Physician

3 solutions to combat rising drug overdoses during COVID-19

Physician

May 16, 2022

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

Recent data from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has shown a sharp increase in drug-related overdoses attributed to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, deepening the tragedies of the already challenged opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic.

Unraveling the snowball effect of these public health …

Physicians owe it to themselves to take care of their health and families first

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Physician

May 16, 2022

Primary care is a field that is both highly rewarding and highly challenging. Those who enter into it quickly find that they are rewarded with the satisfaction of knowing they are playing a vital role in the lives of their patients. However, they also soon realize the immense responsibility of the job. There are always more patients that need to be seen, more phone calls that need to be returned, …

Trust me, not the internet: Millennials need solid medical information

Lisa P. Solomon, DO

Physician

May 16, 2022

Misinformation and public distrust of health care professionals are a daily hazard affecting the health of millions of people. So what can health care professionals do about it?

A new study shows 37% of millennials, or those ages 25 to 34 years old, do not trust their health care providers. The age groups from 35 to 54 years old show 34% distrust their health care providers. At 65 …

We are humans first and inspiring, gifted healers second

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

Physician

May 14, 2022

Our profession often sends the message that we are invincible heroes.

Here’s my vulnerable and honest admission: I lapped that up. There was something so seductive about denying pesky human requirements, like sleep, regular exercise, and time to decompress. I liked being needed more than I liked having needs.

I sublimated mine under my superhero cape right up until the time I hit a kryptonite wall. There …

All mothers deserve to give their newborns the best start in life

Mark Zakowski, MD

Physician

May 12, 2022

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

As leaders in patient safety, anesthesiologists are committed to improving patient care and positively impacting the experiences of expectant mothers to ensure the health and safety of mom and baby. Along with primary health care providers, anesthesiologists are available to help expectant …

Gender inequality is making burnout worse

Robert Pearl, MD

Physician

May 12, 2022

The 2022 Medscape poll on physician burnout confirms what has been painfully obvious to doctors on the frontlines of COVID-19: Their burnout is intensifying.

According to the survey of 13,000 doctors, the nation’s most burned-out physicians are those in emergency medicine (60%) and critical care (56%). Medscape, a leading health care publication, describes burnout as “long-term, unresolvable job-related stress that leads to exhaustion, cynicism, and …

What are your true colors?

Diana Londoño, MD

Physician

May 12, 2022

We have probably heard this saying with different permutations many times about someone showing “their true colors.”

As physician and best-selling author, Tess Gerritsen, shared: “There is no better test of character than when you’re tossed into crisis. That’s when we see one’s true colors shine through. So, I try my best to make my characters personally involved in the plot, in a way that stresses them and tests them.”

It made …

Read more…

What are your true colors?

An example of medical-legal consulting

Armin Feldman, MD

Physician

May 11, 2022

Medical-legal consulting is a great way to use your medical training in a non-clinical field that helps people. Physicians all over the country are now doing medical-legal consulting as a rewarding part-time gig.

One service out of many we provide is to give our opinions regarding the causation of traumatic injuries. Some attorneys ask us to provide opinion letters regarding a particular injury caused in a work-related situation, a personal injury …

Read more…

An example of medical-legal consulting

Medicine and motherhood: on call forever

Sarah C. Smith, DO

Physician

May 10, 2022

My residency baby just turned eighteen. Obviously, he isn’t really a baby anymore. He is six foot four and going to college, but somehow, I still think of him as that little baby. Maybe I’m just relieved that “we” both made it to eighteen. By “we,” I mean “me” as a physician mom and “him” as a person. I realize that sounds ridiculous, but honestly, being a physician mom is …

Toxicity, gaslighting, and passive aggression in fellowship

Anonymous

Physician

May 9, 2022

“Yeah, I mean, whatever, it’s a master’s! Have your own damn party.”

