ROUNDING ROCKSTAR

The hospital can turn into a blur the second you get admitted, and we wanted to slow it down and make it make sense. 🔴 Dr Ben and Friends

Dr. Jennifer, a board-certified hospitalist in Nashville, joins us to explain what a hospitalist actually does, how patients move from the ER to the floors, and why inpatient medicine is equal parts detective work and coordination. 

Comedian Marcus Saputo keeps the laughs coming while asking the kinds of questions most people are thinking but never say out loud.

We get into the real mechanics of modern hospital care: when you can be treated at home versus admitted, how discharge plans come together, and what patients and families should ask so they understand the diagnosis and the next step. Dr. Jennifer shares the value of advocacy with simple prompts like “What is this test supposed to show?” and “What are we waiting on for me to go home?” We also explain hospital emergencies in plain language, including what “code blue” means and why high-quality CPR and chest compressions are time-critical.

Then we zoom out to the future of healthcare technology. We talk electronic medical records, AI in healthcare, and ambient transcription tools that can draft notes from the patient conversation so doctors spend less time documenting and more time at the bedside. We also hit telehealth, clinician burnout, and prevention basics that keep you out of the hospital in the first place, from taking meds correctly to smoking cessation and routine primary care visits.

If you like smart healthcare talk with actual laughs, subscribe, share this with a friend who works in medicine, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What’s the best question you have ever asked a doctor, or wish you asked sooner?

THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:

Dr Jennifer: Internal Medicine, Hospitalist

Marcus Saputo: IG/TT/YT/FB @marcussaputo https://marcussaputo.com/

Subscribe wherever you listen, share this with a friend and leave a review so more people can find honest conversations about healthcare and a little comedy along the way.

This episode was produced by Angie Debelak with post-production editing by Ben Hill Sound.

Thanks for listening to Dr Ben and Friends.  Laughter is the best medicine...unless you're treating bowel or bladder incontinence.  See you next time!

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Transcript

Welcome To Nashville!

Dr Ben 0:09

All right, knock knock howdy folks. Dr. Ben here from Nashville. You're listening to the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast. We're dedicated to putting the med in comedy. See what I did there? We're shining a big bright light on healthcare heroes and heroes of comedy. We're here in Nashville where the chicken is spicy and the comedy is even hotter, thanks to comedians like Marcus Saputo here. He's a hilarious, charismatic Italian comedy with uh humor for the whole family. Marcus, thank you for being here. Thank you so much. I'm pumped to be here, dude. Awesome. So glad you're here. I'm Dr. Ben, your host. I'm a board-certified orthopedic surgeon by day and stand-up comedian by night. I replace knees and shoulders during the day, and I replace silence with thunderous applause and deafening laughter at night. A little hard of hearing from all that thunderous applause and deafening laughter at my shows. We have a real life healthcare rock star with us today, Dr. Jennifer. Dr. Jennifer, thanks for being here.

Dr Jennifer 1:16

Hey, thank you so much for having me.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 1:17

Now, Dr. Jennifer is a board-certified hospitalist, folks. She practices in Nashville. If you're uh admitted to the hospital, Dr. Jennifer may take excellent care of you. And we're going to find out exactly what a hospitalist is in this episode. So you're listening to Dr. Ben and Friends Podcast, we prescribe 100% comedy with zero copay. We're celebrating those healthcare heroes and comics who dedicate themselves to making the world a healthier and funnier place to live. All right, buckle up, folks. If you're a doctor, nurse, tech patient, or just anyone that likes to laugh, we're here for a good time, whether you're scrubbing in, punching in, punching out. Thank you for joining us. A special thanks to our sponsor, the Needles Group, in beautiful Marco Island, Florida. As a doctor, I know a great needle when I see one, and these realtors are the best

How's that Baked Ziti?

Dr Ben 2:10

in the business. Buying or selling, let the Needles Group inject some serious value into your property game, theneedlesgroup.com. Have you ever been admitted to a hospital, Marcus? Oh, yeah, all the time.

Marcus Saputo 2:25

Eating too many meatball subs, yeah. Yes, they say my uh my sodium levels from the lasagna I eat is off the charts. So I gotta do blood work every week. They told me quite eating so much sauce. But uh Yeah, I have, but I have no idea what the people do or why I just tell them, I'm like, look, you just gotta fix it, whatever is broke.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 2:49

That's not my specialty. Dr. Jennifer, what would happen if someone had too much sodium intake from too much spicy meatballs or sauce? What could what kind of medical conditions could that cause?

Dr Jennifer 3:02

Yeah, so you um high sodium levels certainly uh can be an issue. Um you have to take those uh seriously. They can cause um sleepiness, uh potentially seizures if too high, comas, that sort of thing.

Marcus Saputo 3:14

Better watch out Marcus. Yeah. I've been struggling with sleepiness lately for the last 12 years of my life. Like, is it because of my baked ziti I eat every night?

Dr Jennifer 3:26

Yeah, it sounds delicious, but maybe.

Marcus Saputo 3:28

Now, what about cheese? What what's uh is uh overconsumption of cheese pizza uh an issue?

Dr Jennifer 3:36

So not with sodium, uh, but certainly um it can cause um bowel issues. Yeah if you if you eat too much of it, like constipation, or in my case, I'm lactose intolerant.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 3:48

So Dr. Ben. God bless you. I'm sorry. So it's actually uh listener, diarrhea awareness week runs through Friday. Runs through Friday. So no. Um poop jokes aren't on the top of my list, but they are a solid number two. Yes, yes. They are. But uh listener, but uh if you consume too much sodium, it can lead to high blood pressure. And if you have heart failure, it can make that worse.

