Ever dream of quitting your job, moving somewhere deliciously tropical and spending the rest of your days doing what you love (and even making a good, or great, income from it)?
This story isn’t about me, though some of you may know that I spent 2004-2008 living my dream life in Mexico (Puerta Vallarta and Los Cabos), making much of my income from my writing, dancing, coaching and speaking and occasional …
Quitting your job and living the dream
How many times have you said to a friend or relative in need, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” and when you didn’t hear back, fail to follow-up? I’ve lost count of the number of times I did just that—fail to follow-up when I didn’t hear back from someone in need, even though I would have been happy to help in any way I could.
Yet, …
How to ask for help when chronic pain or illness strikes
Year: 2002
Setting: Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore
Position: Private general practitioner
I am the first and only non-Anglo-Saxon, foreign, private general practitioner in the city-state and the physician of reference for 14 embassies, consulates and a high commission from Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. One afternoon, a nurse comes into my consulting room saying that an ambassador from a European country has had an accident and that he insists on being seen immediately.
I …
You cannot treat a patient against his will
I walked up to the closed door and paused , exhaling a deep breath weighted with disappointment, trying to clear my thoughts for the conversation about to come. My clenched fist was briefly suspended, mid-air, ready to knock. Beyond the door, I could hear muffled conversation and movement.
A calm, pretty woman stood beside me. An emergency department case manager. She held a notebook and pen, ready to jot down any …
How our resuscitation efforts would be interpreted by fate
A torn meniscus. It did not disable but it impaired, and unpredictably. My stomach learned quickly to tighten at the sound of A.’s peculiar whimper in response to a crippling pain that would shoot through her at seemingly innocuous movements of the afflicted leg. We have health insurance of sorts, the type that will help you keep your home if tragedy strikes, but that does not shield you from the …
The inability to locate price anywhere in the hospital
No pediatrician can answer the question: “What’s the most important thing I can do to keep my child healthy?” without listing three of four things. I’m no different, but right now family dinners are at the top of my list. You could argue that immunizations, car seats, bike helmets, 9-1-1, sleep, or good hand washing are just as important, and I won’t disagree. But it’s hard to overlook the overwhelming …
Why the family dinner is important for your kids
As a geriatrician in a locale with many elderly retirees, I am frequently asked how long mom or dad (or both) can stay in their home and live safely and successfully. It is clearly a complicated issue even if the individuals involved are cognitively and mentally intact, physically capable and financially able to pay for support and help.
There is much to consider. Are the patients physically able to maneuver within …
Patient safety in the elderly staying at home
One of my patients thanked me for saving his life. Apparently, many years ago I had told him that most men’s first complete physical is in the emergency room in the midst of their heart attack or stroke. I have been in practice long enough to have forgotten many of the things I have told patients. I try to capture the pearls I have learned over the last 30 …
Using the emergency room for routine physicals
Last July, I found myself needing to visit a doctor for an urgent medical issue. My period had started in April and never stopped. It was light, so it wasn’t too much of an annoyance, but after three months I figured I needed professional help.
I had started graduate school in Michigan the year before and was back home in California for the summer. I wasn’t sure if the new insurance …
Unexpected medical bills on a graduate student’s budget
You’ve had the sex talk, the smoking talk, and the drugs and drinking talk. But have you talked to your kids about tanning beds?
You should. Tanning bed use can cause skin cancer, including the deadliest form, melanoma. And, using tanning beds before age 30 increases a person’s risk of melanoma by 75%.
Equally worrisome: tanning beds can become addictive. A recent study showed that 80% of college-age tanning beds users couldn’t kick the habit.
This …
How to talk to teens about tanning beds
Up until last May, my experience of medical costs was limited to the $100 per month premium I contributed towards my employer-sponsored insurance and the nominal co-pays associated with well-child checkups and generic prescriptions. There was never any hesitation in seeing a doctor or filling a prescription. That all changed when went I back to school.
I blindly signed up for the school-recommended family insurance and naïvely assumed myself, my …
Care costs a lot and it’s not straightforward what the cost is
con·nect (from dictionary.com)
verb (used with object)
1. to join, link, or fasten together; unite or bind: to connect the two cities by a bridge; Communication satellites connect the local stations into a network.
2. to establish communication between; put in communication: Operator, will you please connect me with Mr. Jones?
To connect with your patients is truly the key solution.
Connect takes on two meanings:
To connect with patients is key
All of us are role models, whether we see ourselves that way or not. Of course I love to imagine myself as a positive role model, but my eleven-year-old daughter has already informed me that things will be way different at her house when she’s a mama. However, we’re not going to focus on how uncool I am, instead, I’m going to share the stories of a couple of people …
All of us are role models, whether we see ourselves that way or not
Today was a rough day at work. My schedule of 10 patients for the afternoon rapidly ballooned into 17. People were sick and miserable. Those who were healthy were frustrated by the long wait. I heard myself apologizing over and over to each family.
The day was mostly a chaotic blur. Babies crying, phones ringing, parents reprimanding children on the brink of a meltdown. I don’t remember much of it, except …
Children who curse, and the power of words
We have all seen people exhibit flagrantly unhealthy behavior. Some of us–though we’d never admit it–derive a certain, smug satisfaction by observing them. At least I don’t do that!
Somewhere in the course of our daily lives though, most of us do exhibit behavior that suggests at least some disregard for our health. We don’t change our diet, though we know we should. We don’t floss, take medications as prescribed, or …
Explaining human motivation towards unhealthy behavior
There is a saying in psychiatry, “even bad therapy is good therapy.”
I always thought this was a terrible thing to say, but really, there’s some truth to it. The basic tenet of therapy is that a person is able to vent their feelings with an objective third party. Depending on how good the therapist is, he or she will be able to help that person process their feelings in …
Who benefits most from psychological therapy?
Thump.
There is a strange sound emanating from the hallway. It’s more of a series of sounds, of thuds, punctuated by an odd, louder noise. The hallway is narrow, not much room for a five-year-old to create too much havoc. I close my eyes, and as I try to visualize the corresponding sequence of events the rhythm is interrupted by a much louder sound and the house shakes. A child has fallen …
Born premature, my sons have already endured a lifetime of hardship
I often refer to myself as a fireman pouring water on the flames that are burning my patients. Often, I view my patients as arsonists, pouring gas on the fire I am working to put out. Taking personal responsibility is a critical component of success in any of life’s ventures. While my patients are very responsible business and family men and women, they often take no responsibility for their …
A contract for patient responsibility
The elderly population can be fun to take care of (they have more stories than you have time to hear), or they can be a handful in regards to all of their chronic complaints and numerous medications. But then, there are those senior citizens that come into clinic and tell us, “I don’t need to take medications, I haven’t taken medications my whole life, and look at where it’s …
How elderly patients can be stubborn to their own detriment
We live in an era of medicine in America in which patients want to be involved in their healthcare. This is very satisfying to physicians like me, who prefer to educate and engage patients rather than just telling them what to do. Granted, there are some instances when a patient does need to be told what to do (ex: “You have appendicitis. You need surgery.”)
However, when faced with a …
What to ask a doctor when faced with a difficult diagnosis
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