I could give you several examples of racism I have witnessed in my lifetime of nursing. But there is one incident that always comes up: Olisa. Her name was passed down to her from her great-great-grandmother. Her name meant "God's…
I could give you several examples of racism I have witnessed in my lifetime of nursing. But there is one incident that always comes up: Olisa.
Her name was passed down to her from her great-great-grandmother. Her name meant “God’s promise.”
Olisa came from a long line of nurses. Her great-great-grandmother was a nurse, nanny, and an enslaved person owned by some wealthy folks on their Southern plantation.
An excerpt from Preventing Prostate Cancer: Reduce Your Risk With Simple, Proactive Choices. Prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in men globally. Within the United States, the American Cancer…
Prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in men globally. Within the United States, the American Cancer Society found that one in eight men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and one in forty-one men die from it. While prostate cancer mortality rates are high, the …
A high school objective: take in young, immature students, work on them in various ways for four years and send them out educated, confident and purposeful. At least that's the way it's supposed to be. Perhaps that's the way it…
A high school objective: take in young, immature students, work on them in various ways for four years and send them out educated, confident and purposeful. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Perhaps that’s the way it used to be. But things are different now.
On editorial pages and talk show stages, school systems are routinely blasted by an indignant public. Fingers are pointed. Blame is placed. Why …
An excerpt from Soul in the Game: The Art of a Meaningful Life. "One day you ordered a Happy Meal for the last time and you didn't even know it." — McDonald's. No, this McDonald's was not an ancient Roman…
“One day you ordered a Happy Meal for the last time and you didn’t even know it.”
— McDonald’s.
No, this McDonald’s was not an ancient Roman contemporary of Seneca. This was a tweet by the McDonald’s Corporation that appeared in my browser right when I sat down to write about this topic. It perfectly summarizes a …
Talking about weight isn't easy. Case in point, I was scheduled to perform five back-to-back fluoroscopically guided procedures. This was not unusual, but all my scheduled patients happened to be seriously overweight. Excess fat and skin made it difficult to…
Talking about weight isn’t easy. Case in point, I was scheduled to perform five back-to-back fluoroscopically guided procedures. This was not unusual, but all my scheduled patients happened to be seriously overweight. Excess fat and skin made it difficult to see my needles during the interventional procedures. Therefore, what was ordinarily a routine procedure suddenly became complex and challenging.
I am an interventional pain management physician. For many of my patients, …
"You're dying." I can often visualize the impact of my words as soon as they leave my mouth, the heavy weight sinking into the mind and body of my patient as they sit in the stark white hospital bed. It…
“You’re dying.”
I can often visualize the impact of my words as soon as they leave my mouth, the heavy weight sinking into the mind and body of my patient as they sit in the stark white hospital bed.
It usually isn’t the first time they’ve heard the sentiment. After all, we tell them countless times in different phrases we use as physicians, expecting them to understand, but none quite as precise …
An excerpt from The Pain Solution: 5 Steps to Relieve and Prevent Back Pain, Muscle Pain, and Joint Pain without Medication. In a one-year period, more than 54 percent of Americans report musculoskeletal pain, including arthritis pain, low back pain,…
In a one-year period, more than 54 percent of Americans report musculoskeletal pain, including arthritis pain, low back pain, and neck pain. The search for relief has created a different kind of epidemic. The opioids frequently prescribed for pain relief have created a crisis …
The monkeypox outbreak continues to accelerate worldwide; by some counts, the U.S. now harbors the most significant number of currently known cases. Pathways for the initial spread beyond endemic areas for this current worldwide outbreak are thus far unclear but…
The monkeypox outbreak continues to accelerate worldwide; by some counts, the U.S. now harbors the most significant number of currently known cases. Pathways for the initial spread beyond endemic areas for this current worldwide outbreak are thus far unclear but may be at least in part related to international infected passenger travel. Now, with elevating case counts, there remains an increased risk of infected persons spreading disease …
Have you ever felt as if your doctor wasn’t really listening to you or was just rushing through your appointment? Have you ever felt as if your doctor didn’t understand the pain you were in or didn’t take it seriously?…
Have you ever felt as if your doctor wasn’t really listening to you or was just rushing through your appointment? Have you ever felt as if your doctor didn’t understand the pain you were in or didn’t take it seriously?