My jaw dropped in disgusted shock. The wall was thin, very thin. Come to think of it, it wasn’t even a wall. It was a partition: the separation of space between different office spaces. My mentor uttered these words: Assigned to support, encourage, and guide me through training; the person supposedly invested in my personal and professional growth. This …

How medical careers are like argyle sweaters

Kellie Lease Stecher, MD

Physician

May 9, 2022

Working in health care, going through medical school and residency, changes who you are. We invest so much of ourselves and our potential futures into accomplishing board certification. Once we achieve this feat, we often live in fear of one day losing what we have achieved. After all, many of us have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of dollars, relationships, friendships, marriages, the ability to have children, joys of life, our …

The doctor as a patient: a view from the other side

Randall S. Fong, MD

Physician

May 9, 2022

I had my very first surgery ever, just last year. Despite being cut upon, it was a remarkable experience, and the staff cracked jokes at my expense, even as I was going under. In the mood for some inappropriate medical humor? Well, perhaps not in this public forum; I’ll save it for gatherings less formal and where beer is plentiful. Suffice it to say, I survived and was treated well: …

The matriarchy is all around us, but I feel it most in the practice of medicine

Courtney Markham-Abedi, MD

Physician

May 8, 2022

I have always been a lover of words. Confusingly, I have found myself unable to define words that I would have easily been able to describe a decade ago. Due to a more weighty examination of cultural and social constructs, I am now left scratching my head thinking about how to define previously simple words like woman and mother.

When posed with the question, “When did you become a mother,” I …

Healthy patients and healthy physicians: Is it possible?

Iris Schrijver, MD

Physician

May 7, 2022

Doctors who do not practice healthy behaviors and do not exercise are less likely to counsel their patients about improving health practices. Such omissions are a missed opportunity for more effective, safer, and less expensive care, in which patients become empowered to improve their own health.

Physician well-being is also central to the successful functioning of the entire health care system because to do well, you need to be well.

Burnout follows from physician to wellness director

Claudia Finkelstein, MD

Physician

May 6, 2022

Tuesday, at the podium in a small auditorium, I realized that my time was finally up. Even as an educator/administrator (non-clinical) physician, I was done. Preparing to give a canned talk — a requirement of my current career strategy — facing a group of anonymous medical students, the only thought going through my head was, “Why don’t we blow through these slides and get out of here?”

Normally, I relish public …

A physician’s infertility story

Dympna Weil, MD

Physician

May 6, 2022

How ironic the way a young woman’s thoughts and attitudes change.

We spend so many years — decades, perhaps — preoccupied by controlling our cycles. For some, it is about cycle control.

For others, it is to avoid pregnancy because we are not yet ready or do not want to have a family. In those cases, most start some form of birth control, and for years we wait anxiously to bleed each …

Read more…

A physician’s infertility story

The Great Resignation is a great opportunity to renegotiate physician employment agreements

Dennis Hursh, Esq

Physician

May 6, 2022

The Great Resignation is producing tremendous challenges for physicians. In particular, many “senior” physicians (some as young as 50 years old) are simply throwing in the towel and resigning rather than continue with the brutal schedules imposed by many employers. As physicians leave, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit new talent, so in many cases the remaining physicians are forced to take up the “slack.” That “slack,” of course, …

5 reasons why women in medicine are burned out (and what to do about it)

Claudine Holt, MD

Physician

May 5, 2022

There has been a lot of increased focus on burnout in health workers over the past two years—with good reason. The added stress of a global health crisis to an inefficient system created a compounding effect on a pre-existing issue. This has led to soaring rates of burnout and increased the overwhelm, moral injury, trauma, and stress that clinicians were already facing.

The great resignation is at our doorstep as well. …

The inevitable reboot of the primary care experience

Paul Helmuth, MD

Physician

May 5, 2022

Visiting the doctor’s office can be a source of anxiety for millions of patients, who often fear unknown costs, an unexpected diagnosis, or exposure risk to diseases, like COVID-19.

On the other side of the equation, business stakeholders of a community-based primary care setting are struggling to exist within the confines of 20th-century technology and strategies. The Physicians Foundation estimates that 16,000 physician practices closed during the pandemic …

Doctors are trained to lie

Pamela Wible, MD

Physician

May 4, 2022

Here are the top 10 ways how and why doctors lie. See if you recognize any.

1. Doctors lie about work hours. When logging actual work hours exceeding the weekly “80-hour cap,” new docs are cited for duty-hour violations. Labeled as inefficient, overworked residents may be sent for a psych eval and prescribed stimulants to force compliance. “We were all taken into a room by the program director and told to …

Read more…

Doctors are trained to lie

Physician

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts