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Who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to them anyway.

Physician

August 21, 2021

But seriously, who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to researchers or pay attention to the warnings. The world is burning up with record ground-breaking temperatures. These so-called scientists predicted these warnings decades ago, with great details. Who do they think they are? They got lucky! They are fear mongers and not to be believed. Look at the fake media! Landslides, earthquakes, fires, flooding, drought, and the list goes …

Why this physician and her husband almost divorced

Dr. Bethany Boulton

Physician

August 20, 2021

My husband and I recently had a bit of a wobble in our marriage. In truth, it was more than a wobble, and it had been building for years. I am pleased to say that we have traversed the turbulence. Not only are we once again sailing in smooth waters, but we are sailing in more idyllic waters than ever before.

Why did it happen?

For so many reasons, but I need …

The Delta variant is a monster and our last weapon is the unvaccinated

Anita Vijayakumar, MD

Conditions

August 19, 2021

Oh, how the tide has turned. Three months ago, COVID was ravaging my homeland, India. The Delta variant was burning through the country like an uncontrolled wildfire. People carted dying relatives town to town, desperately seeking hospital beds or a whiff of oxygen. A cousin in India said, “COVID is not taking lives, just the beds. Lack of oxygen is taking lives.”

I watched India’s suffering unfold and felt guilty for …

Debunking common virtual therapy myths and 4 tips for new patients

Sara Smucker Barnwell, PhD

Conditions

August 19, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred an avalanche of mental health issues that have continued to plague the general public over the last 18 months – with the full impact from lingering quarantines, prolonged social distancing, and now the fear over the unknowns of new variants. In fact, nearly 70 percent of working adults say this has been the most stressful time period of their lives.

Fortunately, along with the unprecedented surge …

A neurosurgeon’s lessons on love, loss, and compassion [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 18, 2021

“Dehumanizing patients can lead to indifference in physicians. It is a privilege to be trusted to take care of every patient we encounter, yet we can lose sight of this and begin to see our patients as a burden, or as units of work, rather than as individuals. When individual …

4 reasons you need a credit card in medical school

Tod Stillson, MD

Finance

August 18, 2021

My son is a fourth-year medical student, and we have had some great discussions about credit cards recently, including their benefits. I believe this information would be helpful for all medical students to consider.

As a student my son once preferred to use a debit card or cash to keep his expenses controlled. This financially conservative approach is what he was taught during his young adult days in our home. Avoidance …

Ageism and the mid-career physician

Nathan Kemalyan, MD

Physician

August 17, 2021

Four years ago, I was ready to throw in the towel. I practiced for 22 years in a large metropolitan hospital, became very involved in resident education, clinical program directorship, medical staff affairs, in addition to a busy hospital-based surgical practice. I watched as the environment of care for clinicians and the quality of the relationship between the medical staff and system administration steadily deteriorated.

My small, single-specialty surgical group merged …

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Ageism and the mid-career physician

Is it ethical to force unvaccinated patients to use telehealth only?

Jacob M. Appel, MD, JD, MPH

Physician

August 17, 2021

COVID-19 has raised many ethical challenges for health care providers, including the level of risk they must take when providing patient care. Early in the pandemic, the ability to mitigate these risks was relatively limited, especially when caring for hospitalized patients. Shortages of personal protective equipment rendered mitigation even more challenging.

As a result, it has been reported that 3,607 frontline health care workers died of COVID-19 in the U.S. from …

How to make LGBTQ+ patients feel welcome during in-person and virtual doctor’s visits

Ian Tong, MD

Physician

August 16, 2021

Although Pride Month is over, awareness and advocacy for equity among the LGBTQ+ community must continue to be prioritized. This is especially important in health care settings. Many LGBTQ+ people feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in doctors’ offices, and more than 40 percent have experienced discrimination in health care environments. As a result, LGBTQ+ people postpone or avoid care at a rate that is 2-3x greater than the broader U.S. population. …

I’m vaccinated and positive for COVID-19

Alison Yarp, MD, MPH

Conditions

August 16, 2021

I just tested positive for COVID-19.

I was vaccinated earlier this year.

I am scared.

I am confident I will get through this.

I received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine earlier this year, and I just tested positive for COVID-19. It’s almost comical that I am positive now. I worked as a resident physician in the hospital from the beginning, during the first surge, and through August 2020. Since then, I have been …

Doctors are humans, not heroes

Jordana Rothschild, MD

Physician

August 15, 2021

Everybody dies. And doctors can’t change that reality.

