There’s more than just being book smart to being successful.
New Jersey native Dr. Rajesh Geria has a focus in urgent care medicine and provides care through Brunswick Urgent Care, in Brunswick, New Jersey.
Dr. Rajesh Geria went abroad for medical school and completed his emergency medicine residency at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. After finishing his residency, he worked as an attending physician at Christiana Care Health systems in Delaware and completed his fellowship in emergency ultrasound.
In 2006, Dr. Rajesh Geria joined the department of emergency medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and was part of the faculty for 10 years. He was assistant professor and director of emergency ultrasound, creating a fellowship in emergency ultrasound. He also did some consulting work with ultrasound companies, helping to streamline machine design to better serve the Emergency Medicine workflow model. In 2016, he was elected to the New Jersey ACEP, American College of Emergency Physicians board of directors.
He is a football fan and enjoys playing fantasy football. Dr. Rajesh Geria also enjoys spending time with family, photography, reading and listening to music.
Where did the idea for your company come from?
During medical school clinical rotations, I witnessed Emergency Physicians working as a team to perform life saving procedures on trauma victims. I was able to assist with some of these procedures as well as many others including laceration repair and reduction of dislocated joints. I loved the fast-paced and unpredictable nature of the Emergency Department.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
My work day is typically 13-hour shifts. I have to stay efficient and on-point with patients in order to keep the wait times down, especially during peak times in the morning and evening. I am usually the only provider in the morning but joined by a PA or NP in the afternoon. Sometimes the PA or NP can take care of complicated time-consuming procedures while I keep the rest of the urgent care moving seeing the less complex cases. Staying productive is teamwork. At least three cups of coffee a day help, too.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I usually come up with a vision and then begin doing intense research on it. I write down my ideas and develop a timeline to bring it to reality. My research includes internet searches and networking with others that have done similar things. I remember wanting to get a puppy last summer. I have grown up with dogs since I was two years old, but my wife was the opposite and always skeptical we could bring one into our home. I began researching breeds, joining social media groups of the breed I wanted, talking to breeders based on recommendations, and building a pro and con list of bringing a dog into our home including a cost analysis of the first year. I had my kids write essays of why they wanted a puppy and we all presented this to my wife one day. She agreed with the plan and the rest is history!
What’s one trend that excites you?
Patients are getting frustrated because they are unable to get quick appointments with their primary care doctor or specialist and don’t want to wait around in the ER for minor problems like colds, urinary infections and bruises. Insurance companies are also throwing a wrench in the mix by telling patients their ER visits may not be covered if they are going for symptoms that should be handled in an urgent care. This makes urgent care centers a critical access point for parents to get the care they need whenever they want.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Probably my daily coffee, it keeps me focused. I leave the house 30 minutes before I need to be at work, which is only about five minutes away. It gives me the time to get the coffee and open the office and get focused for the day.
What advice would you give your younger self?
The advice I give my kids is that there’s more than just being book smart to being successful. You need to be able to network, it’s so important. You need to have conversations with different people about all types of things. Be a more well-rounded person.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
There are hobbies like fantasy football that can actually bring people together in this day and age of technology and life that causes folks to drift apart. While you’re interacting initially because of the sport, you end up talking about life in general and possibly make a new connection with someone.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I check in with my kids every day. Before my shift, after. Checking to see how things went for them that day. It helps us stay connected.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
I would say going to conferences every year. Learning about new trends and keeping my skills fresh. Networking with colleagues leads to professional development and opens doors to many new opportunities.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Probably not getting reimbursed for procedures in urgent care. Focus on better documentation and coding has helped this significantly.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
We all deal with trying to figure out a way to clean up the photos on our mobile devices. Many of us take duplicate photos to ensure we get the best shot but many of these are exactly the same taking up valuable memory. Building an app that will auto delete duplicate photos the moment they are detected from our phone camera roll could be an amazing thing.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
A private tennis lesson for my son that ultimately led to a strong relationship with a new coach and tremendous development of his game.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
An app, PDF Expert. It basically converts any Word document to a PDF and vice versa. You have the ability to put a digital signature on things, so any forms I need to sign I can sign on my phone. They can then be emailed in any format.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“In Shock” by Dr. Rana Awdish. It’s about a physician who suffered a catastrophic medical event that led to prolonged hospital stay and multiple surgeries. She gives unique insight into what it feels like for a doctor to be a patient. It reminds of the challenges I had to overcome when my lung collapsed three times in college. I had to be hospitalized multiple times and underwent several surgeries. I remember wanting to give up on my dream of becoming a doctor many times but stayed focused on my goals and found ways to succeed.
What is your favorite quote?
“When something is important enough you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” It’s one of my favorites and it’s by Elon Musk.
Key Learnings:
- Teamwork is needed to get things done in the medical field.
- Urgent care facilities are growing faster now than ever.
- There’s more than just being book smart to being successful.
Connect:
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.