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Join us as we dive into the Healthcare Incentives Framework with internal medicine physician and health policy researcher Taylor J. Christensen. Discover how this innovative approach identifies barriers to high-value care and explores …
A framework to deliver higher-value care [PODCAST]
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more embedded in health care, the ability to accurately evaluate AI models is critical. In medical applications, where early diagnosis and anomaly detection are often key, selecting the right performance AI metrics can determine the clinical success or failure of AI tools. If a health care AI tool claims to predict disease risk or guide treatment options, it must be rigorously validated to ensure its …
Emergency medicine is one of the most challenging and rewarding specialties in health care. We are required to be clear-headed enough to make quick decisions while sleeping when we can, hugging our families while we can, and forming unshakable bonds with our colleagues over shared triumph and tragedy.
For many emergency physicians, these challenges come at the expense of their own health and well-being, yet we don’t see it. At least …
Emergency medicine: Balancing challenges, rewards, and well-being
I believe in forgiveness and not hating anyone, no matter what. But, ultimately, we are all human. I believe in karma, and we should not hurt or push people to their limits so much that they become damaged beyond repair. I’ve seen cruel people end up in miserable lives. Some people excel at concealing their sorrows, while others struggle. But we indeed reap what we sow. Those who are cruel …
Forgiveness: Why it’s the hardest and most rewarding act of humanity
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Join us as we delve into the transformative potential of AI medical scribes in health care with family nurse practitioner Erica Dorn. Discover how this technology is reshaping clinical workflows, improving work-life balance, …
Can AI medical scribes solve clinician burnout? [PODCAST]
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir.
Doctoring in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, I met Mrs. Snoop, a new patient at the clinic. She is 38 years old. Her chief complaint, according to her husband, is “not wanting to have sex.” He speaks on her behalf, sitting in the corner in grease-spattered overalls and heavy work boots.
On examination, Mrs. Snoop …
How a doctor’s clever approach restored a life—and a marriage
Long COVID is real. For millions of people who contracted COVID-19, recovery has been a long and uncertain road. While many regained their health in weeks, others continue to face persistent symptoms and health problems for months or even years after the acute infection. Patients, caregivers, and clinicians alike have named this condition “long COVID,” while scientists often refer to it as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC).
The long-term effects of …
Long COVID and sleep: an urgent call to action
The recently growing attention to the burnout crisis in health care has begun a much-overdue conversation. However, the discussion has thus far been focused primarily on physicians and nurses and has not yet considered the larger health care team enduring the same environments. This includes receptionists, pharmacy assistants, medical scribes, personal support workers (PSWs), rehabilitation support workers (RSWs), and many more. These are the unregistered health care personnel (HCPs) that …
The burnout crisis runs deeper than you think
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We explore the critical role of early intervention programs in supporting children with developmental delays. Pediatrician Maria Mba Wright shares insights into recognizing red flags like poor joint attention, navigating therapy options, and …
How early intervention changes the game for children with developmental delays [PODCAST]
Recently, consumer articles heralded that blood tests for detecting Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) and many cancers were close to clinical availability. Given the narrow window in which AD must be diagnosed for present treatments to be effective, and questions regarding the utility of early cancer detection, will these tests provide any patient advantage?
Presently, there are two medications to treat AD. Neither is curative, but they slow disease progress by about five …
Are new blood tests for Alzheimer’s and cancer worth the hype?
Around Christmas time every year, The BMJ publishes lighthearted feature articles and original, peer-reviewed research intended to ease physicians into the holiday season and help them escape the drudgery of practice. The 2024 collection of articles is no exception, with enticing papers like “How to transport a polar bear, and other idiosyncrasies in providing emergency medical services in the Arctic” and “Living happily ever after? The hidden health risks of Disney princesses.”
My favorite …
AI’s cognitive gap: Why human doctors remain irreplaceable
Society is obsessed with weight loss. Part of my brain is, too, albeit I am well aware that there will be no number low enough on the scale to satisfy that part of me.
Anorexia nervosa is a poorly understood and mismanaged condition from my perspective as a health care professional and patient with lived experience. Society seems to glorify anorexia, and people compliment what may often be maladaptive behaviors (such …
Society is obsessed with weight loss
Kim Downey:
Pulling into my driveway, I grabbed a handful of envelopes from the mailbox, one of which was from my doctor’s office. I could tell it wasn’t a bill, and I became anxious. Upon opening it, I was relieved to find that it wasn’t about my doctor leaving his practice or that anything had happened to him. Rather, it was a notification that another doctor I’d seen once was leaving. …
Long-term impacts of physician suicide on patients and doctors
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We’re joined by Diane W. Shannon, an internal medicine physician and physician coach, to explore the hard lessons of career sustainability and the importance of intentional self-care. Drawing from personal experience and years …
Lessons in career sustainability: Why self-care is the key to success [PODCAST]
The waiting area in Kayla’s (name changed) practice was so peaceful that I felt better just sitting there. I had come to receive acupuncture treatments and didn’t quite know what to expect. While I sat and waited for Kayla to lead me back to a treatment room, I looked around. There were flowers on an end table next to a blue wooden bench. On the wall, there was a huge …
Acupuncture helped when nothing else did
Charting: It’s a word that can make even the most seasoned clinician’s shoulders tense.
In my journey as the nurse practitioner charting coach, I’ve uncovered the shared struggles clinicians face with charting overload, which is why I now teach nurse practitioners actionable strategies to regain control of the charting process and restore their work-life balance. This article will dive into the impact of charting overload on clinicians and practical steps you …
How to combat charting overload
A response to “The overwhelming reality of primary care: Why doctors still persevere.”
I am a primary care patient in a rural area of a western state, and I have not seen the same physician or other provider more than two or three times in the past 20 years.
I am a primary care patient, and I have 10 minutes to explain my entire medical history, including my neurologic, musculoskeletal, and …
What 10 minutes reveal about the broken health care system in rural America
Before children (B.C.), life was completely different. I had the kind of freedom I didn’t even realize I had. I could decide, on a whim, to go out for dinner, catch a late movie, or simply lie in bed doing absolutely nothing (well, that part rarely happened as I was too busy either in school or thinking about work). I could stay up late, not because I had to, but …
They thought motherhood would break you, and you almost agreed
Imagine if headlines proclaimed, “X-ray sees what doctors can’t” or “Lab test outperforms physicians’ clinical gestalt.” Absurd, right? You can recognize how such claims distort the role these tools play in health care. So why do current narratives surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) sound so similar?
We’ve all seen the sensational headlines: “AI chatbots defeated doctors at diagnosing illness” or “Using AI to detect breast cancer that doctors miss.” These …
AI hype could undermine its real potential in health care
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Join us as we talk with Gillian Burkhardt, an obstetrician-gynecology physician currently on assignment with Doctors Without Borders in South Darfur. We explore the devastating impact of the ongoing conflict in Sudan, which …
How conflict in Sudan is impacting women and children [PODCAST]
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