Mastering Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in Healthcare with Dr. Athena Hall

Welcome to Season Two of the End Game Podcast! Last week, we talked about Mastering Emotional Intelligence (EQ) for Entrepreneurial Success. Join me this week as we tackle the same topic but is specific to healthcare! Be engaged in a fascinating conversation about Mastering Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in the Healthcare setting with Dr. Athena Lorin Hall.

In this episode, Dr. Hall, a dedicated pediatrician based in Seattle, shares her inspiring journey from global health work to transforming healthcare. Discover the challenges she faced and the pivotal role of emotional intelligence in connecting with patients and addressing healthcare system issues.

Explore the vision behind the Transforming Healthcare Platform, emphasizing a shift towards a patient-centered, community-responsive healthcare system. Dr. Hall sheds light on the importance of creativity in healthcare leadership, drawing inspiration from her Burning Man experience.

Learn how you can join the movement and contribute to collaborative projects to reshape healthcare's future. Don't miss this thought-provoking episode filled with insights, personal stories, and a vision for a more compassionate and impactful healthcare system.

Tune in and be part of the transformative journey! If you find value, share, subscribe, and leave your comments. I'm Dr. Ryan Wakim, teaching you to exist today, expand tomorrow, and create your ultimate end game.

Introduction ( 00:00)
Getting To Know Dr. Athena Hall (01:28)
Challenges in Healthcare (03:18)
Importance of Emotional Intelligence (05:45)
Vision for Transforming Healthcare (08:46)
Characteristics of a Healthcare Leader (09:54)
Dr. Hall's Personal Journey (11:00)
The Role of Creativity in Healthcare (12:45)
Building a Community for Change (13:55)
Transforming Healthcare Platform Details (16:03)
Closing Thoughts (19:09)

Connect with Dr. Athena Hall!

Website: transforminghealthcareplatform.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/athena-hall-3952b6278