Dr Jennifer 4:22

Yeah, makes you retain it.

Dr Ben 4:25

Hopefully you don't have that.

Marcus Saputo 4:27

Well, to be frank, I haven't been to the doctor in years. I don't even go because I, you know, I'm a believer in exercise and diet, so usually I'm pretty I'm also 30 years old, so that could have something to do with it.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 4:39

Yeah, I think that's the only reason Marcus wanted to come on the show, right? You agreed to because there was a doctor and you were trying to get free healthcare advice. Literally, that's all I'm here for.

Marcus Saputo 4:48

I have no insurance. Are you kidding me? I'm a comedian. That means no insurance and no money to pay anybody.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 4:55

So we'll take your blood pressure and check your blood sugar after this. I'm waiting for it.

Saving Lives, Part of Our Job

Dr Jennifer 5:01

All right, Dr. Jennifer, I don't mean to put you on spot. Can you remember any like memorable patient story without uh violating patient confidentiality that um whether something that kind of sticks out or kind of reaffirms your decision to uh go into hospital medicine or something you can remember that just kind of made you feel good? And yeah, this is why I do this. Yeah, there's there's a couple stories. Um I'll share the probably the most recent. Um I had a gentleman um that I admitted over a year ago um who had come in with some lung issues, and the outpatient story didn't make sense. He'd been treated for pneumonia multiple times, wasn't getting better. And so I got a CT scan and um he ended up having bilateral basically pus. It's called empyema in both lungs. And so he had to undergo surgery and was in the hospital for some time, young gentleman. Um, and um he was just so grateful that we had taken care of him. And just last week, actually, he contacted the hospital and came down and to visit me and let me know how well he was doing. He brought me flowers.

Dr Ben 6:05

You saved his life.

Dr Jennifer 6:06

Um yeah, it was it was very, uh, very humbling. Um, because you know I was doing my job, but but for him, it obviously it was everything. And that's the part that I like about hospital medicine is usually I get to see patients come in, sometimes at their worst, but I usually get to see them go home at their best or better. Um, and so that's why I love hospital medicine.

Dr Ben 6:24

Did we ever find out how he got pus in his lungs? Or sometimes we don't know.

Dr Jennifer 6:28

We don't know. Um, he was otherwise other uh healthy. So it was a it was an odd presentation, but I just knew something about it was different.

Dr Ben 6:34

Not diabetic.

Dr Jennifer 6:35

Nope.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 6:36

That's mesothelioma, okay. I had that, all right? He's Marcus does construction also. I do construction, so mesothes. You know, we're best friends. He puts it on his pizza. Yeah, and I call the 1800 number every week to get my compensation. Class action lawsuit. Yes. That's also why I'm here. So I love it. Um, I meant to ask you too, how does one become a hospitalist? Is that

What A Hospitalist Actually Does

Dr Ben 7:05

uh like um do you need like a GED or how does that what trainings involve to become a hospitalist?

Dr Jennifer 7:11

Yeah, so you have to have an undergraduate degree, go through medical school, and then residency. Um, and typically hospitalists are usually either internal medicine or family practice. Um I personally am internal medicine. It was a three-year residency. Um they do have uh I think a fellowship in hospitalist medicine. I don't have that because it's essentially this, you know, internal medicine can do hospitalists. So I did not go through the fellowship to do hospitalist.

Dr Ben 7:38

I think of like uh have you ever seen House MD or Scrubs? Like uh Dr. Cox on scrubs, I think of those would be hospitalists kind of stuff trying to diagnose and treat.

Marcus Saputo 7:51

Wait, so you're telling me back in the day your primary used to go to the hospital, right? Also, but I'll see you back in the office. Yes. See, I didn't know that.

Dr Jennifer 8:05

Yeah, and in fact, in my residency, that's how it was. The the um primary care doctors there had an office that was connected to the hospital, and they would come over and round in the morning with me. I was there rounding on their patients, they would round with me, then go back to their office. I'd manage the patients all day, then they would come back in the evening for any new admissions, that sort of thing. But it's a really long day for them.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Ben, Dr Jennifer 8:24

Yeah, right. So what happened? So you're not an ER doctor though, right? So they fix it, kind of stabilize them, send it to you.

Dr Jennifer 8:34

Yeah, so they stabilize and if they can discharge the patient at home, great. Yeah, but if it's something that can't be fixed at home and they have them stable enough that they can be moved on, then that's when we take over and we admit those patients to the hospital to do further testing or further treatment to get them better. Yeah, yeah.

Marcus Saputo 8:50

Okay. Now, any if I ever go to the hospital, I'm gonna tell the ER doctor, send me to the hospitalist. And they're gonna get so offended. Right. They're gonna be like, for what? I say, you're not qualified. I'm sorry. I know a hospitalist, all right.

Dr Ben 9:08

And we're gonna have some ER docs on here too. We'll hear their side of the story.

Dr Jennifer and Marcus Saputo 9:12

Yes. Yeah.

Dr Ben 9:14

I love

Tech AI Notes And Telehealth

Dr Ben 9:15

it. Um, Dr. Jennifer, what role is technology playing in uh the hospitalist medicine? And then uh kind of where where have where were we and where are we now and where are we headed with um like AI? And is it uh are you in danger of losing your job for uh AI robot or I don't think so.

