Physician

Physicians writing on KevinMD about the life of the profession: the work itself, the exhaustion, what women physicians are paid and asked to carry, the losses the profession has been slow to name, and who decides how physicians work. Five maintained records draw on this archive: Physician burnout: what physicians say, in their own words, Primary care: what physicians say, in their own words, Women in medicine: what women physicians say, in their own words,, Physician suicide: what physicians say, in their own words, and Physicians and administrators: what physicians say about who runs medicine, in their own words.

7 tips to balance family and professional needs during the pandemic

Sharon M. Batista, MD

Physician

August 30, 2020

The reality of being a medical practice owner is that we are small business owners and very vulnerable to the impact of COVID. Having previously worked in the telemedicine industry and because I am a psychiatrist, I initially felt that I was in a good position to adapt to this crisis – and this has been overall true, but the reality is it hasn’t been so easy in other ways. I was …

I am tired. But I still love emergency medicine.

Catherine Agustiady-Becker, DO

Physician

August 30, 2020

I love being an emergency doctor. I loved my residency, my co-residents, and my attendings.

I love my training: watching, learning, treating.

I love the emergency department, the vastness, and the variability of emergency medicine.

But I am tired.

I am tired of feeling like a workhorse, a production line made to just churn patients in and out.

I am tired of being told that my worth as a doctor is based on my time …

The impact of COVID-19 on human kindness

Cristina Carballo-Perelman, MD

Physician

August 29, 2020

Human kindness is a trait that, though inherent within our genetic make-up, can also be a learned behavior.

The absence of human kindness is blatantly visible to others when a lack of compassion and/or empathy permeates within an interaction with another human being.

As our daily life responsibilities continue at a steady state: mundane things such as paying bills, holding down a job and successfully interacting with co-workers, our ability to respond …

When physicians get sick: We are just as human as the patients we treat

Rizwana Khan, MD

Physician

August 28, 2020

Physicians are natural caregivers. We are in-tune with the needs of our patients, often to the detriment of our own health. It is a rite of passage during medical school to stand in for lengthy eight to ten-hour surgeries, as retractor holders, keeping the surgical field clear for the surgeon. The thrill of being part of surgery makes us forget our own needs; the bleary-eyed fatigue of having woken up …

An alternative to the current model of primary care

Alec Wilhelmi, MD

Physician

August 26, 2020

What does a primary care visit look like from the patient’s point of view? I often wonder this myself, as a resident physician currently seeing patients at an FQHC in Austin, Texas. A brief look at the process reveals an often tumultuous ordeal for patients and providers alike. Consider the following steps: Finding an available appointment day and time in an overbooked schedule, requesting time off from work in order …

Why don’t we do positivity rounds?

Navpreet Sahsi, MD

Physician

August 25, 2020

We love our morbidity and mortality rounds in medicine. A time when we can look over some medical mistakes and take some time to analyze what went wrong. We debate, criticize, and some of us like to imagine that we’d never make such an egregious error.

But why are we always paying attention to the negative outcomes?

One perspective is that it’s a function of how …

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Why don’t we do positivity rounds?

Speak up for Black lives

Niharika Sathe, MD

Physician

August 25, 2020

I never gave much thought to racism until the Black Lives Matter movement, let alone dwell on my role as a physician with the power to contribute to the marginalization of Black Americans. I didn’t think that I needed to do so; I considered myself an ally by default. I am a South Asian female, a minority on two counts. I, too, have felt the sting of microaggressions in the …

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Speak up for Black lives

The importance of holding space

Faryal Michaud, DO

Physician

August 24, 2020

Today I wanted to talk about a concept that is very near and dear to my heart: Holding space.

Have you ever heard of it? Do you know how to describe it?

I will first start with the definition and then give you an example.

Holding space means being physically, mentally, and emotionally present for someone. It means putting your focus on someone to support them as they feel their feelings. An important …

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The importance of holding space

Can there be hope amid politics?

Anjani Amladi, MD

Physician

August 24, 2020

I consider myself to be an apolitical person. I try to stay informed. I vote. But when it comes to politics, I prefer to listen to what others have to say more than I like to talk about what I think.

But after watching the first woman of color accept the nomination for the vice president of the United States of America, it’s hard to only watch. Especially because I am …

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Can there be hope amid politics?