Transcript

0:10

Welcome to the end game podcast season two, where I bet you didn't know what you didn't know. I'm Dr. Ryan Wakim successful entrepreneur and your end game coach. I'm encouraging you to sit back, relax and tune into today's episode. Really incredible episode. We're going to be talking about mastering emotional intelligence. And we're going to do that in the setting of health care with Dr. Athena Lorin Hall. Without further ado, I'm going to introduce Dr. Hall if you want to bring her on in. Thank you. Really appreciate you taking some time today to join our podcast. You have an incredible backstory. Again, I really appreciate you taking some time all the way out from Seattle and very excited for today's conversation around emotional intelligence. So thank you. Thank you for coming. If you're good with that, I'll just go ahead and introduce you. So we have Dr. Athena Lorin Hall here from again, Seattle, Washington. Dr. Hall is a pediatrician by trade. She had done some work abroad facing healthcare in underserved communities. Came back, worked in the healthcare system here for a bit and really had a shift in mindset or a change in desire. For what she wanted her life to be in the process, started transforming healthcare, started the transforming healthcare platform. And so without further ado, Dr. Hall, why don't you tell us a little bit about your past experience, your training, and ultimately, you know, what brought you to transforming healthcare and this platform you've put together? So Dr. Hall, take it away. Thank you, Dr. Wakim. I'm really excited to be here. And I live in Seattle, Washington. As you said, I've been practicing pediatrics for about eight years, mostly in hospitals and have been in Seattle for the last five years. I have a strong passion for global health work and health equity and creating health care systems that are centered on what the community wants and needs. Creating this health care platform to network health care workers so that we can share ideas and resources and have a shared vision and shift our health care system towards something that is really impactful to the communities that we're serving. I read your bio and your backstory and this strikes me, you know. This hits hard, I guess, is what I would say as a psychiatrist myself, I, you know, also have worked in many healthcare systems and in saw, especially with COVID, just the burden that placed on our healthcare community, right? Whether that's the nurses in the emergency room, the docs, you know, the whole ecosystem and there's been. A burden before COVID, as you and I both know, around just what a health care system means, what they stand for, what is required to practice medicine within that health care system. But what really struck you is some of the inequalities and again, just maybe the culture and the way in which the health care system presents itself. And so I'm interested in knowing more about. Especially based on today's topic around just like emotional intelligence or EQ, where do you think that slots into what you've seen out there in your experiences in healthcare, whether it was, you know, outside the U S or within? Yeah. So when I When I finished residency, I did a global health fellowship, and I worked in Rwanda and on a Navajo reservation in the Four Corners. And during that time, I clearly saw a lot of the challenges and problems with our health care system that make it hard to connect with our patients and really understand what their needs are. So Through that experience, I struggled when I came back to the U. S., I had a hard time with feeling a sense of isolation, not being able to really make any changes on my own, or really be able to talk that much to other people about the challenges that I was seeing and the changes that I wanted to see. So, I feel like, It's really important as a healthcare system for us to be able to connect and collaborate together and to have emotional intelligence skills so that we can serve our patients and be able to work together and create a healthcare system that is really impactful for our communities. Again, that really echoes with me. What is it, you know, in this new, kind of the new idea or this idea of what transforming health care would bring to health care? What are some of those core pillars or, you know, what is the vision for this platform as you look maybe 5 years down the road, 10 years down the road? What core pillars or what key vision or mission item would it have that maybe contrast to our current health care system? Yeah, the core vision is to shift our healthcare system towards one that is community centered, that is really responsive to the needs of the people that we're serving, and a healthcare system that is driven by relationships, and one that sees the whole health of patients. So shifting away from being centered on the industry itself and having a healthcare system currently that is working to benefit the industry that's just how it's built, moving towards a healthcare system that's really focused on centering the patients and the communities and what they need. A healthcare force that is trained in emotional intelligence and able to build relationships with their patients and take the time to listen and understand what those core needs are. Yeah, I think as I look at our, to your point, as I look at our current healthcare system and so much of that kind of classic bedside manner has been lost. It's been lost to the need for more documentation, the need for more efficiency, and to your point, the needs of the industry, not necessarily the needs of the patient, or I would say, arguably, certainly not maybe the needs of the patient and candidly, not really the needs or the values of the. Professionals and providers in it. So again, I love what you're saying and I love the vision of where you want to get to. Well, how do you see that as part of this platform? Or if someone were to go to your website, what is the ask? How do you envision getting there? What do you need in order to make maybe your vision or your dream or reality? As we think through, how do we change healthcare in that way? Yeah. So. I would need for people to really be committed to addressing the needs of the community and really be aligned with the vision of the platform and we would work on