The EQ Prescription

Put Yourself First to Thrive in Health Care

Available anywhere books are sold on October 7, 2025

About the Book

Everyone in health care—clinicians, nurses, and students—have worked too hard, made too many sacrifices, spent too many hours and too much money training to not fully enjoy their wonderful professions while delivering their best patient care. Instead, they burnout or leave their positions prematurely because of the inevitable and inescapable pain points that are inherent in the health-care system. What’s the remedy? The EQ Prescription.

In his book, certified endocrinologist and emotional intelligence specialist Dr. Mickey Lebowitz, with forty years of diverse health-care experiences, enlightens you on how to put yourself first to thrive in health care. He combines two known concepts, emotional intelligence and the Zone, into one unique paradigm, the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Zone. This practical structure and strategy is simple, easily learnable, and usable in real time, especially when the heat is on and the stressors are high. And in health care, they’re always high.

Dr. Mickey guides you through the intricacies of the Zone and emotional intelligence and, using stories, anecdotes, data, self-reflections, and practical exercises, details how to better navigate your zone and the zone of others. The benefits of doing so are enormous: better decision-making, stronger relationships, feelings of accomplishment and job satisfaction, greater patient satisfaction and outcomes, enhanced leadership and organizational culture, and less risk of malpractice and burnout. If you want to enjoy your health-care profession fully and deservedly, be your best delivering patient care, not burnout or leave practice early, The EQ Prescription is written specifically for you.

Available October 7, 2025

Losing My Patience: Why I Quit the Medical Game

I wrote Losing My Patience from the perspective of a clinician in the trenches seeing patients all day every day to let the world know how sick our health-care system is and how it profoundly and negatively impacts my team of physicians who, despite the ailing system, are desperately trying to do what we were trained to do, i.e., deliver great patient care. The other health-care team of payers, pharma, politicians, and prosecutors are dominating our team, making practicing medicine unpleasant and unsustainable. Beaten down, broken up, and, frankly, burned out, I lost my patience and left my private practice of medicine after 17 years. My story is the story of so many of my colleagues. It needs to be told to let those who organize, oversee, and administer health care recognize and understand that not everything is okay. Physician burnout is epidemic, and dissatisfaction is high, resulting in many, like me, leaving practice prematurely at a time when our population is aging and requiring more care. While the other team might be winning, the system and especially the patients that we serve are losing. This is a critical time in American health care, and, unfortunately, what I wrote back in 2009 is still relevant and even worse today. Therefore, with the desire to still play for my health-care team, albeit from a different position on the field, I wrote The EQ Prescription to assist my colleague clinicians, nurses, and students manage the dysfunctional system until it can be healed.

Praise for The EQ Prescription

Dr. Lebowitz brilliantly adds to the compelling discussion as to why patients come second. A must read for everyone in health care who will absolutely benefit greatly by adhering to the valuable prescription to put themselves first.

This book is a master class for all health-care professionals. The real-life experiences and takeaways for clinicians, nurses, and students capture the essence of health care today and its future. As a nurse for many years, I saw myself in many of the examples and will besure I stay in the Zone. This book challenges you to reflect on becoming more self-aware, recognizing emotions in others so you can build stronger relationships.

The EQ Prescription is a timely and essential guide for anyone navigating the emotional complexities of a career in health care. Dr. Lebowitz offers a practical and empowering framework to help clinicians, educators, and students stay grounded, resilient, and effective even amid the stressors that define our profession. Through the lens of the EQ Zone, he reframes wellness as not just a personal goal but a clinical imperative. This book will change how health-care professionals think about self-management and emotional performance in the workplace, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

The EQ Prescription is a timely and essential guide for anyone navigating the emotional complexities of a career in health care. Dr. Lebowitz offers a practical and empowering framework to help clinicians, educators, and students stay grounded, resilient, and effective even amid the stressors that define our profession. Through the lens of the EQ Zone, he reframes wellness as not just a personal goal but a clinical imperative. This book will change how health-care professionals think about self-management and emotional performance in the workplace, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

The EQ Prescription is a powerful guide for staying grounded in the demanding world of health care. Dr. Lebowitz distills complex emotional intelligence concepts into practical tools that help clinicians, nurses and students thrive—improving team dynamics and patient care.

It was a treat to read The EQ Prescription. I loved the premise of the EQ Zone. The concept is easy to grasp, and best of all, the ‘prescription’ can be used immediately. The writing is excellent, easy to read, and gets right to the point, a real bonus for clinicians, nurses, and students in health care who may have limited time. In writing this book, Dr. Lebowitz shares his genuine passion and deep caring for those who deliver health care and describes why it is so important and beneficial to put yourself first and that patients come second.

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About Dr. Mickey

Mickey Lebowitz, originally from Brooklyn, New York, is a graduate of SUNY—Oswego (magna cum laude and student athlete of the year) and Upstate Medical University and a board-certified endocrinologist/diabetologist (Fellow, American College of Endocrinology). He has worked in a physician-owned practice, as an employed physician, in the VA system, and currently as an endocrine hospitalist. He spent seven years as a hospital-based senior medical quality director and is currently a chief medical officer at a health-care transportation company. He’s an educator, serving as the medical director of a physician assistant program in upstate New York, and an author whose first book, Losing My Patience, was published in 2009. Through Six Seconds, he is a certified assessor, practitioner, facilitator, and coach in emotional intelligence (EQ), coaching clinicians, nurses, and health-care students on leadership, professionalism, and interpersonal relationships. He has given countless presentations and workshops on EQ locally and nationally and is in the process of publishing his research on the impact of EQ on his PA programs’ students. He has been on the list of Best Doctors in America, is an honoree of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (Breakthrough T1D), and has received awards for preceptor and resident teaching, community service for educating health-care professionals on wellness and burnout, dedication and loyalty to the medical profession, and excellence in health-care education, as well as the NYSSPA Physician Advocate of the Year award.

Dr. Mickey is most proud of being married to his wonderful wife since 1982, having two fabulous children with awesome spouses and three precious granddaughters, whom he is in love with, head over heels. For fun he likes to exercise by walking, biking, hiking, swimming, and kayaking. He loves traveling, writing songs, and rapping (yes, rapping!) and volunteers heavily in his faith and secular community, and he is a FANatic rooting for his favorite teams.

See Dr. Mickey in Action!

Put Yourself First Using the EQ Zone: Self- and Relationship Management, Self-Direction, and Empathy

Discover how emotional intelligence can transform your ability to lead, connect, and thrive. In this engaging talk, Dr. Mickey Lebowitz blends humor, stories, and practical tools to help you stay grounded and effective. Perfect for health-care professionals and anyone navigating high-stress environments.

Reinventing Health Care with Dr. Mickey Lebowitz

During this Spirit of EQ podcast, host Eric Pennington explores the critical role of emotional intelligence in health care and discusses the challenges faced by both physicians and patients in today’s complex health-care landscape. Main takeaways:

Boost patient trust and outcomes with emotional intelligence: Physicians with high EQ communicate more effectively, motivate patients, and drive better health results.
Combat burnout to protect care quality: Addressing stressors like high caseloads and systemic challenges helps prevent burnout and ensures better care for all.
Empower patients through shared responsibility: When individuals take charge of their health and stay informed, organized, and proactive, the care becomes more efficient and impactful.

Focus on Patient Safety: Just Say “HAC NO”! Rap Music Video

All work and no play makes this extraordinary group of doctors very stressed out. To bring light, fun, and creative energy to the hospital, Dr. Mickey and this “gang” wrote and produced this music video.

Caring for Yourself First: The Value of the Emotional Intelligence Zone in Health Care

Dr. Mickey Lebowitz presents the concept of the Emotional Intelligence Zone, which blends emotional intelligence principles with resilience strategies to help health-care professionals manage stress, improve relationships, and prevent burnout.

Cultivating self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and self-direction empowers clinicians to stay grounded under pressure, make better decisions, and align their actions with personal and professional purpose.

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Contact Dr. Mickey

if you are interested in contacting Dr. Mickey for speaking engagements, keynote addresses, interactive workshops, 1:1 or team coaching or to learn more about services please fill out this form and get in touch.