Physician voices

12,748 articles · Since 2006

Articles, page 186

3 steps to track your success in medicine

April 8, 2021Apr 8, 2021

It's easy to get distracted by the demands of the journey in medicine. Today physicians now see patients in person and virtually. Technology allows docs to bring work home and complete documentation remotely, which can blur the lines between work…

It’s easy to get distracted by the demands of the journey in medicine. Today physicians now see patients in person and virtually. Technology allows docs to bring work home and complete documentation remotely, which can blur the lines between work and home life.

It’s completely natural that physicians experience more stress and less success, as the demands seem never-ending.

Success is right where you are in this very moment. But success becomes …

A physician colleague’s gratitude

Mary Leung, MD

April 7, 2021Apr 7, 2021

There are endless life lessons to learn from people around us. Our friends’ opinions on what they think about a product, a certain cuisine, or how they view life not only gives us a glimpse of who they are, but also can impact our own views. As a doctor, it is always fascinating to me how two patients with the same oncologic diagnosis can have such different views of life: …

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A physician colleague’s gratitude

A doctor’s life is absurd, but can it still be worth living?

Glenn P. Matney, MD

April 7, 2021Apr 7, 2021

I will speak for myself to say that I completely identified with, and fully agree with, all the sentiments shared by Dr. Klingberg in “A breakup with primary care.” Still, from my own life experiences, and a 30-year career in primary care solo practice, I have been forced to believe that these sentiments are ultimately narcissistic and self-destructive.

Yes, primary care medicine has become thankless, oppressive, cruel, …

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A physician applies to law school. Here is her application essay.

Cathleen London, MD

April 7, 2021Apr 7, 20215

I have been a physician for 26 years. I have been a fierce patient advocate throughout my entire career. It never occurred to me that physicians do not have the same rights of citizenship that the very patients I fight for do. I always thought I lived in a democracy. Medicine is not what it used to be. Articles relentlessly speak of physician burnout as though we are responsible for …

Attention mid-career physicians: Let’s find our ikigai

Anish Sheth, MD

April 6, 2021Apr 6, 20213

As a physician who helps administer and analyze our medical staff's wellness data, I have been puzzled by one consistent finding from our semi-annual physician wellness survey - the group of physicians with the highest level of distress are the…

As a physician who helps administer and analyze our medical staff’s wellness data, I have been puzzled by one consistent finding from our semi-annual physician wellness survey – the group of physicians with the highest level of distress are the mid-career physicians, those who, like me, graduated from medical school 15 to 24 years ago.

Our hospital, a community-based, semi-academic hospital, utilizes a nine-question survey to track physician’s well-being. Some of …

You deserve a doctor who’s a good fit for you

Caitlin Bass, MD

April 6, 2021Apr 6, 2021

You should like your doctor. Whether or not you like your doctor matters. It matters because if you don't like your doctor, you're not going to be honest and forthcoming. Your doctor needs you to be honest and forthcoming to…

You should like your doctor.

Whether or not you like your doctor matters. It matters because if you don’t like your doctor, you’re not going to be honest and forthcoming. Your doctor needs you to be honest and forthcoming to take good care of you. And you want good care.

But, realistically, you may not like your doctor. You figured that was OK. You probably don’t see your doctor that often and …

To achieve health equity, we must make culturally relevant care the standard of care

Vik Bakhru, MD, MBA

April 5, 2021Apr 5, 2021

As a physician and businessperson who has dedicated his career to improving health equity, I consider news about vaccines going into arms bittersweet. An uncomfortable question remains: Whose arms are they going into? Data from the U.S. Department of Health…

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services points to an inequitable rollout. White, non-Hispanic Americans are receiving more than their equitable portion of vaccines, while Black and Hispanic/Latinx Americans are receiving …

No wonder patients detest our health care system, and doctors are leaving medicine in droves

Corina Fratila, MD

April 4, 2021Apr 4, 20215

My patient is a brilliant, 30-something-year-old highly educated woman with type 1 diabetes. I’ve known her for many years, since she was a teenager. She is sweet and fun, even though she can be fierce and fiery at times. She…

She has been living with this life-altering, life-threatening disease for many years. Even as a child, she always took charge of her life and consistently maintained her …

In memory of Bernard Lown

David Bor, MD & Michael Fine, MD

April 4, 2021Apr 4, 2021

Dr. Bernard Lown died February 16, four months shy of his one-hundredth birthday. The Dr. Lown we knew does not emerge from the long list of his many accomplishments, which include the invention of the DC defibrillator and cardioversion, the development of the modern (and when he described it, revolutionary) approach to the care of patients following myocardial infarction, and the founding of International Physicians to Prevent Nuclear War (which …

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In memory of Bernard Lown

A physician’s search for meaning

Francis Yoo, DO

April 4, 2021Apr 4, 2021

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” This question always confounded me when people would ask me this as a child. What is this “growing up” you speak of? And why do I have to be something?…

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

This question always confounded me when people would ask me this as a child. What is this “growing up” you speak of? And why do I have to be something? I’m so content with my LEGOs, books, and video games.

I was born in the United States to South Korean immigrants and raised with expectations to excel in school (which I did), …

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A physician’s search for meaning

ER doctors use stories to connect with patients

Priya M. Sury, MD, DPhil

April 3, 2021Apr 3, 2021

The triage note noted that my next patient had an oxygen saturation in the 70s and was short of breath. He was exposed to a COVID+ contact several weeks ago. I put on my gown, mask, face shield, and gloves…

The triage note noted that my next patient had an oxygen saturation in the 70s and was short of breath. He was exposed to a COVID+ contact several weeks ago.

