Physician

My experience as a patient has made me a better physician. Here’s how.

Physician

December 9, 2016

The medical assistant swabbed my nose and my throat multiple times. Pricked my finger too. Then, the phlebotomist (or vampire?) drew bottles and bottles of my blood. Along with the physical discomfort, there was emotional discomfort too. What would the test results show? If they were all negative, would I be satisfied without having an answer?

Being a patient can be extremely vulnerable. Not only do you often divulge to a …

End-of-life decisions aren’t any easier for a doctor

Steven Reznick, MD

Physician

December 9, 2016

As an internist and geriatrician, I deal with elderly patients all the time. We always end up talking about end-of-life issues:

“Should I be resuscitated if my heart stops and I stop breathing?”

“Do I want a feeding tube or gastrostomy tube if I stop eating and require nutrition?”

“Should I be kept alive on machines and for how long if there is no reasonable hope of recovery?”

“When should we refuse tests for …

What does a doctor’s white coat really mean?

Jason Lippman, MD

Physician

December 8, 2016

For a century, the white coat has been the symbol of the medical doctor. Today, the vast majority of medical schools in the U.S. begin with a white coat ceremony. There, the fledgling, future doctors stand together and recite a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath before being called up one-by-one to receive the white coats that they will wear throughout the upcoming trials and adventures of medical school. The …

Why this physician chose internal medicine

Robert Centor, MD

Physician

December 7, 2016

On November 1973, I had an epiphany. My first week on my internal medicine clerkship, I realized that I had found my specialty: internal medicine.

Prior to medical school, I had worked with emotionally disturbed children in an inpatient hospital. I really enjoyed the experience, and learned a great deal. During my first two miserable years in medical school (I disliked how they taught the basic sciences and even more how …

Give the outside hospital the respect it deserves

Jaan Peter Naktin, MD

Physician

December 4, 2016

OSH, or “outside hospital,” is one of those abbreviations that has crept into the lexicon of hospital jargon that merits additional scrutiny.

What are the implications of calling another health care facility “outside”; does that make your hospital the “inside” hospital? I suspect that it is, as many patient-related conditions are described, multifactorial. Or, if you like the band Fort Minor, “Remember the Name” (apologies to the band):

This is ten percent …

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Give the outside hospital the respect it deserves

Atheist doctors must come out of the closet

David Mann, MD

Physician

December 2, 2016

Reading about the opening of the Noah’s Ark Theme Park in Kentucky brings to mind the days when I worked as a physician in that state. I had moved from an academic position in Colorado and joined a large group of private practice cardiologists in Louisville. I found that people in Kentucky were different from those in Colorado. They were much more overtly religious.

As an interventional electrophysiologist, I would meet …

When should you talk to your teenage daughter about sex?

Fatu Forna, MD

Physician

December 2, 2016

So, have you talked to your teenage daughter about sex?

Have you really talked to her about sex?

I’m not talking about the superficial birds and the bees conversation; I’m talking about using words like vagina, penis, and condom. Yes, those words!

As an obstetrician-gynecologist and a mother of girls, I know the challenges that our daughters face as they navigate their teenage years. I know how critical it is to have real …

This is one of the most difficult tasks that physicians perform

Bruce Campbell, MD

Physician

November 30, 2016

“It’s strange how the worst day of your life often starts just like any other.”
– Joanna Cannon

I prepare for each clinic by reviewing the tests and scans of the patients who will be seen that day. Today, I am dismayed as I read a report for a longstanding patient. The news is not good; his scan shows that his cancer has returned.

Twenty years ago on a day like today, I …

Makeup and the female physician

Christine Ngaruiya, MD

Physician

November 28, 2016

Every day, millions of women across the United States find themselves in predicaments confronting the quality of their appearance. And their makeup. While this may seem a non-issue in the emergency medicine world, it is something that you, as a female professional, or that your female colleagues, have no doubt encountered. Before walking out the door, you have to consider not just what means of transport to take to …

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Makeup and the female physician

What is essential professional dress in health care?

Karen Hickman

Physician

November 24, 2016

While visiting a family member in the hospital recently, I noticed the unkempt attire of one of the lab people coming in to draw blood. As she knelt down to better reach my family member’s arm, I noticed her scrub pants were frayed and dirty from her walking on them.

