Designing Healthcare that Cares Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

What if the key to better patient care, lower burnout, and higher physician engagement wasn’t more mandates or metrics, but intentional, evidence-based skill development that enriches clinicians while improving outcomes?

In this inspiring and practical episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin welcomes Dr. Stephen Beeson. Drawing from his groundbreaking work at Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, where patient experience soared from the 6th to the 93rd percentile, Dr. Beeson shares how a continuous human development approach can create extraordinary results for patients, care teams, and organizations.

They discuss:

• How Dr. Beeson accidentally discovered the power of relational skills in the exam room
• Why patient connection is one of the strongest burnout countermeasures
• The critical role of leadership behaviors in driving physician engagement and discretionary effort
• Building evidence-based skills for better patient interactions, teamwork, and leadership
• How Practicing Excellence uses technology and AI to scale sustainable human development

This episode is essential listening for healthcare leaders, physicians, and anyone committed to designing systems where clinicians can bring their best selves to work every day.

Three Actionable Takeaways:

• Start with Identity, Not Just Behaviors: Help clinicians first define the kind of clinician or leader they want to be. Once that identity is clear, small, evidence-based micro-skills become much easier to adopt and sustain.
• Treat Relational Skills Like Clinical Skills: Communication, empathy, and connection techniques are learned behaviors backed by evidence,  just like managing Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) or intubating a patient. Provision simple, practical skills that deliver immediate benefits to both patients and clinicians.
• Invest in Leadership Behaviors to Unlock Discretionary Effort: Physician engagement and willingness to go above and beyond are heavily influenced by how well they are led. Develop consistent leadership skills such as emotional intelligence, gratitude, candor, and authentic appreciation to create an environment where clinicians feel heard, valued, and supported.

About the Show:

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

About the Guest:

Dr. Steven Beeson is a practicing physician, national thought leader, speaker, and author of two national bestselling books: Practicing Excellence: A Physician’s Manual to Exceptional Healthcare and Engaging Physicians: A Manual to Physician Partnership. He is the former Physician Director of The Sharp Experience at Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group in San Diego, where the group earned the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award and multiple recognitions as a top-performing medical group. In 2013, he founded Practicing Excellence to scale systemic skill development that improves healthcare delivery while enriching the lives of clinicians and care teams. He currently serves as a national expert on human development applied to healthcare challenges.

Website: practicingexcellence.com

About the Host:

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/ 
📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulMD

Register for the Clinician Leadership Compass course to combat overwhelm and burnout.: www.thepurposefulmd.com/courses

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

What if setting clear boundaries actually freed you to innovate more boldly, take smarter risks, and combat overwhelm in high-stakes healthcare environments?

In this insightful conversation, Dr. Laura Suttin interviews Sheri Jacobs, as she shares her unconventional path, from photojournalist capturing Michael Jordan to founding a thriving consulting firm and chasing wildlife adventures across Antarctica and Africa, and how those experiences shaped her powerful framework on boundaries.

They discuss:

• Why unlimited choices create overwhelm and how boundaries liberate exploration, like the playground fence experiment.
• The liberating role of boundaries in personal life, career pivots, and avoiding FOMO in side hustles or income streams
• Differentiating risk tolerance from risk capacity, and why evaluating "what if it fails?" unlocks bolder moves
• Auditing "noise" (distractions, assumptions, social media) to protect focus and energy
• Bottom-up innovation: Amplifying frontline voices closest to patients or customers (e.g., Stanley Quencher turnaround, Good Catch programs, Best New Mistake awards)
• Combining psychological safety with clear boundaries to create the true "innovation zone"

Packed with practical stories from healthcare challenges to corporate experiments, this episode offers healthcare leaders, clinicians, and teams tools to foster resilience, encourage smart risk-taking, and design cultures that innovate sustainably amid uncertainty and burnout.

Three Actionable Takeaways:

• Define your "fence" first: Clarify what matters most right now (outcomes, priorities, capacity). This creates space to explore boldly within safe limits, reducing overwhelm from endless options like the Cheesecake Factory menu.
• Audit the noise and start small: Track distractions pulling you off-focus for a week, then experiment with one small boundary shift (e.g., limiting inputs or saying no to low-priority asks) to build confidence and momentum.
• Amplify frontline voices: Create simple channels for ideas from those closest to patients and operations, small inputs can spark massive wins, as seen in Stanley's 10x growth from one sales associate's insight.

