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Become more than a clinician. Be a healer.

Physician

March 6, 2019

When a patient goes to the doctor, they usually have a specific health problem in mind. Sometimes, the treatment is straightforward; a urinary tract infection warrants antibiotics. A laceration can be sutured. Other issues, however, are more complex. For example, communicating a terminal diagnosis to a patient. Consoling his grieving widow two months later. In circumstances like these, even if there is no cure, there is still space for healing.

Central …

The reason so many physicians are retiring early

Valerie A. Jones, MD

Physician

March 6, 2019

There has been a disturbing shift in how medical professionals feel about their career. I almost cringe every time I’m at a party or social gathering now and tell people I retired early from my medical practice. I try not to bring it up.

I don’t cringe out of fear for how they will perceive me or whether they will look down upon me with condescending scorn about how I left …

How do fitness trackers fit in the future of health care?

Subbarao Myla, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 6, 2019

I view medicine as a team effort. Doctors, nurses, technicians, and patients work together to promote and improve health. Recently some new members have joined the team: My patients’ Fitbits, phones, and watches.

For years, the pessimists out there have predicted that wearable technology would lead to mass hysteria. Patients would misdiagnose themselves as having heart attacks and strokes and fill the ER with blaring watch alarms but no actual symptoms.

I’m …

How telemedicine can help patients and solve physician burnout

Saya Nagori, MD

Health Technology

March 6, 2019

I have been practicing telemedicine successfully for four years. In 2015, I had to beg doctors to work in telemedicine. Because so many doctors were wary of it, I started to get licensed in multiple states, and now, I have 15 state licenses. Well, what a difference a few years makes. Now, in 2019, I get six to seven Linkedin, Facebook, and Instagram messages a week from physicians asking …

Esketamine is not a breakthrough new drug: Why the nasal spray for depression is old news

Erik Messamore, MD, PhD

Medications

March 6, 2019

The FDA has given official approval to market eskatamine as a treatment for depression. As expected, there has been great fanfare (press releases, morning TV talk show guests, NPR segments and so on). The news leaves me salty. The esketamine story reveals so much of what is wrong about how we get useful medical science findings into clinical practice.

Esketamine is not a new drug

Esketamine is being promoted as a new …

After Luke Perry: a greater awareness of stroke symptoms

Michael Brant-Zawadzki, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 6, 2019

When your grandmother suffers a devastating stroke, it is a family tragedy, but it does not necessarily make the headlines. When Luke Perry has a massive stroke at age 52, it does. Stroke remains a surprisingly common occurrence, striking someone in the United States every 40 seconds, and killing someone every 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Not only one of the top 4 causes of death in the U.S., but …

Death by patient satisfaction

Rada Jones, MD

Physician

March 6, 2019

The new Holy Grail of business, Customer Satisfaction — CSAT to her close friends — is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet customer expectations. In a marketplace where businesses compete for customers, CSAT is a key element of strategy.

Why?

Money.

Satisfied customers buy. They come back and buy more. They tell their friends, who’ll buy too. If satisfied, they’ll return and buy more. That’s gold for …

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Death by patient satisfaction

A physician who’s angry at the anti-vaxxers

Karen S. Sibert, MD

Physician

March 5, 2019

If you’re a parent who is still on the fence, trying to decide whether or not to vaccinate your children, I’m going to try to be kind and helpful. Here is a link to a video by a physician and father, Dr. Zubin Damania, with facts that may address some of your fears.

If you’re firmly pro-disease and anti-vaccine, however, I am baffled at your irrationality and frankly enraged by …

Should I pay down my debt or invest in the market?

James Turner, MD

Physician Finance

March 5, 2019

An excerpt from The Physician Philosopher’s Guide to Personal Finance: The 20% of Personal Finance Doctors Need to Know to Get 80% of the Results.

