Physician

Lessons from a civil rights icon: How to lift as we climb

Physician

February 15, 2023

Mary Eliza Church Terrell famously wrote, “And so, lifting as we climb, onward and upward we go, struggling and striving, and hoping that the buds and blossoms of our desires will burst into glorious fruition ‘ere long.”

Lift as we climb.

Terrell lived her life by this motto, as an organizer in the women’s suffrage and civil rights movements, and as a founder of the National Association of Colored Women and the …

Revolutionizing vascular surgery: How embracing endovascular techniques saved the specialty

Frank Veith, MD

Physician

February 15, 2023

An excerpt from The Medical Jungle: A Pioneering Surgeon’s Battle to Revolutionize Vascular Care and Challenge the Medical Mafia.

Still no matter what anyone said, I knew in my heart that endovascular grafts and endovascular aneurysm repair were going to be a game-changer and that vascular surgeons had to get involved …

6 tips to make a lasting impact in the medical field

Sharyar Baradaran, DDS and Arya Shamie, MD

Physician

February 14, 2023

We were best friends and classmates in elementary school until the Persian revolution hit in 1979. We both escaped Iran with our families, emigrated to Los Angeles, and have been friends ever since. Our experiences early in life provided us with the life lessons needed to find success, and we hope that by sharing our lessons, we can help impact the next generation. Below are some tips we wanted to …

Make Dry January a habit: Understanding and addressing alcohol use disorder

Bubu Banini, MD

Physician

February 14, 2023

The concept of Dry January, an opportunity to take a break from alcohol, does not need to end on January 31. If it does end, dietary guidelines recommending a maximum of 1 drink or less for women and two drinks or less for men on any given day should guide subsequent alcohol use. This is because alcohol use disorder (AUD) causes over 140,000 deaths annually …

Hug it out: the power of oxytocin on Valentine’s Day

Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD & Shreekant Vasudhev, MD

Physician

February 14, 2023

Valentine’s Day marks the most romantic day of the year. For this Hallmark holiday, this country displays our love for each other by spending approximately $25 billion on cards, roses, chocolates, and dinners. Why so much? WTF!

Like one’s dating status on Facebook, the origin of Valentine’s Day is “complicated.” Formal messages or valentines appeared as printed cards in the late 1700s. Today, Hallmark sells about 145 million cards at an …

Breaking the stigma: Why doctors are afraid to seek mental health treatment

Alexandra Townsley and Rajani Katta, MD

Physician

February 13, 2023

We are over 25 years apart in our careers. One of us began her medical career in a time before the internet and email. The other is a digital native. Remarkably, though, our experiences have been very similar in one respect. We have spoken with colleagues who decided to avoid seeking care for their mental health concerns. Why? Due to fears that this type of medical care might adversely impact …

Holding my Black son tight: a mother’s reflection

Margaret Towolawi, MD

Physician

February 13, 2023

In the wake of Tyre Nichols’s murder, I find myself wanting to hold onto my Black son a little tighter.

He is 7.

Young enough to still be deemed cute by some, but old enough to not be given as much grace for simply “being a kid” by others.

Sometimes I spoil him a bit more than I’d like to.

It’s only really because even though I know technically he’s a kid until age …

Unlocking the potential of occupational therapists: a solution to undertreated hand conditions

Jean Paul Brutus, MD

Physician

February 13, 2023

Hand disorders and injuries often result in significant functional deficits if not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. Unfortunately, in Canada, hands are often undertreated or treated too late, with potentially serious consequences for both the patient and society due to prolonged disability.

Hand conditions are complex and require specialized knowledge to diagnose and treat correctly. Unfortunately, primary care physicians rarely have the training or expertise to accurately diagnose and …

Finding the right balance: Fleishman is in Trouble takes on parenting in the 21st century

Eric Dessner, MD

Physician

February 13, 2023

For those who haven’t yet seen Hulu’s dramatic series Fleishman Is in Trouble, it’s really about the different forms of existential crises people face in middle age. The show contemplates the challenges of maintaining a marriage, parenting in the digital age, job dissatisfaction, and suburban listlessness, and how a responsible adult might reconcile these dilemmas and chart a new course forward. It manages to explore these weighty themes with earnestness …

Addressing health disparities to improve patient safety

Lilibeth Fermin, MD and Govind Rangrass, MD

Physician

February 13, 2023

A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Health disparities affecting minority and vulnerable populations are increasingly well-recognized after the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across a large number of quality metrics, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s latest National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report found that Blacks, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, …

