A beautiful woman, all mocha skin and glimmering eyeshadow, turned to me in Whole Foods and whispered: “I like your style.”
I was alternately baffled and proud: Take that, lifetime of scrubs! Mama’s still got it. Then I looked down at myself and saw I was wearing jeans with Paw Patrol stickers on them.
She pointed one perfectly manicured finger to her face: we were indoors, yet I saw her French red …
As the pandemic grew in Southern California, intubating COVID patients became increasingly dangerous. Initially, any patient with signs of respiratory distress was intubated, then sent to the ICU immediately. My physician colleagues and I all thought we were doing the right thing — until we saw all the complications of mechanical ventilation.
Instead of immediate intubation, we tried placing patients on high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC), a special nasal oxygen device that …
My most dangerous COVID intubation
The beer bottle that cracked over Christian Pean’s head unleashed rivulets of blood that ran down his face and seeped into the soil in which Harold and Paloma Pean were growing their three boys. At the time, Christian was a confident high school student, a football player in the suburbs of McAllen, Texas, a border city at the state’s southern tip where teenage boys — Hispanic, Black, white — sung …
A police shooting in a hospital forces a family to rethink American justice
Last summer, Anna Ramsey suffered a flare-up of juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare autoimmune condition, posing a terrifying prospect for the Los Angeles resident: She might have to undergo chemotherapy, further compromising her immune system during a pandemic.
After an agonizing three-day wait, the results of a blood test came back in her online patient portal — but she didn’t understand them. As hours passed, Ramsey bit …
Doctors now must provide patients their health data, online and on demand
The rates of depression in the U.S. have tripled over the last year, with over 25 percent of adults expressing symptoms of depression. While depression was always a leading cause of mental illness and disability, it has become a worsening problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. An increasing number of people are suffering from the symptoms of sadness, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, and impairments in sleep, appetite, energy, and …
Can a magnet treat depression?
With about a year’s worth of experience practicing medicine, I can say with certainty that I’ve got a lot left to learn. I’m a medical student in my final year. In Estonia, we cover all subjects by the 5th year — and in the 6th year, we practice.
I applied for a medical license back home in Finland that allows me to practice medicine with a designated consultant. Having a consultant …
3 lessons I’m learning about practicing medicine
In his 1862 novel, Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev describes (spoiler alert) a death from sepsis in excruciating detail. There is nothing to do but comfort the man in the throes of mortality, his parents, and unrequited love at his bedside.
Today, thankfully, modern technology and processes can deliver a quick diagnosis and treatment, often saving the patient’s life and about two weeks of brutal suffering. Technology is essential, but attention …
When new technology is no match for old-school medical tests
A fellow forensic pathologist cornered me at a conference and told me her story in whispers, afraid to be overheard.
“You wouldn’t believe what happened to me.”
“What?” I said, leaning closer. “Are you OK?”
“I was asked to do a second autopsy by the family of a man who died in police custody. When I got to the neck, I …
Forensic pathology’s dirty secret
I am guessing you have felt it.
Maybe you have participated or contributed to it.
Exuberant hope
Unmasked optimism
Guiltless travel
After a year of living in fear and isolation, bound and gagged, there is a loosening of the bonds. We struggle and wriggle to get free.
Relaxed restrictions, a return of sports, and indoor dining. Whispers of live music and public swimming pools about to return.
All of it like a fresh breeze on a summer …
As we emerge from COVID, give space and grace to those around you
An excerpt from Doctores Con Alas: 12 Historias De Médicos Migrantes.
I was 14 years old when I decided I wanted to be a physician. At that time, although my perspective of what it meant to become a medical doctor was not yet as broad nor complex as it is now. The reasons that motivated me from the very beginning to …
Starting a medical journey away from home
When a colleague in health care mentioned hesitation to get the COVID-19 vaccine in two separate instances, I was shocked and dismayed.
If we recommend vaccination to our patients, how can we not take the same precautions for ourselves?
With COVID-19 especially, anyone working in health care is exposed to many people and should be especially motivated to get vaccinated.
As cut-and-dry as this issue seems to me, I do remember similar issues …
4 steps to convincing health care colleagues to get vaccinated
“How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterward.”
– Spanish Proverb.
I saw this on a bookmark in a beautiful inn on the coast of South Carolina called the Sanctuary. This is a place I go to vacation, but I find I rarely escape. You see, there are rare times I truly do nothing or simply rest. Sleep at night does not count.
For many of my adult years, I …
Physicians are leaving the broken medical system at unprecedented rates. We continue through a war with an uncertain liberation day, and we are exhausted. Meanwhile, the only battlefront in which we have control is that of our mind. We have not been taught how to tame this beast. If we hope to thrive in medicine, we need to “capture our thoughts” and redirect how these result in feelings, actions, and …
10 replaceable thoughts (and 15 books) to help you survive burnout
ADVERTISEMENT
1. Remember the humanity of your patients and colleagues. Question the utility of assigning blame. Seek to understand other perspectives and lead with empathy. Hold space for those around you and take that extra moment to listen to their stories (I promise — people won’t forget the feeling of being listened to). Notice and be curious about the variety of emotions that people invoke in you. An open mind and …
10 tips for medical students on the eve of graduation
When the “opioid crisis” is mentioned, most people think of heroin, prescription pills like oxycodone, or — more recently — the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. Fewer people would think of novel opioids like tianeptine, although an increasing number of Americans have taken this substance in the form of over-the-counter supplements like ZaZaRed or Tianna – often without knowing that the substance has opioid properties that can cause dependence and overdose. …
The complications of drug regulation
An excerpt from You What?!: Humorous Stories, Cautionary Tales, and Unexpected Insights About A Career in Medicine.
The relationship between physicians and nurses is a complicated one. We are both there to “Take care of the patient.” Each has their own role. Doctors are undeniably in charge of ‘their patient’s care.” Particularly in an operating room. Somebody has …
Be nice to the nurses. Respect the nurses.
Motherhood can be joyous, frustrating, terrifying, miraculous, exhausting, and messy. It is all these things at once in normal times. But these, as we know, are not normal times.
Among the many aspects of life that COVID-19 has upended, maternal mental health is one that could have lasting implications not only for mothers but also for entire families, as perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are linked to premature delivery, low …
Maternal mental health in the time of COVID-19: How to find support
The current COVID-19 vaccines have been developed with unprecedented efficiency and speed. Years of research, development, production, and regulatory approvals have been compressed into months. But accelerating the science is only half the puzzle. If we want to save lives right now, we need to improve the messy, inequitable implementation process of COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
As newly minted (and gratefully vaccinated) physicians who have had the privilege of contributing …
How creative solutions to inequitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution can save lives now
As a family physician, guest lecturer at a local medical school, and creator of a pre-med curriculum for young learners, I’m often asked by parents how to support their child who wants to be a doctor.
The most important point to remember is that you don’t need to have any science background or be a professional of any sort to support your child. We all want to help our children follow …
“We need to shampoo the patients’ hair,” said Kristen, a physician assistant with a two-foot flaxen rope of her own. She’s an authority. Operating room nurse Jess seconded the idea. Between the two of them advocating, it needed to happen.
Somehow for the last 23 years, as a man with short hair, I’d always considered a rinse with water or peroxide to be sufficient to clean a patient’s scalp and hair …
How washing hair taught me to be a better doctor
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
