Glauc Talk: Family Medicine Has Entered the Chat
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Hello, everybody. Welcome to Knock Knock High with the Glockenfleckens. I am Will Flannery, also known as Dr. Glockenflecken. I am Kristen Flannery, also known as Lady Glockenflecken. Thank you for joining us today, and thank you for my cup of coffee. You're welcome. I tried. I'm having a little bit of a slow morning today. I'm not.

A coffee drinker? I do not know how to make coffee unless it's a K-cup. And now we have a pot. Can I just say...

Uh, that I love it when you make me laugh. Okay. But I don't like it when you're laughing at me instead of with me. It's like, it's been a, it's been a really slow morning. I haven't, I'm like really, I don't know if I'm getting sick or I just, I'm feeling really like, like a bit run down. No, I mean, it's, it is, it may be a little bit of seasonal depression sitting in. Uh, but, um, uh,

I got a legitimate hearty chuckle when you said you made coffee. And I went in there to pour my cup of coffee. No, I was still in progress. I know, but you weren't with me. I went in there to pour the cup of coffee. And I just took a long look at the process that was Kristen making coffee.

What? I was trying to do something nice for you. I know. And I really, no, I really appreciate it. Um, as a coffee grounds everywhere. Yeah. I spilled. Yeah.

It's a tiny little filter. It's hard to get it in there. It's like a mini pot. I feel like that's relevant to the story. It's a mini one. Yeah, it's a small one because I'm the only... There was like two coffee drinkers in the house and we don't drink that much coffee. But at one point, I saw you balancing really...

gently balancing the filter with the coffee grounds in it. Because I was trying to clean up the spill. Because I didn't want the grounds to get into the coffee that was made. Just balancing with coffee, walking around the kitchen. I didn't know what was going on. So you were cleaning. I didn't know it was that. Okay. All right. Well, anyway, thank you so much for my coffee. I don't think you mean that. It tastes good. And isn't that the point?

Not anymore. What? Now I'm going to do it with coffee grounds in it on purpose. It tastes great. You made a hell of a cup of coffee. All right. Do you want to go into, oh, that really made you mad, didn't it?

This is a great way to start a podcast by pissing off your co-host. I was just remarking on the process. You have a different process than I have. I was learning in real time. I don't have a process. And how do you feel about making coffee? Was it fun? I feel like it was not worth it. But did you have fun doing it? No. Well, I do have some health care news for you. Should we get to that? Okay.

Anything to add about the coffee? I do not, unless you would like to really get into it. I'm trying to get through this as quickly as possible. Oh, man. All right. Well, so, you know, the GLP-1 medications? Yes. So apparently the plan was for like when Biden was president, the plan went through CMS was to have Medicare cover those medications. Okay.

And it was just recently announced that Trump has said that's not going to happen. Okay. And that's a big deal. Yeah. For a number of reasons. Number one, those typically cost people about a thousand bucks a month. Right. So they're kind of expensive. Very expensive. But they're also...

incredible medications like these things. And like, I don't prescribe them. I, I'd hear about them from my patients because I've got a lot of patients and they're 60, 70s, 80s. A lot of them are taking these medications and they're like, it's making their diabetes better. It's making like metabolically, they're just like improving. Um, and, and you hear on, so I've, I've seen some reactions on social media about this, the fact that Medicare will not be covering these. Um,

And it's just like,

it's like just people are just bewildered in the medical community. I'm talking about like the physicians are actually seeing the effects that these medications have. Not that they're perfect. There's like side effects to them, obviously. And, and maybe even there's things we don't know that might come up down the road, but there's no denying like the impact these medications. And I'm not, this is not an ad for these medications. I'm just saying what, you know, what I've, I've seen and what a lot of my colleagues in medicine have seen. And, and,

I feel like it's just a part of it is like this push by RFK Jr. Um, and, and kind of other people that are, that really like, like what he's doing, um, to like, it's like a personal, people should take personal responsibility over their weight kind of thing. Like it, like you're, you're not exercising enough or you're not eating right. Well, guess what? Like,

Those are the things we've been telling people to do and trying to get people to do for decades. And so along comes a thing that just makes it a little bit easier. So you don't have to just like force yourself to do some of these things that are more like behavior modifications. And yeah, it's not like they're like, it's like bad to suggest that, right? It's okay to do that. But

How can you just ignore this potentially like life-saving medication and just say, no, it's like a crutch. You shouldn't be using that. You should be taking your own personal responsibility for your health. Also, it's more complicated than eat right and exercise. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Like those are not the only two ingredients. So to take away this thing that helps the people that even if they eat right and exercise, right?

