The AAMC team (as part of our Specialty Perspectives series) recently sat down with Dr. Mike to learn more about his work. Learn more about Dr. Mike and his specialty below.
Can you provide a description of your work?
I spend half of my week practicing family medicine. I dedicate the other half of my week to educating people across the world, using social media as a tool to promote health literacy, decrease the spread of misinformation, and prove that doctors are humans, too!
What attracted you to family medicine?
During residency interviews and medical school, I fell in love with family medicine because of the commitment and continuity physicians have with their patients. I loved being able to meet a patient, learn about their journey, intervene, and then follow-up to see what outcomes came from that intervention.
I also enjoyed the variety of the field; I never knew who might walk through the door or what an appointment would bring. I felt like family medicine was a career where I would be able to continue learning, which was very important to me.
How would you describe a typical work week?
Typically, my week is split evenly between clinical care and content creation. On my clinical care days, I take care of patients directly in a primary care setting and act as the family medicine preceptor for residents within my hospital. On my non-clinical days, I create content to help people improve their health literacy. My content ranges from something as simple as a reaction video, to something more hard-hitting, like a two-to-three-hour podcast interview with a physician or celebrity.
What parts of your job do you find most challenging? What parts do you find most rewarding?
The most challenging part of the job is navigating the health care system. In the United States, we have a hybrid model where there are a variety of insurance plans a patient can have. I always have to keep this in the back of my mind which increases the difficulty of creating a proper treatment plan. As a physician, you may be great at the medical treatment part of your job, but if a patient has barriers to access that treatment, you are ultimately not helping that patient.
The most difficult part about creating content online is continually staying up to date. There is no easier way to get proven wrong than by making content that millions of people are constantly evaluating. I have to make sure I am providing accurate information to the millions of viewers of my content.
The most rewarding aspect of family medicine is watching patients grow up. Now that I’m going into my eleventh year of practicing medicine, I am starting to see that entire family model come to fruition! Babies that I delivered during my residency are now my patients. Another rewarding aspect is seeing the goals that my patients can reach. Creating a treatment plan to make my patients’ lives easier and helping them reach their goals is incredibly rewarding.
In social media, it is very rewarding to receive emails from followers who have learned something from watching my channels or were even able to save a life!
How would you describe someone who would excel in family medicine?
Someone who is not afraid to lead with being a human first. Very often, especially in health care, we feel we need to maintain professionalism at all times. While it is important to remain professional in this field, you must also be relatable, empathetic, and able to understand the human sitting across from you.
Having a constant curiosity and desire to learn more is also crucial. In family medicine, you will never know enough! The field is constantly evolving, so continuous improvement and learning is a part of the journey.
Can you share a case you found especially rewarding?
I was on a cross-Atlantic flight, and a flight attendant asked across the loudspeaker if there was a doctor on board. I offered to help and learned that a young man was having an allergic reaction on his hands. A few minutes later, his throat began closing. I asked the flight attendants for their emergency kit and asked the young man if he had an epinephrine injector, but he did not have one. I checked the kit, and it also did not have one.
Panic set in, and I asked the pilots about landing the plane. Unfortunately, we were several hours from land and stuck over the Atlantic Ocean. Through my experience in family medicine and ability to adapt no matter the location, I was able to take epinephrine that was supposed to be used for a cardiac arrest and repurpose it as an epinephrine injector. I injected epinephrine into the young man’s thigh and ended up saving his life.
After this experience, I used social media to advocate for the need to have EpiPens placed on airplanes. My social media advocacy led me to speak at a Senate press conference with the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, about advocating for EpiPens on planes. Because of this press conference, a majority of airlines now carry EpiPens on flights.
What’s something that would surprise people about your day-to-day?
The most surprising aspect of my job is the amount of joy this field brings. I find tremendous joy in being in the office, one-on-one with patients. Many medical students believe that a career in family medicine comes with overwhelming emotions and lots of negativity, but I find that to be furthest from the truth.
Are there any resources that focus on your field that our audience should be aware of?
I really enjoy following the American Academy of Family Physicians. They do a great job of highlighting advances in the field as well as personal stories from family medicine physicians. On the social media side, YouTube has a health microsite that includes interviews with health experts who put out accurate, evidence-based information. There are also so many great health influencers, many of whom have been on my podcast. One of them is a cardiologist, Dr. Danielle Belardo, who does a great job talking about preventative care, which aligns with family medicine.
To learn more about Dr. Mike and his work, follow him on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, and TikTok. You can also find his podcast, “The Checkup with Doctor Mike” wherever you listen to podcasts.