Storytelling is a Cheat Code

Embracing the Messy Yes

This week's health care communication topics include: • the critical role of pharmacists in public health, • ways to reduce resistance and increase receptivity from patients • the advantages of sound bites and talking points,  • the importance of tailoring messages for specific audiences, and • what it means to "embrace the messy yes" of patient interactions. Guest Messenger Dr. Christina Madison [https://www.thepublichealthpharmacist.com/about], a clinical pharmacist specializing in public health with a focus on communicable diseases and founder of The Public Health Pharmacist [https://www.thepublichealthpharmacist.com] Chapters 0:00  Intro 2:46  Christina’s Origin Story 5:09  Every Day I Was Helping Someone 7:36  Every Pharmacist is a Public Health Pharmacist   9:34  Communication is Even More Important For Pharmacists  11:21  Making That First Connection (and Meaning It) 13:34  Christina's Only Formal Communication Training 17:07  Sound Bites & Talking Points 19:10  Disciplined Messages & Back-of-Napkin Summaries 20:30  The Snapchat of Vaccinations 21:28  You Can’t Use The Same Message for Everyone 22:31  That’s a You Problem, Not a Them Problem 24:05  I Realized I Failed Them 27:25  The Best Thing You Can Do is Shut the Hell Up 28:48  Asking Permission 32:04  Moving the Needle to Receptivity 34:04  The Blowhard at the End of the Bar 35:35  We Optimize Health Care by Working as a Team 37:10  The Evolution of the Pharmacy Tech 40:50  Every HCP Needs a YouTube Channel 46:24  Is it Really a Soft Skill? 49:08  Embrace the Messy Yes 51:40  Educator Shout-Out: Dr. Dennis Fuller New episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT_zwrkEZrdBB3AooIpBHwytpT53Xyvsn]. Check Out Our Web Site http://trustedmessengerprogram.org [https://www.trustedmessengerprogram.org] Follow Us On LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program [https://www.linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program/] Good communication is essential to good health care.

I'm Just Teaching Infection

This week's topics include: • teaching as a way of connecting with patients, • trusting the intelligence of your patients (and yourself),  • finding the common ground necessary for patient conversations, and  • learning communication in both the classroom and the exam room. Guest Messenger Dr. Cedric "Jamie" Rutland [https://www.westcoastlung.com/dr-cedric-jamie-rutland/], pulmonary critical care physician and producer/creator of Medicine Deconstructed [https://www.youtube.com/@medicinedeconstructedwithc4222] and The Health Exchange Podcast [https://www.youtube.com/@TheHealthExchangePodcast]. Chapters 0:00  Intro 2:29  Jamie’s Origin Story 5:39  The Lack of Connection to What Patients Understood 6:36  I Would Enter the Room and Start Teaching 8:01  You Oughta Start a YouTube Channel 10:45  Teaching Physicians How to Communicate 12:20  The Problem With COVID 13:43  The Geometry of Immunology 14:56  I’m Just Teaching Infection 17:07  The Struggle to Connect 18:27  Trusting the Intelligence of the People to Whom We’re Speaking 20:26  The Ground Where Discussion Can Take Place 23:49  You’re Smart Enough to Explain This 26:52  Patients Don’t Have to Take Board Exams 28:30  Memorizing Minutiae vs. Learning Communication 30:17  Small Problem: The Family Was Racist 32:22  You Need to Learn How to Storytell 35:33  The Problem is the Role-Modeling  36:42  Where Med Schools are Failing Miserably  38:40  I Can Make Anyone a Good, Solid Communicator  41:17  Go in There and Tell Her She Has Cancer 44:01  A Story About Speakers’ Training 48:28  Give Me More Todd  49:50  The Importance of Being Open-Eared 53:19  Educator Shout-Out: Dr. Mohammed Milhem  54:11  Eagles-49ers Predictions New episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT_zwrkEZrdBB3AooIpBHwytpT53Xyvsn]. Check Out Our Web Site http://trustedmessengerprogram.org [https://www.trustedmessengerprogram.org] Follow Us On LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program [https://www.linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program/] Good communication is essential to good health care.

