Today we’d like to introduce you to Sabrina Runbeck, MPH, MHS, PA-C.
Hi Sabrina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The handle turned to 8 am when I looked up at the clock. As I stood in front of a patient with my hands inside of his open chest, I was fully gowned and gloved attempting with all that I had to get through the open heart surgery I was performing while having a fever of 101 degrees. My head was pounding; my body felt so weak that everything seemed to be moving super slowly.
“ZZZ” the beeper that was paging me all night, just went off again. “What do they want now?” This noise just made my exhaustion and frustration harder to hide from others. One of the nurses took pity on me and slipped me cough drops and Dayquils to keep me going. I was so grateful for her kindness.
Unfortunately, when I woke up the next morning, I could barely get out of bed. I called my manager. “I’m so sorry I cannot come in today. My fever is not resolving and I’m feeling worse.” He responded “why didn’t you tell me this earlier. Okay, just don’t make a habit out of this.” Wait a minute… AM I inconveniencing HIM?
Imagine how frustrated I felt at the time. Especially in medicine, we highly value respect and advocacy for our patients. However, I was treated like a human machine without a care for my well-being.
I wondered how my childhood passion for working in medicine and living the American Dream could have turned into such an unhealthy reality?
Then, a few weeks later, I treated a young man who needed a FOURTH open-heart surgery. He had failed to report new symptoms because he thought they were small and insignificant. That’s when I realized that there were “small” and “insignificant” issues I needed to address in my own life before I, too, became a patient.
That was me, five years ago. I used to say YES to almost everything because society teaches us to be polite so that we can be liked by everyone. However, when we say YES to things that DO NOT align with our core values, we might become resentful, unable to deliver quality results or keep our promises to family, friends, and work.
These distracting YESes take away our precious time, energy, and sanity.
The medical industry has reached a critical breakpoint where our providers are burning out. Practice employees are having staff turnover at an unprecedented rate. At the same time, patient satisfaction and access to care are decreasing.
We cannot continue this way.
My name is Sabrina Runbeck, a cardiothoracic surgery PA and an expert in neuroscience, psychology, and public health.
That was me, five years ago, working 80+ hours per week, putting out fires every day, and my to-do list never ended. I literally took myself to the bottom before I had the epiphany. I questioned my self-worth. How I lived was not sustainable.
I then spent the last 5 years mastering performance science. I cut my clinical hours by 40% and increased my income by 50%. With the right strategies, I have helped practice leaders all around the world, transform their practices to be more efficient, and gain back a day per week. I have provided them assistance to regain the free time they desperately seek not only to live the lives that they want but also to provide their patients the care that they need.
I love being an International Peak Performance Keynote Speaker, Podcaster, and Advisor, helping private practice owners and their teams to develop personal and practice efficiency. This way they can rewrite the rules within their practices, change the culture within their team, and decrease distractions, discouragement, and decision fatigue that are killing their productivity.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I cannot promote my advocacy without setting an example. It starts with personal efficiency and self-mastery of my time management and decision-making abilities in order to influence others to be on the same path as I am heading. Coming from a family of all higher educators where education is top-priority, I thought that I have attained success in life after acquiring 2 bachelor’s degrees and 2 master’s degrees, and landing a position in a well-known hospital. Friends and family had called me crazy for wanting to become a heart and lung surgery PA. Cardiothoracic surgery is one of the most intense fields in medicine and has the highest turnover. Yet, I found nothing else captivating.
In reality, clinicians get easily topped out by the number of patients we can handle in the limited time we are physically able to work. There was no room for me to grow because I was not in a position to allow growth.
Like Don Draper said in Mad Man, “If you don’t like what is being said, then change the conversation.”
I know I need to make changes despite my environment. I was not allowing myself to be one of the 40% of healthcare professionals who think leaving the field will solve the problems. I was also not satisfied just because I felt limited to imply that I am limited. I believe that healthcare can change for the better. It starts with me and it starts with every single healthcare disruptor. Changes should not only be focused on system optimization but on internal self-optimization first.
