Physician voices

12,748 articles · Since 2006

Articles, page 185

Learning and refining key clinical skills for residency and beyond: Lessons learned from the Fulbright Program

April 22, 2021Apr 22, 2021

"Dier Dammen an dier Hären, wëllkomm zu Lëtzebuerg. Déi lokal Auerzeit ass 16:30 Auer." Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Luxembourg. The local time is half past four in the afternoon. *** The butterflies floating about my stomach throughout the rocky…

“Dier Dammen an dier Hären, wëllkomm zu Lëtzebuerg. Déi lokal Auerzeit ass 16:30 Auer.”

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Luxembourg. The local time is half past four in the afternoon.

***

The butterflies floating about my stomach throughout the rocky descent intensified as the plane sped down the landing strip, transitioned to a slow crawl, and then skidded to a halt at a jet bridge at the Luxembourg Airport. With a …

The psychology of fear: How to use it to your advantage

Tomi Mitchell, MD

April 21, 2021Apr 21, 2021

Fear is something that most of us have felt at one time or another. That feeling of being threatened, when you feel as though your current state is in jeopardy. It's an instinctive reflex to flee or fight the threat.…

Fear is something that most of us have felt at one time or another. That feeling of being threatened, when you feel as though your current state is in jeopardy. It’s an instinctive reflex to flee or fight the threat. This instinct has been with us since our earliest moments on earth. Fear can be seen as a driver, too: that force that pushes us into making changes and responding …

How deep mindset work helped me find the courage to make my career transition

Maiysha Clairborne, MD

April 21, 2021Apr 21, 2021

I’ve been semi-retired in clinical medicine for almost four years now. Initially, I found myself coaching burned out physicians: Helping them recover, finding careers they love, and even starting their own businesses outside the box. However, as I listened to my inner voice, I was led back to my healing roots, and that opened up a career opportunity I would have never imagined to have.

Let me back up a bit. …

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Confidence is as important as becoming competent

Debrah Wirtzfeld, MD & Elizabeth Pedersen, MD

April 20, 2021Apr 20, 2021

As medical trainees, we learn how to be competent in our craft. If we are competent, it is assumed we will be successful and confident in our abilities. However, empowered performance requires a focus on not only competence, but also…

The study of medicine does not support the attainment of higher levels of confidence; in fact, it actually …

Daunte Wright’s death: intersectionality, racism, and ableism

Stella Evans, MD

April 20, 2021Apr 20, 20215

Most of the world knows by now that on the afternoon of April 11th, a 20-year-old Black man named Daunte Wright was killed by a police officer in an inner-ring suburb of the city I call home: Minneapolis. Most of…

Most of the world is watching Minneapolis as Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck, is tried on charges of manslaughter and homicide. Several hours before I typed …

Doctors can’t cope with the anguish of COVID-19 casualties

Robert Pearl, MD

April 19, 2021Apr 19, 2021

In the “before times,” most Americans went about their lives relatively unpreoccupied with death. In fact, one CBS News poll found only 14 percent of Americans spent “a lot of time” thinking about their own mortality. What a difference a…

What a difference a pandemic makes. With every masked trip to the grocery store, every passerby who coughs too close and every “doom scroll” through …

The missing link in the vaccine chain: caregivers

Romilla Batra, MD, MBA

April 18, 2021Apr 18, 2021

About half of America’s seniors are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and close to three-quarters have gotten at least one shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. This is good news. Seniors have suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus. They have become…

About half of America’s seniors are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and close to three-quarters have gotten at least one shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

This is good news. Seniors have suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus. They have become gravely ill, passed away, and passed the time over the last year in complete isolation.

When the vaccines first became available, health officials wisely moved older adults to the …

My 10 Commandments of a Servant Leader

Andy Lamb, MD

April 18, 2021Apr 18, 20213

I have seen great leadership and bad leadership. As a leader, I have also made my share of mistakes, and I am sure I will make more. When I do, I will immediately take ownership of it, learn from it, and do all I can not to make the same mistake. However, there will be times I may not recognize my failure, as can happen with any leader. This points …

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My 10 Commandments of a Servant Leader

How physicians can persevere through their current and future challenges

Christina Shenvi, MD, PhD

April 18, 2021Apr 18, 2021

The end is in sight, but there are still months to go. How can we persevere when our strength has been collectively sapped over the last year, and our sense of grief at what has been lost will persist even…

To answer this, I’ve turned to three very different physicians and scientists.

Here are practical ideas drawn from their wisdom, expertise, experience and experiments for how …

It’s time to reframe second victim syndrome

Susan Wilson, MD

April 17, 2021Apr 17, 2021

The term “second victim syndrome” was first coined by Dr. Albert Wu in 2000. The definition is “the effect of an unanticipated adverse medical event on a clinician.” Certainly, the concept is pertinent to what health care professionals experience in their careers, but it comes with a very negative connotation. There has been discussion in the literature of the need to change the name, but so far, nothing has really …

Institute policies to proactively support physicians who are breastfeeding

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

April 16, 2021Apr 16, 2021

I’ve been speaking with women physicians about the top challenges they face today. I’ve learned there are many—which honestly didn’t surprise me, given that 48 percent of women physicians report burnout symptoms (compared with 37 percent of their male counterparts).…