Dr Jennifer 9:35

Um I think that you know, from from when I started, we still did paper charting uh when I was in residency, which was a lot. I would come home with cramps in my hand every day. Um, and so now most everything is on the computer with typing and that sort of thing. But I think that AI is going to play a major role in helping with some of that. We already have a an application that we use currently um that kind of captures the conversation with a patient and then it transcribes that into my note and makes it so much easier. It saves me so much time so that I have less time documenting and more time with the patients. Um I'm excited to see where that goes in the future too.

Dr Jennifer and Dr Ben 10:10

Right. Like it listens to like ambient uh conversation than it transcribes it. Because right now the medical records kind of the bane of our existence. We have to dictate all the conversation and everything. So about for like diagnosis and treatment, do you think as far as technology and AI and everyone's already putting their symptoms into uh like Dr. Google and then convincing themselves they have cancer or yeah.

Dr Jennifer 10:39

I mean I think there's a lot of helpful information out there, but I think that that information is more helpful for those that can interpret it a bit better. Um so I think I don't see that AI is going to replace the human part of that. I mean, you can spit out symptoms all day long and give a whole list of things that could be. Uh, but until you have someone qualified to do that, I don't think that that AI is going to be able to do that.

Dr Ben 11:02

What about like telehealth? Could you ever work remotely, do you think, just from home?

Dr Jennifer 11:07

Um, me personally, I don't think I would enjoy it. I like the personal interaction. Um, and I have dogs at home, so I would be much more distracted by them at home than I would uh doing that. But yeah, I think it plays certainly a vital role. My my family members have had telehealth visits, you know, when they've needed and and have gotten them taken care of. But me personally, I I enjoy the human interaction.

Dr Ben 11:27

I think you're a dog person too, right, Marcus? Yes.

Marcus Saputo 11:30

Yeah, I got a dog. His name's Vinny. Vinny He's a French bulldog. Oh, he's got a he's got a medical condition. He's got many, okay? Yeah. He's got IV DD, where whatever, like the nerve in his spine. I mean, these dogs aren't supposed to be an item. Like they're not normal. So then, yeah, he struggles walking, so I'll send them to your hospitalist. I'll send them to you.

Dr Jennifer 11:58

We'll see if they have a vet hospitalist somewhere.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Ben, Dr Jennifer 12:00

Yeah. Yeah. No, I want him in the hospital the actual hospital. Right. Human hospital. Yes.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 12:06

Do you have health insurance for your dog? Uh no. I I guess there's like pet insurance. There is, yeah. I was just like, whatever. Yeah. We should have gone into veterinary medicine. Yeah. No, literally. They wouldn't. Their arm could be dangling off and they're like, I'll do it next week. If it's their dog, they'll be like, fix it now. Exactly. Here's $10,000. Yeah. Fix it now. Yeah.

Dr Jennifer 12:30

Yeah. I always say I feel like dogs are are very expensive. I don't have children myself, but I think they probably rival some some pediatrician bills as well.

Dr Ben 12:39

Oh

Stress Relief Sports And Nicknames

Marcus Saputo 12:40

my gosh. Yeah.

Dr Ben 12:41

Yeah. I love it. All right. Well, your job's probably very stressful. How do you kind of uh, Dr. Jennifer, unwind or cope with those long shifts and kind of the grumpy uh orthopedic surgeons and specialists you have to deal with day in and day out?

Dr Jennifer 12:56

Yeah. So I uh I try to just disconnect myself from work when I can. I I sometimes can't do that, but I browse social media. I love sports, uh watch football, watch hockey. Um we go to the press games here a lot. Um the Titans, if they were good, we may possibly go.

Dr Ben 13:13

But um So you don't go.

Dr Jennifer 13:17

Yeah.

Dr Ben 13:18

And Marcus, you you're a sports guy too, right? Yeah, somewhat.

Marcus Saputo 13:21

Somewhat. I I watch baseball and I watch boxing a lot. Boxing boxing stuff. So I'm more into fights and stuff like that. Okay.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 13:30

I'm trying to be like Jake Paul of uh comedy and kind of circumvent the traditional for my comedy. I just want to circumvent uh, you know, 20 years of open mics and just start getting that's how you do it. I mean around just skip everything else.

Dr Ben 13:45

Yeah. Did you grow up a Tennessee volunteer fan?

Dr Jennifer 13:48

I did. I did. I grew up uh Meryville's about 20 minutes from Knoxville. So I used to go to the the University of Tennessee games all the time, football.

Dr Ben 13:56

Awesome. Go Vols. Uh can you teach us uh Rocky Top here before?

Dr Jennifer 14:00

Oh, I could, but you don't want to hear it from me.

Dr Ben 14:02

You know the song. Oh, okay. Well, Jennifer, you have to.

Dr Jennifer 14:07

Oh, that's hilarious.

Dr Ben 14:11

Uh we won't put her on the spot, but maybe another episode.

Marcus Saputo and Dr Jennifer 14:15

I heard you got some nicknames, Jennifer. Yeah, I probably do. I heard they call you the house dock captain of the floor guy. The admit uh admit machine. Does that sound right? And the rounding rock star. What do these names mean to you?

Dr Jennifer 14:34

So all of them seem very accurate. Very accurate, all combined into one. Uh, because we do. We admit from the ER all day long, we're rounding on the floors. Um, we, you know, kind of manage the care. We have lots of consultants that help us do the things that are outside of our uh wheelhouse, but we certainly still try to bring that back to the patient and say, hey, I talked to so and so, just so that we can try to uh you know summarize the care and make it better. So I think those nicknames are all very valid.

Marcus Saputo 15:01

That's it.

Dr Jennifer 15:01

Yeah.

Dr Ben 15:02

They call Marcus sometimes the house duck. Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 15:05

Yeah, that's what they call me, but the duck sink is leaking. So call the house duck. Yeah, call the house doc.

Dr Jennifer 15:14

Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 15:14

They got a hole in the drywall. I can fix it. Call the house doc. Yeah.

Dr Jennifer 15:18

Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 15:18

If your nose is runny, don't call good luck.

Dr Jennifer 15:24

Yeah.

Dr Ben 15:25

How come um like your nose runs but your feet smell? Isn't that backwards or kind of kind of ironic that your nose runs but your feet smell?

Dr Jennifer 15:34

Yes, oxymoron. I think it is.

Dr Ben 15:36

That's right. Oxymoron. And then

Patient Questions That Help Most

Dr Ben 15:38

uh Dr. Jennifer, um like for Marcus or the listener that comes in, and a lot of times the patient doesn't know like what to ask, or what what kind of advice would you give to the kind of Joe public listener when they're at the hospital? Like, what should we be asking the doctor as far as diagnosis treatment?

Dr Jennifer 15:59

Yeah, I mean, I think I think the more you ask, the better. Um, I think the more that you are involved in your care, the better you'll understand it and hopefully prevent it in the future. Um so I always encourage patients to ask about what is this test gonna show you? When do I get to go home? What are you waiting on for me to go home? And those are things I try to update every day, you know, the plan for the day, what we plan to do today, when I plan to get you home. Um but I think just be an advocate for yourself and your family members is the best that you can possibly do.

Dr Ben 16:26

And listen, don't be afraid to ask. Uh if you have questions, let's get them answered. And um the doctor comes by at least once a day, but you can always get in touch with the nurse who will get in touch with the doctor, and um if you have any questions. Um and then there's a whole team, like case managers that help with discharge plans, and it takes a takes a village.

Dr Jennifer 16:48

It does. And and we're, you know, the hospitalists are typically in the hospital for those 12 hours. So we're always available, even if not able to come to the room, certainly, like you said, via the nurse or um, you know, case management visits those patients as well. It really does take a take a village.

Dr Ben 17:04

And then uh

Codes CPR And Compression Songs

Dr Ben 17:05

now the hospitalists too, are they the ones that if someone codes like code blue, they're the ones that have to go to that, right?

Dr Jennifer 17:11

We do, we do. We respond to all the codes in the hospital, and typically like the ICU teams, a lot of times we'll show up to those and help. Um, the ED sometimes will show up to help as well. But yeah, any any code at all, whether it's a code blue or a code stroke or what we call a rapid response, which is one of those conditions where it's not quite a code blue, but could lead that way. Um, they'll call those. We respond to all of those in the hospital.

Marcus Saputo and Dr Ben 17:33

Hold on. What's called is code blue? There's like this person's turning into a blueberry or what's the issue? Yeah, what does code blue doctor say?

Dr Jennifer 17:41

Yeah, so code blue is when the heart has stopped and the patient is not breathing. Way worse. Yes, yes, yes, much better. You would turn blue, probably. Yeah, I mean you probably would. Okay. Yeah, but that's when compressions and CPR and that sort of thing would be initiated. Okay. Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 17:55

Yeah.

Dr Ben 17:56

Yeah. So if uh you're in the hospital, hopefully that's not ever the case. But if your heart were to stop beating or you stop breathing, yeah, there's a button on the wall, I think, right? There is.

Dr Jennifer 18:04

There's a button that a nurse or a tech can hit and it calls the code overhead um so that everybody knows to respond to that.

Marcus Saputo 18:10

Code blue, major problem.

Dr Jennifer 18:12

Major problem.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 18:13

And there's also a code brown, but uh I don't know if we want to talk about that. That's something else. Cleanup and I think that's a good one.

Dr Jennifer 18:25

Yeah.

Dr Ben 18:25

Um, the American Heart Association said that uh for chest compressions, there are different songs that you're supposed to do for the tempo, um, like staying alive, staying alive. Yeah. Are there any songs that come to that you think of in your head when you're doing the chest compressions?

Dr Jennifer 18:40

Oh, that's the one that sticks out in my head because they're just about every time I have done my recertification for for that, that is the song that they play. And so in my head all the time, that's constantly what I'm singing when I'm doing compressions.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Ben, Dr Jennifer 18:51

Could I request a song? Like if I'm about to get compression. I mean, realistically, I probably wouldn't be able to say anything at that point, but could I be like Michael Jackson thriller or Billy Jean or something? Thriller. Yeah.

Dr Jennifer 19:03

Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 19:04

I think it would work better on my body. Yeah, is what yeah, but that uh I would just have a no to it on my driver's license. Okay, make sure you do Billy Jean compression. Yes.

Dr Ben 19:16

Organ donor and Billy Jean.

Dr Jennifer 19:18

Yeah, I like it.

Dr Ben 19:20

One of the songs though, American Heart Association said that you can do chest compressions too is uh not like us by Kendrick Lamar. They not like us, they not like us. 101 beats per minute. So they said that that one is acceptable.

Dr Jennifer 19:33

Yeah.