Most health care providers are evaluated based on the experience their patients had, and their payment is often based on those patient experience scores. A major component of patient …
Reading many articles on burnout, physicians are understandably frustrated with being asked to be more resilient in the face of the pandemic, staffing shortages, and oppressive systems, to name a few. Often, when wellness is eluded to, physicians are encouraged…
Reading many articles on burnout, physicians are understandably frustrated with being asked to be more resilient in the face of the pandemic, staffing shortages, and oppressive systems, to name a few. Often, when wellness is eluded to, physicians are encouraged to take better care of themselves or show “resilience” when truly what’s going on is that we’re asking them to adapt to unhealthy systems and show intense perseverance without signs …
An excerpt from Tornado of Life: A Doctor's Journey Through Constraints and Creativity in the ER. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2022. The appendix is a body part with an image problem. Derived from the Latin word…
The appendix is a body part with an image problem. Derived from the Latin word for “hanging on,” the term can mean a bodily outgrowth or a supplementary material attached at the end of a document. The anatomical appendix is a tubular sac tagged on …
One conundrum patients face is the dichotomy of trusting our doctors whilst deep diving in web searches and seeking additional opinions. Another is when our findings and experiences do not align with our doctors or established practices and guidelines. How…
One conundrum patients face is the dichotomy of trusting our doctors whilst deep diving in web searches and seeking additional opinions. Another is when our findings and experiences do not align with our doctors or established practices and guidelines.
How would you react in the first consultation with a new patient who presented as I did: with a radiation oncologist in Houston, outcome data on three curative attempts, a graph of …
"Where does it hurt?" As a child, I can remember this ubiquitous question being frequently asked of me. Having grown up on a farm, there was always some trouble for me to get into. A common hazard was my older…
“Where does it hurt?”
As a child, I can remember this ubiquitous question being frequently asked of me. Having grown up on a farm, there was always some trouble for me to get into. A common hazard was my older sister’s 26-inch bicycle, which had no training wheels.
At age 5, if I was to be a “big kid,” I had to master the art of riding the “big” bike on our …
If we are going to take on the challenge of improving communication and related behavior, a.k.a. "soft" skills among health care professionals, we should be realistic. As nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals, we are keenly aware of how…
If we are going to take on the challenge of improving communication and related behavior, a.k.a. “soft” skills among health care professionals, we should be realistic. As nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals, we are keenly aware of how difficult changing behavior can be. We see it daily in our patients’ efforts regarding healthy choices and lifestyles. For example, it can be hard to lose weight, exercise regularly, or …
"We can keep your loved one alive. but we won't. Even though you think their life is worth living, we do not." The first time I helped a hospital convey this type of offensive message to a patient's family, it…
“We can keep your loved one alive. but we won’t. Even though you think their life is worth living, we do not.”
The first time I helped a hospital convey this type of offensive message to a patient’s family, it deeply humbled me. My service on a hospital medical appropriateness review committee forged charitable respect for alternative viewpoints that now pervades my work to protect patient rights.
Most people with scoliosis will never require surgery. But who does need surgery, and how do you know? Often diagnosed in childhood, scoliosis is characterized by an abnormal curve in the spine that can range from as small as 10…
Most people with scoliosis will never require surgery. But who does need surgery, and how do you know?
Often diagnosed in childhood, scoliosis is characterized by an abnormal curve in the spine that can range from as small as 10 degrees to more than 100 degrees. In pediatric patients, this can result in pulmonary problems if the curve is severe.
However, pediatric patients’ complaints are mostly centered around their appearance due to …
As an audiologist, treating hearing loss is a part of my everyday life. Even still, I'm sometimes amazed at the difference hearing aids can make in patients' lives. For example, recently, when an older patient with longstanding hearing loss was…
As an audiologist, treating hearing loss is a part of my everyday life. Even still, I’m sometimes amazed at the difference hearing aids can make in patients’ lives. For example, recently, when an older patient with longstanding hearing loss was fitted with a pair of hearing aids, he was suddenly able to participate in conversation with his son again. The smile across his face said everything.
As public and private schools around the country gear up for opening their doors to in-person learning later this month, it is important to acknowledge and accommodate the millions of children who deal with sensory processing disorders. An estimated 5…
As public and private schools around the country gear up for opening their doors to in-person learning later this month, it is important to acknowledge and accommodate the millions of children who deal with sensory processing disorders.
An estimated 5 to 16 percent of school-aged children have difficulties processing the senses either by overreacting or underreacting to sensory information. This includes not only the five senses of touch, …
Sexual infidelity is the headline grabber when most people think about betrayals in love relationships. But, everyday breaches of trust slide under the radar and can erode even the strongest of relationships. A small lie about a purchase, a slight…
Sexual infidelity is the headline grabber when most people think about betrayals in love relationships. But, everyday breaches of trust slide under the radar and can erode even the strongest of relationships.
A small lie about a purchase, a slight exaggeration about a job promotion, a cover-up about a forgotten birthday—each takes a bite out of trust and is a form of cheating. Most of us are disappointed by a love …
Have you heard that computer use causes carpal tunnel syndrome? In fact, there is a near-universal belief that technology gadgets can cause all sorts of hand problems. Both the lay public and most healthcare providers believe that entities such as…
Have you heard that computer use causes carpal tunnel syndrome? In fact, there is a near-universal belief that technology gadgets can cause all sorts of hand problems. Both the lay public and most healthcare providers believe that entities such as “Blackberry thumb” and “repetitive strain injury” truly exist and that common hand problems such as flexor tendonitis and basal joint arthritis of the thumb are caused by repetitive typing or …