It's not enough. Right. Yeah. It's like it's kind of insulting to just like, you know, the multifactorial nature of health. Yeah. So it's just a bit disappointing. Disappointing, but not surprising. Yeah. It's I think I don't know. And, you know, we'll see. I've even seen some patients that, you know, after starting it, they're like diabetic retinopathy gets better and stuff like that. This is all anecdotal evidence. I don't know the data like around that, but.

Even in my little corner of the world in ophthalmology, we're seeing some effects of it. So I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen with Medicare. It sucks. Those are expensive medications too, you know? Yeah. Hopefully that doesn't end up actually happening. Oh, we'll see. That's all the healthcare. That was the only healthcare related news I have for you. Okay. Do they make coffee good in your corner? Oh my God. You're still talking about this? You brought it up. My goodness.

Coffee is not covered by Medicare. Maybe it should be because look how improved health I have this morning. Words are hard. What was that? I thought the coffee thing was just a funny story I could tell on the podcast. And you did. No, Kristen's just mad at me. All right, well, we'll take a break. But if Kristen's still willing to talk to me in the next segment, I don't know. We'll find out.

But I think we'll have another guest come on. Okay. Special guest. All right. You ready? All right. Let's take a break. We'll come back with a special guest. Hey, Kristen. Yeah. I've been grossing you out about these Demodex mites, although I'm not sure why. They look adorable. Well, these are cute, but it's the real ones that kind of freak me out a little bit. Yeah, but I have some new facts to share with you about Demodex. Oh, great. All right. These mites have likely lived with us for millions of years. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Does that make you feel better? No. Like they're passed down through close contact, especially between mothers and babies. Oh, wow. Such a special gift for our daughters. They're born, they live, they crawl around, and then they die on your eyelids and in your lash follicles. Their entire life cycle lasts about two to three weeks, all spent on your eyelids. Well, thank you for that. This isn't helping, is it? No. How do I get rid of them? Well, it's

It's fun to gross you out, but we do have all of these. It's really common, but there is a prescription I drop to help with these now. Okay. That probably excites you. That makes me feel better. Any way to get rid of them, right? That's right. All right. Sign me up. Visit Mites Love Lids to learn more about demodex blepharitis, which is the disease that these little guys cause. Sure. Again, that's M-I-T-E-S Lids.

love lids l-o-v-e-l-i-d-s.com to learn more about demodex and demodex blepharitis and how you can get rid of it and we are back and um rather than will who's just insulting my nice efforts to support him uh i got rid of him and now i am joined instead by family medicine hi hi how are you i'm

I'm doing good. Are you, though? Yeah, I'm good. Are you sure? I'm glad. Thank you for letting me come and talk. Your husband sounds not nice. Sometimes he's a bit of a you-know-what. Why he should be more thankful for the things that you do for him.

I agree. I've listened to a little bit of your podcast in between, like, while I'm charting at night. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, and you're better than he is. Thank you. I clearly like the brains of the organization. Thank you. It's nice to be seen and understood. Can I drink his coffee? Yes, go ahead. Is that okay? Mm-hmm.

That's tasty. Okay. Well, good. I'm glad you enjoy it. Anyway, thank you for inviting me. So I wanted to talk about family medicine. Okay. Because we're having a rough time. Yeah, it seems like it. And it's not our fault. Okay. Family medicine...

I'm sure you heard, we had a lot of unfilled spots in the match this year. And it just seems to be getting worse. But I want to tell you, it's a great field to be in as a doctor. Think about it.

I want you to think about it. Okay. Okay. I'm thinking. Okay. So, uh, I don't have to work, uh, on the weekend. I don't have to work on holidays. I own my own practice. Did you know that? Oh, that's nice. I own my own practice. I can set my own schedule. Okay.

And, uh, and it's, it, what's, what makes my life difficult is obviously the insurance companies. Yes. But, but also it's the other doctors. They don't respect me. Oh, I know how that feels. They don't risk that. You know how hard my job is.

I know. You got to see all sorts of people of all ages with all sorts of things that they're coming in for. I saw when I came in, I saw you had one of those first aid books. Yes. Yeah, I do. That's my specialty. Right. That whole thing. Like all of it. Right. It's a lot. It's not like I'm just like an eyeball doctor. Mm-hmm.

You know how big the eyeball is? I don't care if we have two of them. It's very small. It is. It's very small. And so I do, I can do eyeball stuff, but also all the body stuff. Yeah. It's a hard job. I know. It's a hard job.

