Conditions

I knew hospitals were not taking good care of doctors. But when I became a patient, I experienced it.

Conditions
January 2, 2025

I have spent nearly half a century in the world of health care leadership, first in management and later as a consultant. Throughout my career, one of my most consistent observations has been that most health care organizations do not treat physicians very well.

I knew it because I saw it nearly every day in the hospitals I worked with. But it wasn’t until this year that I experienced firsthand how …

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Physician suicide: Addressing the silent epidemic

Conditions
December 30, 2024

Suicide is the act of an individual ending their life. It is generally caused by the convergence of multiple factors, the most significant of which is untreated or end-stage psychiatric illness. As a practicing psychiatrist who has been involved in the Pennsylvania Physicians Health Program for more than a decade, I believe we need to do better to stem the increasing numbers of physician suicides. A better understanding of and …

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Navigating a rare neurodegenerative disorder as mother and daughter

Conditions
December 27, 2024

Before her diagnosis, my mom was extremely active and healthy. She loved bird watching, walking, and volunteering at her church and its school. So in 2013, when she began experiencing symptoms like incontinence and difficulties with walking, we knew that something wasn’t right.

We faced many potential explanations for my mom’s symptoms before receiving her diagnosis. I remember the doctors testing her for numerous diseases like diabetes and multiple sclerosis (MS), …

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Breaking the silence on physician burnout and suicide

Conditions
December 25, 2024

KevinMD has been publishing multiple reports about the current widespread, deeply worrisome physician burnout and suicide phenomena. As a card-carrying epidemiologist, I have sought to categorize these reports into the three overarching factors we might see in any epidemic, namely: agent, host, and environment. If we were to use this conceptual framework for research, we could gain a better understanding of how much each of its various facets contributes to …

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Long COVID and sleep: an urgent call to action

Conditions
December 22, 2024

Long COVID is real. For millions of people who contracted COVID-19, recovery has been a long and uncertain road. While many regained their health in weeks, others continue to face persistent symptoms and health problems for months or even years after the acute infection. Patients, caregivers, and clinicians alike have named this condition “long COVID,” while scientists often refer to it as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC).

The long-term effects of …

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The burnout crisis runs deeper than you think

Conditions
December 22, 2024

The recently growing attention to the burnout crisis in health care has begun a much-overdue conversation. However, the discussion has thus far been focused primarily on physicians and nurses and has not yet considered the larger health care team enduring the same environments. This includes receptionists, pharmacy assistants, medical scribes, personal support workers (PSWs), rehabilitation support workers (RSWs), and many more. These are the unregistered health care personnel (HCPs) that …

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Are new blood tests for Alzheimer’s and cancer worth the hype?

Conditions
December 21, 2024

Recently, consumer articles heralded that blood tests for detecting Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) and many cancers were close to clinical availability. Given the narrow window in which AD must be diagnosed for present treatments to be effective, and questions regarding the utility of early cancer detection, will these tests provide any patient advantage?

Presently, there are two medications to treat AD. Neither is curative, but they slow disease progress by about five …

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Acupuncture helped when nothing else did

Conditions
December 20, 2024

The waiting area in Kayla’s (name changed) practice was so peaceful that I felt better just sitting there. I had come to receive acupuncture treatments and didn’t quite know what to expect. While I sat and waited for Kayla to lead me back to a treatment room, I looked around. There were flowers on an end table next to a blue wooden bench. On the wall, there was a huge …

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What 10 minutes reveal about the broken health care system in rural America

Conditions
December 20, 2024

A response to “The overwhelming reality of primary care: Why doctors still persevere.”

I am a primary care patient in a rural area of a western state, and I have not seen the same physician or other provider more than two or three times in the past 20 years.

I am a primary care patient, and I have 10 minutes to explain my entire medical history, including my neurologic, musculoskeletal, and …

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The silent epidemic of low testosterone: Why men are suffering in silence and what doctors can do about it

Conditions
December 19, 2024

The hidden health crisis

Low testosterone (low T) is one of the most underdiagnosed and misunderstood health conditions facing men today. Studies show that nearly 40 percent of men over age 45 and 50 percent of men over 80 have low testosterone levels. However, what’s more troubling is that only 20 percent of these men are ever diagnosed or treated.