Dr Ben 19:33

But I found out that while it is uh good tempo for performing the chest compressions, it's not a good tempo when you're running to someone that needs the chest compressions. I'm always like, mustard on the beat, don't call it. It takes me 10 minutes to get to the code. You gotta stay with a beat. Grab the crash card, I'll be there in 10 minutes. Mustard on the beat. Micro demo, calling hammer lips. Tell them breathe, bro.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Ben, Dr Jennifer 19:53

I think they should play that. If so. If it's a code blue in comparison over the whole hospital. Should hear the song. Everybody should hear that. It might be more uplifting, you know. That's right. A person might wake up because they're like, yo, this is lit right now. Like, I can't be I can't be dying for this.

Dr Jennifer and Dr Ben 20:11

Yeah, they should just play that song and then everyone would know to go call a room number and then dance their way down there. That or staying alive or yeah.

Marcus Saputo 20:23

Staying alive.

Dr Ben 20:24

We'll just play different songs, then it'll be different codes to go to the room.

Dad Jokes And Listener Submissions

Dr Ben 20:33

All right, knock knock howdy folks, Dr. Ben here, ready for dad jokes delivered. Now, those one-liner, eye-rolling groaners, that's actually how I started stand-up comedy, believe it or not. I was just going around the hospital telling one-liner dad jokes. And uh, next thing you know, I'm doing stand-up comedy. So we want to celebrate those dad jokes. We want to hear from you, listener, what is your favorite dad joke? And if you record yourself delivering the dad joke, we may even air it on the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast. Or we could have a professional comedian read your joke and uh you could uh tell us about the comedian's timing and delivery of your joke. So we're celebrating those dad jokes, and we have the very hilarious, funny uh comedian Marcus Saputo here to get us started with a dad joke.

Marcus Saputo 21:20

All right, here we go. Today, our dad joke delivered is from Ted in Michigan. What do you call a fake noodle? Anybody got it? Listener? Listen there? Fake noodle fake noodle. I would say fugazi noodle. And uh you call him uh impasta guy. Okay. Impasta, I like it. I feel uh targeted a little bit, Dr. Ben, on this show. They're like, oh, Marcus is coming on, let's bring out the noodle joke.

Dr Ben 21:53

It was just random selection.

Marcus Saputo 21:55

I don't think, yeah.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 21:57

This was totally random. My wife actually, I told you. Told her that uh I could make a car made out of spaghetti, and she said, No way. But uh you should have seen her look when I drove pasta in my spaghetti car. Yeah, I just drove pasta. You drove pasta. But uh yeah, we celebrate those dad jokes. Um, last night I was trying to read the entire dictionary in bed. And uh I didn't finish. I got up to P. So I wasn't able to finish. But I actually memorized six pages out of the dictionary. I learned next to nothing. I always thought uh Caesarean started with an S, but when I looked it up, it was in the C section. Caesarean. Yeah. Okay. So keep those jokes coming. We celebrate them and we don't roll our eyes, we laugh at them. So, listener, we want to hear your favorite dad joke.

Prevention And Primary Care Habits

Dr Ben 22:53

All right, Dr. Jennifer, any advice you'd give to the listener as far as maybe preventative medicine or staying out of the hospital from being admitted and seeing someone like you, like an ounce of prevention sometimes goes is worth a pound of cure.

Dr Jennifer 23:06

Absolutely. I think I think there's a lot of things. I mean, I think um take your medicines like you're supposed to. Um unfortunately that happens a lot where patients don't and then they end up in the hospital. Um, obviously, smoking is one of those big things that affects the heart, it affects risk for stroke, all of those things. So certainly I'm a I'm a strong proponent of uh of smoking cessation. And then just be an advocate for yourself. If something seems off, go get it checked out. Don't wait. Um, because usually the earlier those things can be found, the better.

Dr Jennifer and Dr Ben 23:33

And health maintenance too. Have a primary care physician physician and see them regularly. Yeah, a lot of times they come in and they haven't seen a doctor for 30 years. Yeah. And then it's like my blood sugars are 800.

Dr Jennifer 23:46

And yeah, I hear that a lot where they, well, I haven't never had any issues, but you don't know if you don't have issues if you don't get checked out. So um, I would definitely agree, even if it's just yearly. Um, and then certainly if the primary care doctor feels like there's something more that needs to be monitored closer, they would let you know that

What Doctors Want From Comedy

Dr Jennifer 24:00

every three months, every six months, whatever that would be. Certainly helps.

Dr Ben 24:04

Uh Dr. Jennifer, do you uh enjoy comedy at all?

Dr Jennifer 24:07

I do.

Dr Jennifer and Dr Ben 24:08

Stand-up comedy or comedians or I do. All right. Do you have any uh favorites that you aside from Marcus Saputo and Dr. Ben?

Dr Jennifer 24:15

Yeah, you guys obviously are at the top. Um I think uh Kevin Hart is probably one of my favorites to watch. Yeah, he's a funny guy. And I like Dwayne Johnson as well. I know he's not a comedian, but the two of them together's pretty comedic. Yeah.

Dr Ben 24:29

The rock. Love it. Now, do you have any questions for uh a professional comedian or two that uh you kind of see comedy on TV and they make it look easy?

Dr Jennifer 24:38

And yeah.

Dr Ben 24:39

Any questions like behind the scenes? What's it like?

Dr Jennifer 24:41

I I wonder just how did you get into comedy? Did you just wake up one day and think, man, I just want to this what I want to do? And like how did that work out?