At my little girl’s golf practice one day, I got to talking to her coach. I asked him how he decided he wanted to be …

How to help your doctor with diagnosis

Edward Hoffer, MD

Physician

March 5, 2019

To treat any condition, the doctor needs to know what it is. You would not expect to have your sore ankle treated with penicillin or to have an appendectomy recommended for your sore throat. While this may be self-evident, I know of at least one patient who had a normal appendix removed because the surgeon did not notice the few telltale blisters that were warning the careful observer that the …

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How to help your doctor with diagnosis

It’s time to wave goodbye to the handshake

Brandon Jacobi

Conditions and Diseases

March 5, 2019

As I sit in the conference room awaiting one of my first interviews for residency, the angst among all the applicants was palpable. We all make awkward eye contact and conversation with each other as our interviewers pull us out of the room one by one to speak with us. Amongst the awkwardness and anxiety, my attention was directed at the applicant next to me when I heard the dreaded …

Physician Strong: a private practice journey

Talal Khan, MD

Physician

March 5, 2019

Being a primary care physician, I was afraid to start my own practice. There was discouragement from fellow physicians, hospital leaders, business colleagues, and even patients. Many said that the small practice model was not viable. With insurance mandates, mounting bureaucratic pressures from Medicare and Medicaid, increasing regulations by DEA, higher volumes of paperwork, and the health IT requirements, the task of setting up a private practice with primary care …

Respect the duty to care for all patients equitably

Anonymous

Medical Education

March 5, 2019

In my first year of medical school, I attended a lecture on health disparities that focused on the difference in patient outcomes based on race and socioeconomic status. The lecture cited multiple peer-reviewed studies that extensively demonstrated these disparities and how health care professionals, not solely social determinants of health, contribute to them. The lecture concluded with an appeal to improve our cultural awareness and acknowledge our conscious and unconscious …

Apple, PC, HD, DM: No, we’re talking about health care

Joshua Mansour, MD

Health Technology

March 4, 2019

I was in the hospital when I heard the word “apple.” Without hesitating, I reached into my pocket to see if I had my phone. But the person speaking was referring to the fruit, not the product. This got me thinking: “Has technology and our products now become more important than our health?”

Technology surrounds us and has become a large part of how we live on a daily basis. I’m …

The medical school personal statement struggle

Sheindel Ifrah

Medical Education

March 4, 2019

If you are in the same boat as I and aspiring to become a physician, you are likely in the process of compiling an application for medical school. If you are like me, then one of the most intimidating parts of the application process is the personal statement segment of the American Medical College Application Service. It is increasingly difficult to stand out in the medical school application pool, as …

Never take your eyes off of a bleeding patient

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Conditions and Diseases

March 4, 2019

“Please help me. I was brushing my teeth this morning and started bleeding a ton from my mouth.”

Joe (identifying information changed) pointed to a bucket next to his bed. I was horrified to see close to two pints of blood in it.

With gloves on, I pulled out my penlight and a new tongue depressor.

“Open your mouth wide for me Joe. I need to see where you are bleeding from.”

I clicked …

Millennials: This is our time in medicine

Danielle Verghese

Medical Education

March 4, 2019

Let’s talk about that infamous transition to third year. This is a precarious time in your medical school career when your resolve faces its greatest challenge yet. After weeks of self-imposed exile to prepare for Step 1, you finally take that dreaded exam. Before you even know whether or not you’ve passed, you and your colleagues scattered to the far corners of the earth to begin clinical rotations.

But hey — …

A new health care dawn is coming

Anonymous

Health Technology

March 4, 2019

At some point in my career, I had the crazy idea that if I could scale the patient-centric work I was doing in my community at a small rural hospital — then I could make more of an impact. This is why, when a technology company came calling, dangling a carrot in front of my nose to “disrupt” health care, it seemed like a no brainer to make the leap …

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A new health care dawn is coming

How physicians can develop their emotional intelligence

Carina Cezar Hopen, MD

Physician

March 4, 2019

If you’ve browsed the internet recently, you probably have noticed the #10YearChallenge social media trend that has taken over our news feeds. The phenomena have individuals comparing a current photo of themselves, to their former self ten years ago. As I thought about how well (or not) I’ve aged over time, it got me thinking about the two most important advice I would give my younger self (knowing what I …

What physicians can learn from anthropologists

Carolina Severiche Mena, MD and Matt Artz, MS, MBA

Health Technology

March 3, 2019

Since the passing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009, it has been said that health tech would dramatically revolutionize health care and the patient experience. Advocates have claimed time and time again that it would advance disease diagnosis capabilities, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient satisfaction. Belief in this narrative can be seen in the sharp increase in health tech investments, with …

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