This is why I went on a journey of learning from business tycoons and peak performance experts. I learned through self-led courses and gained the most from one-on-one discoveries. I even looked back on what I did for my thesis in neuroscience and public health, which was concentrated on self-care, self-efficacy, and stress management. I then devised a strategy that would work for me. I eventually discovered a system that cut my clinical hours by 40% and increased profits at the same time. Getting to this point took a long self-discovery journey. Facing the naysayers along the way and understanding my bigger mission to revolutionize how we practice medicine and provide care in the private practice world are a lot bigger than a few people’s opinions.
Therefore, I am helping other private practice owners who have a much higher stake in running their own practice for their local communities, than the leaders in large organizations, to grow their practice along the easiest path while providing their patients the best care they need.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work?
I work as a private advisor for selected practice leaders, especially those whose business(es) are on track to make 7-8-figures annually. I also invite driven practice owners with individual determination to self-mastery and those who elevate their entire team of practitioners and clinical support.
The culmination of my work has evolved into a program called Provider’s Edge. It is a personalized system designed for clinicians who need consultations from an expert to level up themselves and their practices. Providers have the option to have one-on-one peak performance sessions with me or join their colleagues for peer support. The goal is to improve their mental fitness, productivity, efficiency, and peer influence, and to maintain enthusiasm, energy, and momentum in their practices. In effect, they will achieve higher profits, and better patient satisfaction, and will stand out as a provider, a CEO, and a passionate person enjoying life.
To find out more about Sabrina and her work, visit https://SabrinaRunbeck.com.
My Vision:
Medscape, an international medical research database, found that 64% of physicians are burnt out, yet they have little support from their organizations. In fact, the pandemic has skyrocketed the stress levels of those with highly demanding careers, especially healthcare workers.
We can no longer afford to only complain about our situations. We have to take action to create a better environment. It’s time to change the status quo that is leaving us and our staff burned out and our patients dissatisfied because we don’t have the time or the energy to give them the care they deserve.
Overcoming burnout by practicing mindfulness has been a hot topic in recent years. Others have focused on system changes. None were able to tackle both personal mastery and optimizing a fail-proof environment that matches our values and visions.
This company is in a position to revolutionize the way medical practices, especially private practices, around the world, are being operated. It will help mitigate physician shortages. The American Medical Association predicted 122,000 physicians would lose their jobs in the US by 2032. New graduates of medical schools, physician associates, and nurse practitioners would not be able to fill this gap fast enough.
If a significant number of providers leave medicine, who is left to take care of us?
If you are a private practice owner who is ready to rewrite the rules for your own practice so you can have more time off, a great team, and more income while delivering better care, then join us for inspiring interviews with thought leaders in the medical industry on my podcast, called Provider’s Edge that will launch on June 1st, 2022.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I host weekly podcast shows where I change the conversation that we are having in the healthcare industry. I love interviewing fellow private practice owners to get to know their own struggles or challenges within the healthcare industry. As well as their biggest turning point.
This is a space, not only where they expand their network and visibility through their audiences and followers, but also where they can leverage the platform to share their work and advertise to their colleagues for encouragement.
My ideal audiences are leaders in healthcare who own their practice in medical, dental, chiropractic, functional medicine, and acupuncture.
Together we can rewrite how we practice medicine together to create better lives for ourselves and for our patients. Provider’s Edge podcast will be launched on June 1st, 2022.
This is the next series from my current show, the Powerful and Passionate Healthcare Professionals. You can listen to our existing podcast episodes at https://SabrinaRunbeck.com/Podcast.
If you want to become a featured speaker, visit SabrinaRunbeck.com/Interviews.
I also want to connect with ambitious and overwhelmed practice owners like you and get to know your own struggles or challenges within the healthcare industry. Visit SabrinaRunbeck.com/Connect where you’re going to find all of my social media platforms. Feel free to send me a direct message. If you, like me, prefer speaking, then you can record a Voice Message on the page.
Additionally, I can get you an exclusive invitation to one of my monthly collaboration think tanks that are limited to 30 healthcare disruptors. So come to SabrinaRunbeck.com/Connect and let’s continue the conversation.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://SabrinaRunbeck.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/SabrinaRunbeck
- Facebook: https://FB.me/SabrinaRunbeck
- Twitter: https://Twitter.com/SabrinaRunbeck
- Youtube: https://bit.ly/SabrinaRunbeck
- Other: https://SabrinaRunbeck.com/Podcast
Image Credits
@luis.hourealtor
@luvangelamariestudio
