Conditions

A physician’s reflection: Is it time to pass the torch?

Conditions

June 17, 2024

I was at a meeting discussing issues concerning upcoming audits by various regulatory agencies and noticed a change that made me aware of the fact that many years have come and gone since I started this journey in administrative and public psychiatry. I was the only man in leadership at this table. I was the second oldest person at this table. Surrounded by a group of younger, intelligent, and energetic …

Understanding obesity beyond lifestyle choices

Pooja Singhal, MD and Patty Nece, JD

Conditions

June 17, 2024

Recently, media outlets and social media influencers have been on fire with stories about new “miracle” obesity drugs that promise a quick fix for people wanting to lose weight. Lost in this chatter are the life stories of millions of Americans struggling with obesity and its physical and emotional effects. A vital question is being ignored: how can we continue to allow money to determine access to treatment when many …

Addressing obesity: Is there a role for us as specialists?

Zachary Fellows, MD, MPH

Conditions

June 15, 2024

I was in rheumatology private practice for just under four years as my first few years out of fellowship. During that time, too many of my patients were coming with obesity complicating a facet of their rheumatic disease. The most common example might be osteoarthritis, where excess weight directly applies force to joints like the lower back, hips, and knees, accelerating the disease and worsening outcomes. A less obvious example …

A modern tale of thyroid cancer: AI, haikus, and healing

Isabelle Tran

Conditions

June 14, 2024

AI Ally

Hangs up. Phone drops. Thud.
She blinks back, tears, and looks up.
Thyroid cancer, huh …
Typing, click clack … thud.

She sighs in relief.
Texts friends, invites family
over for comfort.

The next day, she calls
her doctor ready to talk,
ready to listen.

Behind the poem: not your typical haiku

A lesson in generosity: How one woman helped a stranger afford insulin

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Conditions

June 14, 2024

I waited in line at the pharmacy, a familiar chain store. The man in front of me waited patiently for the technician to ring up his meds. I overheard her say to him, “$125.00. That includes your insulin.”

The man bowed his head and smiled politely, showing many missing teeth. He was dressed modestly. I did not know his name. I did not know him. I had never met him before. …

Health care’s breaking point: patients and physicians abandoned

Michele Luckenbaugh

Conditions

June 13, 2024

I know you are wounded, as I am also injured.

It is as if we have been battered and bruised and kicked to the side of the road, left there alone to suffer. An ignored problem will soon be forgotten; at least, that is their contention.

We have screamed out our maladies and concerns to those in closed, cold rooms, those with mechanical minds that churn out debits and credits but cannot …

How one patient’s death transformed my approach to mental health care

Claire Ellerbrock, DNP, APRN

Conditions

June 12, 2024

Prior to working as a nurse practitioner, I worked as a psychiatric registered nurse in an inpatient behavioral health setting, caring for individuals with severe mental illness (SMI). Individuals with SMI die ten to twenty years earlier than the general population due to comorbid medical conditions. I had been aware of this statistic for some time but only understood the devastation after I had an encounter with a patient in …

CRISPR and eEVs in the fight against chronic diseases

L. Joseph Parker, MD

Conditions

June 11, 2024

In one of my favorite movies, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the original crew of the Enterprise has traveled through time, back to the, to them ancient, city of San Francisco circa the 1980s. It’s all about Earth whales and alien cetaceans being none too pleased that we killed them all … And Klingons, of course. There must be Klingons. But what stuck in my young mind at the …

Debunking the top myths about schizophrenia

Brooke Kempf, PMHNP-BC

Conditions

June 11, 2024

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness often misunderstood. Stereotypical portrayals in movies and TV perpetuate false narratives, leading to inaccurate conclusions. Here are five common myths about schizophrenia and the truth behind them.

Myth: People living in poverty are more likely to get schizophrenia.

We tend to pair schizophrenia with assumptions of low income or poverty, but that’s not accurate. Sometimes, due to their illness and its effects, patients with schizophrenia may …

It’s time for more genomics education in nursing

Nicole Letourneau, PhD, RN and Jacqueline Limoges, PhD, RN

Conditions

June 10, 2024

Genetic testing is now the standard of care for common diseases such as cancer and heart disease, predicting risk and enabling earlier and more effective patient care. It’s an exciting revolution in patient care that has far-reaching potential and continues to grow and expand. But in Canada, we are not using all of our health human resources to take advantage of this important transformation in health care.

What’s missing are …

Why we shouldn’t trust sleep-deprived doctors: a wake-up call

Arlene Rivera

Conditions

June 10, 2024

I wouldn’t trust my Uber driver to drive me after they’ve been awake for over 24 hours. Why would I trust my doctor?

