The Trusted Messenger Podcast

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 MessengerDr. Christina Madison, a clinical pharmacist specializing in public health with a focus on communicable diseases and founder of The Public Health PharmacistChapters0:00  Intro2:46  Christina’s Origin Story5:09  Every Day I Was Helping Someone7:36  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 Training17:07  Sound Bites & Talking Points19:10  Disciplined Messages & Back-of-Napkin Summaries20:30  The Snapchat of Vaccinations21:28  You Can’t Use The Same Message for Everyone22:31  That’s a You Problem, Not a Them Problem24:05  I Realized I Failed Them27:25  The Best Thing You Can Do is Shut the Hell Up28:48  Asking Permission32:04  Moving the Needle to Receptivity34:04  The Blowhard at the End of the Bar35:35  We Optimize Health Care by Working as a Team37:10  The Evolution of the Pharmacy Tech40:50  Every HCP Needs a YouTube Channel46:24  Is it Really a Soft Skill?49:08  Embrace the Messy Yes51:40  Educator Shout-Out: Dr. Dennis FullerNew episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here. Check Out Our Web Sitehttp://trustedmessengerprogram.org Follow Us On LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program Good communication is essential to good health care.

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 MessengerDr. Cedric "Jamie" Rutland, pulmonary critical care physician and producer/creator of Medicine Deconstructed and The Health Exchange Podcast.Chapters0:00  Intro2:29  Jamie’s Origin Story5:39  The Lack of Connection to What Patients Understood6:36  I Would Enter the Room and Start Teaching8:01  You Oughta Start a YouTube Channel10:45  Teaching Physicians How to Communicate12:20  The Problem With COVID13:43  The Geometry of Immunology14:56  I’m Just Teaching Infection17:07  The Struggle to Connect18:27  Trusting the Intelligence of the People to Whom We’re Speaking20:26  The Ground Where Discussion Can Take Place23:49  You’re Smart Enough to Explain This26:52  Patients Don’t Have to Take Board Exams28:30  Memorizing Minutiae vs. Learning Communication30:17  Small Problem: The Family Was Racist32:22  You Need to Learn How to Storytell35:33  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 Cancer44:01  A Story About Speakers’ Training48:28  Give Me More Todd 49:50  The Importance of Being Open-Eared53:19  Educator Shout-Out: Dr. Mohammed Milhem 54:11  Eagles-49ers PredictionsNew episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here. Check Out Our Web Sitehttp://trustedmessengerprogram.org Follow Us On LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program Good communication is essential to good health care.

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 MessengerTim Jones, co-founder and CEO of Health Nuts MediaChapters0:00  Intro2:00  Tim's (Emmy-Award Winning) Origin Story4:00  Talking to Teens About Cancer & Chemotherapy5:40  Dropping Names & Saving Lives6:59  Addressing Health Literacy & Underserved Populations9:23  Storytelling is a Cheat Code10:34 The Human Brain is a Story Processor, Not a Logic Processor12:23  Curling Up on the Couch With a Good Spreadsheet?13:00  Empathy Machines...14:05  …vs. Data Machines16:29  The Power of Metaphor 18:45  We All Want Closure19:29  Why So Serious?21:34  Graduating at 70% Effectiveness22:46  The Real Danger of the Algorithms25:15  Optimizing the Health Care Communication Ecosystem26:50  Preparing for Those Precious 8 Minutes28:37  Wheel of Fortune & Taking Some of the Burden Off33:33  Animation & The Elimination of Bias34:39  Family Guy & The Best COVID-19 Vaccine Explainer Ever36:54  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 Are46:04  Talk to Me About Hospice When You’re Shoveling Dirt on My Coffin48:15  David Byrne, Lyrical Tricks, and Opening the Door for Patients50:07  Our Job is Not to be Encyclopedic50:52  Everything is Tuberculosis52:35  The Idea of Narrative Medicine54:50  Educator Shout-Out: Professor Michael Mott55:49  Mystery, Not MuddleShow LinksFamily Guy COVID 19 Video ExplainerNew episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here. Check Out Our Web Sitehttp://trustedmessengerprogram.org Follow Us On LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program Good communication is essential to good health care.

