Stop chasing the eternal search for happiness

Conditions and Diseases
February 5, 2021

I have been searching for something all of my life. Some would call it happiness; others call it success. No matter what I achieve, the goalposts seem to keep moving.

Perhaps this sounds familiar.

Maybe you realize that it is all an endless chase.

Maybe you are tired of:

  • not being completely at peace
  • being concerned with what others think
  • having your sense of self-worth tied to your children’s “success”
  • living life as …

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Stop chasing the eternal search for happiness

Overcoming PPE barriers to compassionate communication 

Physician
February 5, 2021

In the COVID-19 environment, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) is the norm for clinicians. Monthly, U.S. health care workers use 89 million masks. While these masks help prevent the spread of disease, PPE creates barriers to effective communication that is requiring clinicians to learn new techniques for interacting with patients. Learning new verbal and non-verbal techniques to overcome PPE communication barriers is especially important for conveying …

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Overcoming PPE barriers to compassionate communication 

The hug that reminded a cardiologist of the joy in medicine

Physician
February 5, 2021

The cardiologist was called STAT to the ED for a 50-year-old man with an acute STEMI. The man arrested eight times in the ED, each time successfully resuscitated. He finally stabilized to where he could be moved to the cardiac cath lab. The cardiologist quickly met with the wife and told her the plans and that they would do everything possible to save her husband’s life. As he turned to …

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The hug that reminded a cardiologist of the joy in medicine

An orthopedic surgeon wants to do more

Physician
February 5, 2021

Sometimes I think.

Sometimes I think and nothing happens. That seems to happen a lot during this period of the second wave of COVID-19 that has hit my hospital. Netcare Kingsway Hospital is a community private hospital and has been overwhelmed in caring for patients with COVID-19.

Sometimes I think and something happens. That’s when a story takes shape, and I wonder how I will tie it together to make it work.

Sometimes …

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An orthopedic surgeon wants to do more

Physicians: How taking care of the backlog and can help take care of yourself

Physician
February 5, 2021

A backlog is a terrible thing, isn’t it? It’s certainly something that we often choose to hide as physicians. We use it as a source of shame, guilt, frustration, and overwhelm. Many physicians have had their jobs threatened, or even lost their jobs, due to mountains of unfinished charts or inboxes.

When you understand this, you can see why you would keep that sort of thing to yourself. Every day the …

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Physicians: How taking care of the backlog and can help take care of yourself

Talk to me. Talk to us. Talk about That Topic.

Physician
February 4, 2021

This topic always takes me back.  To the time my life stopped and flipped upside down.  I never understood how people could drop to their knees in public and have a moment of agony or grief.  I guess the pain I had felt up to that moment was not strong enough to knock me to my knees.  But that day … it was enough.

The repeated missed phone calls.  The wailing …

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Talk to me. Talk to us. Talk about That Topic.

Reflecting on the tragedy of physician suicide

Conditions and Diseases
February 4, 2021

Recent events in our mid-west region prompted us to bring the topic of physician suicide forward with our residents and fellows. They received this information in a weekly mindfulness email they receive as part of our internal coaching program:

Losing a colleague or friend to suicide is a tragedy to those who survive and it can be devastating.  With such tragedy can come feelings of sadness, grief and confusion. The feeling of loss that can …

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Reflecting on the tragedy of physician suicide

Maybe life is happening: the power of language in patient hand-offs

Physician
February 4, 2021

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
– George Orwell

The “difficult” family

At 2 a.m., on my first night shift as a pediatric resident, a patient, Casey, transferred from another hospital. She had a rare, progressive chronic illness, was medically complex, and was currently receiving treatment for an acute systemic infection. Shortly after she arrived, she became difficult to arouse. When I asked her mother questions, I was …

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Maybe life is happening: the power of language in patient hand-offs

How could a patient die from anesthesia for a colonoscopy?

Physician
February 4, 2021

Every death related to anesthesia is a tragedy; even more so when a minor procedure such as a colonoscopy leads to a completely unexpected death. Everyone knows that open heart surgery carries a mortality risk, but few of us walk into the hospital for a colonoscopy thinking that death is a plausible outcome.

We know so few facts at this point about what happened on January 21 at Beaumont Royal Oak …

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How could a patient die from anesthesia for a colonoscopy?

Changes to radiation oncology offer hope when there was none

Conditions and Diseases
February 4, 2021

Radiation oncology has been around for a century, and, at first, advancements in the field came rapidly. The evolution of X-rays and CT scans to inform treatment. Intraoperative radiation therapy. Technology that allows for tailored dose distribution.