Several have mentioned the challenge of breastfeeding while working—rather ironic considering what is known about the health benefits for mother and infant. Maybe their colleagues and …

Post-pandemic life: Back to the future

Saloni Sharma, MD

April 16, 2021Apr 16, 2021

The door to our pre-pandemic world seemingly stands before us. Vaccines are becoming more accessible, and some COVID-19 restrictions have loosened. We simply have to open the door and return to our pre-pandemic life, right? Back to the future we know? If only it were that simple. Our previous reality has vanished. Millions of lives have been lost, and millions more suffer from the consequences of the pandemic. People we …

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Post-pandemic life: Back to the future

Why we deny our imperfections in medicine

Tracey O'Connell, MD

April 16, 2021Apr 16, 2021

In her book Daring Greatly, Brené Brown says, “If we want to be fully engaged, to be connected, we have to be vulnerable. In order to be vulnerable, we need to develop resilience to shame.” If you’re a physician who…

In her book Daring Greatly, Brené Brown says, “If we want to be fully engaged, to be connected, we have to be vulnerable. In order to be vulnerable, we need to develop resilience to shame.”

If you’re a physician who is “not good at being vulnerable,” then it’s likely you’re steeped in shame and you’ll never be able to admit it.

Given the social capital that comes with being a doctor, it …

The soul-sucking, energy-draining life of a physician

Tomi Mitchell, MD

April 15, 2021Apr 15, 2021

It is not a secret that being a physician can be exhausting and time-consuming, but do most nonphysicians really know what it's like to be one? The answer is a resounding no. Television glamorizes the role of the physician and…

It is not a secret that being a physician can be exhausting and time-consuming, but do most nonphysicians really know what it’s like to be one? The answer is a resounding no. Television glamorizes the role of the physician and hides the tedious everyday realities. Spouses and partners of physicians know too well the frustration of having a partner that seems to be “always working and not shutting work off.”

Being …

What is physician success? Your CV does not tell the entire story.

Stephanie Wellington, MD

April 15, 2021Apr 15, 2021

Physicians know what success looks like on paper. We spend a large part of our journey in medicine taking action to be competitive for medical school, the top-ranking residency training program, and the prestigious attending position. Then the reality of…

Then the reality of a medical career sets in.

The focus on patient volume to generate revenue, the precise documentation needed to justify coding, and the micromanagement of the team to ensure patient satisfaction is a …

I was a teenage rifle owner, then an ER doctor

Elisabeth Rosenthal, MD

April 14, 2021Apr 14, 20213

Many who know me might be shocked by this: I shot my first pistol when I was 8 or 9, taught by my father, a physician, aiming at targets in our basement. At summer camp, I loved riflery the way…

Many who know me might be shocked by this: I shot my first pistol when I was 8 or 9, taught by my father, a physician, aiming at targets in our basement. At summer camp, I loved riflery the way some kids loved art. Staring through the sight, down the barrel, I proved an excellent shot, gathering ever more advanced medals from the National Rifle Association. As a reward, for …

The daily micro- and macroaggressions of being an underrepresented minority in medicine

Keila Rodriguez, MD

April 12, 2021Apr 12, 2021

I sat in a crowded auditorium listening to an attending at a renowned medical institution give a lecture. I didn’t know the answers, and shrouded in imposter syndrome, I avoided eye contact. The visiting medical student from Mexico answered the question, and the attending moved on. Another question came. Again, the medical student from Mexico answered. The attending chuckled and said, “OK, Cinco de Mayo,” an exaggerated emphasis on the …

Avoiding the pitfalls of integrating primary care into community-based mental health centers

Betty Rabinowitz, MD

April 12, 2021Apr 12, 2021

Providing primary care to patients with mental illness is a challenging task that requires highly skilled and experienced practitioners comfortable with the full array of biopsychosocial problems with which these patients present. For example, understanding the side-effect profiles of psychiatric medications and their impact on problems such as diabetes and other complex endocrinopathies requires highly evolved clinical skills.

Optimally, the successful care of these patients is best provided in close collaboration …

How to be a “good girl”: confessions of an (im)perfectionist

Ruchi Kaushik, MD

April 10, 2021Apr 10, 2021

Indian parents are perfectionists. This is what I had come to understand and believe, even before I had the vocabulary to define it. Perfection was the expectation. Not excellent, not superb, but perfection, and only perfection. After years of reflection, I don’t take issue with the expectation of perfection, but, rather, how I perceived it to be defined for me — a well-behaved, beautiful and academically successful girl who does …

My journey from the clinic to the kitchen

Linda Shiue, MD

April 9, 2021Apr 9, 2021

An excerpt from Spicebox Kitchen: Eat Well and Be Healthy with Globally Inspired, Vegetable-Forward Recipes. Eating well is about food and health, but equally also celebration and community. There is a world of flavor, and the passport is spices. I…

An excerpt from Spicebox Kitchen: Eat Well and Be Healthy with Globally Inspired, Vegetable-Forward Recipes.

Eating well is about food and health, but equally also celebration and community. There is a world of flavor, and the passport is spices. I connected my lifelong love of food and cooking to my work as a physician eight years ago, when I attended a medical conference that transformed the way …

Physician voices

Articles, page 185

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