Residency recruitment in the era of COVID-19: Why it’s more important than ever for programs to have an online persona

Kevin Zhang, MD

Physician

August 23, 2020

More than six months into the COVID-19 pandemic and with social distancing measures in full swing, virtually every facet of life in America has been affected, with medical education being no exception. Medical students have been forced to reschedule USMLE/COMLEX board exams and cancel entire rotations. Residents have been re-deployed to work in COVID-19 ICUs. And of course, the annual residency application and recruitment season have …

To better take care of patients, we need to take care of ourselves

Manju Mahajan, MD

Physician

August 22, 2020

We all know by now that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world altogether. There is no question that stressors in our lives are more than ever before. This year’s Fall will be the most dangerous of Falls. So what does it mean for the physicians? How do we keep ourselves going when all we feel is a sense of isolation and burn out? And what about childcare? Who gets …

What can residents do to prepare for hospital closings?

Allison Latimore, MD

Physician

August 22, 2020

“We are transitioning.” In July of my intern year, this was the sentence that the CEO of our community hospital used to tell the staff that the hospital was closing its inpatient services. The emotions that traversed my mind were quite vast, to say the least. Anger was undeniably at the top of the list, but mostly directed at myself.

Initially, I thought medical school definitely did not prepare me for this. …

Who is taking care of the minority physicians?

Shani R. Scott, MD

Physician

August 21, 2020

Headlines are pouring in, warning us of the impending spikes in coronavirus cases throughout the country and the rise of eerily disturbing cases of children with a mysterious viral rash. All of these alerts appear against the backdrop of the loudest national outcry for justice and equality since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Navigating these crises is exhausting, given the dual existence experienced by many Black and Latinx physicians …

How a professional lacrosse league created a COVID-free tournament

Catherine A. Logan

Physician

August 21, 2020

In 2019, the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) entered the world’s stage, taking with it more than 100 of the greatest pro lacrosse players in the world from the Major League Lacrosse. The new league launched a tour-based model, offered higher player compensation, player equity, health insurance, and a major media rights deal with NBC Sports Group.

In the months prior to the inaugural game at Gillette Stadium, I was brought on as the …

This is the most important skill you can have in life

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

August 21, 2020

I was 16 years old and being given a car ride to a cricket match by one of my teammates. He was our opening batsman and a good cricket player—I’m guessing around 40 to 50 years old. He started asking about how my education was going. I told him that I was about to sit my GCSE exams and was probably going to do sciences for my A-Levels (those are …

It’s time to rename resident burnout

Daniel Orlovich, MD, PharmD

Physician

August 20, 2020

It is time we stopped framing resident burnout in a certain way. Let’s be honest, the current descriptions give us nothing to build on.

How is burnout currently framed?

In a strict academic sense, we are guided by clear, globally accepted definitions. We are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and reduced personal accomplishment, as well as the various questionnaires and indexes.

However, in the real world, in the hospital and clinics, …

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It’s time to rename resident burnout

Masks are an effigy of American technocratic incompetence

Dr. Saurabh Jha

Physician

August 20, 2020

Seven weeks before President Trump declared COVID-19 a federal emergency heralding the economic lockdown, Jesse’s customers began cutting their orders. Jesse sells garments and cotton, imported predominantly from India, to wholesalers and retailers, big and small, in malls across the North East corridor. His business had a good January. December was like any December. But February was different. His customers, reassuring him that it wasn’t personal, were predicting …

How masks are like your underwear

Rada Jones, MD

Physician

August 20, 2020

1. Both masks and underwear exist to contain badness. Neither works 100 percent, but they’ll curb the worst of the spill.
2. Don’t borrow someone else’s, no matter how cool they look.
3. Keep them on around strangers, unless you’ve both been tested.
4. Cotton breathes better than polyester.
5. If they don’t fit well, you’ll be chaffing.
6. Wear them both when you visit grandma.
7. They stink at the end of the day. They …

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How masks are like your underwear

The future of the health care experience will be unrecognizable

Michael Kirsch, MD

Physician

August 20, 2020

Future doctors will celebrate that they no longer prescribe the same drug at the same dosage for hypertension or pneumonia or arthritis or cancer or many other conditions. Who knows even if drugs will be the mainstay of medical treatment. Tomorrow’s treatments will be tailored to one’s age, gender, weight, race, overall medical condition, severity of the medical threat, and genetic profile, among other variables. We don’t all wear the …

5 power tips to refine your critical thinking skills

Priti Golechha, MD

Physician

August 19, 2020

One thing, which is constant in health care, is that it is continuously evolving. The challenges health care leaders are facing are not simple. They are often multifaceted, which require strategic, creative, and inclusive solutions. There are competing priorities and goals. Critical thinking has become an essential skill for all healthcare leaders.

Here are five simple tips to help you practice your critical thinking skills.

1. Ponder on the challenge. Spend as …