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Are you using this benchmark for physician personal finance?

Physician Finance

September 7, 2019

Many physicians have a poor understanding of personal finance. Since personal finance isn’t a required course in high school, college or medical school, physicians are often unprepared to handle their high income when they become an attending. Sometimes the results of this lack of education are not pretty. Other times it’s a downright disaster. Yet some of us are able to figure out this thing called money.

I was thinking about …

Social media: a social disease killing our kids?

Michael Brant-Zawadzki, MD

Conditions and Diseases

September 7, 2019

Much has been written and said about the role of Facebook and social media in our society. Only recently has the increasingly dark side of what was once thought to be a monumental transformation of humanity come into public discourse. Initially, the potential threats to privacy and the normal political process of our democracy grabbed the lion’s share of concern.

More recently, however, attention is turning towards the impact of social …

Settlements in the opioid cases need these non-negotiable conditions

Rosanne Aulino, RN

Health Policy

September 7, 2019

The judgment in the Oklahoma trial against Johnson & Johnson for their role in the opioid crisis is a good start to what deserves to be an ongoing pursuit of justice for the victims, their families, and the states. Any financial settlement is only a Pyrrhic victory unless the following non-negotiable conditions are met:

1. Every single penny must go toward treatment. There are not nearly enough inpatient …

MKSAP: 50-year-old man with a left lower extremity ulcer

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

September 7, 2019

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 50-year-old man is evaluated for a left lower extremity ulcer. He has a 15-year history of worsening arthritis for which he has never been evaluated. He takes ibuprofen as needed.

On physical examination, vital signs are normal. The spleen tip is palpable. There is swelling of multiple small joints …

The insanely brazen effort to remake medicine into a consumer industry

Margalit Gur-Arie

Health Policy

September 6, 2019

For over a decade, Washington, DC has been busy with fixing health care. For over a decade, the same government bureaucracy, the same advocacy (read lobbying) organizations, the same expert think tanks, the same academic centers, the same business associations, with the same people hopping around from one entity to the next, have been generating and applying the same “innovative solutions” differentiated solely by their aggrandizing names. The result? Health …

How can we address retention in the era of physician burnout?

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

Physician

September 6, 2019

As we’ve seen, the lives of those working in the health care system has become overwhelmingly challenging, burdened by all of the excess nonmedical stuff that has been added into our lives as we try to take care of patients.

From prior authorizations, to clicking in the electronic medical record, to endless streams of regulatory requirements, to the continuous onslaught created by …

Use pediatric research to solve the threat of gun violence

Vivek Balasubramaniam, MD, Joyce Javier, MD, MPH, Shetal Shah, MD, and Debra L. Weiner, MD, PhD

Health Policy

September 6, 2019

The recent Philadelphia-, El Paso- and Dayton-area shootings brought all my memories back. As a pediatric pulmonary and critical care physician, I have been here so many times before.

At 11:12 a.m. on a Wednesday last September, as I sat in my office enjoying a sunny day in the Midwest, I received a two-word text from my 15-year old high school junior: “I’m OK.”

“What happened?” I asked. “Active shooter at Greenway …

Physician coaching: the new normal?

Kristi H. Angevine, MD

Physician

September 6, 2019

What is coaching? It’s a conscious effort to notice and evaluate how our thinking impacts our experiences, how perspective shows up in the results of our life.

Coaching has been integral to fields other than medicine for many years. Yet, many physicians don’t know much about it — much less anything about its potential to radically transform the culture of medical training and our experiences in health care.

It’s time we caught …

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Physician coaching: the new normal?

The blind man who helped this physician

Michael Wilk, MD

Physician

September 6, 2019

“Go through the gate. You will see an old white fence on the right, and the broken-down shack to your left.”

I listened intently to the mysterious blind man over the phone as the reception came in and out.

“Drive for about a minute and then park where the fence ends. “Walk down the mountainside, and you will see the river.”

I was somewhat amazed as I drove down the dusty road. He …

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The blind man who helped this physician

How telemedicine intersects with AI, social media, and precision medicine

Sherry-Ann Brown, MD, PhD

Health Technology

September 6, 2019

Telemedicine will eventually become a more prominent part of our clinical practice, with the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) and social media and networks, and integration with precision medicine in electronic health records. As clinicians and scientists, we should be thinking about where and how these four innovative strategies intersect, so that we can continue to not only contribute to the conversation and direction of these strategies, but also lead …

The problem of overdiagnosis: What can patients do?

