| KevinMD.com

This pediatrician supports the National School Walkout. Here’s why you should, too.

Physician

March 13, 2018

The National School Walkout is planned for March 14, 2018 at 10 a.m. and will last 17 minutes in honor of the 17 students and staff members killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day. The heart of the nation has seemed to shift overnight regarding the debate on guns, but this change has been almost two decades in the making. United and Delta Airlines …

I believe in vaccinations. And do my kids know it.

Dana Corriel, MD

Physician

March 13, 2018

When preparations are underway for vaccinations to take place, my household becomes a war zone.

The thought of an impending vaccine, to my boys, resembles the actual possibility of a weapons attack. It is, in essence, a weapon. It’s a needle that comes your way and invades the comfort of your normally undisturbed skin surface. But it also serves a purpose — much like the police department does — to protect …

A case for national health insurance

Jonathan Michels

Health Policy

March 13, 2018

For more than 100 years, Americans have searched for a cure for health care inequality. Instead, we’ve been prescribed placebos: watered-down poverty programs and party politics.

Despite attempts to ease the pain with reforms like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we continue to rely on a market-driven health care system. After stitching together the remnants of various poverty programs, we are left with a system so dysfunctional and freakish …

Read more…

A case for national health insurance

Physicians: Get rid of car debt. Or, how to buy a car with cash.

Live Free MD

Physician Finance

March 13, 2018

Cars are incredible inventions. They allow you to transport yourself hundreds of miles, whenever you want, in a relatively short time period. Cars allow you to arrive at your desk job without any sweat or dirt on your face. They also allow you to take amazing road trips and might even act as a camper on a rainy night.

Cars are a depreciating asset

However, don’t forget that cars are a luxury …

Physician, know thyself

James Turner, MD

Physician

March 12, 2018

During my third year of medical school, I received a harrowing phone call, “Can you please go over to Steve’s place? I am worried about him. He might want to hurt himself.” The person requesting this was the mother of one of my best friends in medical school. I was a third-year medical student on my surgical rotation. Steve’s mom was concerned he might commit suicide. Sleep deprived as I …

Read more…

Physician, know thyself

What can physicians do about mass shootings?

Dr. M.S.

Physician

March 12, 2018

I am an emergency medicine physician. I started my career in an ER that saw a significant amount of walk-in trauma. Eventually, I left that department and moved on and now primarily see medical emergencies. For a while, I truly missed being involved in treating trauma patients. I missed the adrenaline, excitement, and fervor that ensues after a penetrating trauma is dropped off in the ER driveway.

But I just don’t …

The doctor’s emotional switch

Mark P. Abrams, MD

Physician

March 12, 2018

The “doctor switch,” a protective coping mechanism ingrained into the emotional training of doctors, is a double-edged sword.

Doctors see and experience things that many people would consider intimate, gory, horrifying and even repulsive on a regular basis. Doctors must balance the scales of life and death in their hands in addition to the heavy responsibility of carrying the health and wellness of their patients in addition to living their own …

Read more…

The doctor’s emotional switch

Obamacare prices are rising. But not for the reasons you think.

Peter Ubel, MD

Health Policy

March 12, 2018

It has been well publicized that premiums for Obamacare insurance plans have been rising at a disturbing rate. Local news is filled with reports of 21.5%, 36.3% and even higher price hikes. President Trump complained in February that Obamacare premiums “have increased by double and triple digits,” even remarking that premiums in Arizona “went up 116% last year alone.”

If the cost of buying insurance were really …

Achieving aequanimitas and physician well-being

Philip A. Masters, MD

Physician

March 12, 2018

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

Being a physician is hard. And given the current landscape of medicine, it feels as though practicing medicine may be as difficult as it ever has been as evidenced by extraordinarily high rates of stress and physician burnout.

However, in these times I often …

Pay down student loans or invest: What should doctors do?

Wall Street Physician, MD

Physician Finance

March 12, 2018

There are a lot of competing goals when you first get out of residency.

You have hundreds of thousands of student loans to pay off.

You need to build up your investment accounts, which lag far behind your college classmates who have been working for the past decade.

You need to save up for a down payment for your dream home.

