What if your drive to "do it all" as a clinician leader is fueling chaos, not results?

In this vulnerable solo episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin gets transparent about her stumbles transitioning from private practice to health system leadership: inflating her irreplaceability, mirroring toxic after-hours work culture, avoiding peer-to-report conversations, and blasting misaligned emails that sparked backlash. Highlighting the gap between clinical excellence and leadership training. She shares mindset shifts like embracing "you're replaceable" for delegation, themes of unclear roles, emotional pressure, and team bottlenecks.

Perfect for underprepared clinician leaders feeling reactive or resentful, this episode offers reflective questions to spot over-functioning, plus a promo for her upcoming Clinician Leadership Compass course (10 CME hours). Learn to prioritize, engage early, and lead without burnout, because untrained leaders cost organizations dearly.

Join the Clinician Leadership Compass Waitlist: thepurposefulmd.com/courses

This is a self-paced online course with tools for delegation, tough talks, and accountability

Three Actionable Takeaways:

• Embrace Replaceability for True Capacity: Overextending signals "indispensable" but breeds bottlenecks. Dr. Laura's coach gut-punch: "You're replaceable" freed her to delegate. Reflect: Audit your plate; delegate one task this week to a team member, building their skills while reclaiming focus and preventing burnout.
• Model the Culture You Want, Not the One You Inherited: Late-night emails "cast a shadow," normalizing exhaustion. Use delay-send or offline mode to protect boundaries. Scan your habits; if undesired behaviors echo in your team (e.g., weekend replies), initiate a no-after-hours norm via a team huddle, owning your role in the tone.
• Engage Stakeholders Early to Avoid Backlash: Solo-planning big changes ignores expertise, amplifying friction. Dr. Laura's email fiasco taught: Bring in dissenters sooner. For your next initiative, list 3-5 key players (even intimidating ones); schedule input sessions upfront to co-create and reduce resistance.

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 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

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.

Imagine completing all your charting and tasks during work hours, leaving no homework behind and gaining more time for family and self-care?

In this practical episode, Dr. Laura Suttin interviews Dr. Sarah Smith, as she recounts her transformation from endless after-hours work to a sustainable clinical routine while practicing in Australia and Canada.

They explore:

• Charting as an optimizable skill through noticing habits and curiosity
• Building team support to work at the top of your license and eliminate low-value tasks
• Efficient inbox management and patient request navigation within time constraints
• The potential and pitfalls of AI tools in documentation

Drawing from real-life coaching experiences and clinical insights, Dr. Smith shares actionable methods for clinicians to redesign their days, minimize interruptions, and create systems that prioritize wellbeing and quality patient care amid rising demands.

If you're a clinician overwhelmed by charting and burnout, this episode offers relatable strategies to regain control, foster team collaboration, and build a fulfilling practice.

Three Actionable Takeaways:

• Practice noticing without judgment: Observe why you're staying late or falling behind. e.g., "I noticed only one chart got done today"—to identify small changes like prioritizing tasks in the moment, reducing evening work.
• Redistribute team tasks: Discuss daily workflows with staff to offload non-clinician duties (appointment rescheduling or ultrasound bookings), freeing up time for high-level work without adding to anyone's burden.
• Streamline inbox and requests: Use fewer words, batch process messages, and defer non-urgents safely—e.g., "Your blood work is stable; repeat in three months"—to clear items quickly while ensuring patient safety and efficiency.

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. Sarah Smith is a rural family physician in Alberta, Canada, specializing in emergency and hospitalist care. As a charting coach, she helps clinicians restructure their days to finish tasks within work hours, reducing burnout and promoting balance. With experience in Australia and Canada, she empowers professionals through coaching and her podcast, Sustainable Clinical Medicine.

Website: https://www.chartingcoach.ca

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-smith-999101200/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechartingcoach/?hl=en

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

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.

Imagine ditching the hustle of endless hours for small, intentional acts that build unbreakable teams and combat healthcare burnout without costing a dime?

In this engaging episode, Dr. Laura Suttin interviews Rachel DeAlto, CSP, as she shares her unconventional journey from practicing law and launching a startup to becoming a media personality on shows like Married at First Sight, and now empowering leaders through her books “Relatable“ and “The Relatable Leader“.

They explore:

• Relatability as a teachable skill
• The role of empathy in patient care
• Managing distractions in a hyperconnected world
• Strategies for building trust through respect, consistency, and clear communication.

Drawing from psychology and real-world examples, Rachel offers practical advice for healthcare professionals to enhance connections, reduce anxiety from social media, and foster human-centered cultures amid burnout challenges.

If you're a healthcare leader or clinician seeking to improve team dynamics, patient outcomes, and personal resilience, this episode delivers relatable tools to lead with intention and authenticity.

Three Actionable Takeaways:

• Prioritize small moments of respect: In daily interactions, take 30 seconds to recognize great work. It builds trust and engagement more effectively than financial incentives, saving time on turnover and training.
• Sit down for better connections: Whether with patients or team members, sitting conveys presence and care, making brief encounters feel more meaningful and compassionate without adding extra time.
• Seek honest feedback and act: Use anonymous surveys to assess trust, respect, and communication; commit to implementing changes to avoid eroding morale. Focus on controllable processes like offloading notes immediately to stay present.

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:

Rachel DeAlto, CSP, is a keynote speaker specializing in communication, leadership, and human connection. With a law degree, Master's in Psychology, and experience as a media expert on shows like Married at First Sight, she empowers audiences through her TEDx Talk and books “Relatable“ and “The Relatable Leader“ to build trust and high-performing cultures.

Website: https://www.racheldealto.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

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.

As the year winds down, reflection becomes unavoidable — especially after a season filled with change, growth, and transition.

In this solo episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin looks back on 2025 through the lens of alignment — learning to move toward what feels true and away from what no longer fits. Rather than forcing a polished “word of the year,” Laura names the complexity of the past twelve months, holding gratitude and grief at the same time.

She shares openly about the personal and professional moments that shaped her year: her daughter leaving for college, shifts within the scientific community, navigating injury and identity loss, and stepping more fully into CEO-level leadership in her business. Along the way, Laura reflects on people-pleasing, letting go of over-explaining, and the importance of surrounding yourself with values-aligned community.

Looking ahead to 2026, Laura shares what’s coming next — including the launch of her first leadership course — and invites listeners to reflect on where their time and energy truly belong.

This episode isn’t about resolutions or productivity. It’s about clarity, alignment, and choosing what matters.

• Why “alignment” became the defining theme of 2025
• Holding gratitude and grief at the same time
• Identity shifts when children leave home
• Disillusionment — and hope — within the scientific community
• Losing a grounding practice and learning to listen to the body
• Letting go of people-pleasing and over-explaining
• Thinking like a CEO instead of an operator
• Finding values-aligned community
• What’s ahead in 2026
• A reflection framework for the year ahead

• Launch of The Clinician Leadership Compass
• Continued growth of the podcast
• Building a leadership community rooted in alignment
• Expanded speaking and impact
• Healing, recovery, and redefining movement

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.

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.