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 MessengerDr. Andy Nowalk, Clinical Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineChapters0:00  Intro1:10  The Robert Klein to Our Johnny Carson2:59  Communication is a Muscle3:46  Families Have Trouble Seeing Competence5:58  Combining My Educator Hat & My Infectious Disease Hat7:35  Kurt Russell, Used Cars, & Essential Oils8:51  Several Levels of Benefits10:50  Residency Program Communication Strategy13:22  A Clarification About Todd & Clinical Errors14:15  Interventions That Start You Off on the Right Foot16:52  Listening for Emotion & Using the NURSE Mnemonic 20:46  Actually Meeting People Where They Are23:35  You Do This Every Day25:25  If You Ignore it, the Visit is Over 26:58  I Can Give You a Tool Set That Makes Every Visit Better28:49  People Don’t Realize How Long Bad Communication Takes31:37  Building a General Tool Set33:30  How Do You Get Them to Use Their Stethoscope?35:35  Like Reaching for the Right Antibiotic37:44  One of the Things Drove Me Out of Academia39:40  Introductions & Expectations41:40  The Death Knell of Most Medical Conversations42:30  A Little Bit of Teach-Back Goes a Long Way43:52  The Kitchen Table Test44:52  Circling Back to Where We Started47:37  Standing on the Shoulders of GiantsNew episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here. Check Out Our Web Sitehttp://trustedmessengerprogram.org Follow Us On LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program Good communication is essential to good 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 MessengerDr. Charlene Wong, pediatrician and Executive-in-Residence at the Common Health CoalitionChapters0:00  Intro0:35  Shoutout to Our Theme Musician 1:38  Dr. Wong’s (Highly Impressive) Background4:56  Communicascope Training6:42  The Importance of Proactive, Strategic Communication8:49  Tiny Tears of Joy9:48  How Do We Enhance Our Public Trust?10:59  RSV Communication & What "Feels Real"14:38  Distilling the Message for Front-Line Clinicians16:50  In 2025, It’s Not Just Face-to-Face 19:24  What the CDC Says Matter Less Than We Think21:13  The Common Health Coalition25:29  Creating Clinician Support Tools27:14  It’s Gotten Trickier Out There28:46  Shared Clinical Decision-Making32:11  A Muddying of the Health Care Waters33:44  Important Points on Vaccine Coverage & Documentation36:03  So Many Providers Were Asking the Same Questions39:01  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. Check Out Our Web Sitehttp://trustedmessengerprogram.org Follow Us On LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program Good communication is essential to good health care.

This week we explore: • the pros, cons, and cautions of social media, • the tension between what you learn in med school and what patients want in the exam room, • the necessity of engaging patients both in-person and online, and • the need for common humanity in health communication. GUEST MESSENGERDr. Margot Savoy, Chief Medical Officer of the American Academy of Family PhysiciansCHAPTERS0:00 Intro1:40  When Todd Met Margo...3:58  The Wild, Wild West of Social Media5:31  The Best Social Media Platform is...7:35  Questioning & Challenging the Discourse10:54  If You Like Us in the Office, You’ll Love Us Online12:07  Serving Patients in the Era of Algorithms & Instant Gratification14:03  Finding & Normalizing HCPs16:22  The Lessons of Selfies & Sourdough20:20  Social Media Abhors a Vacuum22:44  The Trust You Have is Transferrable24:30  The Value of Social Listening (Before it Was Called That)26:35  Building Trust By Admitting What You Don’t Know31:00  Med School Doesn’t Teach Us to Be Warm & Fuzzy35:42  We Just Need to Do Better37:28  This Core Idea of Humanism 39:46  Your Single Best Diagnostic Tool41:02  There are at Least Four Truths43:41  Real Trust & Connection by Just Being You45:31  The Three Most Important Words in Communication46:30  You Should Come Back Next WeekNew episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here. Check Out Our Web Sitehttp://trustedmessengerprogram.org Follow Us On LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program Good communication is essential to good health care.

In our first episode, co-hosts Chad Hermann and Dr. Todd Wolynn talk about their work at the Trusted Messenger Program, consider how (and why) local health care providers are America's most Trusted Messengers, explore why good communication is essential to good health care, and drop a few hints on the focus of future episodes.Chapters0:00 Intro1:30  The Todd & Chad Origin Story5:10  Communication Makes Everything Better6:07  Long Before We Talked the Talk, We Walked the Walk7:57  A Culture of Communication, Locally & Nationally 9:35  The Difference Between Use & Power11:15  A Year of Radical Meltdowns  14:25  Trust is Local17:14  Taking the Social Out of Social Media20:01  The Only Issue in America on Which Everyone Agrees22:02  Empowering All Health Care Providers24:08  When None of the Hands in the Room Go Up25:02  Your Clinical Acumen Means Absolutely Nothing26:26  C-Suites, Burnout Data, & Value-Based Care Gaps30:24  Free CME & Impromptu Comedy Routines33:41  We Have a Lot of Ground to Cover34:56  The Rise of Digital Natives41:39  From Green Day to Jeff Verszyla43:22  People Who Read People (& Chad’s Happy Face)45:45  Where We’re Failing47:35  Good Communication is Essential to Good Health Care48:22  Quality, Efficiency, & EffectivenessNew episodes drop every Friday. Video versions here. Check Out Our Web Sitehttp://trustedmessengerprogram.org Follow Us On LinkedInhttp://linkedin.com/company/trusted-messenger-program Good communication is essential to good health care.