Marcus Saputo and Dr Ben 24:50

You go ahead, Doc Marcus. You want me to go? Okay. Uh yeah I'm still not sure I want to. Well, yeah, I think I'm gonna retire after this podcast. Uh it kind of just it was, I was doing because like I'm a business guy, so like I've been like self-employed, doing business my whole life. And then I moved, I was living in Salt Lake City, and I moved back to Oklahoma where I had some family. And I was just, I was, I got rid of this other business I was doing. I was like, I just want to do something I enjoy. I never I've always been a huge fan of comedy. I never thought I'd be a comedian. It wasn't like a childhood goal or anything. I wasn't like, yeah, let me do this, you know. And then I moved back and I was like, you know what, let me try. So then I went, my first open mic was at the Looney Ben Comedy Club in Tulsa. And it was cool because like they would do open mics on Wednesday nights before the actual show. So it was like a real audience, you know, like whatever. How many minutes did you do? Like four or five, five minutes. And it actually went well my first time. Cause you know, I've always had like sarcastic, you know, I've always been funny, but like not like people, there's a difference. It's like, oh, my friend's so funny. Like they

How Marcus Starts And Writes Standup

Marcus Saputo and Dr Ben 26:05

could do stand-up like, no, it's not the same. Like it's very different. But if you are funny in person, like usually you could write jokes and whatever and do it. So yeah, and then after that, it was how scared were you? Do you remember? I was terrified. I was shaking like a dog. And for those who haven't been on stage, like depending on stages, is until you're like more veteran, the lights are blinding. So, like, people when you get up there, all you just see is nothing. And then you're like telling the silence, yeah. And it's just silent, and people are waiting, and you're like, oh, this is awful. Yeah. And so we had a real comedy, you know, it's different at different venues, but like at an actual comedy club, like the lights are really bright. So, like, until you get used to them, you don't see the crowd. You don't see, you just go up and like blindly tell jokes.

Dr Ben 26:53

Did the five minutes go by quickly, or did it seem like 10 or 15?

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 26:56

Like uh uh I think it went by pretty quick. Yeah, okay. I was like you had nice tight five minutes.

Dr Jennifer 27:01

Yeah, did you have a lot of laughs at the first time?

Marcus Saputo 27:03

I actually did. Good. Yeah, which I had like some people like not good experience. Mine was good.

Dr Jennifer 27:08

Good.

Marcus Saputo and Dr Ben 27:09

Do you remember what it was about at first? Yeah. I had a bit about like uh Italians throwing lamps, like was part of Is that common? yeah, because we're angry. Dr. Ban. The lamp is the easiest thing to throw. No, I had a bit about, yeah, it was about considering throwing shade when you throw shade on someone. Yeah, that's what that's that's how we throw shades. It's literal shade. It's literally yeah. You'd be like, you throw in shade? I'm like, not yet, buddy. Just wait. Uh I got a pottery barn lamp just waiting for your head. Throw some shade up. Yeah, yeah. But no, it was it was that I was comparing Italians throwing lamps, or that they could throw a lamp further than they can throw a football. And then I forgot what else, but yeah, it's pretty, you know. Awesome. It went good. So then after that, I was like, all right, this is cool. This is fun.

Dr Ben 28:04

And then are there any uh stand-up comedians to whom you look up too as far as oh yeah, so many.

Marcus Saputo 28:10

Uh Bill Burr is probably one of my favorite. And it's funny because like I'm a clean comedian, but like I like dirty comedians. I don't like like raunchy comedians, but like I I admire everybody's and the contrary to like other comedians, like they don't watch people's specials. I watch like a ton of specials because it's like nothing at the end of the day is like that original, you know what I mean? So there's certain aspects every comedian has learned from somebody else and incorporated in their act, you know what I mean? So it's like smart. That's with any art form.

Dr Ben 28:42

Like, nothing is so you asked me, do you know Dr. Ken? Because we're both doctors and Asian. So do you know Sebastian Maniscalco? Yeah, that's okay.

Marcus Saputo 28:52

Everybody thinks I'm Sebastian. I'm like, oh, maybe there's just a like we're both Italians and like our cultures act the same, like cultures usually do. And so yeah, everybody's like, oh, you like I'm like, no, really, like Sebastian.

Marcus Saputo and Dr Ben 29:07

If you'd like to open for Marcus, send us a tight five-minute set, and we'll take a look. Go ahead and uh send me, send me an email, I'll review it. Yeah, I love it. But yeah, that's uh terrifying. Have you ever tried uh any you probably have to give presentations sometimes?

Dr Jennifer 29:21

Well, I do, and I have never never enjoyed public speaking sitting around a table. I'm great. Uh but getting up, like you said, with the lights, I would be blinded and just probably stand there and freeze and run off.

Dr Ben 29:33

Are you nervous and scared just doing the like medical presentations and talks in front of people?

Dr Jennifer 29:37

Sometimes, yeah. Just be in the center of the of everyone's attention, just a just this little unnerving. Um, obviously, if it's something I know more about, then I I feel a bit better with it. But comedy, there's no way I could do it. I commend both of you. I just I I love comedy, but I I the whole time I'm watching, I'm like, I would be a nervous wreck. There's no way I could do it.

Dr Ben 29:55

Marcus and I could maybe write some jokes for you for your next presentation to kind of break the ice.

Dr Jennifer and Marcus Saputo 30:00

Yeah, I make it more interesting. I can write you the best mesoth joke. I'll email you so you can review it next time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr Ben 30:08

Well, that's the deal with mesothelioma? What's the deal with lung cancer?

