pt pintcast

Level Up Your Career with Zach Gabor of the Level Up Initiative

Zach Gabor runs The Level up Initiative an online educational company focusing on freemium mentorship focusing on critical thinking and communication skills.

Zak Gabor is a practicing PT for Boston PT and Wellness, and is also the founder of The Level Up Initiative, an online educational platform that focuses on improving student and new graduates critical thinking and communication skills. Their premier product is a “Freemium” mentorship that runs twice a year, and has around 400 enrollees per cohort! Visit thelevelupinitiative.com for more details.

* – Using a free mentorship platform as a trojan horse for academic reform* – The importance of critical thinking and intellectual humility as core values of the healthcare industry* – How strong critical thinking and communication skills translate into truly effective clinical practice

1. The elephant in the room – academic reform. We all know the boards are teaching to outdated concepts, we all know we need to do better. But it is not so simple to restructure deeply rooted academic tradition. How can we move the needle forward in a collaborative, constructive, and meaningful way? We have some ideas…

2. Critical thinking and intellectual humility as a key core value for the healthcare industry. Unfortunately, our own cognitive inflexibility has in part contributed to the current healthcare mess we are in. We hold ideas and even if those ideas are challenged with robust evidence, we have been un able to let go of deeply rooted dogmas despite the evidence it can have a negative impact on healthcare delivery. How do we truly practice intellectual humility?

3. How does critical thinking and communication translate into clinical excellence? Well I will put it simply. A truly effective clinician should be able to truly listen, connect, and synthesize information to create an informed plan of care. If you are up to date with your clinical understandings and frameworks, and pair that with a strong ability to influence and inspire your patients to take action…well, that’s powerful, and pretty much all you need. And will also set you up to be a BEAST with telehealth. I would ask the question: do we really NEED manual therapy as our premier service we provide? 

These speak to pain points that a lot of students and new grads feel but don’t always openly discuss because it is taboo to speak up against deeply rooted institutions and beliefs.

* It can transform healthcare* It can decrease clinician burn out.* It can set up to be successful and more flexible in the future when things change.