Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast

I have a confession to make. I kind of felt that to talk about money or to be really into financial planning was akin to being the Wolf of Wall Street, where the only real principle was how much money I could make. After this week’s conversation with Dr. Mark Soth, I think of financial planning in a completely different way. In fact, I would argue that Dr. Soth provided on this episode some of the best advice on how to live in a truly fulfilling way.
Dr. Soth is an intensivist at McMaster University. He has done significant work in the space of physician financial independence. He has a website called The Loonie Doctor as well as a limited run podcast called The Money Scope podcast. In this episode I basically ask Mark all the finance related questions I could think of, ranging from the utility of professional corporations in 2026 to tools for financial tracking. Most importantly, Mark explores how financial planning can help us all to life “the good life”. 
Check out all the resources and links from Mark in the show notes. 

Links:
The Wealthy Barber
The Money Scope Podcast 
The Loonie Doctor's Bookshelf : Mark’s favorite finance books
beyond MD podcast with Dr. Yatin Chadha
Breaking Bad Debt - Dr. Steph - YouTube
Reboot Your Portfolio by Dan Bortolotti

While we hope that none of  us “botch a surgery”, medico-legal concerns are issues that affect most surgeons at some point in their careers. Previously on the podcast, Dr. Richard Mimeault and Liise Honey spoke to us about the landscape of medico-legal concerns in surgery, and the anatomy of a lawsuit. In this episode, we talk about the CMPA's innovative approach to try to prevent errors from happening in the first place. Richard Mimeault and Elisabeth Normand join us to talk about "Theatre Arts", a workshop developed by the CMPA to help OR teams improve the quality of the care, and most importantly, improve the culture and dynamics of the team. In this episode we talk about the Theatre Arts workshop and how improving culture may have profound impacts on patient safety and satisfaction. 
Links:
Theatre Arts workshop: https://www.cmpa-acpm.ca/en/education-events/workshops/workshop-theatre-arts
CMPA x Cold Steel on Medicolegal risks for surgeons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mkw68prEP0
CMPA x Cold Steel – the Anatomy of a Lawsuit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRUh95LauFw 
Contact the CMPA: https://www.cmpa-acpm.ca/en/connect/contact-us

Dr. Varun Kapila is a vascular surgeon in Brampton, Ontario. He is the author of “Six Lessons for Everyday Leadership: From the Operating Room Into Everyday Life, What Surgery Taught Me About Leadership That Can Be Applied by Everyone”. In this episode we delve into Dr. Kapila’s thoughts on leadership and why everyone can be a leader in their own lives.
Links:
https://www.amazon.ca/Six-Lessons-Everyday-Leadership-Operating-ebook/dp/B0GQWHNYFS 
https://learn.hms.harvard.edu/insights/learner-stories/driving-system-level-change-through-surgical-leadership 
https://ontariohealth.ca/clinical/cardiac-stroke-vascular/abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-program
https://www.cmaj.ca/content/196/4/E112 
https://www.thestar.com/news/hes-not-young-hes-my-doctor/article_bcec69e9-2822-54cf-bed1-c2322cefc558.html

For a newly graduated surgical resident, one of the most interesting and perplexing question that many folks have to deal with is a surprisingly simple one: what should a full-time surgical job look like? For many of us, we simply looked at what our predecessors job looked like, and modeled our own careers after them. This meant ensuring that our schedules were jam-packed with clinical activities every day, without much consideration for other aspects of our career (such as call and research, for example).
At the beginning of March, the American College of Surgeons released a framework of standards of what they think reasonable expectations are for a surgeon’s job. We have the link to the paper in the shownotes. The ACS is the one of the largest surgical organizations in North America, and this standard framework they have put out is really a statement on what they think is necessary to ensure that surgeons have a sustainable career. They put out standards for call, access to the OR, access to clinic, resource access, inpatient census, clinical support, and even fatigue mitigation.
Dr. Pat Murphy, trauma and acute care surgeon at the Medical College of Wisconsin, was a previous guest on the show to talk about his work trying to define what a full time acute care surgeon should look like. He actually brought this framework to our attention, and we invited him to join us once again on Cold Steel to discuss the implications of such a framework.
We would love to hear your thoughts. Send us an email at [email protected], or find us on X (@colsteelpod, @ameerfarooq & @pbatesmurphy)
Resources from this episode:
Wood, Douglas E MD, FACS, FRCSEd; Wolinsky, Philip R MD, FACS2; Dodgion, Christopher M MD, MSPH, MBA, FACS3; Farmer, Diana Lee MD4; Gantt, Nancy L MD, FACS5; Napolitano, Lena M MD, FACS, MAMSE6; Timmons, Shelly D MD, PhD, FACS. FAANS7; Welsh, David J MD, MBA, FACS8; Winfield, Robert D MD, FACS9; Bura, Connie BA10; Essig, Rachael MD11; Turner, Patricia L MD, MBA, FACS10. Developing Specialty-Specific Workplace Standards for Surgeons: A Framework to Support Sustainable Surgical Careers. Journal of the American College of Surgeons ():10.1097/XCS.0000000000001880, March 03, 2026. | DOI: 10.1097/XCS.0000000000001880
https://www.facs.org/for-medical-professionals/news-publications/news-and-articles/acs-brief/march-3-2026-issue/acs-releases-workplace-standards-framework-to-support-sustainable-surgical-careers/
Pat Murphy on Cold Steel: https://www.canjsurg.ca/content/e184-pat-murphy-workforce-planning-acute-care-surgery
https://calnewport.com/

Paul Fedak is a cardiac surgeon and translational scientist at the University of Calgary. He has written and spoken about what it means to pursue excellence and what it might cost us. Dr. Fedak unexpectedly had to cut short his clinical career as a surgeon due to spinal cord issues. The result has been a powerful exploration about identity, meaning, burnout and the pursuit of excellence. This is a conversation about that pursuit.
Bio: https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/paul-fedak 
Links:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-as-a-heart-surgeon-i-chased-excellence-it-cost-me-my-body-and-my-mind/
http://paulfedak.com/
https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_fedak_beyond_mastery_how_a_heart_surgeon_found_his_own_heart
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-the-mountain-decides-who-goes-and-who-stays