If you have kids, you need to begin saving for their college educations.

And of course, you’ve been living like …

Why medical school is like playing defense

Jamie Katuna

Medical Education

March 11, 2018

There is no glory in defense. Fans don’t notice it. The most perfectly-executed defensive play results in a non-event; that is, the other team doesn’t score. Then everyone forgets about it, and the game moves on.

But there is an art to defense. It is reactionary in nature: You must read the offense and anticipate what’s coming. You have to study the opposing players one-by-one, so you know their strengths and …

The messages that sanctify a culture of physician burnout

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

Physician

March 11, 2018

I realize today that shame, and the stigma about needing help if you’re a care provider, profoundly affected my career path and even my sense of identity. When I was overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed, and scared, did I reach out for help? No, I kept going until I hit a wall, burned out, and left clinical practice. After leaving, did I talk publicly about the chaotic conditions and broken system that …

It’s time to widen the clinical footprint of hospitalists

Christopher Moriates, MD

Physician

March 11, 2018

“We are playing the same sport, but a different game,” the wise, thoughtful emergency medicine attending physician once told me. “I am playing speed chess – I need to make a move quickly, or I lose – no matter what. My moves have to be right, but they don’t always necessarily need to be the optimal one. I am not always thinking five moves ahead. You guys [in internal medicine] …

My calling includes recognizing and responding to the separation between worlds

Bruce Campbell, MD

Physician

March 11, 2018

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Carl W. Buechner

I draw back the curtain and look within. My patient, Mr. Buchanan, is on the cart. His daughter, Jessica, whom I met during his office visit, sits in a chair with her preschool-aged daughter. He wears a hospital-issue gown and has an IV taped in place. The little girl looks intently at …

Everything physicians should know about REITs

James M. Dahle, MD

Physician Finance

March 11, 2018

Once upon a time I wrote an article about private real estate investment trusts (REITs). These are some of the favorite tools of salesmen masquerading as financial advisors (there’s a reason they’re called “brokers”). They would sell these investments with a promise of high income. 8% yields were not uncommon. The value of these REITs were not marked to market. For years. So although you knew you were getting …

A patient’s expertise is often undervalued

Adam Hayden

Patient

March 10, 2018

Thanks to a surprising and devastating diagnosis, I know more than most physicians about what it’s like to live with the brain cancer known as glioblastoma, everything from self-titrating my anti-epileptic medications to making sure the right ICD-10 code appears on my MRI referrals. As much as I’d rather not have this expertise, I’ve …

Doctors: Don’t forget to take care of yourselves

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

Physician

March 10, 2018

It’s 10 p.m. on Wednesday night, and I’m finishing up my notes for my patient visits from this morning while I do my bowel prep for my colonoscopy tomorrow.

Now, I know we can argue the biomechanical challenges of doing both of these tasks at the same time, and this certainly may be TMI, but it struck me as I was sitting there trying to do both of these things how …

MKSAP: 50-year-old man with a firm, darkly pigmented papule

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

March 10, 2018

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 firm, darkly pigmented papule on his back that has been growing steadily over a period of several months. His medical history is unremarkable, and he takes no medications.

On physical examination, vital signs are normal. The skin lesion is a 0.5-cm darkly pigmented, raised plaque with irregular …

Unnecessary testing wastes money and can lead to further testing

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

Physician

March 9, 2018

Unnecessary testing wastes money and can lead to further testing. Why does it occur?

Almost 60% of medical personnel surveyed at a large academic medical center believed that hospitalized patients should have daily laboratory testing.

Of 1,580 attending physicians, fellows, residents, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurses sent surveys, 837 (53%) responded; 393 (47%) were RNs, and 80% of those nurses felt that daily laboratory testing should be done on all patients.

Nurses …

Low income is a neglected public health issue

Vania Silva

Health Policy

March 9, 2018

Public health and poverty go hand in hand, the latter oftentimes affecting the former. While the root of poverty is complicated, political, and rarely based on an individual’s capacity to succeed, it has more profound, long term effects that go beyond the bank account.

Consider a reality where wage theft — that is, nonpayment of wages to which workers are entitled — greatly contributes to low income. But it goes beyond …

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts