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.

Medicine is hard work but there are ways to do the job more effectively and efficiently

Meagan Vermeulen, MD

Physician

March 17, 2020

The first step on any journey is having a direction to follow. When you decided to become a physician, you no doubt sought out advice from trusted mentors: advisors, other physicians, even peers who had traveled that road before you.

Becoming a physician likely started as an abstract thought that became all-consuming. Somewhere along the line, your everyday life revolved around school, training, procedures … you get the picture. Now that …

Closed-loop communications: Good for codes and for marriage

Maria Michaelis, MD

Physician

March 16, 2020

Recently, I realized that something needed to change in my family life. With three busy daughters at three different schools who participate in multiple activities along with my full-time job as an anesthesiologist, my life depended on accurate and concise communication. However, this was the third time in a week that a ball had been dropped between my husband and me.

This time it resulted in my middle daughter, Laini, being …

Gendered language and impostor syndrome

Jennifer Hunt, MD

Physician

March 16, 2020

I have evidence that I am a victim of gendered language. One of my teaching evaluations from a national course once said, “If you look up the definition of the word ‘perky’ in the dictionary, you will find a picture of Jennifer Hunt.” One of my old performance reviews says, “Dr. Hunt is aggressive.” Even my 12th grade English teacher complained to my parents that I was “pushy and bossy.”

Now …

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Gendered language and impostor syndrome

How to embrace the art of networking

Meagan Vermeulen, MD

Physician

March 15, 2020

Physicians are, by nature, excellent taskmasters. When given a defined set of goals to complete, whether it be a list of patients to round on, a target GPA for admission to medical school, or procedures to complete by graduation, we face it head-on with our tool kit at the ready. This often leaves us vulnerable when faced with more nebulous tasks assignments that lack defined parameters. Networking, the action or …

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How to embrace the art of networking

Incorporate physician well-being into your job search criteria

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

March 15, 2020

Maybe you think it’s too early to consider the next stage in your career.

Medical school graduation is just months away. Newly graduated doctors will be making their way to their first rotations in July. Senior residents and senior fellows are thinking and dreaming about their next position as new attendings.

This got me thinking.

Are you truly considering and factoring in your well-being as you look for the next position where you …

You are the reason I became a physician

Lizbeth Hingst, DO

Physician

March 15, 2020

I can smell the wafting aroma of frying onions and tomatoes as I am upstairs, just waking for the day. I am 10 years old, and these aromas are the staple of my childhood. It brings back memories of home. I walk downstairs and see my dad stirring the tomatoes and onions in the frying pan, dancing and singing: “I am cooking for my kid!” “Kid” is the term he …

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You are the reason I became a physician

Dear medicine: I’m breaking up with you

Anonymous

Physician

March 14, 2020

I’m breaking up with you.

I fell in love with you when I was just a child sitting in my grandfather’s family practice office. He put that magical white coat on me, sat me at his desk, welcomed in my first patient, and I was smitten.

I grew up playing medical guessing games with him and his best friend, the town surgeon. They told stories of home visits, generations of families they …

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Dear medicine: I’m breaking up with you

Who are responsible for outrageous medical bills? Hint: It’s not doctors.

Ashima Vohra, MD

Physician

March 14, 2020

Over the last few years, there has been a slew of articles about patients receiving surprise bills after ER visits. One woman was charged $5,751 for an ice pack and a bandage. An infant was charged $937 for an antibiotic ointment. Who sends bills like that? Is it the ER doctors? No. It’s large corporations.

ER docs want to help you regardless of …

I have more hope than ever for women in medicine

Robyn Alley-Hay, MD

Physician

March 14, 2020

Recently, I was a speaker at a conference for 200 physician moms. Most attendees were early- to mid-career. I had to laugh — I was one of the oldest doctor moms in the room. I thought to myself, where are the later-career moms? How many women are quitting medicine mid-to-late career? It is worse than I thought. According to recent research done at the University of Michigan, 40 percent of …

It’s time to stop treating suffering like a necessary rite of passage

Laura Mazer, MD

Physician

March 13, 2020

Once, when I was a senior resident covering a busy trauma service at a county hospital, I was on call for nine days in a row while my co-chief had an uncovered vacation. It was July, and we were all — interns, junior residents, and me — new and uncertain in our roles. I left the hospital only twice in those nine days.