Christopher Johnson, MD

Conditions and Diseases

September 5, 2019

An interesting article in the journal Pediatrics is both intriguing and sobering. It is intriguing because it lays bare something we don’t talk much about or teach our students about; it is sobering because it describes the potential harm that can come from it, harm I have personally witnessed. The issue is overdiagnosis, and it’s related to our relentless quest to explain everything.

Overdiagnosis is the term the authors use to describe …

This patient got an estimate before surgery. The bill was so much more.

Rachel Bluth

Patient

September 5, 2019

From a planning perspective, Wolfgang Balzer is the perfect health care consumer.

Balzer, an engineer, knew for several years he had a hernia that would need to be repaired, but it wasn’t an emergency, so he waited until the time was right.

The opportunity came in 2018 after his wife, Farren, had given birth to their second child in February. The couple had met their deductible early in the year and figured …

Advancing women in medicine — with a whisper

Jennifer A. Best, MD

Physician

September 5, 2019

Personal journal entry, September 11, 2017:

Sometimes we wear womanhood like a yoke — burdensome on our shoulders, as we carry the torch for younger women coming behind. Sometimes, we swing womanhood as a sword, slicing, and jousting for survival in a world that started without us, and in some cases, would be more than happy to continue that way. Sometimes, womanhood surrounds us thick as a fog, wrapping us in …

A thank you from doctors to nurses

Joe Bocka, MD

Physician

September 5, 2019

Earlier this year, I asked a group of nurses what gifts doctors could give that would help them know they are appreciated. There were hundreds of comments that included many I expected: Food (pizza, chocolate, cake, tacos, bourbon, Starbucks, healthy snacks), pens, cash, and/or gift cards for all shifts.

There were some interesting “high end” ideas: Massages or a massage chair. Trips. Cars. Stethoscopes.

Some still make me shake my head and …

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A thank you from doctors to nurses

Here’s what true grit looks like in health care

Johanna Vidal Phelan, MD, MBA

Physician

September 5, 2019

As a medical director and practicing physician, I count myself fortunate to meet and engage in meaningful conversations with many health care professionals throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Recently I was both humbled and inspired when I visited with a group of primary care physicians who operate their private practice in a rural community. These doctors are not only staunchly committed to serving a community that so desperately needs them, …

Is overachieving a sign of past trauma?

Jyoti Patel, MD

Physician

September 5, 2019

Ever feel like you are always on the go, not feeling comfortable slowing down? All through school, college, medical school, residency, and then practicing medicine, the one thing that I got really good at was staying busy. Planning projects, test-taking, solving cases, treating patients, emails, meetings, joining boards, organizations, getting more certifications, a world of task lists, and checkboxes. What was often sacrificed was being a mom, wife, domestic duties, …

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Is overachieving a sign of past trauma?

Is the National Institutes of Health stifling academic freedom?

Ruth Macklin, PhD

Physician

September 4, 2019

An episode pitting top administrators at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) against senior scientists at the organization serves as a vital reminder of the importance of academic freedom and the need to communicate and express concerns about scientific research.

NIH administrators prohibited two of its senior scientists from speaking out about a research study the scientists claim has serious flaws (Crystalloid Liberal or Vasopressors Early Resuscitation in …

Sharing mental health issues on social media

Tarena Lofton

Social Media in Medicine

September 4, 2019

Susanna Harris was sitting in her lab class for her graduate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she received an email that told her she had failed what she describes as “the most important exam in grad school,” the doctoral qualifying exam. She took the rest of the day off, went home, and baked cookies.

Harris continued with her regular schedule: lab, work, home, repeat. Everything …

Want to crush USMLE Step 1? Here are some evidence-based study tips.

David Griffin, MD

Medical Education

September 4, 2019

Interleveling strategy

Interleveling is the process of studying/learning multiple unrelated concepts across different subjects during the same study session.
This can make studying appear difficult and more disjointed. However, research shows it yields better exam results. This is attributed to better simulation of the exam environment as questions are presented in random order, and concepts are scattered throughout the test.
A literature review rated interleveling as having …
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Want to crush USMLE Step 1? Here are some evidence-based study tips.

How hospitals prepare for hurricanes

Daniel B. Hess, PhD

Health Policy

September 4, 2019

We all expect hospitals to be open and operating when we need them, but extreme weather events like hurricanes are a strain on resources and pose significant challenges for hospitals.

Closing a hospital is an extreme action, but several hospitals in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina did just that before the arrival of Hurricane Irma in 2017.

With more than 300 hospitals and a higher share of older adults than any other state, …

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How hospitals prepare for hurricanes