It took me 47 years to hear those two devastating words, “You’re fired.”
It’s not like I didn’t have a slew of jobs before becoming a physician. I cut lawns and raked leaves as an early teen; I worked in a fast-food restaurant when I was 14 using my older brother’s ID, I worked in a carwash one summer, I even worked for a national department store. I was always polite, …
In the KevinMD article, “Assisted suicide: a change of heart,” the author contends that there is salvation in suffering, but not everyone believes that is true. While I support the author’s ability to decide how she wants to die, I do not believe that her personal beliefs should dictate how I die.
I retired as an internist a few years ago because of declining health. I …
I have a lot of energy. I have been going and going and going for so long.
And today, it hit me.
I’m tired.
I began this pursuit of medicine in 1983 when I decided to be a zoology major. I worked and went to medical school. And I went to medical school and worked. Then I worked and went to three years of emergency medicine residency and worked hard for those three …
It was distressing to hear and read recent and ongoing disparaging comments about osteopathic medicine, attacking one of our own, from remarks by Rachel Maddow to tweets by Cher and a derogatory video, since removed, portraying a female DO by Figs Scrubs.
Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley, DO, serves as the Physician to the President. This emergency medicine-trained combat veteran graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is well-qualified …
I’ve done a lot of interviews on my road to becoming a cardiology fellow. Here are a few topics that people don’t talk about enough.
Speed dating
I think of interviews like speed dating. Everyone puts on their “first date.” Everyone behaves their best; therefore, you can’t trust everything people say. Your job is to really listen to what people are saying, how they’re saying it, when they pause, when they fish …
The era of the empowered patient and patient-centered health care has been upon us for some time. Only a generation ago, there was a much more paternalistic approach to medicine. This has changed for the better across the western world. As somebody who teaches and coaches physicians on how to improve their communication skills, I would say that the newer generation of doctors is much more receptive than many of …
Racism is a pandemic that has long existed before COVID-19.
As a fourth-year medical student, I have been rotating in the hospitals and recently finished my sub-internship. Whether on the wards or in outpatient clinics, a recurring phrase would hover from one provider to the next, depending on how busy their week was: “black cloud” and “white cloud.”
In the medical world, the former has often been used to describe trainees or …
As a physician working in acute care medicine, one of the biggest delights of my job is regularly still having patients from the Greatest Generation. In the United Kingdom, I really enjoyed sitting with them and hearing their stories of mandatory city evacuations during World War 2, rationing, the Blitz, and the huge struggle to rebuild a devastated country after 1945. Visiting my grandparents in India when I was a …
A second opinion can be a powerful tool. It can help lower your risk of experiencing a medical error or misdiagnosis, allow you to explore all treatment options and their benefits and risks, connect you with physicians who have experience and success treating people with your diagnosis, and provide peace of that mind that your diagnosis and treatment plan are appropriate.
Research from the Mayo Clinic highlights the value of second …
The little things?
The little moments?
They aren’t little …
I noticed the two of them shortly after I arrived for my shift. I was standing at the counter, immersed in a chart, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw them walk out of their treatment room. Together.
Slowly, they walked into the hallway, looking first to their left and then to their right, wondering which way to go. One of …
We’ve never met, but I’ll bet you could use some encouragement right about now. This has been a tough year. Maybe for you, like me, depression feels like an old song that keeps getting played and stuck in your head over and over through the years. Or maybe this is the first time you’re experiencing the weight of it in your body, the diminishing physical and emotional energy, the infuriating …
Walking through the sliding glass doors at 10:55 p.m. on a Monday, I found myself wondering if it would be a good shift or a bad shift. In emergency medicine, a “good shift” has to strike many delicate balances. It can’t be too busy, but it also can’t be too Q-Word-That-Must-Not-Be-Named. It should have some high acuity patients, but not so many that care becomes unmanageable. The staff and residents …
We have been discussing the importance of women’s health for decades without significant advancement for the issues at hand.
I propose a new perspective on the topic that focuses on the financial health of a business. As physicians, we do not even consider the full extent to which women’s health can impact our own business. The two aspects of business to be considered in this situation involve evaluating the cost of …
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I did a peer review once of an office note about an elderly man with a low-grade fever. The past medical history was all there, several prior laboratory and imaging tests were imported, and there was a long narrative section that blended active medical problems and ongoing specialist relationships. There was also a lengthy review of systems under its own heading.
In an over ten-page long printout, the final diagnosis was …
If I had $100 for every time I walked into a patient’s room, introduced myself as the doctor, and was immediately asked, “Hey, how old are you?” I might be able to retire right now — at the age of 28. Of course, I am exaggerating, and yet this question echoes for my baby-faced colleagues and me constantly.
Whether it’s simple curiosity or blatant reverse-ageism, I find this question erodes trust …
As many readers of my work know, I have a huge passion for preventive medicine, and balance my acute care hospital work with an outpatient wellness clinic. I have always been into exercise and outdoor activities since a young age but only became a regular gym-goer after I finished my medical residency training. I also became very keen on learning more about healthier nutrition habits. I don’t think I was …
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My small community ED has a fairly high acuity. As such, I was recently trying to transfer a couple of patients, one of whom was an NSTEMI, pain-free but with a rising troponin. In the process of trying to arrange things, I learned that our main regional referral center was holding a staggering 150 patients in their own ED, all waiting for inpatient beds.
I’ve spent the majority of my career …
“How long have you been married?”
The question came from a young woman kneeling down by the elevator in the hotel where my wife and I were staying while in Seattle. We were there to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary with an Alaskan cruise. I hadn’t even noticed her as my wife and I were busy talking about the day. She appeared to be in her twenties. Her appearance was that of …
Being humane makes you a hero.
It is a privilege to serve.
Be the voice, for those without!
Six words. One Story. These are examples from the My Six-Word Story Project, an innovative activity that supports the psycho-social well-being and emotional resilience of our healthcare professionals. My Six-Word Story has the power to reconnect us to our purpose and connect us as a community.
“It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines …
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The best part of my job is interviewing residents and watching as gears begin to turn in their minds when I ask:
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