projects together that. Are centered on the community and those projects may be to develop a mental health system that is more community oriented or perhaps train the health care providers in a clinic on emotional intelligence, or there's a lot of different projects that we could do and those projects would be supported by donors and sponsors on the platform who are Aligned with that vision. And we would also have workshops and speakers that come in to speak about various topics, such as anti racism, emotional intelligence, and a lot of other things that we perhaps didn't get trained on so much during our medical school and residency training. So building those skills so that we can. Really move towards a vision of health equity and relationships within our health care system. So again, very much strikes a chord, especially when you start talking about community based mental health and the needs there, obviously, and as a pediatrician. Especially again, post COVID with all the mental health impact on our young children and adolescent populations. And as you think about gathering these teams together, you know, shifting the vision and the mission, or, you know, just the core values of what healthcare means in a, in a given community and how to get there, obviously you're going to need, you you've mentioned emotional intelligence and that's a core attribute, I believe, to being a successful. leader in your community, be it healthcare or otherwise. From your perspective though, what else would, you know, not just emotional intelligence, but what else from your perspective would make a community leader or someone, a healthcare leader in the community in this new model or in this new vision? Like what key attributes or what other things would you be looking for in someone who might take on that role? In a community that kind of joins up. Yeah. So a really great healthcare leader is someone who really invests their time and his energy into building up their team and they are really focused on the growth. Of the people around them, they're not so focused on their status or recognition, but they're looking at the individual gifts of the people in their team and helping them to reach their potential. And they also hold a vision that really inspires people and creates meaning in their work and great health care leaders are able to adapt. And are resilient and they're also really transparent, open to giving feedback and, and receiving feedback and just very growth oriented. So those are the attributes I would say, and maybe turning the mirror. To yourself again, you mentioned earlier, you know, kind of not stuff we learn in medical school or residency. And that's actually, you know, something I I've hung a hat on from early on as I ventured into entrepreneurship and building outpatient practices and having never had a business class. Right. And there's so much we as physicians learn as part of our educational path to finishing residency and becoming an attending, but there's so much we don't learn. And actually, I would argue, as I think you are. We as providers in this era don't really learn a lot about empathy, don't really learn a lot about emotional intelligence, don't really value bedside manner the way it used to be valued. And so as you think just about yourself and branching out beyond, you know, the four walls of a hospital system as a pediatrician. Trying to stand up a movement like this, what, what have you either learned along the way that maybe caused some bumps or bruises or opportunities to be better? Or what attributes would you say you have that have led you to where you are today in doing something, you know, incredible like you're trying to do? That's a great question. Yeah. I, I I also have no business background. That's not something that I have any history in. I am learning along the way. And I have learned that I am very strong in being able to listen to other people and to express empathy and help people to feel comfortable. That is one of my strong attributes. And I'm also really good at identifying really Strong programs out in the community and being able to develop a blueprint that we could potentially scale out within the community. So kind of a curator in a way, and there are a lot of, you know, areas that I need help in that with this platform. If we're sharing resources and we're sharing ideas and able to talk about how to start a business and different aspects of that, those are gaps that can be filled with other healthcare leaders on the platform. So I don't have to feel like I'm doing all of this on my own and it's all on my shoulders. It's something that we are creating together. So I feel like another thing that I think is really important is creativity. So, in medicine, we're pretty focused on, you know, sticking to tradition and the status quo and how things have always been done. And we have some risk aversion in a way, but I think that we can be a lot more creative and Think outside of the box. And that's something that I really bring to the table. I have went to Burning Man for the first time in 2019. And prior to that, I hadn't invested anything much time or energy into my creative side. And when I went to Burning Man, it just really opened my eyes to how. Incredibly creative and imaginative and that humans are and how, when we work together toward a shared vision, we can create anything. So I see that if we are all networked and we're sharing. All these ideas and resources, there's really nothing that we can't do in the healthcare system. Yeah. I mean, there's no doubt. I've talked about it before in some of my podcasts and speaking engagements, but surrounding yourself with the right people and just getting around other individuals who are like minded, who are, you know, motivated and driven, who have a passion for something other than, you know, waking up every day. can go a tremendously long way in creating an end point for everyone involved that is much better than the start. And, you know, tapping in. So what I heard from you is kind of this ability, and I agree a lot of physicians and healthcare providers are very much left brain, right? They're very organized, executive structure function. We do a pretty poor job in medicine, tapping into the right brain, which is that creativity, expression and