And I don't think the other doctors show me the respect. They make fun of us. Mm-hmm. That's not very nice. No. They send me patients. They tell me that they need clearance before cataract surgery. You think they're just being lazy? I think it's laziness. Mm-hmm. You're a doctor. Put a stethoscope on. Listen to the heart and the lungs. By the way, there's two of them. Mm-hmm.

But they don't do it. No. They tell me I have to do it. Yeah. And then it's up to me to clear the patient for cataract surgery. There's no such thing as clearing. You can't clear anything medically. That's not a thing. That's a made-up term by some kind of eye dentist. Watch out. You're going to get the dentist mafia after you with that kind of language. I don't care. I don't care. I...

I am overworked and underappreciated. And honestly, I think med students should choose family medicine. Why is that? Because do you know how beloved I am in my community? I'm the guy. Yeah. I know everybody. I see the parents. I see the kids. I see the grandparents. Birth to death. That's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. I've been practicing for a long time. Probably should have retired a while back.

But I like it too much. I like it. So your community, they love you. Okay. You get to do a lot of different things. You don't, like I mentioned, you don't work on the weekends. You did. Yes. But that is a big perk. You know, the last time I've done a 24 hour shift? When? Can't remember. Oh, well, all right. Doesn't happen. Because I'm family medicine. But do any of you work on the weekends? No. You can if you want. Oh, okay. Because I learned on my own practice.

Do what you want. I'll do what I want. And so I think people need to show some respect to family medicine. All right. And don't tell the med students that they shouldn't be doing primary care. I think it's the most noble field in medicine. Yeah. You're the front door. Yeah. You're the thing that you're the first stop. We're the backbone. Yes. The backbone. Stop making fun of us.

That's right. So you tell that husband of yours when he comes back. He needs to stop making fun of you? Stop making fun of me? Stop making fun of coffee? Mm-hmm. All right. Stop making fun of you? That's right. That's what he does, though. He makes fun. Why? Just because he's Dr. Goggum fucking. No one even knows what that means. Except me, because I know everything in that book. I know it all. You are very smart. That's all I had to say. Okay. Well, I'm glad you were able to get that off your chest.

Yeah, you know, it's just I feel like people don't understand what we do. Like we're out there in the community. Yeah, talking to the people. Like the hospitals, the academic center, they can hire their subspecialty trained. They've got like a liver doctors that just take care of the portal vein. Not me.

You take care of that and the rest of the liver. I do all the veins and the organs. You don't hear me complaining. Well. It's okay to complain every now and then. So do you have any questions for me as a primary care doctor? I do. You're talking about how your job is so great. It's great. It sounds great. It's great. I love it. I do. But then you also look really burned out.

Is it the glasses? That's part of it. What is it? Is it the hair? The hair seems a bit disheveled. Like maybe you slept on your office couch last night. You know, it happens. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. We're all burned out. Yeah. It's not just me. It's true. I'm just the only one that's not afraid to show it. You're just the most authentic. I'm the most. Everyone's trying to hide it. You think the eye doctor.

Isn't burned out? They're burned out. They're all burned out. The surgeons, the infectious disease doctors, the OBGYNs. Like, medicine is hard for everyone. I'm just not afraid to show who I am. All right. Why is everyone so burned out? We don't want a bunch of burned out doctors. That's no good. What do we need to do? You know what it is? What? Not everybody has a Jonathan. Oh, right.

Also prior authorizations, but the Jonathan thing too. Okay. That's the biggest. It says there's so much paperwork we got to do. I'm always doing paperwork. That's constant. Yeah. That's constant. And you didn't go to med school to do paperwork. But people think that if they don't want to do family medicine because of the paperwork, because of all the regulations and stuff, you're going to see that everywhere. That's not just me. That's not just me. That's true. So do you want to make a difference in your community?

I think that's a very noble thing to do. Do you want to not be afraid to show who you are?

Do you want to come to work? Hey, loosen the tie a little bit. Yeah, you do seem to loosen the tie. Come be a family medicine doctor. All right. Next time you come over to where I work, I'll introduce you to Texaco Mike. Oh. I know him. Do you know him personally? I've met him. I've never met him. Good guy. I've always wanted to. Good guy. A little reclusive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's got some interesting things in that gas station CTMRI observatory. Have you ever, have you been a patient of Texaco Mike? I've not. No.

He's made some antibiotics for me, though. Oh. Oh, he ferments his own. Wow. It's phenomenal. He's a jack of all trades. Tasty. Very tasty. Tasty? Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Who do you think came up with the delicious amoxicillin flavor? I guess Texaco might. Absolutely. Okay. It's great. All right. We'll see you later. All right. Bye, Family Medicine. All right. I'm back. Did you have fun without me? I did. Family Medicine. He's a nice guy.