Gaslighting and dismissal: the consequences of invalidating patients’ concerns

Lisa Baron, MD

Physician

February 12, 2023

Social media has really exposed the trauma caused by gaslighting, dismissal, and misogyny by medical professionals. Chronic illness groups are rife with posts recounting the poor treatment they suffered at the hands of doctors. Imagine presenting with extreme fatigue, intermittent balance problems, and tingling in your hands and, after a cursory exam, being told your symptoms are due to stress and to lose weight. Two years later, you are diagnosed …

Why reaching your goals won’t bring lasting happiness

Victoria Silas, MD

Physician

February 11, 2023

It’s January, so much of social media, news, magazine articles, and the like turns to goals, goals, goals.

Having a goal for your life is like having a diagnosis for a patient.

Now you have a direction (for healing). You know what you have to do to get there (the specific treatment), you know what the obstacles might be (complications), and yet you have to keep an open mind in case you …

Breaking the glass ceiling in medicine: the struggles and strengths of female doctors

Rosalind Kaplan, MD

Physician

February 10, 2023

There’s some pretty good evidence out there that women physicians provide really good medical care—in some cases, better than their male counterparts. For instance, a 2017 study showed that hospitalized Medicare patients under the care of a female doctor had lower rates of 30-day mortality and readmission to the hospital than those cared for by a male doctor. A study in Canada in 2016 found that patients of female doctors …

Only physicians can find the balance between tradition and active disruption

Jay Shah, MD

Physician

February 10, 2023

It is clear to most of us who practice medicine that the medical system is at a crossroads unlike any other in recent history, between competing crises of uncontrolled medical costs, escalating administrative burdens, consolidation and employment of physician practices, burnout, and the rapid development and entrance of new, largely untested technologies. I am sure that I am not alone as a physician who wonders what will the medical system …

Doctors and dating: the challenges of balancing a demanding career and personal life

Anonymous

Physician

February 10, 2023

The word “career” has two meanings. A career in medicine fulfills both meanings quite neatly. In the traditional sense, it can be defined as an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life. On the other hand, it can mean moving swiftly and in an uncontrolled way. As in, “Her car careered across the road and into a ditch.”

Being a physician is a blur of late nights, cold …

Why the name “emergency medicine” is no longer adequate: a call for change

Jordan Hughes, MD

Physician

February 9, 2023

I am an emergency physician in training. It’s a thrilling and rewarding job learning to treat the severely ill and injured. But it is also a rare clinical shift when I don’t treat patients with life-limiting alcohol and drug addiction, people struggling with homelessness, those whose behavior does not allow them to safely be in a shelter with others, undocumented immigrants with nowhere else to turn for aid, uninsured patients …

Trauma motivated me to become a doctor

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

February 9, 2023

“Raise your hand if you said you wanted to become a doctor to help people during your medical school interview. I see practically every hand in the room raised. Keep them raised if you told your interviewer you also wanted to become a doctor to overcome personal trauma.”

Everyone lowered their hands.

“I’m dismayed there are no honest people here,” I joked to attendees at an annual meeting of the American Psychiatric …

Read more…

Trauma motivated me to become a doctor

A thank you to those who take care of us

Eddie Fatakhov, MD, MBA

Physician

February 9, 2023

As patients, we often think of our health care providers as infallible beings who can easily handle their profession’s emotional and physical tolls. However, the reality is that health care professionals are human too, and they are not immune to the effects of burnout, depression, and even suicide.

One forgotten fact about our health care system is that providers are constantly exposed to the suffering of others and are faced with …

Navigating the gray area: a doctor’s perspective on treating a colleague

Sid Schwab, MD

Physician

February 8, 2023

“Musta been the ham sandwich,” he said as he leaned onto the operating table and belched a couple of times. We were halfway through an operation, and Doug, my partner, didn’t look all that good. I’d been in practice for all of a year, still greenish, and he, ten years my senior, was my guardian angel, my guide through the vagaries of the world of private practice, and the best …

The hidden toll of racism in medicine: a doctor’s perspective

Anonymous

Physician

February 8, 2023

It felt like a monumental moment when I started my career in medicine. I grew up largely on the borderline of poverty; my parents lived check to check with my sister and me. Neither of them had gotten a college education, and they sacrificed much of their lives to support my ambitions. So to see their son realize his dream was a proud moment for them. But as a Hispanic …

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