Marcus Saputo 30:15

Yeah. House from the 1940s. Got tough breathing. Could be mesodelioma.

Dr Jennifer 30:21

That's right.

Dr Ben 30:23

And uh Dr. Jennifer could probably help us with uh maybe some pharmaceuticals to keep us calm for our uh anxiety before performing.

Dr Jennifer 30:30

That's right.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Ben, Dr Jennifer 30:30

Yeah, that would that would be helpful. Actually, I get excited now. Okay. After after a while, I just I get more excited. Yeah, you get used to it, and it's so fun or for me, you know. Yeah. Yeah, like I just and so now I get I get nervous, but more like excited. It's well before it was just straight nerves. Like you need some, what's it called? Propanol? Propanolone for like I can say that word. Whatever, dude. No, that's I'm trying to know that. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Uh-huh.

Dr Ben 30:57

Uh beta blocker kind of slows your heart rate and your Yes.

Marcus Saputo 31:00

Yeah.

Dr Ben 31:01

So yeah, I it used to be very terrifying. And so it's less terrifying each time now. But uh I remember the first couple of times, it's like, why am I doing this? I'm never doing this again. And I thought I was literally having a panic attack. I could feel the palpitations and you get more comfortable.

Marcus Saputo 31:19

Yeah.

Dr Ben 31:20

But uh anything else you can ask uh think of to ask a comedian? Uh we kinda Yeah.

Dr Jennifer 31:26

So how how do you come up with your jokes and the things that you're gonna talk about? Because there's such a smooth transition, I find when I'm watching comedians, they just kind of transition from one topic to the other just seamlessly. But I'm sure it takes a lot of work.

Marcus Saputo 31:40

Yeah.

Dr Ben 31:41

Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 31:41

Do you have any inspiration? Yeah, well, I write it's interesting, so many comedians do it differently. So like guys have notebooks and like write, literally write word for word, is what I don't write anything down ever. Like I'll write like the premise down, but then I know the whole joke. And then usually I don't sit down, I'm like, let me write a joke. It's like when I'm driving, I'm like, oh, this is an idea, or like I went to Costco the other day, and like now I'm writing a whole bit on Costco just because I was like, this is I'm so it's just observational. Like I notice everything about people or like situations. So then I just like think of that and then start writing something from that. And then once you have a premise too, like I take old jokes that are a good joke, but then I'll either change it or like add another five minutes to it that you weren't thinking about, you know, that you're like, oh, this would also be how can I extend this joke and make it even funnier? Yeah.

Dr Ben 32:39

Yeah. It's kind of an art too, because sometimes maybe you can speak to this, but you'll do a bit and you don't know if it is it the crowd, is it my timing, is it the delivery, is it the content, how long do I keep tweaking it and trying to when did I just abandon it or Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 32:54

Yeah, that's what and not that I'm like super experienced, but I've had a good amount of stage time for the amount I've been doing it to where now I know somewhat when a joke is gonna land, and then so it's just like developing that more or changing a word or timing. A lot of it is getting rid of stuff like words, like you'll get up there and you'll say so many words, and you're like, I don't need like you know, get to the funny is what you do basically. So, but I never in terms of writing, like I just think of whatever I do Dr. Ben's podcast and I'm gonna write a whole bit about that, you know. What a joke, this is a joke this is, yeah. I'm gonna come up with a 10 minutes about orthopaedic surgeons and hospitalists. Yeah.

Dr Ben 33:45

Oh, that'll have them rolling in the aisles. So and I I kind of do um observational stuff to where I'll put a note in my phone and kind of revisit and write some jokes, and uh sometimes it's just glaringly obvious. Like uh I was at a Chinese buffet and was mistaken for an employee when they someone came up, a customer came up and asked if there's more general's chicken coming out. So I'm like, I gotta write a joke about that. Yeah.

Dr Jennifer 34:09

What did you tell them when they asked?

Dr Jennifer and Dr Ben 34:10

Did you say, yeah, it'll be absolutely I just I just smiled and bowed and I oh I went to add to the cat, then more general's kitten chicken. No. Too polite to correct them. Or uh a uh um employee at the hospital asked if I'd buy uh some Girl Scout cookies from her daughter, and so she sent me a link. And as soon as I clicked on the link to order it, the Girl Scout website asked me, Do you accept cookies? So I'm like, I gotta write a joke about that. So I had to write a joke about you'll see like headlines, a lot of funny headlines like the Winter Olympics, the um Norwegian uh ski jumping scandal where they're enhancing their suit in certain areas to get along. I'm like, I gotta write a joke about that. Or and I see a lot of funny medical headlines that a lot of times on Corporate. Yeah, they're just bizarre. Like we have a segment coming up with bizarre headlines that my uh email is just flooded with all these like, is this really real? And it's sure enough, it's just kind of bizarre medical headlines like funny. Um whether it's they transplanted a pig kidney into someone, which really they did.

Marcus Saputo 35:18

Oh man.

Dr Ben 35:18

Or uh someone performed surgery with a Swiss Army knife. And so it's just all these bizarre things like this can't be real, and it really is. So I'm like, I gotta talk about that. But the med in comedy, yeah.

Dr Jennifer and Marcus Saputo 35:31

Yeah.

Dr Ben 35:32

So well, good. All right, anything else you can think of for either of you, you have any medical medical questions for a minute? Yeah, I got a question.

Marcus Saputo 35:40

Is there ever someone who comes in? And well, they might go to the ER first, but you do all this stuff and they're like, I'm not fine. And you're like, You're fine, and they're like, No, I'm not. And then they're just there mowing around for like a week, like they're like totally fine, but they're just like, Yeah, do you ever have that or no?

Dr Jennifer 36:00

So so there are some times where patients don't need to be admitted, um, that they could be managed at home, and sometimes that takes a little finesse. Yeah. Uh, most of the time we don't admit those patients because there's not really a good billable reason. Yeah. And so just tell them, you know, if you get worse, obviously come back and see us. But uh there are times we've admitted patients to do further work up and found nothing either. Um, and some things you can't find all the time. Um, there's not a test for every single ailment that's out there. Um, so you just do your best in working through that.

Marcus Saputo 36:29

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Dr Ben 36:31

So all right. Do you have any uh ailments or anything you'd like?

Marcus Saputo and Dr Ben 36:36

Some advice on I got um, there's a lot going in my head all the time, you know. So that whatever ailment that is, I got it. Okay. No, I'm healthy. I've always been big in exercise and whatever. And so as I've aged, even though I'm young still, I've noticed, and I'm in a trade, so like I use my body physically. Even hitting 30, I'm like, this stuff ain't working like 19. You know, like I get, you know. Wake up with aches and pains. Yeah, like I gotta wring my neck out and warm up before we, you know, go to Dr. Ben's podcast. Calisthenics. Yeah, yeah.

Dr Ben 37:13

Before swinging that hammer.

Marcus Saputo 37:15

Yeah, besides that, healthy. Yeah.

Dr Ben 37:18

Do you use a lot of power tools in construction, or are you still manual nail guns and oh yeah.

Marcus Saputo 37:24

The loud the loudest power tools I can get, that's what I'm getting. Oh, really? Yeah. The louder the better. Yeah, just annoy. I want to go deaf and then I want to annoy the neighbors as much as possible. So yeah.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 37:37

I use a lot of power tools too. Yeah, I know. So we could that's what the thing, you guys got like dewall drills and stuff in there. You're drilling in people's arms. Yeah, I really want saws. Yeah, I would like to see like what I'm like, what you just go to the Home Depot and they're like, Yeah, this this is qualified for orthopedic sergeant. You got a DeWalt multi-tool, you're cutting someone's wrist open.

Dr Ben 38:00

Yeah. I actually fell in love with uh my power saw, but uh unfortunately it didn't reciprocate. It didn't it wasn't reciprocal.

Dr Jennifer 38:09

Yeah. Yeah.

Dr Ben 38:10

Uh-huh. Yes, one of the reps was trying to sell me on this. Uh he said this power tool, it has a bit, it spins really fast and makes a hole in the bone. I'm like, yeah, I I I know the drill. Yeah. I know the drill. You know it in the drill. Well,

Fake Ad- Common Sense Healthcare

Dr Ben 38:30

folks, we gotta pay some bills here, so time for an ad read. All right, thanks, team. Now it's time for some common sense healthcare ads. This episode of the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast is brought to you by Posture Perfect Potion. Drink up and stand tall like a giraffe on stilts. Correct slouching in seconds. Warning. Overuse may lead to bumping your head on door frames. Enter code Dr. Ben at checkout for 25% off your first purchase of posture perfect portion. Do you guys have good posture? Do you sit up nice and tall?

Marcus Saputo 39:07

You see this action I got right here. I'm already I've been this. I'm looking for scoliosis, is what I'm looking for.

Dr Ben 39:16

Uh you know, there's probably some chiropractors listening to the podcast, but at first I didn't really I was a little skeptical about chiropractors, but I went to see one, and now I stand corrected. There you go. See ya. I stand corrected on the chiropractors.

Thanks for joining us!

Dr Ben 39:30

So all right, folks. All right, we're scrubbed out here now, listener. Thank you for joining the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast live from the heart of Nashville. And uh remember, we can be serious in surgery, but some of us are seriously funny. We're celebrating healthcare heroes and comics, so be sure to hit that subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, wherever you get your podcast listener. And your word of mouth is our best support. So tell a friend, colleague, family member, tell your doctor, your nurse, your uh tell the house doc. We have two house docs with us today. So uh we'd love to hear from you. Send us your jokes, your comments. Uh Marcus, you're a national treasure here. Uh, where can listeners find you, Marcus Saputo?

Marcus Saputo 40:23

Look me up, Marcus Saputo at everything on Instagram, YouTube, all that. I just uh I got a dry bar special that just came out, and then I'm uh have another special that I self-produced that will be coming out in a few months. So check it out.

Dr Ben 40:39

Check it out, listener. Thank you for being here, Marcus. Dr. Jennifer, thanks for being here. I don't know if you want listeners to actually see you or uh find you. If you're taking care of them, I'm sure uh they'll be in great hands, but uh it's not necessarily something listeners will uh want to come see you.

Dr Jennifer 40:57

Yeah, but no, if if you're if you're admitted and I'm there, Dr. Jennifer, please let me know you heard the podcast, and it's been great being on the podcast. Thank you. Great meeting you, Marcus, as well. Me too. Yeah.

Dr Ben 41:07

All right, thank you both for being here. Dr. Jennifer, Marcus Saputo, Dr. Ben and Friends putting the med in comedy. All right, take care, y'all. Thank you.

Speaker 3 41:23

Dr. Ben and Friends.