Did you learn anything? Did he teach you anything? Well, he told me all about what he does. Yeah. You know? He's a good guy. Being out there in the community. It's a good thing. I think people are enjoying hearing from other doctors. Yeah, I think so. I think you had emergency medicine on. Yes, I spoke with him recently. He got some good feedback about that. Okay.

Let's see what we had. Looking at the comments on our YouTube channel. At Lidja Gillers, I know it's a joke that ED docs wear bike helmets to work, but I legit worked with a doc who did a 12-hour shift in stiff mountaineering boots to break them in. Oh, boy. Anyone who's gone mountaineering knows those boots don't break in. He was just being wild. Mountaineering boots. That's...

I think that's an area that you haven't tackled yet with emergency medicine. Yeah, I did. A couple of times whenever we've done like live shows, I've made a joke about, you know, like mountain climbing as a way to get to work. Right. I could lean into it a little bit more. Yeah, you could. There's some praise for your bone structure. Oh, my bone structure.

My bone structure. At Michelle1549, why does this woman have the bone structure of a supermodel? This is unfair. And five other people liked that comment. People like your bone structure. I don't know what to say to that. I'd have to agree. I had nothing to do with it. This is purely my, I guess, you know, my Scandinavian genetics kicking in there.

Also, people liked, I guess you made fun of my gait problems. Oh, that episode. Yeah, yeah. Because you were talking about tripping on rugs. That's right. People are wanting character visits, more of them. Okay. What makes it even better is that emergency medicine is one of the more normal ones. Mm-hmm.

Continue with the next most normal, like anesthesia, until you get to the weird ones, like neurology. Yes. Would you even want to have a conversation with a neurologist? Oh, yeah. That'd be interesting. See how that goes. What would be the most interesting... Like, if you could have one specialist that you can ask them any questions you want. Like, a real... Not like me as a character. Oh, okay. Like, any specialty in medicine. Mm-hmm.

Who do you think you'd want to have like a one-on-one conversation with where you can ask anything you want? Medical questions. What do you think would be the most advantageous for you in your life? Well, for me personally, I would have to go, you know, gynecologist because they kind of do all of women's health. Really? I would have guessed you'd pick psychiatrists.

I already talked to one of those. You already get one-on-one time with a psychiatrist. Okay. I guess that's fair. Yeah. So, you know, I feel like, I feel like a gynecologist would be the most, or, or, you know, just a women's health specialist would be the most useful for me, especially, you know, I'm getting to be of a certain age where things start to

or will start to change soon-ish. So it's good to know what those changes are, what's coming. I'm not sure what mine would be, but it would probably be maybe like plastic surgery so I could actually make a character. Actually, I might actually choose an OBGYN. Yeah? Yeah, for like an hour. Oh, just for your character development purposes? Yeah, just for character development. I feel like I could benefit from that. Yeah, you're scared of them.

It's more like fear of the unknown. I just don't know enough. But you don't know any of these specialties. I know more about other specialties than I do about OBGYN. You did a rotation. You liked it, even. I did like it. I did like it. But yeah, I guess I could. I don't really have an excuse. Yeah. That's true. You're just being lazy, I guess. I guess so.

So if you're an OBGYN and you want to talk to Will. Is that what family medicine said? Did he tell you I was lazy? He did. Did he say that? He did. Mm-hmm. I regret ever letting you talk to him. Mm-hmm. Well, you know. Good guy. We're of a like mind on certain issues. How about rural medicine? We probably would have a lot in common also. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I think so. I know how that is, being a rural community. What would be the least exciting one for you to talk to? Which of my characters are like, I don't really want anything? The ophthalmologist. That's fair. All right. What about Jonathan? Jonathan would be nice because he doesn't say much. Good listener. I'm pretty introverted. What about the nephrologist? I like my quiet.

I don't know what I would say to the nephrologist. I don't have a lot of kidney information or banter. Or not really curious about your kidneys in any way. Not at this time, no. Maybe if they start acting up. Maybe down the road.

I'm thankful that they are working. Well, we've got some good ideas from people about the type of characters or the type of doctors they would like to see on this podcast. It would be interesting to do Jonathan, given that this is a podcast. That would be challenging. Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan, as we all know, have perfected the art of being seen but not heard. And so you kind of have to hear people on a podcast. Yeah. Anesthesia is a good one, though. Yeah. Yeah.

