Many months have passed since the spring day when I was hit with the news from my yearly mammogram, but those typewritten words are forever etched in my memory: “The density appears greater in left breast.”
My doctor comforted me with statistics showing that mammograms aren’t 100 percent accurate — but she also lost no time in sending me to a surgeon named Dr. Prewitt. Upon meeting him, I immediately felt …
Do not underestimate the power of touch
Twenty-one years ago, I saved a life. Yes, I have helped many women over the years, perhaps changed their life in some way, but this one time … this one time, there is no doubt in my mind, I saved this baby’s life.
Now, 21 years later, this “baby,” a junior in college interested in marketing sits before me on an exam table, asking me ordinary questions about her birth control …
21 years later, a physician reflects on the changes in medicine
Take a moment to ask yourself the following:
1. Did I come to practice medicine because it was a calling, rather than a possibly lucrative career path?
2. Do I consider the practice of medicine primarily an art, a craft and the consistent application of evidence-based care?
3. Do I respond to inner measures of prideful work more than the appeal of external motivators?
4. Are there lines that cannot be crossed, even if …
Are you an artisan or just a medical professional?
So physician burnout is real. Most physicians understand this because on any given day — we are living it: falling reimbursements, growing regulation, too little time with loved ones, pathetic sleep schedules and massive debt. And as The Physician Philosopher, MD, so aptly pointed out recently on KevinMD, finding our “why” can be part of the cure and our reason for getting up in the …
Physicians: Find your “why” to help with burnout
The first week of residency of any program is usually comprised of several orientation sessions in which the new interns are introduced to various important aspects of the residency program. My orientation week was no different with a river of new information flowing towards me. Needless to say, I felt a bit overwhelmed and struggled to keep track of everything that was being introduced. Later on, I found out that …
Has patient-centered care gone too far?
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 19-year-old woman is seen for counseling regarding contraceptives. Medical history is unremarkable; she is nulliparous and has never taken prescription contraceptives. Her father had a pulmonary embolism at age 47 years, which was associated with arthroscopic knee surgery, and her 23-year-old sister experienced a deep venous thrombosis 3 weeks after delivering her …
MKSAP: 19-year-old woman is seen for counseling regarding contraceptives
Walking down the street, I sometimes see people who appear to be strolling in a cloud. These folks are wrapped in vapor they inhale from e-cigarettes — a practice called vaping.
Vaping devices first emerged in the late 1990s. They feature a battery-powered heating element that heats up liquid nicotine to create an aerosol, which is free from the toxic byproducts of cigarette combustion. In theory, this device …
A pulmonary physician’s take on vaping
In mid-February, thousands flocked to the opening of Black Panther, a highly anticipated film for a multitude of reasons. The most salient of these is its depiction of an African king as Marvel’s and cinematic screen’s first culturally-affirming black superhero. In fact, Black Panther’s success is due to its emergence as a counter-narrative to painful and dysfunctional representations of black life. By normalizing the presence of black royals, diplomats, and …
While I was reading an issue of New England Journal of Medicine, I came across an interesting perspective article. Usually, I skip these articles and focus on clinical studies, images in medicine and review articles that usually have higher yield information that I can apply to help care for my patients. However, Dr. Jerry Avorn’s article, “The Psychology of Clinical Decision Making- Implications for Medication Use,” …
How behavioral finance can be used in medicine
The tendency to look back and impose self-criticism for the past is an all too common human tendency. A more robust strategy involves looking far ahead — not just dreaming, but making a detailed plan after careful analysis of goals, hopes, and reality. What follows are some thoughts and wishes applied through the filter of the retrospectoscope.
Father time
The bravado of youth often overlooks critical developments that alter the landscape of …
What I wish I knew as a young doctor
Residency training is an opportunity to get a good feeling of the specialty that interested you when thinking about what to pursue in the future. You may think that after applying for premed college, medical school and residency, applying for fellowship would be a piece of cake for you. Let me tell you: applying for fellowship is probably the hardest one among all other applications you went through so far. …
How to match into a fellowship
Kids watch our every move. Who hasn’t seen a young boy who imitates what his dad does. Even to the point of standing, just like dad, leaning up against a railing with his legs crossed, and a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth. They hear what we say at home and around the dinner table, especially when we are not talking to them. They watch how we spend …
What are you teaching your children about money?
I retired my first stethoscope today. I bought my Littmann Cardiology III during my first term of medical school in 1999. It came with a penlight, otoscope, ophthalmoscope, manual blood pressure cuff, tuning forks and reflex hammer, all contained within a traditional black leather physician’s bag with my initials in gold. Receiving your medical student diagnostic kit is one of the rites …
I’m retiring my first stethoscope
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The common critique of surgeons from their medical colleagues is the scant amount of time spent with their patients. As the argument goes, surgery is more impersonal than other specialties and those who practice it see their patients in one dimension.
In some sense, they aren’t wrong.
For those who wield the scalpel, speed and efficiency are a priority. It’s a philosophy perfectly illustrated during morning rounds, the daily tour of patients …
The doctor will see you now. But only for a minute.
“No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from
I cannot forget the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town …”
– John Mellencamp
When I began my psychiatric training in earnest thirty-three years ago after a challenging rotating internship, the indoctrination that began was regimented, sanctioned, scripted and complete. I knew from a very young age, training-wise, that my job was to ask a …
I love being a doctor in a small town
A man and a woman step into an elevator wearing the exact same hospital scrub uniforms. The man’s pager suddenly starts beeping, and the stranger in the elevator says to him, “Do you doctors really still use pagers?” The stranger then notices the women next to him and asks her, “Oh, are you a nurse?”
It’s something that has happened to every female physician. It’s not that we mind getting mistaken …
Oh, are you a nurse? The physician gender bias
On March 24th, one of the largest demonstrations for gun control in U.S. history took place across the nation. Represented at the March for Our Lives were a diverse group of organizations and people, including young people affected by school shootings across the country, parents who have lost children to gun violence, members of law enforcement, teachers and educators and people exposed to community violence in urban neighborhoods.
I participated in …
Why should health care professionals care about gun control?
Physicians-in-training make a pittance when one looks at the hourly rate, Especially when I was residency, in the early 2000’s. I often worked upwards of 100 hrs per week and made $30,000 per year. The first year, called internship, is replete with long hours and crushing responsibilities. Opportunities to make an extra buck are all but impossible. In the second and third years, however, there is much more elective time. During these …
Moonlighting is the side hustle for the not so lazy
It had been a hectic day in the urgent-care clinic of my large family practice, and I was starting to worry about the time: My last two patients had put me thirty minutes behind.
I felt relieved when I saw the note for the next patient: “Seventy-four-year-old female with UTI.”
A urinary tract infection! This should be quick and uncomplicated.
I walked into the room to find a well-dressed older woman seated on …
The trust patients show you is an honor
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
If you have not yet heard about Assembly Bill (AB) 3087, a bill that was presented in the California State Assembly this spring, you should keep reading and be very concerned. This bill, introduced by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D- San …
A bill to drive physicians out of practice in the state of California
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