When I finally signed over my pager for …

Proper endings like this feel right

Anonymous

Physician

March 13, 2020

He was a logical man. A northeast Ohio man. Who worked all his life and worked hard. I can see it in his hands. They are entirely calloused with traces of grease impervious even to pumice soap.

A family man. His wife and sons and daughters are at bedside. And proud grandson, just a man, not dry-eyed, stands in the corner, in his college jacket, the spitting image of his bedridden …

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Proper endings like this feel right

How to manage the transitions of your day

Michael Maddaus, MD

Physician

March 13, 2020

Three months ago I got a Peloton bike. Overnight I went from a boring, 30 minute, mildly aerobic grind on an elliptical while listening to podcasts to getting my rear end handed to me by Peloton instructors, all in recorded classes I take on demand.

Yesterday my instructor was Cody Rigsby, a guy with a great sense of humor who says things like “if you need to regroup, namaste your ass in …

A physician in the venture capital world

Chris Kager, MD, MBA

Physician

March 12, 2020

Most physicians have spent decades training for the day that they see their first patient or perform their first surgery. This extended time involved to become a physician does not leave a lot of spare time in college or medical school for most physicians to take any significant coursework in economics, finance, or investing. Yet, physicians have a tremendous amount of knowledge with regards to all aspects of health …

A case for resident activism

Sejal Parekh, MD

Physician

March 12, 2020

In 2019, residents organized coast-to-coast to protest low pay, unsafe working conditions, and insufficient benefits. Residents at the University of Washington and UCLA walked out of the hospital in reaction to stalled contract negotiations. Residents at Yale interrupted a meeting to introduce a “Resident and Fellow Bill of Rights,” outlining basic rights such as …

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A case for resident activism

How struggling to breastfeed made me a better pediatrician

Priya N. Jain, MD

Physician

March 11, 2020

“You’re a pediatrician; you already know everything.”

“Full-term babies latch easily and basically breastfeed themselves.”

“I didn’t have trouble breastfeeding, so you should be fine.”

I heard a lot of comments like this from friends and family when I was pregnant. However, when I became a mom, I was woefully under-prepared to answer my own questions when it came to breastfeeding. I knew I wanted to breastfeed my daughter, and exclusively of course, …

Please tell us your cosmetic secrets. We promise not to tell.

Karen S. Sibert, MD

Physician

March 10, 2020

I live and work in Los Angeles, one of the plastic surgery capitals of the world. Quite a few of my patients have “had a little work done” — the blandly euphemistic term you’ll hear for plastic surgery makeovers of all kinds. That’s fine. Plastic surgeons have children to feed too.

The problem is this: many of my patients want to convince everyone that their “look” is entirely natural. They don’t …

The right support system makes all the difference for physicians

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

March 10, 2020

In the neonatal ICU, a baby dies from necrotizing enterocolitis or NEC. It’s not the first nor the last time I’ll experience death during my medical career. Doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, surgeons, and the rest of the team spent the days prior to his death implementing medical interventions and procedures, hoping to arrest the process. Two surgeries, multiple blood transfusions, antibiotics, drips to support the blood pressure, intubation, and ventilator …

Entitlement, arrogance, and isolation in modern-day medical practice

Cristina Carballo-Perelman, MD

Physician

March 10, 2020

I recently read a medical school commencement, delivered by a physician, that was both inspiring and sadly reminiscent of what physicians should aspire to throughout their careers.

This physician relayed how patients throughout her training and career had provided her with moments of clarity, helping her identify the “why” she chose a career in medicine. She went so far as to describe how a group of patients saved her from choosing …

On-demand doctors: Are we becoming medical waiters?

Annie Moore, MD, MBA

Physician

March 10, 2020

Seven years ago, I vividly recalled a patient saying, “It needs to be as easy to schedule with you as OpenTable.” For most health care systems, this request is now a reality. Yet, how far has the restaurant metaphor moved into patient expectations?

Recently on a closed Facebook physician group, a post discussed how to convince patients they do not benefit from antibiotics when they have a respiratory virus. One theme …

Dear patients: Please show up on time

Katie Klingberg, MD

Physician

March 9, 2020

There is constant tension to remain on-time working in a primary care clinic, seeing patients every twenty minutes back-to-back. It takes an incredible ability for the front desk staff, medical assistants, and the physician to be able to keep this flow running smoothly only to have it be derailed by the late patient who does not understand how their actions affect everyone else after them.

I currently work in a system …

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Dear patients: Please show up on time