But for the past 20 years, the pace of innovations seemed to slow. We remained stymied, for instance, by organs in the abdomen that move with every breath a patient takes. We struggled to …

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Changes to radiation oncology offer hope when there was none

Prison medicine during the pandemic [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 3, 2021
YouTube video

“Rumor has it that the SARS-CoV 2 virus was brought into prison via inmates who were on a work-release program.  Allegedly, they boarded a city bus with a driver who was ill.  From there, it crept beyond the work-release camp and wafted over to the general prison population.  The pandemic had …

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Prison medicine during the pandemic [PODCAST]

Caregiving for COVID at home: a physician story

Conditions and Diseases
February 3, 2021

The day after Christmas, my husband Paul developed a fever, chills, and cough.  On Sunday, he tested positive. He probably got sick helping a family member, but we’ll never be certain how the virus invaded our home, rendering us hostage for weeks.

Since I wasn’t sick, I tried working from home. In between patients, I’d peek in on Paul, trying not to disturb him, piled under blankets. He groaned when changing …

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Caregiving for COVID at home: a physician story

The destructive health consequences of political polarization

Physician
February 3, 2021

acp new logo

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.

Political divisiveness has always been part of the fabric of America.  Even as our Founders laid the groundwork for the United States, they understood the challenges of seeking to assemble a unified and functional country from such a wide geographic and culturally diverse …

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The destructive health consequences of political polarization

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COVID-19 vaccines are safe for people with severe allergies

Conditions and Diseases
February 3, 2021

The intensive care unit nurse was worried the COVID-19 vaccine would kill her.

In the past, just minutes after getting the influenza vaccine, she had hives, wheezing, and throat swelling. Her life-threatening reaction only resolved after an epinephrine injection and monitoring in the emergency room. She vowed never to get another vaccine.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine, she reconsidered her stance. Now she was in my clinic, …

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COVID-19 vaccines are safe for people with severe allergies

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many new challenges in medicine. A novel tool may help to overcome some of them.

Conditions and Diseases
February 2, 2021

In December 2020, almost a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States lost 140,000 jobs, and all of them were held by women. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unrivaled and unprecedented challenges, and the damage done to gender equity in the workplace has been pervasive, and physicians and …

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The COVID-19 pandemic brought many new challenges in medicine. A novel tool may help to overcome some of them.

How divorce helped this physician

Physician
February 2, 2021

I got married the day after I graduated from medical school to someone I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with. Seven years later, we were divorced.

Even though a high percentage of marriages end in divorce, there is still a stigma that many of us who divorce feel. I had already completed residency and was an attending by the time I got divorced, and I remember feeling so …

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How divorce helped this physician

A child’s cry through haunting eyes

Conditions and Diseases
February 2, 2021

The emergency department.

A haven for cardiac arrests and gunshot wounds and respiratory distress and overdoses and auto accidents and children’s sniffles and fever and coughs that won’t go away. The ED was easy access to many. And at times, it was an easy fix not to pay the bill upfront or to be anonymous with your problem.

As much as I loved emergency nursing, it was always the children that left …

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A child’s cry through haunting eyes

Yes, your doctor was a sorority girl

Physician
February 2, 2021

Patients often comment on my attire other than my white coat, particularly my impractical footwear, until I finally broke down and purchased Danskos to avoid being called out for my truthful impracticality. It is amazing how patients care more about my orthotics than remembering the reason they scheduled a visit with me, and God bless them for that.

I am in family medicine, and I thrive on personal and genuine relationships where …

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Yes, your doctor was a sorority girl

The impact of current work hour restrictions and OSHA misclassification on house staff health

Medical Education
February 2, 2021

Over 100,000 medical and surgical resident physicians and fellows (combined, “house staff”) are the first-line physicians for most patients in the nation’s 1,100+ teaching hospitals. Maximum weekly work hours regulated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) are colloquially cited to be 80 per week. Notably, however, they are 80 hours averaged over 4 weeks (88 with “sound educational rationale”), without maximum weekly hour …

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The impact of current work hour restrictions and OSHA misclassification on house staff health

2021: 10 health care trends to watch in the New Year

Sponsored
February 1, 2021

This article is sponsored by Augmedix: Ambient medical documentation and live clinical support powered by virtual scribes.

2020 was a remarkable year by almost any standard. In health care especially, we’ve seen COVID-19 catalyze years of growth and innovation in less than 12 months. Assistive technologies were developed to meet challenges in record time, and encouragingly positive changes in how we practice medicine …

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2021: 10 health care trends to watch in the New Year

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