Since starting medical school and hearing about the dreadful 24-hour shifts, I’ve constantly wondered why they are standard of practice, let alone legally allowed. Why would a hospital want the liability of a sleep-deprived doctor?

I first saw the effects of a 24-hour shift during my general surgery rotation. …

Unveiling the unseen: the hidden costs of health care-associated infections

Trini Mathew, MD, MPH

Conditions

June 9, 2024

Many aspects of health care-associated infections are unseen. The bacteria that cause infections like C. difficile or catheter-associated urinary tract infections are invisible to the naked eye. Beyond the financial burdens of additional treatment and longer hospital stays, less obvious costs often fall below the radar in the form of suffering, distress, and shattered trust in the health care system when patients fall victim to preventable infections.

And, often low profile …

The adverse labor and delivery experiences faced by Black women

Sophia Alexander, Deepjot Singh, MD, and Jessica L. Jones, MD, MSPH

Conditions

June 8, 2024

Women of color, particularly Black women, encounter distinct challenges during pregnancy and childbirth. This results in disproportionately adverse outcomes such as invasive treatments, infant mortality, severe complications, and even death experienced by these women. The role of racism and discrimination are highlighted even when controlling for certain underlying social and economic factors. For example, education and income are not protective of poor outcomes, and inequity in health care persists …

Black maternal mortality crisis: Preventable deaths demand action

Desrae Yvette Woods

Conditions

June 7, 2024

The racial and ethnic divide within health care remains largely unaddressed. One aspect I wish to highlight is the impact of mortality rates after childbirth, particularly among African American women. They face the highest mortality rates postpartum, presenting a concerning health disparity that verges on a public health crisis. According to the CDC, black women are two to three times more likely to succumb to pregnancy-related complications compared to other …

The many losses of a long psychiatry career

Courtney Markham-Abedi, MD

Conditions

June 6, 2024

At the beginning of a career – sometimes when viewed through rose-colored glasses not yet spoiled by reality – you hope to be able to lose loss to stay away. Somehow you feel like if you just try hard enough – practice psychiatry in the best way possible you can somehow prevent death by suicide. This is obviously magical thinking, and you begin to realize that there will be a …

Understanding autoimmune flares: triggers, symptoms, and treatment options

Nancie Wiseman Attwater

Conditions

June 5, 2024

Just when you think your autoimmune disease(s) are calming down and you feel better, a dramatic worsening of disease signs and symptoms can happen without warning. They are unpredictable and disruptive, and can cause a disturbing influence in your every attempt to feel well.

Taking medications, following a healthy diet and exercise program, and getting enough sleep don’t seem to stop “flares.” These are the markers of autoimmune disease activity, meaning …

It is time to change the conversation and eliminate the stigma attached to diabetes

Laura Syron

Conditions

June 5, 2024

The Canadian federal government’s decision to cover diabetes medication and devices under its new pharmacare plan is a significant step forward in improving the quality of life for the millions of Canadians with diabetes, especially those who struggle to afford treatments.

However, access to medication and devices is not the only factor affecting the well-being of those living with diabetes. That title may be reserved for something we don’t …

Navigating the challenges of breast cancer-related lymphedema

Steven L. Chen, MD, MBA

Conditions

June 5, 2024

As advancements in breast cancer treatments have led to improved patient survival rates, the focus has begun to shift to addressing the significant long-term side effects, particularly lymphedema. This condition, often resulting from cancer therapies, presents substantial health care challenges and negatively impacts patients’ quality of life. With a staggering up to 82 percent of breast cancer patients having a risk factor for developing limb lymphedema due to treatment, …

Costly care vs. cutting-edge treatments: the state of cancer today

Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD

Conditions

June 4, 2024

For decades, many patients, their children, and grandkids have strived to answer, “What is cancer?” As a doctor and scientist, over the past 16 months, I have learned the latest cancer information from experts at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and MD Anderson in Houston. With that, I have also become aware some patients are either denied state-of-the-art care or just kept in the dark about potential treatment because it is …

Geriatric oncology: challenges and rewards of treating elderly cancer patients

Dr. Damane Zehra

Conditions

June 2, 2024

If anyone asks me, “What part of oncology do you hate the most?” I would definitely answer without much thought, “geriatric oncology.” I think that’s the most difficult specialty because it needs extraordinary skills and patience to deal with elderly patients dealing with cancer. Although cancer is much more prevalent in the elderly, their needs are quite different compared to other adult patients. They are mostly very weak and malnourished, …

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