Physician

Fostering the next (diverse) generation of clinicians

Physician

March 14, 2023

As a medical student, I never saw myself as a future CEO or anything close. I was often the only Black person in the room in classes and rotations. After I became an attending, I spent a great deal of time and mental energy fitting in. Speaking up and having opinions were luxuries I couldn’t afford, let alone aspiring to leadership.

What made a difference? Having a mentor.

My mentor, Wes Curry, …

From grief to gratitude: How writing changed my life

Ryan McCarthy, MD

Physician

March 14, 2023

Dan died, and I became a writer. I didn’t know it, but I did. Back then, I wrote one story, almost by accident, trying to make sense of my personal chaos. That essay chronicled a small-town doctor losing a beloved middle-aged friend who was rapidly fading from pancreatic cancer. It felt like being dropped into a horrible Lifetime movie come to life, where one day in August 2016, Dan developed …

Beyond textbooks: the importance of empathy in medicine

Michael J. Collins, MD

Physician

March 14, 2023

An excerpt from All Bleeding Stops.

Megan continues to take his blood pressure every few minutes. With growing tenderness Denis watches her fidgeting with the IV, biting her lip, eyes flitting from one machine to the next, desperately seeking the reassurance she knows will never come.

She thinks she’s not a good doctor because she hasn’t memorized enough textbooks or performed enough …

Unintended consequences of Health Care Quality Improvement Act: a violation of physicians’ civil and constitutional rights

Farid Gharagozloo, MD & Rainer Gruessner, MD & Robert Poston, MD

Physician

March 13, 2023

The Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements, as well as the Human Rights Campaign for the LGBTQ+ community, are a few examples of where American democracy and values have triumphed in restoring dignity and civil and constitutional rights to marginalized individuals. Although much work remains to be done, the enlightenment brought about by these movements will undoubtedly continue to strengthen American democracy. However, it is concerning that during the …

Healing from the pandemic: a journey to recovery

Susan MacLellan-Tobert, MD

Physician

March 13, 2023

While it appears we are on the downhill slope of COVID-19’s integration into everyday life, burnout rates are rising, and organizational trust is taking a nose-dive. Aren’t we supposed to be in the post-disaster recovery phase? What is the bottleneck holding us back from moving toward our new horizon? On the surface, issues like operating losses, staffing shortages, and scarcity of supplies appear to be a few of the big …

Be like Mike (Jordan) and build your personal doctor brand

Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Diana Londoño, MD

Physician

March 13, 2023

Gatorade’s commercial featuring Michael Jordan from 1992 and its catchy song, “Like Mike,” is now part of pop culture history. The lyrics were likable. “I dream I move, I dream I groove, like Mike, if I could be like Mike, oh if I could be like Mike.” Let’s face it, growing up, many of us dreamed to be like Mike. As their first athlete endorser, Michael Jordan elevated the Gatorade …

The paradox of health IT: Improving care, impeding communication

Juan Pablo Zhenlio, MD

Physician

March 12, 2023

Advancements in health IT have created ease and efficiency in delivering health care that has never been seen before. Electronic ordering and prescribing have reduced medication errors from misinterpreting handwritten information. The interoperable transmission of critical patient history, lab work, and digital imaging from one hospital to another has reduced costs and unnecessary extraneous tests. Virtual care and telehealth utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized how patient encounters are …

The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

Catherine Hennessey, MD

Physician

March 11, 2023

As an OB/GYN, I know that medication abortion is safe, commonly used, and effective. Women’s rights, family building, and abortion are recognized in many international human rights documents. The United Nations’ 1966 Human Rights Treaty states that all people have a right to the highest attainable standard of health. The ability for someone to choose when and if they want to have a child is the basis of the Reproductive Justice framework and is paramount …

The collaboration between radiologists and clinicians for optimal diagnostic outcomes

Houda Bouhmam, MD

Physician

March 11, 2023

When I was doing my transitional year in internal medicine, I was essentially bullied for going into diagnostic radiology by my co-residents and the internal medicine attending doctors I worked with. They used to tell me that my “forever job” would be to sit on a chair in a dark room and dictate “correlate clinically” all day long. And I would immediately argue: No! That’s terrible! I would never do …