About the Show:

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

About the Guest:

Sheri Jacobs, FASAE, CAE, is a three-time bestselling author, innovation strategist, keynote speaker, and CEO of Avenue M Group. She has surveyed nearly one million people and helped over 300 organizations unlock innovation, navigate uncertainty, and build resilient cultures. Her upcoming book, The Unexpected Power of Boundaries: Rethinking the Rules, Risks, and Real Drivers of Innovation (early 2026), challenges traditional views on creativity. A passionate wildlife photographer, Sheri draws inspiration from adventures in Africa, Antarctica, and beyond.

Website: https://www.sherijacobs.com

Avenue M Group: https://www.avenuem.org

About the Host:

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/ 
📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulMD

Register for the Clinician Leadership Compass course to combat overwhelm and burnout.: www.thepurposefulmd.com/courses

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

Most of us didn’t learn about money until adulthood — often by accident or after making mistakes we wish someone had warned us about. Dr. Michele Cho Dorado was no different. In fact, she was nearly a decade into attending hood before realizing she had no real financial education and wasn’t alone in that experience.

This realization set off an identity-shifting journey:
➡️ from “just a doctor” to real estate investor
➡️ from real estate investor to children’s book author
➡️ from clinician to someone shaping the next generation's relationship with money

Michele shares how learning to invest expanded her identity beyond medicine and helped her rewrite limiting beliefs — especially the common physician narrative: “Money is hard, and I’m not good at it.”

As she began teaching her own children, she noticed how naturally they absorbed financial vocabulary simply through exposure. Seeing her four-year-old put coins into the “invest” slot of their family money box and say “grow” revealed the power of early imprinting.

In this episode, Dr. Dorado and Dr. Laura unpack:

• why so many physicians feel boxed into a single identity
• how expanding your identity empowers your kids
• why transparency about money matters more than perfection
• how to avoid raising entitled children in a high-income world
• why generational wealth fails by the 2nd and 3rd generation
• how financial literacy builds confidence, resilience, and leadership — not just smarter spenders

Michele emphasizes one truth parents often forget:

You don’t have to know everything. You just have to be willing to learn out loud with your kids.

Your failures and mistakes teach them resilience more than perfection ever could.

Physician, author, entrepreneur, and founder of Bright Futures EDG (Empower • Develop • Grow). She writes a children's financial literacy book series featuring “Mimi,” teaching kids foundational concepts like saving, investing, earning, giving, and starting a business. She also hosts the Prosperous Kids Summit and advocates nationally for building generational wealth through education.

📸 IG: @brightfuturesedg

🌐 brightfuturesedg.com

📧 info@brightfuturesedg.com

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/

📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlaurasuttin

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlaurasuttin/

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

Burnout is often discussed like a clinical condition — something to solve, measure, or “fix.”

But what if burnout is actually a signal? A message inviting us to pause, reset, and redesign the way we lead and care?

In this deeply honest episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin and Dr. Jeff Gaines explore what it really takes to build a healthcare culture where clinicians feel valued, grounded, and supported — not just productive.

Drawing from 20+ years in Emergency Medicine and years serving as Chief Medical Officer and VP of Medical Affairs, Dr. Gaines shares the lessons he learned the hard way:

• Why clinicians feel guilty for needing rest (and how to let that go)
• How micro-rituals — like a purposeful handwashing reset — can pull your nervous system out of overdrive
• Why managing energy is more important than managing time
• How leaders unintentionally set harmful expectations (“If I email at midnight, my team thinks they should, too”)
• Why “stay interviews” prevent the million-dollar cost of losing a physician
• And why culture shifts don’t require huge budgets — just honesty, intention, and humanity

This episode blends neuroscience, leadership wisdom, humor, and the real emotional truth of being a clinician. It’s not about grinding harder. It’s about reclaiming the parts of healthcare — and ourselves — that we’ve quietly lost along the way.