empathy and emotion. And so that's. You know, candidly, as you know, kind of drilled out of you as part of your medical school training and residency. And I think what I hear you saying and agree with wholeheartedly is a resurgence of that right brain, a resurgence of, you know, being able to tap into emotional intelligence and empathy, and being able to work more closely as a community for a common purpose and drive will could create. a pathway through which healthcare can be delivered in a much different way, in a much more creative way, and frankly, quite possibly a much more successful way. It's always interesting what someone's viewpoint might be or how someone might have gotten to that viewpoint, but I think yours is fought on and incredibly relevant in this day and age where we have so much burden and burnout and, you know, post COVID and so many of our colleagues are retiring early or. I know docs are going just totally out of health care, right? I mean, they're looking for some way to find real purpose in their life and, and tapping into the right brain and getting creative is certainly one way to do that. So yeah, thank you for that experience. And I've personally been to Burning Man, but I hear a lot of very great things. So, you know, hopefully one day I have the opportunity to experience what you've experienced and maybe even, you know, grow my right side of the brain a little bit further too. So. I guess before we kind of close it for today. I wanted to make sure that you've been able to, you know, discuss your platform, your vision, your website, you know, again, if you wanted to shout that out here and just, you know, what page should someone go to what's the best way to help if you just want to reiterate those things. I think that would be helpful for the audience. Yeah, great. Thank you. So the website is transforming healthcare platform dot com. And if you go on the website, you can put in your contact information and it'll send an email to me and I can send you more information about the platform and you can. Join the platform from that, from the website itself, the platform, if you were to join, you would be working with teams to on various projects, whatever project really calls to you. If you want to create a project of your own and your own community and. Have support to write a grant, have support from a statistician or different things that you need help with on that project. We would be helping to fill those gaps on the platform. So there's really a lot of different opportunities and as I said, a lot of guest speakers and workshops, and then we'll have a discussion board and various resources that you'll have access to on the platform. That's awesome. We've recently started a Facebook group where we're going to invite like minded individuals to share resources and opportunities and ideas. And so I'm sure we'll have some folks who would have some interest in what it is you're doing, you know, inside and outside of healthcare. I would say, and correct me if I'm wrong, you don't have to be a physician to join the platform that there's a lot of opportunities for, you know, all sorts of licensure types and or non licensed individuals as part of this. Or do you want to maybe provide some clarity there? Yeah. So it's open for any healthcare provider. So if you are an EMS or you're a physical therapist or a nurse, any healthcare provider is welcome on the platform. And in the future, we may even have some community members and people outside of the healthcare network to kind of collaborate with us on some of these projects, but right now it's just for healthcare professionals. And as far as like. Current projects going on. Is there any, is there one you would highlight or something we wanted to get someone interested in doing something like, could you give an example of one going on right now or one that's available to sign up for? We don't have any going currently. The platform is launching at the end of this month, but yeah, we do have, I am partnering with someone in Canada who does emotional intelligence workshops. So if you wanted to have your. Clinic or hospital trained in emotional intelligence, then that is a available through the platform. And then in the future, we'll have a lot more projects going moving forward. Yeah. Well, I'm super excited that we're in kind of early adopters here and on the front part of it. So I'm very excited to see what happens and how it grows. I'll be joining after this podcast, make sure that I'm part of the community and the, in the movement. I guess, Dr. Athena Lorin Hall, anything else you would add before we wrap up for the day? Well, thank you for inviting me here today. And I'm so excited to be able to share this with you and with your listeners. I really appreciate having this opportunity. Yeah, excited for the future of healthcare. I'm super glad you joined us. I'm grateful for what it is you're doing. Again, I, it strikes a big chord for me and I believe in it wholeheartedly. And it's just so interesting, right? It's interesting how folks via the physician or otherwise can find themselves, you know, kind of driven in a different direction to do things for others in a way that they could have never imagined. Starting in their professional schooling or, you know, college, or I mean, heck, even 30 years into a career, but it takes a lot of resolve and a lot of momentum and a lot of planning and certainly a lot of courage to step outside of your kind of usual or typical to do things like this. And for that, I really commend you because that's the first step is always the hardest and you've made more than just one step here. So that's incredibly, you should be incredibly proud of that. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Absolutely. So with that, we'll wrap up today. I wanted to thank everyone for listening. Please like, subscribe, share this episode, colleagues, friends, et cetera. Once again, I'm Dr. Ryan Wakim, successful entrepreneur and your end game coach. I'm here to teach you how to exist today so that you can expand tomorrow and create the ultimate end game. of your wildest desire. I look forward to talking to you soon about more emotional intelligence. Please join the movement and the platform. Again, look forward to talking to you soon. Have a great day.