Random Acts of Medicine (with Dr. Anupam Jena)

What happens to the mortality rates of cardiac arrest patients on days when there is a marathon happening in the city? What happens to surgical complication rates when it's the surgeon's birthday? Why do patients of younger doctors seem to have better health outcomes? These and other quirky questions are what preoccupy health economist, Anupam Jena, MD, PhD. Dr. Jena is a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, host of the popular Freakonomics, MD podcast, and, together with Dr. Christopher Worsham, co-author of the 2023 book Random Acts of Medicine. Over the course of our conversation, we discuss the often-unintuitive role that random chance plays in our health outcomes, the hidden drivers of medical decision-making, misconceptions about physician burnout, and more. As we'll see, through tackling what can be amusing questions about why physicians and patients behave the way they do, Dr. Jena encourages us to reconsider our own ways of thinking and imagine how we can do better and be better.In this episode, we discuss: 2:18 - The path that took Dr. Jena to the intersection of medicine and economics8:54 - How Dr. Jena discovers topics for research12:12 - Unexpected and important findings that Dr. Jena has learned over the course of his work19:18 - Dr. Jena’s focus on “natural experiments”22:02 - Thinking about physician burnout from an economist’s perspective36:42 - The mission Dr Jena had when he set out to write Random Acts of Medicine44:08 - Dr. Jena’s advice for medical trainees on how to understand the hidden forces of the medical systemDr. Anupam Jena can be found on Twitter/X at @AnupamBJena.Dr. Jena is the co-author of Random Acts of Medicine (2023) and the host of Freakonomics, MD. Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to [email protected] The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2024