1. Micro-moments matter.
   Reset rituals help clinicians arrive fully present, improve efficiency, and protect wellbeing.
2. Culture is shaped by what leaders model.
   Emailing at midnight? Skipping meals? Your team reads it as the standard.
3. Retention is leadership work.
   Stay interviews, recognition, and investment in autonomy and growth dramatically reduce turnover and strengthen engagement.

Dr. Jeff Gaines is a Board-Certified Emergency Physician, physician executive, educator, and former Chief Medical Officer & VP of Medical Affairs at Newport Hospital. With 20+ years of clinical practice and a Master of Health Care Management from Harvard, Dr. Gaines is passionate about workforce wellbeing, organizational culture, and redefining leadership in medicine. 

He serves as faculty at Brown University and advises healthcare leaders on strategy, culture, and clinician engagement.

🔗 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-t-gaines

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/ 
📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulMD

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

For physicians, burnout can feel like an inevitable cost of caring. But what if it’s actually an invitation to realign with who we are?

In this episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin talks with Dr. Christine Kempton, professor of hematology at Emory University and founder of Christine Kempton Coaching, about her personal and professional journey from perfectionism and overwork to purpose and presence.

Christine shares how her early years as a ballet dancer shaped her drive for external validation—and how those same perfectionist patterns followed her into medicine. Through candid reflection, she reveals the turning point when burnout forced her to pause and reclaim agency over her own well-being.

They explore why waiting for “the system” to change can leave physicians feeling powerless—and how taking responsibility for our inner world, rather than blaming the outer one, leads to freedom.

From practical tools like mindful mornings and digital boundaries to profound mindset shifts about fear, worth, and love, this episode offers a roadmap for any healthcare professional seeking renewal.

It’s a conversation that moves beyond fixing burnout to rediscovering meaning—and reminds us that healing the system starts with healing ourselves.

1. Agency Begins Within. True change in healthcare starts when individuals reclaim their power to choose how they show up—even in systems that need reform.
2. Fear Isn’t the Fuel. Shifting from fear-based striving to love-based action unlocks peace, clarity, and authentic leadership.
3. Burnout Is a Message, Not a Failure. When exhaustion hits, it’s often an invitation to realign with your values, not an ending.

Dr. Christine Kempton is a professor of hematology at Emory University and director of the Hemophilia of Georgia Center. With over two decades of experience in medicine, she has cared for generations of patients and led innovative research in bleeding disorders.

After walking through her own burnout, she founded Christine Kempton Coaching, where she helps women physicians reconnect with purpose, balance, and joy. A former ballet dancer, she blends science, self-awareness, and soulful coaching to empower others to move from fear to freedom.

🌐 https://www.christinekempton.com/ 
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christine-kempton-md-msc-93744997

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/ 
📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulMD

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

You don’t have to be on a basketball court to know what it means to be under pressure.

In this episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin talks with Coach Mark Gottfried, a nationally recognized NCAA coach turned motivational speaker, about the parallels between leading a team of athletes and leading a team of healthcare professionals.

Mark opens up about his decades on the sidelines—400 wins, national championships, and the lessons that stuck long after the buzzer sounded. He shares how his Get It Done mindset—rooted in Grit, Integrity, and Desire—applies just as much to the OR or the nursing floor as it does to the court.

They talk about what it really means to lead from the heart: being willing to cheer others on, to keep your values front and center, and to celebrate the small wins we often overlook. Because in healthcare—just like in sports—success isn’t just about doing more. It’s about doing it together.

It’s a conversation that feels like a locker room pep talk meets a leadership retreat—filled with humility, laughter, and lessons you’ll carry long after you listen.

1. Lead with Grit, Integrity, and Desire. Mark’s GID philosophy reminds us that mindset and values—not perfection—fuel real progress.
2. Celebrate the Small Wins. Success stacks slowly; the moments we pause to appreciate are the ones that sustain us.
3. Put Team Before Self. True leadership isn’t about standing out—it’s about helping others rise.

About the Guest

Coach Mark Gottfried is a former NCAA head coach with more than 400 career wins across Murray State, Alabama, and NC State, and a member of UCLA’s 1995 National Championship staff. Today, he inspires audiences across the country through his Get It Done leadership philosophy, teaching others how grit, integrity, and desire drive success both on and off the court.