But we’ve created a system where we lead people to believe immortality is possible. We expect clear-cut answers to health questions. We’ve been trained to look for multiple-choice questions with an answer key that tells us the correct solutions. As doctors, we’re expected to be selfless, altruistic superhuman helpers who always know the answers and will sacrifice ourselves to benefit everyone else. And …

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Doctors are humans, not heroes

The bleak reality of racial disparity in surgical care

Dr. Sanjay Prasad, MD

Physician

August 15, 2021

As a practicing surgeon for 30 years in the super-specialized field of otology, neurotology and skull base surgery, I have been privy to some of the most disturbing realities of surgical care. Often, these realities are bleaker than most people expect. One thing physicians, and the general population, need to be more aware of is the very real racial disparity in surgical care.

Are the outcomes for Black and Hispanic patients …

Stop resisting the imposter

Amy Vertrees, MD

Physician

August 15, 2021

The problem with feeling like an imposter is thinking there’s something wrong with it.

I know this is different from any way you have thought about it, but humor me. What happens when we are offered an opportunity but we feel like an imposter?

We hide.

We overwork to compensate.

We look around at our colleagues and resent them. Because why do they get to feel so secure? Why aren’t they feeling insecure? They …

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Stop resisting the imposter

Sorry, I’m fed up. It’s not professional, but I am.

Alan Johns, MD

Physician

August 14, 2021

“It’s experimental.”

“It alters your DNA.”

“It may cause long-term problems.”

“It’s too new, too rushed. I want more time.”

I hear this nonsense from patients all day.

None are docs, virologists, microbiologists, immunologists, public health officials, medical researchers, nor intensive care docs. COVID can kill them in a particularly unpleasant way; with 99 percent+ effectiveness, the vaccine prevents them from dying from COVID, but they still recite a litany of scientifically illiterate reasons for …

Delta surge warning: Ignoring jaw pain comes at too high a price

Dr. Soumya Padala

Conditions

August 14, 2021

As surges of the Delta variant alarm officials and citizens in this country and around the world, while the cases of COVID-19 have reached more than 200 million worldwide, a less visible threat re-emerges.

If health care professionals are not allowed to perform non-emergency procedures, as was the case in 2020, patients suffering with chronic pain such as jaw pain, may be left helpless.

The COVID-19 …

America as an outlier: Paying more for less

Leonard Wang and Lily Nguyen

Policy

August 14, 2021

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States clearly stands out: we spend far more on health care per capita than any other country in the world, yet life expectancy is shorter than in other developed countries that spend far less. Despite having a higher total expenditure on health care per capita than any other country in the world, the U.S.’ health …

The mindset hack that will change your life

Letizia Alto, MD

I am no longer terrified of COVID

Britney Bowling, MD

Conditions

August 13, 2021

I am no longer terrified of COVID.

I’ve seen its death. I’ve seen it take the breath from someone’s lungs. I’ve watched it shut down kidneys. I’ve walked the halls of an ICU with pumps outside the room, and patients turned upside down. I’ve heard the code blues. I’ve passed an endotracheal tube through vocal cords. I’ve squeezed air into suffocating lungs. I’ve broken ribs doing chest compressions. I’ve sent electricity …

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I am no longer terrified of COVID

The political backlash to evidence-based doctors’ recommendations

Giannina L. Garces-Ambrossi Muncey, MD

Conditions

August 12, 2021

Last week, someone referred to me online in the most shocking terms: a liberal. As I read the phrase, I gripped the pearls around my neck and coughed down my scalding afternoon tea. How could this have happened to me?

With all its newsworthiness to the public, last week was still an ordinary one in the intellectual life of a doctor: Read journal articles, understand new guidelines, disseminate via recommendations. By …

Medical student rotations amid COVID: Welcome to medicine little grasshopper

Heather Delaney, MD

Education

August 11, 2021

I learned a valuable lesson about mentoring medical students during clinical rotations amid the COVID pandemic, and it’s not as easy as you think.

I have been in medical education, either in it or teaching it, for 20 years. I have spent countless hours doing lectures, giving hospital grand rounds, or leading bedside teaching rounds to those who want to follow in my footsteps as a clinical expert. But some are …

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