Physician voices

12,751 articles · Since 2006

Articles, page 11

How measuring physician burnout could improve retention

August 19, 2026Aug 19, 2026

We know that recruiting and replacing a physician costs somewhere in the range of a million dollars per physician, depending on the specialty. We know the effects of physician burnout and attrition directly affect key performance indicators, like patient access, quality metrics, and Net Promoter Scores. They also affect care continuity, organizational culture, and the pool of potential leaders.

And yet, return on investment (ROI) calculations have not persuaded health care …

Physician presenteeism starts with a dangerous myth

All Levels Leadership

August 19, 2026Aug 19, 2026

An excerpt from Self-Awareness and Trust: Leading Healthcare Teams from the Inside Out. "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." - Widely attributed to Aristotle I had been away from the intensive care unit (ICU) for a couple of…

An excerpt from Self-Awareness and Trust: Leading Healthcare Teams from the Inside Out.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
– Widely attributed to Aristotle

I had been away from the intensive care unit (ICU) for a couple of weeks. When I came back for a scheduled week of service, I put on my black fleece jacket (the same one I had worn hundreds of times before). As I slid my …

Reforming hospital peer review requires independence

Babajide Ogunseinde, MD

August 18, 2026Aug 18, 2026

An adverse peer-review determination is one of the most consequential events in a physician's professional life. When a hospital revokes clinical privileges or imposes a suspension exceeding thirty days, federal statute mandates a report to the National Practitioner Data Bank…

An adverse peer-review determination is one of the most consequential events in a physician’s professional life. When a hospital revokes clinical privileges or imposes a suspension exceeding thirty days, federal statute mandates a report to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB).

In today’s consolidated health care landscape, an adverse NPDB report is an indelible mark with near-insurmountable consequences. It frequently triggers reciprocal investigations by state licensing boards, prompts malpractice carriers to …

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7 lessons from research retractions about integrity

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD

August 17, 2026Aug 17, 2026

Research retractions are not all misconduct, and a leaderboard is not a verdict. The Retraction Watch database leaderboard, updated August 2026, shows researchers with dozens or hundreds of retractions but also cautions that its ranking is unofficial and shaped by what can be verified. Its treatment of the landmark 1980s case involving a Harvard University cardiologist illustrates why raw counts require context. Nonetheless, these cases expose recurring vulnerabilities that every …

Rituals in primary care restore what screens erase

Tom Peteet, MD, MPH, MEd

August 16, 2026Aug 16, 2026

A social worker lights a single candle, and the entire primary care staff watches the flame. In turn, we jot the names of deceased patients on slips of paper. When moved to speak, we place a name in the basket. Sometimes we speak. For Ian, whose laugh could light up a room. Other times, we bear witness in silence and sit back down. The gathering feels recent, but it last …

The neuroscience of physician burnout nobody teaches

Alex P. Michael, MD

August 16, 2026Aug 16, 2026

There is a moment every surgeon remembers. A minute earlier, it was an ordinary case, someone complaining about the overnight appendectomy they had to come in for, someone else describing upcoming vacation plans. Yacht rock playing quietly in the background.…

There is a moment every surgeon remembers.

A minute earlier, it was an ordinary case, someone complaining about the overnight appendectomy they had to come in for, someone else describing upcoming vacation plans. Yacht rock playing quietly in the background. Then everything quickly changes. A vessel tears, filling the field with blood midsentence. The anesthesiologist’s tone sharpened as the blood pressure began to fall, and every eye in the room turned …

Return-to-play decisions begin long before the whistle

Ann Lebeck, MD

August 16, 2026Aug 16, 2026

Friday nights are loud. The student section is impossible to miss. Faces painted in school colors, homemade signs held high, voices already hoarse before kickoff. The marching band fills every pause with music while parents and grandparents search the field…

Friday nights are loud.

The student section is impossible to miss. Faces painted in school colors, homemade signs held high, voices already hoarse before kickoff. The marching band fills every pause with music while parents and grandparents search the field for familiar jersey numbers. I hardly notice any of it.

By the time the crowd begins finding their seats, I’ve already been watching the …

Why moral injury in medicine isn’t a personal failing

Grace Torres-Hodges, DPM, MBA

August 16, 2026Aug 16, 2026

When we started medical school, the deal seemed pretty simple: learn the science, take care of people, and build a career you could be proud of. The path felt straight, the incentives felt clean, and most of us believed that…

Nobody stood at the podium and said, “By mid-career, you’ll be judged by RVUs, …

Workplace violence in health care demands systemic change

American Society of Anesthesiologists

August 15, 2026Aug 15, 2026

Workplace violence in health care has become one of the most urgent occupational safety crises in the United States. Anesthesiologists, as well as other physicians, nurses, emergency personnel, therapists, technicians, and support staff, routinely face verbal threats, intimidation, physical assault,…

The National Institute for Occupational Safety …

Physician peer review must balance safety and fairness

Babajide Ogunseinde, MD

August 14, 2026Aug 14, 2026

Medicine is one of the few professions in which a colleague may understand exactly how difficult the journey has been and simultaneously possess enormous influence over whether another physician is permitted to continue that journey. Becoming a physician requires years…

Becoming a physician requires years of education, medical school, residency, examinations, credentialing, sacrifice, and continual professional development. For surgeons, the pathway often includes additional fellowship training and years spent developing technical judgment that cannot be acquired …