I feel like that's... Anesthesiology is like a under...

I wouldn't say underappreciated because they are appreciated, but more like people just don't. They're kind of shadowy. Yeah. Kind of behind the scenes. Well, because. People don't really understand. Their patients are usually unconscious. Yeah. So. It's like somebody out there probably has just informed the world that all anesthesiologists do is turn a switch on and off. And that's what they do for the anesthesia. Yeah. I don't know who would ever say that. I wonder if he would show up with the behind a drape.

Like, do they need that? Is it like an emotional support drape? I think there is. They walk around in the world with it. Yeah, I do believe that's the case. Okay. Definitely. You've seen them walking around. I can accommodate that. Yeah. Yeah. Emotional support drape. Sure. What other emotional support objects do other characters? Yeah, there's emotional support salt. Uh-huh. Right? I feel like family medicine could use an emotional support token. Emotional support token for family medicine. Maybe he needs like a weighted blanket.

Oh, weighted blanket would be good. Yeah. You find a lot of support in weighted blankets. I do. Love a good weighted blanket. All right. Well, if you have a particular character you'd like to have on the podcast, let us know in the comments. A good way, I think a good way to reach out to us with the comments is on the YouTube channel.

Yeah. I mean, any of the channels will work. I love reading the comments on our joint YouTube channel here. So do that. And let's see. I think that's all we got for today. All right. We did it. Yeah. Send us your comments and your stories and your, I don't know, anything you want to. Questions. Questions. Absolutely. If you have a question for a specific character, we'd love to try to address that. Lots of ways you can reach out.

email us knock knock hi at human dash content dot com this is our social media platforms mention the YouTube channel that's probably the easiest one because it's it's directly connected to our podcast and kick it kick it with us and our human content podcast family on Instagram and TikTok at human content pods should I do this the whole outro in a southern accent I was the

I was afraid you were going to say that. Thanks to all the great listeners leaving wonderful feedback and awesome reviews. If you subscribe and comment on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube, we can give you a shout out like today at...

Nornia on YouTube said, please bring Ma G, speaking of Southern accents, for a second interview while she's there. Oh, she just left, but she'll be back. She comes back every few months. Maybe even Pa Glockenflecken could say hello. Full video episodes are up every week on our YouTube channel at Glockenfleckens.

Lots of cool perks over on Patreon. Bonus episodes of React to Medical shows and movies. Hang out with other members of the MacNac High community. We're active in it. We're there. Early ad-free episode access. In our Q&A live stream events. Much more at patreon.com slash glockenflecken. Or go to glockenflecken.com. Speaking of Patreon community perks, new member shout out, Chris L. Welcome, Chris L. Welcome, Chris L.

And shout out to the Jonathans. Patreon roulette time. Random shout out to someone on the emergency medicine tier.

Sherry R. Thank you for being a patron and thank you all for listening. We're your hosts, Will and Kristen Plainer. Also known as the Glock and Plekans. Executive producers are Will Fenner, Kristen Plainer, Eric Horry, Rob Goldman, and Shanti Brooke. Editor-engineer is Jason Portizo. Our music is by Omer Binzvi. To learn about our Knock Knock High's program disclaimer and ethics policy, submission verification and licensing terms, and those HIPAA-released terms, go to GlockandPlekan.com or reach out to us, Knock Knock High, at human-content.com with any questions, concerns, or fun medical puns.

We'll see you next time, everyone. Knock, knock, hi, is a human content production. Knock, knock, goodbye. Hey, Kristen. What? You want an assistant? I would love an assistant. I bet you would. I don't want just one, though. I want many. Many assistants? Yes, I've got a lot of work. Well, I can give you something that does the work of many assistants. Okay. Have you heard of Microsoft Dragon Copilot? Oh, I have heard of this. Yeah, this is an AI assistant for clinical workflow. That's amazing. It transforms the way clinicians work.

It's like a little Jonathan. Yeah. Doing lots of things for you. One of those things is helping you get information faster. Oh, yeah. That's nice. This is one of the things I love most about it. Like you just ask and you can get answers on a wide variety of clinical topics with citations. Sometimes like we don't, we have to like do research to like,

Try to jog our memory about certain things. There's a lot to think about in medicine. And new stuff coming out all the time. Well, Microsoft Dragon Copilot can just make that process faster and give you citations that lead you. You can look up the latest evidence about things, guidelines. It just makes that whole process seamless. I like it.

To learn more about Microsoft Dragon Copilot, visit aka.ms slash knock knock high. Again, that's aka.ms slash knock knock high.