring on more hospital administrators? Do you like hearing, uh, their perspective on things?

Do you know other people that we should have on? Let us know. All right. Hit us up in the comments. Uh, there’s other ways to hit us up as well. Uh, you can email us, knock knock high human content.com. You can visit us on our social media platforms, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter. Uh, you’re on Instagram kind of. 

Kristin: Yeah.

I’m, I’m trying. Get a little more active, have a great Instagram plans for, for the Instagram, but it’s, I can only 

Will: handle so many social media platforms. I know it gets to be a lot. Uh, and, um, let’s see. You can also hang out with us and our human podcast, human Everything, human Content Podcast, family on Instagram and TikTok at Human Content Pods.

Thank you to all the great listeners leaving feedback, awesome reviews. We really appreciate it. If you subscribe and comment on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube. All right, [00:58:00] we may shout you out like this. Shout you out. Shout you out. Shout, shout you out, you out. Pink Pearls 37 on Apple said as an avid true crime connoisseur and medical professional.

This podcast has been a funny, informative breath of fresh air. I was immediately hooked after you showed up on my for you page and was so excited when you announced this podcast. The perfect blend of humor and truth about life in the medical field. 10 out of 10 will recommend. Aww. Thank you so much. So nice Pink Pearls 37.

Uh, that’s very nice of you. Full video episodes are going up every week on my YouTube channel, D Glock, flecking. Uh, we put those out every Tuesday. Uh, there’s lots of cool perks on our Patreon as well, so you can check that out. Uh, we have bonus episodes or react to medical shows and movies. Come hang out with the knock, knock high community.

We are there. We’re responding. I’m posting videos like talking about our life and content, and just whatever comes to mind. Eyeballs, eyeballs, uh, early ad free episode access, interactive q and a [00:59:00] live stream events, a lot more coming as well. patreon.com/glock flecking, or go to glock flecking.com. Speaking of Patreon, community Perks, new members, shout out.

We got Gracie l Marie, r Alyssa a, Linda B, Lori C, and Joshua G. Thank you for joining our community. Shout out to all the Jonathans. All right, Jonathan’s out there. We got Patrick, Lucia, C, Sharon, s Omer, Edward, k Abby, h Steven, G, ROS, box, Jonathan, f a, Jonathan, who’s a, Jonathan, Marian w Mr. Granddaddy, Caitlin, C Rihanna, L and Dr.

J Patreon Roulette. It’s time for Patreon Roulette. So, uh, when you, what is Patreon left? If you’re aner, if you’re on the emergency physician level of Patreon, uh, we will randomly shout you out. Just choose somebody. And so, uh, let’s do the general. Okay. Yeah, do it again. Yeah. Yeah. You should do it. Shout out to Tucker P for being [01:00:00] a patron.

Uh, thank you all and thanks for listening. We’re your host, will and Kristen Flannery, also known as the Glock Flecking. Special thanks to our guest, Dr. Christopher Long. Our executive producers are Will Flannery, Kristen Flannery, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, Shahnti Brooke, our editor and engineer, Jason Porto.

Our music is by Omer Ben-Zvi. To learn about our Knock-Knock highs program, disclaimer and others policies, submission verification, licensing terms, and HIPAA release terms. You can go to glock and plugin.com or reach out to us at knock dot high@human-content.com with any questions, concerns, or fun medical jokes you might have.

I did that all in one breath that time. You’re getting pretty good. That pretty good? All right. Nan Nakai is a human content production.

Knock, knock. Goodbye. Bye.[01:01:00]