A hands-off approach to medical exams is potentially deadly

Deborah Herchelroath, DO

Physician

March 11, 2023

My mother passed away in early December. She had been battling Alzheimer’s disease for several years. Her communication was poor due to the disease. The caregivers in the memory care unit where she was located stated that she had been vomiting the night before her death. The next morning, she was moaning, and they believed she was in pain. An ambulance was called, and she was taken to the local …

Shopify’s meeting policy for health care: a game changer for providers and patients

Saurabh Gupta, MD

Physician

March 10, 2023

We’ve all been there, sitting in a virtual meeting, our eyes glaze over, and our minds wander as yet another PowerPoint slide drones on. The experience can make even the most dedicated health care professional question the value of meetings altogether.

But in health care settings, meetings can be a matter of life and death. Physicians and health care administrators are tasked with managing complex care teams, staying up-to-date on …

The reality of health care workers in the pandemic: burnout, overwork, and inadequate support

Stephen Rancour, MD

Physician

March 10, 2023

“We appreciate your tireless efforts in these difficult times.”

Eyeroll. No, you don’t. I don’t need another meeting or committee. I don’t need a “Burn-Out Committee Action Plan.” I don’t need a “token of appreciation”— a pair of socks? (Really? How much did that cost?) I don’t need another seasoned and respected nurse leaving to travel and make bank or going to some made-up administrative role. I don’t need to come …

The benefits of facing mortality: How Bruce Springsteen and other rock stars prove productivity can increase with age

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

March 10, 2023

According to Chris Jordan, a New Jersey shore native who writes about music and entertainment, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed “like their lives depended on it” when they recently kicked off their 2023 tour in Tampa, Florida early February. The tour will keep the 73-year-old Springsteen on the road for six months, playing a total of 62 concerts, proving that mortality can be a …

Physicians in crisis: the battle for autonomy and happiness in a broken system

Gail Gazelle, MD

Physician

March 9, 2023

What’s one of the biggest complaints we physicians have about the current state of our jobs? It’s that we’ve lost our autonomy, that it has been taken from us by a health care system more focused on profits than on the well-being of patients and ourselves.

As a physician, you know firsthand how dysfunctional health care has become. There is abundant evidence that the modern health care system is more than …

8 practices for a happier old age

Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD

Physician

March 9, 2023

The key to aging well lies within you, the attitudes and responses you have to growing older and entering old age. Yes, there will be inevitable physical …

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8 practices for a happier old age

Rethinking access to the American tip jar: It’s time to include nurses and dental hygienists

Eric Dessner, MD

Physician

March 9, 2023

Americans are accustomed to tipping for a wide array of services. We understand that our gratuity makes up an important percentage of the wages earned by many different types of laborers: massage therapists, Uber drivers, hair stylists, tour guides, room service providers, valets — the list goes on. Much of the time, we don’t just add a tip because we’re adhering to a cultural norm but rather because we genuinely …

Gratitude takes practice. How come health care workers aren’t better at it?

Craig Bowron, MD

Physician

March 8, 2023

Like interest rates and food prices, burnout among health care providers continues to rise.

From my perch—as a hospitalist in a large tertiary hospital—the sheer terror of the early days of the COVID pandemic has been replaced by a grinding fatigue fueled by staffing shortages across the entire health care system.

Patients and their families are burned out too, frustrated by delays and shortcomings in care that inevitably arise in an overworked …

The Titanic sinking: a metaphor for the impending collapse of medicine

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

Physician

March 7, 2023

The re-release of the movie Titanic marks its 25th anniversary since it first sailed into theaters. Can you believe it? Twenty-five years ago, we watched Rose get undressed for a self-portrait with only a necklace on, Jack yelling, “I’m the king of the world” from the boat’s bow, and the two of them doin’ the dirty in the backseat of an automobile. This fictional love story of Rose and Jack …

Patient empowerment: the key to solving the health care crisis

Ann M. Hester, MD

Physician

March 7, 2023

A sobering study by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts an unthinkable shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 doctors by 2034. If underserved populations had fewer barriers to medical care, that shortfall could reach over 180,000! Successfully navigating these uncharted waters will require strategic planning and innovation.

Even the current state is so dire that the American Medical Association (AMA) developed a critical action plan: AMA’s Recovery Plan for …