🌐 coachmarkgottfried.com
🎧 The Coach Mark Gottfried Show

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/ 
📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulMD

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

Dr. Ruth Mannschreck is a dentist, business owner, and founder of Shoreline Strategies LLC, focusing on helping practice owners become more efficient and streamlined. 

She’s a wealth of experience and expertise on practical things that clinicians and/ or business owners can do to improve their processes and build a healthy culture. 

Here are my takeaways from this incredible episode-

• Asking for help and relying on your team are not only possible, but are critical. Dr. Ruth’s personal story magnifies how important it is to realize that you can’t do everything on your own.
• While we may think we have to improve our time management, the real key is improving our communication, operations, and business processes, which requires an intentional shift in our thinking and behaviors. We actually gain more time in the end when we take these actions.
• Core values and leadership are at the foundation - when these are aligned and clear, everything flows much more easily.

Click here for a resource Dr. Ruth created, complete with a checklist you can use to start using these tips today.

For a practical guide to managing your time and energy in a way that brings you joy, click here to purchase my book (available in print, digital, and audio).

Connect with Dr. Ruth here-

Website:  www.ShorelineStrategies.com 

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthmannschreck/ 

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

In this solo episode, I announce a new brand I’m launching - Dr. Laura Suttin: Designing Healthcare that Cares. The new brand reflects an evolution of my work and of my own personal development.

This shift isn’t just about a new name or logo. It’s about stepping more fully into the work I’m meant to do, while adding consulting and speaking to my suite of services. I still love coaching, I’m still actively coaching, and that won’t change.

💡 In this episode, I’ll walk you through:

• Why I started as The Purposeful MD and the signs that it was time for something new
• What it means to design healthcare that cares
• How consulting and speaking are expanding my impact (and my joy)
• What this evolution means for you, whether you're a clinician, a leader, or someone craving change in healthcare

Connect with me here:

• https://www.drlaurasuttin.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/drlaurasuttin
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/
• http://www.youtube.com/@thepurposefulMD

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

Dr. Dawn Sears is a nationally recognized gastroenterologist, speaker, coach, and fierce advocate for women in medicine. In this heartfelt episode, she shares her inspiring journey from leading wellness initiatives in her hospital (starting with soda machines!) to creating powerful coaching communities that are truly changing the face of leadership in healthcare.

Here are my key takeaways from this episode - 

• How Dr. Sears turned a soda machine into a movement for institutional wellness
  
  
  
• Why cohort coaching is a game-changer for physician well-being and retention
  
  
  
• The hidden costs of being a woman in medicine, and how we start shifting the culture

Connect with Dr. Sears here -

dawnsears@dawnsearsmd.com

gutgirlmdconsulting.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnsearsmd/

https://www.facebook.com/dawn.sears.982

https://twitter.com/GutGirlMD

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4a1MubzSrKMBaAHwHCe0DQ

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sears DM et al. (2025). Leadership development as a novel strategy to mitigate burnout among female physicians. PLOS ONE, 20(3): e0319895. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319895

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

What happens when we realize that fitting into traditional medicine might mean losing touch with who we really are?

In this heart-opening conversation, I’m joined by my good friend Dr. Tracey O’Connell. Tracey is a Board Certified radiologist, Professional Certified Coach, and facilitator of Brené Brown’s Shame Resilience Program. 

Together, we explore the emotional weight of medical training, the myth of resilience, and how expressive writing can reconnect us to our own truth.

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite belong in medicine, or like you’ve had to compartmentalize your humanity just to get through the day, this one’s for you.

Here are my takeaways from this episode:

• The emotional cost of not fitting in within a traditional medical career
• How shame, silence, and systems erode physician well-being (and what we can do about it)
• The healing power of expressive writing and vulnerability
• How we can redefine purpose and identity after years of compartmentalizing

Connect with Tracey here:

Website: www.traceyoconnellmd.com

IG: @fertilesoul

FB: @tracey holland o'connell

LinkedIn: Tracey O'Connell, MD, PCC

YouTube: @traceyoconnellmd

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.