I put on my gown, mask, face shield, and gloves and walked into a room where the patient sat on the edge of his bed, bare chest heaving. He wore a blithe smile on his unmasked face. I glanced at the …

Thinking about frailty like slow-moving PTSD

Mary Braun, MD

April 3, 2021Apr 3, 2021

A week after surgery, I removed my splint to take a shower. Now, unprotected, my wrist was made of glass. With my splint on, I was clumsy, but invincible. I did not feel frail until I removed my splint. The…

A week after surgery, I removed my splint to take a shower. Now, unprotected, my wrist was made of glass.

With my splint on, I was clumsy, but invincible. I did not feel frail until I removed my splint.

The shower floor did not feel very different from the ice on the lake. My thoughts were whirring along like this: I cannot squeeze the shampoo bottle with my injured

…

Doctors can get angry, too

American College of Physicians & Philip A. Masters, MD

April 3, 2021Apr 3, 2021

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD. There is a tremendous amount of anger raging in our society today. The profound uncertainty posed by COVID-induced cataclysms and the cultural, civil, and political unrest we’ve experienced…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.

There is a tremendous amount of anger raging in our society today.

The profound uncertainty posed by COVID-induced cataclysms and the cultural, civil, and political unrest we’ve experienced over the past year has significantly skewed our sense of normalcy and well-being. Thus, responding with anger to these rapidly evolving and unpredictable circumstances isn’t at all …

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Doctors can get angry, too

This physician is done with being silent about women’s rights

Kellie Lease Stecher, MD

April 2, 2021Apr 2, 20212

When I was a 13-year-old freshman in high school, I joined the basketball team. I had always stood out, which I tried to convince myself was a great trait that made me unique and an individual. However, when I played…

When I was a 13-year-old freshman in high school, I joined the basketball team. I had always stood out, which I tried to convince myself was a great trait that made me unique and an individual.

However, when I played sports, I felt alive. I had a coach that year who was a nerdy middle-aged man. During long bus rides, he would call me to the front of the bus to …

Asian and Asian-American hate is not new. It has reached a breaking point, and we have had enough.

Serena Zhou-Talbert, MD, MPH

April 2, 2021Apr 2, 20218

For many of my patients, I am the first Asian and first Chinese person they have personally interacted with. I am placed in a unique situation at this point in time; being an Asian doctor (and the only Asian) working in a rural clinic in the middle of a pandemic that has often been blamed on people who look like me. Not one day goes by without me being acutely …

Cannabis card-mills have conflicts of interest

Jill Becker, MD

April 1, 2021Apr 1, 20213

Two weeks ago, my piece, "Cannabinoids are medicine, but patients aren’t getting the care they need," was published. Since that time, I’ve heard from quite a few physicians who admitted that they did not know card-mills existed or, if they…

Two weeks ago, my piece, “Cannabinoids are medicine, but patients aren’t getting the care they need,” was published. Since that time, I’ve heard from quite a few physicians who admitted that they did not know card-mills existed or, if they did, how they were different from Cannabis Specialist Physicians. From their collective perspective, pot was pot. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to …

Telemedicine is the new house call

Stephanie Titus, MD

April 1, 2021Apr 1, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unparalleled shifts in the practice of medicine. Telemedicine has quickly become a staple of medical practices across the nation in response to the pandemic. As of October 2020, use of telemedicine claims had increased by more than 3,000 percent compared to one year prior. By the summer of 2020, 4 in 5 specialists were utilizing virtual care and …

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Telemedicine is the new house call

Physicians of color need student loan forgiveness

Earl Stewart, Jr., MD

April 1, 2021Apr 1, 20212

I urge the president to use executive action to cancel student debt. As president, he can take immediate action on student debt which would be a lifeline for students, parents, and their families. The COVID-19 pandemic is a health crisis…

I urge the president to use executive action to cancel student debt. As president, he can take immediate action on student debt which would be a lifeline for students, parents, and their families.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a health crisis like we have never seen before. Adding the heavy burden of student debt is a recipe for disaster for millions of families. Student debt cancellation would provide much-needed relief during the …

A physician’s response to anti-Asian racism

Jennifer Tran, DO

March 31, 2021Mar 31, 2021

“Wait, are you Chinese? I don’t want to get COVID.” First of all, I am Vietnamese, and second, not all Asians look alike. And third, what? Those were the thoughts going through my head while working at the San Carlos…

“Wait, are you Chinese? I don’t want to get COVID.”

First of all, I am Vietnamese, and second, not all Asians look alike. And third, what? Those were the thoughts going through my head while working at the San Carlos Respiratory Clinic in April 2020. Initially shivering from the cold weather underneath my scrubs and PPE, I could now feel my body hot with anger as I listened to a patient’s …

Why your friend should never be your doctor

Susan Kim, MD

March 31, 2021Mar 31, 2021

A few years ago, a close friend of mine met a guy who knocked her off her feet. It had been a while since she'd met anyone whom she really liked and she was deliriously happy, so much so that…

A few years ago, a close friend of mine met a guy who knocked her off her feet. It had been a while since she’d met anyone whom she really liked and she was deliriously happy, so much so that we didn’t see her for two months.

By the time we did, she’d become both a rabid soccer fan and French bulldog lover, neither of which she’d been eight weeks prior. …

Physician voices

Articles, page 186

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