- Meet Dr. Vivek Murthy.
He's the United States surgeon general.
What does that mean?
And what does he do?
The surgeon general is sometimes called the nation's doctor.
He or she is the government's primary spokesperson
on all matters of public health.
- [Vivek] I'm kind of a big deal.
- Recently, I was invited to trek down to DC
and meet with Dr. Murthy
to ask him some of my most burning questions.
Surgeon general, thank you so much for joining us
on the YouTube channel.
We very much appreciate your time.
We know it's limited.
We know you're doing some amazing things
here at the White House,
actually all across the United States,
because your position really covers all of the U.S.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
- Well, absolutely.
And Frank, it's so great to be with you today.
I'm glad we're having this conversation.
You know, I'm privileged to serve as surgeon general.
It's a job I was fortunate to have before
in the Obama Administration.
And the job of the surgeon general
is really to provide the country
with the best possible information based on science
so they can make good decisions about their health.
And during my time as surgeon general,
one my hopes is that we can first and foremost
turn this pandemic around.
And that's why I want to do everything I can
to make sure people know the facts about the vaccine
so they can get vaccinated, protect themselves
and their families.
But I also want us to focus and have a conversation
about some of the other challenges that we're facing
that have been made worse by COVID,
mental health, substance use disorders,
and more broadly, challenges around equity.
- Everyone knows the position of surgeon general
for its pop culture meaning of being on labels,
(Vivek laughs)
tobacco products, alcohol products.
What's the next label?
Do we have one?
Is it gonna be social media, vaping?
Is there one in the works
that perhaps the YouTube community isn't aware of yet?
(Vivek laughing)
- Well, there's no label in the works-
- Okay. - ... at the moment.
But there are things that I'm worried about
that I think that we do need to raise a flag about.
- Okay. - In 2016,
when I was surgeon general,
we actually issued a report about e-cigarettes in youth,
recognizing that for many children,
millions in fact, of kids, that this was becoming a way
through which they were developing independence
actually on nicotine.
And there are other areas also
where parents are increasingly raising concerns
to our office and others around, for example, social media
and wondering what are the impacts
on the mental health of my children.
And I should just say, lastly,
when it comes to technology platforms,
there's also a profound challenge we have
with misinformation right now.
We see that rampant with COVID,
throughout this pandemic,
particularly now with the vaccines.
And so one question that we've gotta ask
is what's your responsibility
to make sure that there's accurate information
that users are getting.
- How do you see yourself
playing a role as surgeon general
to guide this conversation, movement
towards taking mental health seriously,
talking about it responsibly?
What can we do from a national perspective here on this?
- Well, it's such an important question.
And I think we actually have to tackle it on several fronts,
because we have actually even pre-pandemic
been really challenged in the field of mental health.
We've struggled with access to mental health care.
As you know, in terms of mental health workforce,
we just don't have enough people to provide good care.
But we're also not doing enough when it comes to prevention.
There are programs that we could invest in right now
in schools across our country
that would help build a foundation
for strong mental health
and emotional well-being in our kids,
but we're just not investing there.
But finally, on a cultural level,
we have to change how we think as a country,
as a society about mental health.
We have to see it as an equal part of health,
but also not as something to be ashamed of
if we're struggling with our mental health.
- I've also to read and heard
that you have a strong passion
for advocating for the mental health of providers,
nurses, doctors, pharmacists, lab techs,
all the people who've been on the front lines
throughout this pandemic.
What can we do to help those individuals?
Because like right now,
obviously there are improvements being made.
There's decreased hospitalizations.
I have a few ER colleagues
who told me over their last three, four shifts,
they haven't seen a single COVID patient,
which is amazing.
What do we say to those individuals
who have been on the front lines?
How do we help them?
How do we give them assistance
with still taking into consideration
that this stigma applies to all of us?
- Yeah, in our house of medicine,
the sigma is substantial.
And I think, you and I probably can both recall
days from our training
when it was very clear that strength
was associated with things like how many hours
you could stay up, how many patients you could admit,
how many papers you could recall during the morning report,
or ultimately how many papers you published.
But when was the last time
that we heard about a doctor or a nurse being promoted
for their compassionate and empathetic care of a patient?
You don't see that kind of movement
on the academic ladder often enough.
And so I think part of what we have to do in the profession
is recognize that we've got to shift our culture
so that people who are struggling in our profession
can actually step forward, can get help.
My primary identity is still that of a doctor.
And I think about our colleagues in medicine,
doctors, nurses, pharmacists,
and others who have been on the front lines providing care,
who were already struggling before the pandemic.
And I worry about the burnout that we are seeing
increase in that population,
because the truth is we need to serve those
who have been serving us.
We got to take care of our healthcare providers.
We also know that if they burn out
at the rates that we're seeing now,
we are not only gonna have a problem
if there's a resurgence in COVID,
we will have problems caring for people
for routine medical issues as well.
- You also fall into this category, into this group, right?
You're a physician.
You experience burnout, I'm sure,
just like every other human.
What's your strategy for battling that?
- That's a really good question.
And I'm a work in progress.
I have my days where I struggle as well
with burnout and with exhaustion and it's tough.
It goes in cycles.
But there are few things
that I found are very important to me.
One is to make sure that I'm anchoring myself
in relationships.
Relationships in particular with friends and family.
You know, when you get burned out,
ironically, what gets pushed aside often
are your relationships.
As you start to feel like you have less energy
to interact with other people,
to reach out to other people,
you might feel more grumpy
or crabby around them as I often do,
and that actually can push people away.
But making sure for me that I'm spending some time each day,
even if it's just 15 minutes,
talking to people I care about,
ask them how they're doing, listening to them.
That's an important source of healing.
The second thing that I've got to do
is to make sure that I am also pacing myself,
that I'm taking breaks when I can.
And during those breaks
that I'm doing something that renews me.
And finally, one last thing, which is gratitude,
which I find is an extraordinarily powerful,
renewing source of energy.
I try to keep a few moments at the end of each day
to just remember what I'm grateful for.
I was honestly not very good at doing that until I had kids.
And because of my wife,
who is far more resilient and thoughtful than I am,
she began doing this exercise with our children
at the end of each day,
asking them what they are grateful for.
And that's actually inspired me to do that.
And it's been a really powerful way
to reconnect with meaning
and to feel renewed after a long, difficult day.
- Absolutely. I'm so glad you have that.
Because we have this age of information overload,
constant anxiety, whether it's from our jobs
or phones or family members, or friends,
and we start losing focus
of what brings us true fulfillment,
which is the extrinsic factors you mentioned,
these deep relationships, meaning, gratitude,
even looking forward to the future,
even if it's for the next day for something special.
The pandemic has really taken that away from us.
You know, for me, the way that I would cope
with some of my stressors pre-pandemic
was looking forward to the future.
So when I was doing my residency, working a long ICU shift,
I would say, "Oh, next month, I have less days
that I'm working," so I would look forward to that.
Pandemic took that away.
Another thing that it took away
was the relationships you just mentioned,
and it's created true loneliness.
Even coming out of the pandemic now,
as some of the lockdowns ease in the United States,
we're still experiencing loneliness.
And I know that's a subject
that's really important to you as well.
What can we do if we are having some layers of anxiety
in sort of coming together again?
- This is such an important point,
and this is one of the great costs
of the pandemic that's invisible,
the loneliness and isolation that's resulted from it.
It's very understandable some people will feel anxious,
we're all gonna move at different paces.
And so the first thing is just to recognize that,
to not judge yourself, but also not judge others
if they're going in a different pace than you are.
But the other piece too,
to just to remember here is that if we've learned one thing
from this pandemic,
is that our relationships really do matter.
They are how we get through tough times.
They're also what sustains us during times of stress.
And so in the way that makes most sense to you,
that feels most comfortable for you,
just start reaching out to friends.
Maybe it's a phone call.
Maybe it's a video call.
Maybe it's an outdoor walk
if that's what you feel more comfortable with.
Or maybe it's an indoor meal
that you share it together like old times.
But building that into your days and into your weeks
is incredibly important,
because all of us have been through trauma together.
We may have experienced this pandemic in different ways,
but we've all experienced it deeply.
And trauma requires healing.
One of the most powerful source of healing that we have
are our relationships with one another.
And finally, just remember,
that means also that you can be a powerful source of healing
in someone else's life.
You don't need to have an MD behind your name
or an RN to be a healer,
you just need to be able to show up in someone's life,
to listen openly to them, to be fully present.
And through that, you can remind them that they matter,
that they're seen, that they're understood.
And that is where the real healing begins.
- You have a seven and a half million,
or just under seven and a half million viewers watching you,
subscribers watching you,
what's the message you wanna leave them off
about their health or perhaps about your second term
as surgeon general?
- Well, first I just want to thank everyone for tuning in.
And I just want to say, look at this moment
where we're all struggling through this pandemic,
one of the most important things
that you can do to protect yourself, protect your family,
is to get vaccinated
and to make sure that people around you get vaccinated too.
It is our clearest path to getting back to our way of life.
And beyond this, look, we do have big challenges
we've got to take on.
Maybe you felt depressed.
Maybe you're feeling anxious
about returning to the post-pandemic life.
This is something that's not uncommon.
And so if you're feeling any of these things,
I want you to know that you're not alone.
I want you to know it doesn't mean that you're broken
in some way.
What it means is that you're a human being
having a very human experience.
(gentle music)