Shortly after I made note of this, one of her co-workers came in the room to see …

Warning: Medical school may kill your child

Pamela Wible, MD

Physician

November 23, 2016

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Cheryl lost her son Sean to suicide in medical school. Just a few months ago. Her only child. Cheryl didn’t know that medical students were at high risk of suicide — until her son was dead. Nobody warned her.

Rhonda lost her daughter Kaitlyn to suicide in medical school. Unable to recuperate from the pain of her daughter’s suicide, Rhonda died by suicide …

Why doctors resist change

James C. Salwitz, MD

Physician

November 15, 2016

In my home, we have two conversations: politics and medicine. The most vociferous discussions are around their product, health care. We know doctors on the right and left, Democrat and Republican, boisterous blues, rebellious reds and garrulous grays. Respecting opinions and debate, we love ‘em all. However, no matter on what side of the aisle they stand, which lever they pull, they share one trait. All physicians are deeply conservative. …

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Why doctors resist change

For those who want to be doctors: Follow this piece of advice

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

November 15, 2016

I recently had the privilege of speaking to a group of high school students who were interested in becoming doctors. A large number of them were volunteering in my hospital, and their coordinator asked me if I could spare some time to chat with them about life as a doctor and what they should be doing to get into medicine.

I remember as if it were yesterday when I was their …

Have physicians finally joined the working class?

Andres Barkil-Oteo, MD

Physician

November 3, 2016

Physicians are known to be masters of self-sacrifice, and self-control. They undergo years of training and make substantial emotional and financial sacrifices until they complete their training. The reward at the end of the road is a fulfilling job where he or she can treat people who are in need and enjoy the emotional, personal, and financial fruits of their labor.

But is this the reality? At a time when the …

A physician’s compassion well has run dry

Désirée La Charité, MD

Physician

November 2, 2016

As she lay on the gurney telling me she was tired and having vaginal bleeding yet again, I was doing my own biopsy of her medical record.

It stated very clearly that palliative care and hospice had been recommended to her for her end-stage gynecologic cancer. So, why, I’m thinking, highly annoyed, is she now in the ER, late at night, creating problems for me? Why could she just not accept …

Eliminate the stereotypes about female doctors

Linda Girgis, MD

Physician

October 31, 2016

Someone told me that the reason certain others don’t respect my advocacy on behalf of physicians more is simply that I am a woman. I am seeing this the more I speak up on issues facing doctors these days. It is now the 21st century, and there are a large number of women practicing medicine. In fact, the number of men and women entering medical school these days is nearly …

Why this physician stopped prescribing birth control

Erica G. Jarrett, MD

Physician

October 31, 2016

Her 17-year-old legs dangled over the edge of the exam table. She had come for a prescription of oral contraceptives. Her boyfriend, she said, had been patient. He wasn’t ready to be a father, and so they were waiting. But lately he had started to put the pressure on and asked her to come in. She wasn’t eager for this change in their relationship, but it seemed like the next …

A game of broken telephone in the hospital

Christopher Johnson, MD

Physician

October 30, 2016

Sometimes an interesting thing happens on patient rounds. Rounds are a traditional exercise in hospitals going back at least a century. In the old days, this meant the physician going from patient to patient. He (it was nearly always he back then) went over the patient’s progress with the bedside nurse, examined the patient, reviewed pertinent test results, made an assessment, decided on a plan for the day, and gave …

The pink bag that symbolizes how far this physician has come

Ashley Sumrall, MD

Physician

October 30, 2016

When I graduated from medical school, my dad gave me several hundred dollars with instructions to buy something special. It was a kind gesture, but the pressure to self-select a meaningful gift was almost too much.

I wanted something to commemorate my transition from student to doctor. Books, stethoscopes, and the like seemed so uninventive. I wanted something for residency that would be …

Make a good impression on your patients. Here’s how.

Karen Hickman

Physician

October 27, 2016

Patients forming an opinion of your practice are doing so in a matter of seconds. And some of the latest research on first impressions, suggest that it may even be within the blink of an eye. Regardless of the length of time, first impressions are powerful and very difficult to reverse. So, if a patient has formed a bad opinion of you and your staff, during the first point of …

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