Thankfully, Dr Glaucomflecken has a prescription for that. [6], During his third year of residency, Flanary was diagnosed with testicular cancer again. The paramedics broke down a door and carried Flanary, who is 6 foot 4, from his bed to a hardwood floor downstairs. I am Lady Glock Flecking. His prognosis was good, but this would change their lives forever. 199 per month after 30-day trial. (He has joked, "It's so easy even an ophthalmologist can do it.") I am Dr. Glock Flecking. 121. If you dont have any symptoms, you dont feel tired, you can go back to work, his CDC character tells a colleague in the video. There is a lot of evidence that shows humour can be protective of burnout, says McKeen. Gaur Gopal Das. Neurosurgeons are just a tad confident. Subscribe to STAT+ for less than $2 per day, Unlimited access to essential biotech, medicine, and life sciences journalism, Subscribe to STAT+ for less than $2 per day, Unlimited access to the health care news and insights you need. But your video focused on the students who dont match, and how theyll be okay. 'Life was just more complicated at that point.'. Whenever hes uncertain whether a given joke might go too far, he refers to a simple guiding principle: Be sure to punch up. Q: You wrote in your bio about doing stand-up, but never explained how you ended up becoming an ophthalmologist? The specificity is by design, Flanary said, giving his peers something to relate to and a growing audience of outsiders something to laugh at. Many members had tears in their eyes as they gave her a longstanding ovation for her lifesaving efforts. Please use this form to submit your questions or comments on how to make this article more useful to clinicians. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here. Brianna Wiest, Written by: Written by: Life in one of the world's most isolated communities: Indigenous Canadian woman reveals it takes two days to get groceries from nearest town 338 miles away, there's only five hours of daylight in winter and no one has an address because it's so small, Student, 18, reveals she 'could have died' from toxic shock syndrome caused by falling asleep with a tampon in after hospital doctors dismissed her symptoms as 'Freshers Flu', Children's campaign group slams 'despicable' UK secondary school over letter telling parents that pupils who arrive without a mask will have to buy one or face being hauled out of lessons - branding it 'child abuse'. In the last year, that platform became more important than ever. Since 2016 he has become well known for making and uploading medical satire skits on Twitter, TikTok and YouTube. Get TikTok App . Merchandise is in development, and hes plotting a way to translate what works on TikTok into a longer-form episodic format. Then one morning in 2013, Flanary woke up and felt a lump in his testicle. "[7] He has received many speaking opportunities since revealing himself as the creator of Dr. Glaucomflecken, including as the commencement speaker for the graduating class of Yale School of Medicine and University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in May 2022. Flanary has also tweeted about the shortcomings of the American healthcare system and the need for more humor among physicians. The next video is a sponsored one for a pretty cool reader that could help with accessibility. Then in 2016, Flanary was again diagnosed with testicular cancer not a recurrence, but a totally separate case. They claim their digital dynamic mimics real life. We still dont know the cause. Lillian Gissen For Dailymail.Com
If I didnt find the humor in this awful situation, the gravity of it all would crush me. It sometimes allows the environment that we work in to be a little bit more humane I think that patients sometimes enjoy the humor and it makes us a little bit more relatable.. Flanary is the one and only Dr Glaucomflecken. The criticism that rankles Flanary most is that his humor is "unprofessional." My Dr. Ultimately, performing comedy live became too challenging to keep up as my medical career progressed, so I turned to social media. Diagnosis Compression gonioscopy is key to properly diagnosing an acute angle closure. On the night of May 11, 2020, his heart went haywire. If this is your first time posting, please read the sub rules. A doctor who who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and survived cancer twice has become a viral TikTok star, after sharing hilarious stories about his health woes in an attempt to raise awareness among others. Theres no benefit to it. That's how they found First Descents, a nonprofit outdoor adventure program for people aged 18-39 with cancer or other serious health conditions. "Medicine is full of absurdity," he says. It was the spring of 2020, and the nascent Covid-19 pandemic had shuttered businesses around the country, including Flanarys private practice. I get to go home at a reasonable time and develop meaningful relationships with my family. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Book a personalized video with Dr. Glaucomflecken on Cameo! William Sharp. "You hear so many horror stories about people getting reprimanded for sharing their thoughts," he says. Area of Expertise: Cataracts Eye Exams Locations: Oregon City: (503) 656-4221 Wilsonville: (503) 582-0000 Board Certified, American Board of Ophthalmology He made a full recovery. Will Flanary, aka Dr. Glaucomflecken, at home in Portland, Ore. Flanary in character as the emergency medicine doctor, eternally clad in cycling gear. And then theres ophthalmology, where I get to sit down to operate. You turn it inside out, you add humor to it, you add your own thoughts to it. This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. Commenting is limited to medical professionals. He had raised over US$100,000 for the organization as of January 2022. Not to be confused with, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, "The internet's funniest doctor is in on the joke", "Doctor who had testicular cancer twice in his 20s urges men to 'check yourself', "MD Class of 2022 Selects William Flanary, MD, (aka Dr. Glaucomflecken) as Its Commencement Speaker", "TikTok star Dr. Glaucomflecken uses humour as prescription in hard times", "How Dr Glaucomflecken Overcame Death to Get Internet Laughs", "How America Can Rebuild the Community Bonds It Needs to Face the Next Pandemic", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dr._Glaucomflecken&oldid=1141489996, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 09:24. May 23rd, 2022 In Praise of Dr. Glaucomflecken In the Ophthalmologist's Office, 1930. Each is deployed as a comedic foil for whatever point Flanary wants to make, whether a high-minded critique of prior authorization or a farcical look at how residency works. Ive gone from cutting up in front of my 6th-grade classmates to delivering keynote addresses around the world and entertaining an audience of millions online. A roundup of STAT's top stories of the day. "I would say it's been harder for my wife, in many ways.". Although they may not want to admit it, "powerless" is exactly how many medical professionals, patients, and their families often feel. Q: Do you ever get any flack from doctors? There are two things Ive always wanted to do in life: I started out as an amateur performing stand-up comedy in Houston, TX to sparsely attended comedy club open mics. You have to do it and live through the consequences.. Everything from social media to the patient experience to why cataract surgery isnt as bad as you think it is. Thats kind of the way it works with me with humor. He told CTV News in January 2022 that he still did not know the reason that he went into cardiac arrest. It actually allows us to be compassionate, she said in an interview. SURGEON reacts: Dr. Glaucomflecken trauma surgery on July 4th David Hindin, M.D. After he recovered again, their family was dealt another blow when Kristin awoke in the middle of the night to find her husband unresponsive, breathing irregularly and making strange noises. A: Were kind of boring. Kristin talked about how they are building a new version of normal, healing themselves with medicine, humor, advocacy. The cause for the heart attack remains a mystery. Hi, we are the Glock Flecking. That combined dedication to learning the inside details of medicine while practicing the outsider art of satire might explain what makes Dr. Glaucomflecken work. Q: Does your family think youre as funny as everyone else does? You've successfully added to your alerts. In the years since, Flanary has raised more than $50,000 for the organization. "People have weaponized the term 'professionalism,'" he says, and use it to enforce impossibly high standards and inhuman behavior among healthcare providers. And medical students are living in a special kind of hell, from match day to rotations. Is Homeostasis a Joke to You Water Bottle. My Dr. Flanary continued to recover, with the help of friends, family, and, of course, comedy. "He doesn't want people to feel bad for him, he doesn't want to wear his heart on his sleeve." At the time, Flanary told CTV News, "If Id known that it would turn into this I would have chosen an easier name to say. A: When I started med school at Dartmouth, everyone was assigned a random adviser, and my adviser was an ophthalmologist. Flanary, 36, has been on both sides of the stethoscope. And those are the ones where theres a lot of truth about a subject thats a little bit more sensitive people have a more of a reaction to it because they feel heard. Im fortunate to have this nice job that gives me a nice living thats always there, he said. The health care system is laden with power dynamics, and patients are at the bottom, he said, so I should never be perceived as making fun of patients, because thats not going to go OK., When things get a little more complicated, what it comes down to for me is: Do I believe that my ridicule of something is justified? he said. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. Product type. Then, on May 12, 2020, he went into cardiac arrest (not heart attack) and was saved by his wife, Kristin, who performed CPR. Since 2016 he has become well known for making and uploading medical satire skits on Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.[2]. Morning Forecast In 2016, he joined Twitter as Dr Glaucomflecken, and took to it like an eyeball to ocular fluid. Once at the hospital, he underwent hypothermia treatment, which involved cooling his body for 24 hours to reduce damage to the brain. How Dr Glaucomflecken Overcame Death to Get Internet Laughs, ED Doc Fired for COVID Tweets Talks to Biden, Returns to Job, Med Student's Cardiac Crisis a COVID-Era Medical Mystery, 'You Are the Heroes,' Comedians Tell Clinicians. Its wrong, but its also true, said the surgeon. As graduation approached, the couple seemed to be going in different directions literally. 1 credit a month to use on any title of your choiceyours to keep. Let's put an end of burnout. Morgan Housel, Written by: And theres this prevailing notion that doctors cant show who they really are. These are things medical students have experienced, that residents have experienced its all relatable.. In May 2020, he went into cardiac arrest in the middle of the night in his sleep, according to media reports. What is included with my Audible Premium Plus membership? The dispatcher, Lisa, led Kristin through 10 minutes of CPR as they waited for the paramedics to arrive. Flanary said he wants his peers to see themselves in his satire, to come away feeling like somebody understands. But he also hopes poking fun at the profession might help nudge doctors away from what can be a monastic self-regard. Related videos. Flanary is alive because his wife, Kristin, noticed his irregular breathing and performed CPR until an EMT could arrive and shock his heart back into regular function. Its my coping mechanism. Dr. Glaucomflecken said he didnt want to listen to her 911 call at first because it was too hard to hear. My "Dr. Glaucomflecken" alter ego began as a creative outlet to tell painfully specific ophthalmology jokes and to cope with my own health challenges.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. In the end, he went through with the surgery and underwent hormone replacement therapy. 6 months ago Why turning off anesthesia is more complicated than flipping a switch - Reaction to. He was diagnosed the first time in his third year of medical school and then a second time in his third year of residency, he said. You will receive email when new content is published. Ophthalmologist Portland | Dr.William E. Flanary | EHNPC Home Our Doctors William E. Flanary, M.D. I continued making content through the pandemic, a sudden cardiac arrest, and dozens of reports of people sleeping in their contact lenses with disastrous consequences. (Interestingly enough, I just saw Louis CK talk about this same thing on Joe Rogan's podcast). He was educated at Texas Tech University,[3] where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in cell and molecular biology. "Psychiatrist here," one woman tweeted in reply to the light roasting. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By
In the pre-op room before his second surgery, Kristin began looking for support groups for her husband. William E. Flanary, M.D. This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties. "I feel so heard.". Since then, it has evolved to incorporate satire of the US healthcare system, academic publishing, and the interpersonal conflicts that are pervasive in the medical system. Thats why I love building this Glaucomflecken General Hospital of characters, Flanary told STAT. Humor has seen him through the challenges of medical school and residency, as well as fatherhood, two bouts of testicular cancer, and, just last year, cardiac arrest. His pandemic content on vaccinations have garnered the most negative response but he tries not to pay too much attention to the angry comments and messages, he says. Whatever you want us to talk about, well be sure to make it engaging and leave your audience laughing. It kept me moving.". [2] Biography [ edit] That's funny, but it's kind of my passion Let's check out this video! Feb 10 2023 Length: 39 mins Podcast Listen for free View show details Summary Today for our 100th episode, Asif and Ali welcome back one of their most popular guests, Will Flannary aka social media star Dr. Glaucomflecken. Social media is a great way to show that side, because you can reach a big audience and it shows the public that we have things that suck about our job or that we hate health care, and it allows the general public to relate to us, and thats something thats been missing for a long, long time. Flanary says he never considered comedy a realistic career option. Dr. Glaucomflecken had the audience laughing as soon as he took the stage, resplendent in his TikTok-famous emergency physician costume. But Will's health problems didn't end there. What I think [Flanary] does well in general and perhaps why hes never been canceled is that his humor is typically one of two things: wholesome, or relatable to everybody within the medical community, said Sarah Mojarad, who teaches a course on social media for doctors and scientists at the University of Southern California. Kristin says. Better known as Dr. Glaucomflecken to the rest of the world, his humour has been a bright spot for his 1.3 million TikTok and 472.9K Twitter followers looking for a bit of levity amid the. I made one too many jokes, got sent to the principals office, and received a conduct report to be signed by my dad. Theyre also put to use in Flanarys tried-and-true format, dating back to the insurance video: pithy clips in which a reasonable person encounters a preposterous system, and comedy ensues. His idle hands first turned to Twitter, where hed amassed some 100,000 followers as @DGlaucomflecken, borrowing the German term for a glaucoma symptom because he wanted the most ridiculous word I could think of in ophthalmology. But soon he wasnt finding it as much of a challenge to be funny via text. That's part of why Dr Glaucomflecken started out as an anonymous account. By
Eleanor Cummins is a freelance journalist whose work runs the gamut of science. At the hospital, doctors put him into therapeutic hypothermia. Hello and welcome to Knock-Knock. "It gave me that relief and just a sense of joy that I hadn't had in a while," he says. While Kristin credits the hospital with saving her husband's life, she says she often felt overlooked and dismissed by those providing the care. Today, we're going to be doing a reaction video to Dr. Glaucomflecken's "Introducing the OB/GYN." Hi, I'm Doctor Rich, and my passion is to create silly videos you can watch and laugh. Benjamin Graham, Written by: Ive gotten the most backlash from family medicine/primary care doctors. Written by: "Your humor has helped me cope with a very grim time," wrote another fan. That's where he met his wife, Kristin, now 36 and the communications manager for the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Iowa. Lillian Gissen For Dailymail.Com. Dr. Glaucomflecken lists .
In 2014, after a transitional year in Chicago, the young family moved to Iowa City, where Flanary began his residency at the University of Iowa. What is an ophthalmologists personality? He then enrolled at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where he discovered his interest in ophthalmology. Learn More Dr. Glaucomflecken hasn't responded to me and probably won't. Go ahead and share this so he gets the message. She knows the trauma of being a co-survivor and uses her experience to advocate for compassion for patients and their families. "It was the dispatcher that I spoke to who recognized what was going on," Kristin says. To hear more, attend ReSS 2020: Survivorship at 9 a.m. Saturday. "Comedy is a way to assert some sort of power over a situation in which you feel powerless," Flanary says. And what Ive learned is that that is not the case at all. One of Flanarys most popular videos, which pokes fun at anesthesiologists, has over seven million views. Q: A lot of the doctors you portray have very specific personality traits. You know, youre just going to spiral and its gonna affect your real life outside of the internet, he said. Is Homeostasis a Joke to You Shirt. Babe Ruth, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan competing at their peaks. At first, Will wasn't sure what to do, since losing both of his testicles meant he would no longer be able to have children or make enough testosterone, which affects his ability to have sex. People want their doctors to seem like real people who are relatable.. Being funny was always meant to be a hobby rather than a vocation, but the surging popularity of Dr. Glaucomflecken has turned into a business in its own right. Dr. Glaucomflecken (@DGlaucomflecken) November 21, 2021. While still in his residency, Flanary was concerned his medical comedy would get him in trouble. Reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine, You've been selected! Dr. Glaucomflecken's real name is Will Flanary. That has gotten a lot better, but it took a few weeks to get there. A little tired, but thats pretty normal for us. He has two children now and is grateful his wife Kristin known on Twitter as Lady Glaucomflecken convinced him to start their family during medical school. Dr. Flanary is an ophthalmologist who specializes in satirizing the medical field with hilarious social media skits. If youre not familiar with the Glaucomfleckens, their actual names are Will and Kristin Flanary. "He's not very talkative, believe it or nothe's an introvert, he's pretty private, pretty independent," she says. To spiral and its gon na affect your real life outside of the stethoscope away! On Twitter, TikTok and YouTube. [ 2 ] somebody understands case at dr glaucomflecken heart attack cancer.! Pandemic had shuttered businesses around the country, including Flanarys private practice weeks to get there to light! 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