Among high school seniors using marijuana, the pandemic forced the largest one-year decline in use over the past 48 years. Marijuana use fell from 35.2 percent in 2020 to 30.5 percent during 2021. In 2022, it remained pretty much unchanged at 30.7 percent.
Alcohol drinking among high school seniors fell from 55.3 percent of seniors in 2020 to 46.5 percent during the pandemic year. However, in 2022, alcohol use among seniors …
When I walked into the ultrasound room, I immediately noticed the patient’s red-rimmed eyes and cloud of mussed-up brown hair. My eyes tracked the defeated curve of her back and its stark contrast to the sterile environment of the obstetrics and gynecology exam room, with its muted grey and blue tones. A forty-year-old woman, she had used in-vitro fertilization to become pregnant because she wanted her toddler son to have …
I wasn’t supposed to hear this, but I did. It sealed the deal for me. It was one of the reasons I had to finally leave my true love: ICU nursing. After 33 years as an ICU nurse, I knew it was time to go.
I used to feel like I had a purpose. I used to think I was a dynamic part of saving lives in the ICU. I lived …
The skill
Patient safety, patient experience, workforce health, and cost-effectiveness are critical outcomes with an important common root. They’re all impacted by our ability to communicate effectively and respectfully. Additional terms to describe these skills include people, interaction, interprofessional, relationship, and social skills. They can even be used to describe behaviors inherent in many properties of complex adaptive systems, such as the butterfly effect, flexibility, and adaptability. The more we understand …
When my kids were born (3 within 19 months), one thing became very clear: there was only one way that I could possibly accomplish all of my goals. I wanted a fulfilling, successful career, with big aspirations. I also wanted to be really happy and present in my personal life. I didn’t want to sacrifice my career and didn’t want to sacrifice my personal life. I wanted success and fulfillment …
According to the World Health Organization, cervical cancer is among the most preventable and treatable gynecological cancers. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and longitudinal screening are highly effective modes of prevention and detection, respectively. While statistics on the efficacy of vaccination and screening are promising, the realities surrounding cervical cancer outcomes are anything but. A closer look at the diagnosis and mortality rates paints quite a bleak picture.
The United States’ …
I always knew my work schedule, but this time I got it wrong … or maybe I got it right. I clocked in and reported to the ICU for my night shift to start, but I wasn’t on the schedule. Strangely enough, they had enough nurses that night. The nursing supervisor asked if I would be willing to go to the neonatal ICU (NICU) and rock a baby. Except for …
“Remember, today you could be standing next to someone trying their best not to fall apart. So whatever you do today, do it with kindness in your heart.” – Unknown
Today, I want to talk personally from the perspective of a Black, female, physician. I have a confession, I struggle with setting boundaries. I did not know how detrimental this challenge was until I started studying it more deeply. Did you …
The word mundane is defined as an occurrence that is very ordinary and, therefore, not interesting. However, what may be mundane for one may be monumental for another, especially if one’s health is in question.
An ultrasound provides needed information to trained medical personnel for the evaluation of the health status of an individual. In many situations, it is a means to alert the physician to a potential problem situation for …
An excerpt from Doctor Zhulik.
Christmas Eve
“You know, you’re the worst f*cking intern I have ever seen.”
“I don’t know why the hell you’re even trying to become a surgeon, Appleby. You have the manual dexterity of a chimpanzee.” A heavy man, Bernstein’s belly burst out of the gown, threatening to push …
An excerpt from The Gaslight Effect Recovery Guide: Your Personal Journey Toward Healing from Emotional Abuse.
Gaslighting is insidiously pervasive in today’s culture. We are inundated by an onslaught of news and information that we’re aware might not be accurate. In such a climate, we are presented with more occasions to …
It was in 2012 that I started to realize that my wife Jennifer’s memory lapses were a significant sign to be taken seriously. That insight set us on a four-year journey, during which we engaged four neurologists in our quest for an answer. At last, Dr. Brent Fogel at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA diagnosed Jennifer with adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD), an ultra-rare, neurodegenerative disorder characterized …
Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, and we all have sorrow.
But if we are wise, we know that there’s always a tomorrow.
Lean on me when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend; I’ll help you carry on,
for it won’t be long ’till I’m going to need somebody to lean on.
Some might recall these lyrics from the song Lean on Me, written in 1972 by American singer-songwriter Bill …
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On waking up from anesthesia-induced unconsciousness, I was dressed in an unfamiliar pink surgical bra with multiple Velcro straps. As if I were a doll, someone had clothed my limp body without my knowledge, and I had no idea who. Even then, I had a vague sense, groggy and feeling an odd lack of sensation on the right side of my chest that I had been violated.
“Violation” is an …
Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills safety, collapsed on the field during the Monday Night NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals with nearly six minutes left in the first quarter. The incident rattled sports fans and left everyone emotionally distraught. The game was postponed and subsequently canceled. CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED (automated external defibrillator) were used as part of resuscitation efforts. It is gratifying to hear the good news that Hamlin …
“He’s batshit crazy,” fellow physician Karen eagerly confides while describing another colleague, Kevin, in a private office conversation.
I laugh, assuming intended hyperbole.
“No. Really. He is,” Karen says. “He’s been hospitalized — several times. And his kids are crazy, too. They’re all crazy.”
I jolted into an instant somber, “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
Karen looks disappointed. Her intended collusion collides with my concern. We stare at each other momentarily and …
The shocking scene that unfolded during the Bills-Bengals game Monday evening was a play that I’ve seen countless times on a very different stage. Yet as a hospital physician, watching Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest was unexpectedly jarring. Seeing the coordinated and professional medical response on the field was inspiring. No doubt, timely and effective CPR and defibrillation saved his life. As I reflect on the events of that evening, …
An excerpt from Fifty Years a Doctor: The Journey of Sickness and Health, Four Plagues and the Pandemic.
Our favorite internist and chairman of the internal medicine department was lecturing us on sensitivity to patients’ suffering when they have a serious illness. He stressed that our sensitivity would increase as we …
Patient autonomy, one of the pillars of medical ethics, now shines brightest of the four pillars in modern medicine. While medical ethics was meant to take beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy in equal consideration, the balance is now offset by the digital age and an increasingly skeptical population that has hurdled American culture into striving for autonomy above all else.
Patients have begun to correct physicians on the standard of care …
As a pediatrician serving under-resourced families in Washington, D.C., I was glad to see health leaders converge for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Solutions to food insecurity and diet-related diseases are urgently needed to address the crisis of chronic disease, which afflicts six in 10 Americans.
One of the important issues discussed at the conference is the critical need for more education and training in nutrition …
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