E196 - Could AI help us solve PTSD and burnout in surgery? Jeremy Heffner on PTSD, burnout, and AI

Jeremy Heffner is a trauma and acute care surgeon at Lima Memorial Health System in Ohio. He is also the Chief Operating Officer of SurgeON, a social media company dedicated to surgeons. Heffner was also previously a bioengineer who worked at NIH. He has been incredibly open about his journey and struggles with PTSD as a surgeon, and how those struggles ultimately caused his breakdown. Sadly, Dr. Heffner's story is not unique, and we brought him on the podcast to hear his insights about how many surgeons struggle with PTSD. What is unique is Dr. Heffner's approach to dealing with his PTSD. His approach is outlined in his recently released book, Proof of the Impossible. Dr. Heffner used AI to try to find answers to many of the questions he had while struggling with burnout and PTSD. He had some very strange and unusual conversations with AI, including a moment where he felt the AI was having a "misalignment event", defined as when "AI acts in ways that go against human intent, safety, or core instructions". Our discussion spanned the gamut of PTSD in surgery, and how AI may or may not be a tool that can help with mental health and burnout. For me, the most powerful message Jeremy had for us was the power of human connection and also that the only way to deal with the hard things is to face them.We would just like to warn listeners that we do discuss some pretty traumatic things that Dr. Heffner experienced, and some of the description is pretty graphic. Also, we would always recommend professional help if you are dealing with mental illness, burnout, or suicidal ideation. We would love to hear your thoughts - do you think there is a role for AI in providing empathy to humans? Send us your feedback at [email protected].  Links:Source: LinkedIn https://share.google/yBOCofBF9BhotNeWhPre-Order "Proof of the Impossible"  https://share.google/w0jGPSiz9WLBstaqUSurgeON with Mark Soliman interview:  https://open.spotify.com/episode/3znH6DkcDDcg7Zqyca2YSb?si=p3zoYYb_RCiNvL5hkX4l9g&utm_source=copy-link&sci=spotify%3Acard-config%3A0qjrdqA8ITGkKr0375x09R