The symptoms are often subtle but profound, affecting physical health, mental well-being, …

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Navigating sex and intimacy with ME/CFS and long COVID

Conditions
December 19, 2024

Living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) or long COVID can transform every aspect of life, including one that often feels too delicate or taboo to address: sex and intimacy. These conditions introduce physical limitations, emotional strain, and communication challenges that can make intimacy feel out of reach. But here’s the truth: intimacy is possible—it just looks different, and that’s OK!

Understanding the impact of ME/CFS and long COVID on intimacy

Both …

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Taking a break from medicine: a journey to rediscover joy and purpose

Conditions
December 18, 2024

Dear medicine,

We need to take a break. I’ve finally realized that this relationship isn’t healthy for me—in fact, it’s borderline abusive. For a long time, I didn’t realize I was in an abusive relationship. We’re taught that it’s OK when patients curse at us, threaten us, and even sometimes physically assault us. Unfortunately, for many of us, medicine checks many of the boxes of abusive relationships.

Not realizing we’re in an …

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Biomarkers: How to manage your body’s KPIs for longevity

Conditions
December 18, 2024

Longevity can be a polarizing topic. For some of us, it conjures images of a grandparent’s final years, filled with chronic diseases and prolonged suffering. Understandably, we would not want any part of that.

However, longevity science is not only about extending lifespan but also healthspan — the period of life spent in good health, free from debilitating conditions. While medicine has not yet eradicated such age-related diseases, research shows that …

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How objective pain management can save lives and prevent addiction

Conditions
December 17, 2024

The management of pain in clinical practice often involves navigating the critical tension between compassionate care and ensuring patient safety. While subjective self-reports of pain are essential for understanding a patient’s experience, relying solely on these assessments may risk overtreatment, leading to adverse outcomes. Incorporating objective measures can enhance safety and maintain clinical integrity without compromising compassion.

The role of objective measures in pain management

1. Promoting patient safety

Doctors must rethink “do no harm” to help children with long COVID

Conditions
December 16, 2024

As medical students, we all take the Hippocratic oath—a pledge to help patients and, of course, not to cause harm in any treatments we provide. It is a core element in the care of our patients. We would never want to do anything that could make things worse. But is it that simple?

As medical diseases have become more and more complex, can we ethically say we will not offer a …

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Why talking to families of autistic individuals about brain donation is a priority

Conditions
December 14, 2024

Efforts to generate a resource of postmortem brain tissue for research are in their infancy. Autism BrainNet, a program of the Simons Foundation, is trying to jump-start those efforts. Currently, there are fewer than 200 postmortem autistic brains in the Autism BrainNet program available to researchers worldwide who are looking into the underlying biological causes of autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Postmortem brain tissue accelerates research efforts and advances …

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We’re barely using a key resource to help people with addiction

Conditions
December 14, 2024

Rachel was making her 25th visit to the emergency department. The wound on her leg from injecting drugs had spread to her entire calf and required a lengthy course of antibiotic treatment in the hospital. The few times she had been admitted to the hospital, she had left without finishing treatment because the pain and withdrawal symptoms were too much to bear. On her most recent visit, she finally stayed to …

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A wake-up call for dementia detection: the urgent need for precision tools across health care

Conditions
December 12, 2024

Dementia is advancing at an unprecedented rate—every three seconds, another person is diagnosed. Currently, 55 million people worldwide live with dementia, and by 2050, that number could soar to 139 million. These figures aren’t mere statistics; they represent individuals, families, and communities facing complex, life-altering challenges. For primary care providers, who often stand as the first line of defense, this signals a crucial need for precise, sensitive tools to …

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SIBO and IBS: the hidden link keeping millions in pain

Conditions
December 12, 2024

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a little known gastrointestinal (GI) disorder with links to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Today, it takes an average of about six years for patients to receive a proper IBS diagnosis and begin a course of treatment, all the while experiencing debilitating symptoms from this disease.

Despite SIBO’s long documented medical history, it is poorly understood in comparison to similar chronic GI conditions. While there have …

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How physician burnout silently creeps in and takes over

Conditions
December 10, 2024

I don’t know when the word burnout came into my vocabulary, but I feel that we use it constantly in our health care world today. I always thought I was immune to this concept of burnout. My self-talk was that I was strong and nothing would ever happen to me. As a psychiatrist and a yoga practitioner, I thought I was better equipped to “handle my feelings” and be in …

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