Welcome to Unscrubbed.
The first episode of the practice podcast. Dr Coory and his subspecialty-trained nurse practitioner Jake introduce the show — the combined-clinic model, the questions patients actually ask in the rooms, and what we are going to do with this conversation.
Watch Episode 1 (above) — or read the long-form companion below.
What Unscrubbed is.
Unscrubbed is the practice podcast hosted by Dr Joe Coory and Jake, the subspecialty-trained nurse practitioner who works alongside Dr Coory inside the combined clinic at Sunshine Coast Orthopaedic Group. The format is straightforward: the two of us, on the record, working through the questions patients actually ask in the consulting room — and the questions referring GPs and physiotherapists most often raise.
The conversation has been happening behind the consulting-room door for years. Unscrubbed is the version we are willing to record, edit, and put up where anyone can rewatch it before, during, or after their own consultation.
Why a surgeon and a nurse practitioner.
The single most consistent feature of the consultations that go well is that the patient has spent meaningful time with both the surgeon and a senior clinician who is not the surgeon — in our practice, the nurse practitioner. The surgeon's job is the diagnosis, the operative decision, the operation, and the recovery plan. The nurse practitioner's job is everything that wraps around it: the unhurried history, the second explanation in the patient's own words, the practical questions about sleeping in a sling and getting back to work, the calls in the weeks after surgery, the early signs that something is not tracking.
The two roles are not interchangeable. They are designed to be complementary. The Clinical Experience page describes how this works inside the rooms; this podcast is the equivalent conversation — the same two people, the same combined-clinic logic, in a format the patient can listen to in the car.
What we are going to talk about.
The shape of the show as it stands:
- The questions patients actually ask. Not the questions the textbooks ask — the ones that come up at the end of a consultation when the patient takes a breath and says "actually, the thing I really wanted to ask…". Sleeping after a cuff repair. Driving in a sling. What the operation actually feels like in the first week. When you are allowed to lift the dog into the car.
- The decisions that aren't obvious. When you do not need an operation. When a rotator cuff repair is worth the wait. When a shoulder replacement is the right answer at 60 and the wrong answer at 75. When physiotherapy is the treatment, not the prelude.
- The bits of the system patients have to navigate. Insurance, WorkCover, MBS, gap fees, hospital choice, the surgical-assist conversation, the anaesthetist conversation. These are not glamorous and they are not always well-explained. Jake spends a substantial part of his week on this side of the work.
- What is changing in shoulder and upper-limb surgery. Honestly — what is new that is worth the conversation, what is old that is still right, what is being marketed that is not yet proven.
What this episode is not.
Unscrubbed is not clinical advice. It is patient education and a behind-the-scenes look at how the practice actually thinks — designed to be useful before, during, and after a consultation, not in place of one. The clinical decisions for your specific shoulder belong inside the consulting room with your imaging in front of us. If you are scheduled for a consultation and Unscrubbed has answered a question, bring the timestamp to the appointment — that gives the consultation a head start.
Where the podcast lives.
Each episode appears on YouTube on the Unscrubbed channel; the long-form companion (this kind of post) lives here on the Insights index. The audio is available the same way as the video — pick whichever fits the moment. We will keep an episode list updated as we go.
Episode list
- Ep 1 · Welcome to Unscrubbed The format, the combined-clinic logic, and the questions patients actually ask. You are here.
- Ep 2 · AI in Medicine with Panacea AI The AI medical scribe, radiology, decision support, and the AHPRA framework →
- Ep 3 · Healthcare Hot Topics Round-up — GP workforce, Medicare, private health, hospital pay, AI in practice →
If this is useful, tell us what we missed.
Patient questions and referrer suggestions are genuinely welcome — the show works better when the topic list comes from the people we are talking to. The contact form at drjoecoory.com.au/contact/ reaches both Jake and Joe.
Related on this site
- The Clinical Experience — the combined-clinic model that the podcast format mirrors
- Before I look at your imaging — the consultation as the first treatment
- The full video library
- Suggest a topic for Unscrubbed