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A Doctor’s Intuition Lost And Found

An illustration featuring the word "Embodied" in bold teal letters at the top. Below it, two overlapping human silhouettes face the same direction — one in black and the other in white — both within a single outline. Black directional lines swirl around and through the heads.
Charnel Hunter

Two doctors describe the role of intuition in medical decision-making as a case study into the mysterious power of this unquantifiable form of knowledge.

Doctors are expected to make high-stakes decisions quickly and often. And while plenty of medical guidelines exist, sometimes finding the right answer relies on intuition as much as logic. So what happens when suddenly that intuition is gone?

, a retired anesthesiologist, found out the answer to that question about halfway through his 28-year career.

“ Usually as an anesthesiologist, I worked along a narrow groove, turned out the cases, made snap decisions with confidence,” Ronald said. “But now I [sensed] some kind of inner harmony was gone.”

Ronald tells Anita about why intuition is so important for decision making, and what lessons we can all take away from the story of how he lost his intuition and got it back. Ronald is a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.

Anita also talks to her brother-in-law, , about training intuition in the next generation of doctors and how technology may be changing the ways we relate to intuition. Amit is a gastroenterologist and an assistant professor of medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Read the transcript

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Kaia Findlay is the lead producer of Embodied, վ's weekly podcast and radio show about sex, relationships and health. Kaia first joined the վ team in 2020 as a producer for The State of Things.
Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.
Wilson Sayre is վ's Director of Digital Content leading our podcasting strategy and initiatives. She has worn many hats in the audio world as an editor, producer, consultant and team lead. Wilson was Managing Producer at Pushkin (previously Transmitter Media) where she helped launch shows like Am I Normal, the TED Interview and The Heist. Before that, she served as Executive Producer at Capitol Broadcasting Company and lead reporter for The City podcast from USA Today. Prior to that, she covered social safety net programs at WLRN, Miami's NPR member station. There, she founded the station's youth radio program. Wilson's work has been recognized by the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize and national Edward R. Murrow Awards. Wilson grew up in North Carolina and enjoys playing banjo and eating chocolate, usually not at the same time.
Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other վ shows including Tested and CREEP.