5 Out of the Box Teaching Opportunities for Physicians

What if you could make money using your medical knowledge and love of teaching to help hundreds and even thousands of people, right from the comfort of home?

Today we’re looking at examples of physicians who educate and teach others using their knowledge and expertise via the internet.

There are a variety of ways they’re doing this, so have a read and see if one might be for you!

Example #1 YouTuber Dr. Ahmet Ergin, AKA Dr. SugarsMD

Dr. Ergin is a board-certified endocrinologist with a special interest in and passion for diabetes care. He has a YouTube channel where he educates patients about diabetes. He seems genuinely interested in helping patients understand their condition and be proactive.

In this 40 minute YouTube video he teaches on the topic of the diabetic diet for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and gives a lot of detailed information.

There are different ways people monetize YouTube Channels. In the beginning, a YouTube channel can be a way to get your name out, establish a platform, and bring in followers. In time, with more viewers, compensation can come from ads, affiliate links, and any products or courses that lead to sales.

Example #2 YouTuber Neha Sangwan MD, AKA Dr. Neha

Dr. Sangwan is an internal medicine physician and founder of Intuitive Intelligence and author of TalkRX: 5 Steps to Honest Conversations that Create Connection, Health, and Happiness.

Her focus is on addressing the actual causes of stress, miscommunication, and interpersonal conflict, to help improve and often heal chronic conditions such as headaches, insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

In this short video, she describes a scenario you may relate to:

“Suppose you say yes to staying at work and taking an extra shift when you really need to be at your son or daughter’s soccer game. Do you say yes when you really mean no? Because pay attention to what happens next. Your body will give you a signal, maybe it’s your stomach dropping, maybe your heart will start racing. For me, it’s throat constriction.

“Whatever it is, your unconscious mind is trying to talk to you through your physical body and tell you that you just said yes when you really meant no.”

Although she’s an internal medicine physician, she branched out from straight patient care to helping people have better health through healthier and more honest communication.

If you’re not keen on being a YouTuber and like helping people one-on-one, you could consider having a health coaching practice.

Example #3 Health Coach Dr. Gail Miller. She’s a maternal-fetal medicine physician with over 15 years of patient experience who trained to become a certified health coach and nutritionist. Her coaching practice, Wellness Genesis, helps women who want to have a baby do so by addressing lifestyle, nutrition, and stress-reduction before conception.

From her website:

You’re excited about becoming a mom… But you know your body isn’t quite ready. Preparing for motherhood starts before conception. Personalized health coaching to help you usher that new little soul into the world before pregnancy and beyond.

Her program involves personalized sessions via phone or Zoom, email support, and recipes and nutrition tips.

About transitioning from full-time practice, Dr. Miller said,

“I thought there was nothing I could do with my education other than practice medicine. Instead, a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me and now I’m using my education and experience to make a difference for others in a way that provides me with satisfaction, pride, and a sense of accomplishment. It’s such a wonderful change from clinical practice.

I encourage other physicians to see what’s possible for them.”

Now, the people you’re helping do not need to be the traditional patient population.

Example #4 Physician Digital Course Creator Dr. Katrina Ubell, a pediatrician who created an online digital course and coaching program to help busy female physicians with weight loss.

The digital online course she created allows her to scale her coaching and help a group of physicians go through her program simultaneously. This approach can be a way to offer a lower price for the participants and offer better overall compensation than one-to-one coaching.

You don’t need to be a YouTuber, or a health coach, or create a program for doctors to have fun and reap the potential rewards of creating your own digital course teaching something you’re passionate about.

If you can teach something to one person, you can likely teach it to many through creating a digital course. A digital course typically involves videos of you talking as well as some PowerPoint slides and downloadable worksheets to create a self-paced course.

And, you are so, so, so not limited to medical content.

Example #5 Online Digital Courses. Check out this site called Teachable, where you can create a course on pretty much anything.

Here is just a small sample of Teachable course offerings:

Sourdough U – Bake the Perfect Loaf Every Single Time
Photography Masterclass
Teachable U – Free course on how to create your own digital course
The Art of Kitchen Improv
How to Teach Your Kids to Crush Anxiety

If you were to teach something via YouTube, as a coach, or through a digital course, what would get you fired up?

You can teach for the fun of it, and who knows, it could even earn you some side income or a new livelihood. People are making thousands, to tens of thousands, to even hundreds of thousands on digital courses and programs.

The potential to scale your teaching and knowledge is truly vast.

You may be wondering…. how do I do this kind of work and not get into legal trouble if I’m teaching on medical topics?

This is a great question. You do have to be careful.

There are ways to do this and stay legal.

In next week’s blog, I’m interviewing a healthcare attorney who helps physicians on the internet share their knowledge and expertise and stay safe.

Stay tuned!

Heather

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Emergency Medicine Physician

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I had been a practicing Internist for 20 years when I reached a point when I needed to make a serious change in my career path. While I enjoyed seeing patients, I was not satisfied with my life-work balance. My job was taking me away from my family and left me little time and energy to do other things that are important and meaningful to me. I came across Dr. Fork's podcast; The Doctor's Crossing Carpe Diem Podcast, it is such an informative and enjoyable podcast for any physician who wants to do more with their career and life in general. Then I had the pleasure to get career coaching from Heather, it was truly an amazing experience. Heather has broad knowledge of all the different career paths that are available for physicians, she is so insightful and very easy to talk to. She helped me clarify my goals, examine my own mindset and definition of success. Together we developed a clear plan and actionable steps to reach these goals. I eventually made a career transition to a remote non-clinical position that allows me to do meaningful work which aligns with my personal and professional goals and priorities.

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I sought Heather’s guidance after practicing outpatient internal medicine for many years, as it was getting difficult to balance my role as a clinician while meeting my needs and those of my family. After our first consultation, I felt like I was seen and heard for the first time in my career. Working with Heather helped me identify my strengths, weaknesses, fears, and goals, and ultimately guided me to a non-clinical role that better aligned with my needs and aspirations. I am deeply indebted to Heather for the impact she has had on my personal and professional development. She is one of the most influential people in my life and I continue to seek her guidance years after our initial encounter. She once said that “we are happiest and most successful when we are using our skills and abilities at their highest level.” Heather will help you discover your truth. Thank you for your incredible work and friendship!

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