The radiologist shortage behind your scan delays

Michael Brant-Zawadzki, MD

August 14, 2026Aug 14, 2026

Waiting seven days or more to get a report of your recent CT scan? Welcome to today's new normal. Until a couple of years ago, the digital transformation of radiology dramatically shortened turnaround times of report delivery. The last-century process…

Waiting seven days or more to get a report of your recent CT scan? Welcome to today’s new normal. Until a couple of years ago, the digital transformation of radiology dramatically shortened turnaround times of report delivery. The last-century process of audio dictation, manual transcription, editing, and signing final reports was replaced by direct voice recognition software. Radiologists became the transcribers and editors. Turnaround of reports from study time shortened …

Hospital accountability: Who owns the whole problem?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

August 12, 2026Aug 12, 2026

An essay by Eric Goldfarb, an information technology executive and patient advocate, opens with a story that feels almost too absurd to be true. I have written nine books of medical satire and thought I had seen it all, yet…

After Goldfarb’s eighty-eight-year-old father died, Goldfarb reviewed the hospital bill and noticed a charge for a pregnancy test. …

Frivolous malpractice lawsuits: Doctors can fight back

Howard Smith, MD

August 12, 2026Aug 12, 2026

Medical malpractice litigation in the United States is the endless struggle to find meaning. Lawyers, plaintiff and defense attorneys alike, reject the notion that they are involved in a frivolous medical malpractice lawsuit. To protect themselves from this notion, they…

Medical malpractice litigation in the United States is the endless struggle to find meaning.

Lawyers, plaintiff and defense attorneys alike, reject the notion that they are involved in a frivolous medical malpractice lawsuit. To protect themselves from this notion, they use semantics. There are four words: legitimate, meritorious, frivolous, and malicious.

Legitimate is whimsical. It is in the eyes of the beholder. According to lawyers, all claims are legitimate.

Legitimate is conflated with …

Why medicine needs both high-tech and high-touch care

Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD

August 12, 2026Aug 12, 2026

The path to a career in medicine often begins with a singular, heroic narrative: the promise to work hard and save lives. This is a noble ambition, and the surgeons and specialists who master complex procedures are essential to our craft. But as one spends decades in clinical practice, the reality of medicine shifts. We realize that the most profound work we do often has little to do with acute …

Who owns administrative harm no single decision caused?

Tiffiny Black, DM, MBA, MPA

August 11, 2026Aug 11, 2026

Health care organizations make difficult decisions every day. Compliance introduces a new requirement because regulation demands it. Quality establishes another process because patient safety demands it. Finance adjusts staffing because margins demand it. Operations changes workflow because access demands it. Information technology implements a new platform because efficiency demands it. Leadership introduces artificial intelligence because transformation demands it.

Individually, each decision may be reasonable. Collectively, they may create an operating environment …

A Muslim American physician on what an MD cannot shield

Sameen Farooq, MD

August 11, 2026Aug 11, 2026

As a physician, for the longest time, I thought my MD title, this profession, would be a shield in a world full of so many challenges. I was and am wrong. Growing up as an immigrant in the United States,…

As a physician, for the longest time, I thought my MD title, this profession, would be a shield in a world full of so many challenges. I was and am wrong.

Growing up as an immigrant in the United States, I became more acutely aware of my differences after September 2001. Due to my background, skin tone, complexion, name, religion, everything about me stood out. During this formative period, I …

Physician credentialing delays should carry a consequence

Sriman Swarup, MD, MBA

August 11, 2026Aug 11, 2026

Physicians are taught to accommodate. A clinic runs behind. We stay late. A colleague calls out. We cover. Credentialing takes longer than expected. We send another document. An administrator needs another week. We wait. Much of this is appropriate. Health…

Much of this is appropriate. Health care is complicated, and functioning organizations depend on people extending one another reasonable grace. But there is a point at which accommodation stops being professionalism and starts becoming an incentive.

I was …

What my dog taught me about physician well-being

Brooke Buckley, MD, MBA

August 11, 2026Aug 11, 2026

I have a confession. For years, I thought my dog was being difficult. She won't eat unless I'm nearby. Not in the same house. Nearby. She'll wait while I answer emails, put away groceries, or finish one more task. If…

I have a confession.

For years, I thought my dog was being difficult. She won’t eat unless I’m nearby. Not in the same house. Nearby.

She’ll wait while I answer emails, put away groceries, or finish one more task. If I’m moving from room to room, she watches me instead of eating. Only when I finally stop does she lower her head to her bowl.

I’ve joked that she’s stubborn. Lately, I’ve started …

A clinical research portfolio is a set of strategic bets

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD

August 10, 2026Aug 10, 2026

Clinical research is typically managed one protocol at a time, with each study having its own budget, timeline, team, recruitment target, and publication plan. While this structure is essential, it can obscure a larger truth. Research organizations do not merely…

Every trial utilizes limited resources. Investigator time, research staff, patient access, data infrastructure, funding, laboratory capacity, and organizational attention cannot be allocated everywhere …

Physician time management is a relationship, not a skill

Maryna Mammoliti, MD

August 8, 2026Aug 8, 2026

I am sitting at my desk today, a typical clinic "good day." My EMR is open. I have several active messages from my secretary, several messages from patients, appointment requests, pending consult requests, medication refill requests, insurance requests, hospital emails,…

I am sitting at my desk today, a typical clinic “good day.” My EMR is open. I have several active messages from my secretary, several messages from patients, appointment requests, pending consult requests, medication refill requests, insurance requests, hospital emails, medical students, medical student schedule change, an email from a resident, several hospital emails, and a hospital schedule email, all needing my attention at the same time. And this is …

Physician voices

Articles, page 11

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