Storytelling is a Cheat Code

This week we dig in to: • storytelling as a tool for health communication,  • strategies for delivering information & building health literacy in entertaining ways,  • why the human brain prefers stories over logic, and  • the power of narrative to educate, engage, and empower patients. Guest Messenger Tim Jones, co-founder and CEO of Health Nuts Media [https://healthnutsmedia.com] Chapters 0:00  Intro 2:00  Tim's (Emmy-Award Winning) Origin Story 4:00  Talking to Teens About Cancer & Chemotherapy 5:40  Dropping Names & Saving Lives 6:59  Addressing Health Literacy & Underserved Populations 9:23  Storytelling is a Cheat Code 10:34 The Human Brain is a Story Processor, Not a Logic Processor 12:23  Curling Up on the Couch With a Good Spreadsheet? 13:00  Empathy Machines... 14:05  …vs. Data Machines 16:29  The Power of Metaphor 18:45  We All Want Closure 19:29  Why So Serious? 21:34  Graduating at 70% Effectiveness 22:46  The Real Danger of the Algorithms 25:15  Optimizing the Health Care Communication Ecosystem 26:50  Preparing for Those Precious 8 Minutes 28:37  Wheel of Fortune & Taking Some of the Burden Off 33:33  Animation & The Elimination of Bias 34:39  Family Guy & The Best COVID-19 Vaccine Explainer Ever 36:54  Health Nuts Clip: "50 Things You Might See in the Hospital" 39:45  Health Nuts Clip: "NPO Instructions" 43:53  Communicating to People Where They Are 46:04  Talk to Me About Hospice When You’re Shoveling Dirt on My Coffin 48:15  David Byrne, Lyrical Tricks, and Opening the Door for Patients 50:07  Our Job is Not to be Encyclopedic 50:52  Everything is Tuberculosis 52:35  The Idea of Narrative Medicine 54:50  Educator Shout-Out: Professor Michael Mott 55:49  Mystery, Not Muddle Show Links Family Guy COVID 19 Video Explainer [https://youtu.be/yJ0NgeMHOyQ?si=Aa_8T23ceiiMv52s] New episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT_zwrkEZrdBB3AooIpBHwytpT53Xyvsn]. Check Out Our Web Site http://trustedmessengerprogram.org [https://www.trustedmessengerprogram.org] Follow Us On LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program [https://www.linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program/] Good communication is essential to good health care.

(Really, Truly) Meeting People Where They Are

This week's topics include:  • the intersection of competence and communication,  • strategies for teaching communication in both med school and residency,  • some skill sets that improve every patient visit,  • the NURSE mnemonic for patient interactions, and  • the importance of (really, truly) meeting patients where they are both physically and emotionally. Guest Messenger Dr. Andy Nowalk [https://providers.upmc.com/provider/andrew-nowalk/1324486], Clinical Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh [https://www.chp.edu/] and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine [https://www.medschool.pitt.edu/] Chapters 0:00  Intro 1:10  The Robert Klein to Our Johnny Carson 2:59  Communication is a Muscle 3:46  Families Have Trouble Seeing Competence 5:58  Combining My Educator Hat & My Infectious Disease Hat 7:35  Kurt Russell, Used Cars, & Essential Oils 8:51  Several Levels of Benefits 10:50  Residency Program Communication Strategy 13:22  A Clarification About Todd & Clinical Errors 14:15  Interventions That Start You Off on the Right Foot 16:52  Listening for Emotion & Using the NURSE Mnemonic  20:46  Actually Meeting People Where They Are 23:35  You Do This Every Day 25:25  If You Ignore it, the Visit is Over  26:58  I Can Give You a Tool Set That Makes Every Visit Better 28:49  People Don’t Realize How Long Bad Communication Takes 31:37  Building a General Tool Set 33:30  How Do You Get Them to Use Their Stethoscope? 35:35  Like Reaching for the Right Antibiotic 37:44  One of the Things Drove Me Out of Academia 39:40  Introductions & Expectations 41:40  The Death Knell of Most Medical Conversations 42:30  A Little Bit of Teach-Back Goes a Long Way 43:52  The Kitchen Table Test 44:52  Circling Back to Where We Started 47:37  Standing on the Shoulders of Giants New episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT_zwrkEZrdBB3AooIpBHwytpT53Xyvsn]. Check Out Our Web Site http://trustedmessengerprogram.org [https://www.trustedmessengerprogram.org] Follow Us On LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program [https://www.linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program/] Good communication is essential to good health care.

The Muddied Waters of Health Care

Our topics this week include: • shared clinical decision-making, • the often muddy waters of health care in 2025, • the importance of creating support tools for front-line clinicians, and  • some helpful, practical tips for health care providers to use in practice. Guest Messenger Dr. Charlene Wong [https://pediatrics.duke.edu/profile/charlene-wong], pediatrician and Executive-in-Residence at the Common Health Coalition [https://commonhealthcoalition.org] Chapters 0:00  Intro 0:35  Shoutout to Our Theme Musician  1:38  Dr. Wong’s (Highly Impressive) Background 4:56  Communicascope Training 6:42  The Importance of Proactive, Strategic Communication 8:49  Tiny Tears of Joy 9:48  How Do We Enhance Our Public Trust? 10:59  RSV Communication & What "Feels Real" 14:38  Distilling the Message for Front-Line Clinicians 16:50  In 2025, It’s Not Just Face-to-Face  19:24  What the CDC Says Matter Less Than We Think 21:13  The Common Health Coalition 25:29  Creating Clinician Support Tools 27:14  It’s Gotten Trickier Out There 28:46  Shared Clinical Decision-Making 32:11  A Muddying of the Health Care Waters 33:44  Important Points on Vaccine Coverage & Documentation 36:03  So Many Providers Were Asking the Same Questions 39:01  Avoiding the Ol' "Safe and Effective"  39:56  Why are We Doing This in the First Place? New episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT_zwrkEZrdBB3AooIpBHwytpT53Xyvsn]. Check Out Our Web Site http://trustedmessengerprogram.org [https://www.trustedmessengerprogram.org] Follow Us On LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program [https://www.linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program/] Good communication is essential to good health care.