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.

Data has become a four-letter word in primary care

Allison Edwards, MD

Physician

October 31, 2019

We primary care physicians hate data. Taken on their own, numbers are benign, but when we hear the word “data,” physicians are reminded of a litany of related issues that make our lives far more difficult: checkboxes. Regulatory compliance. Prior authorizations. Unnecessarily complicated payment schemes.

By virtue of our training and the principles that guided the decade we spent obtaining our degrees, we are empiricists by nature. It’s sad to think …

Our healers need healing

Anonymous

Physician

October 30, 2019

I woke up to him, pacing the bedroom.

Within an hour, I was pacing the ER at his bedside.

Our experience at one of the country’s best-ranked hospitals lasted only three days before we were discharged home. What led us there will last a lifetime in our minds. When faced with your own mortality (or that of your husband’s), you are forever changed. We are grateful for his continued recovery from myopericarditis. …

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Our healers need healing

A physician’s plea to patients

Sasha K. Shillcutt, MD

Physician

October 30, 2019

I am a cardiac anesthesiologist. I meet most patients I care for minutes before I take them to the operating room and render them unconscious. I breathe for them, administer pain medicine and drugs to give them amnesia, and I keep their hearts, lungs, kidneys, and brains working.

Pretty important stuff.

I want to speak on behalf of physicians.

I want all patients to know something: We need you to talk to us.

We …

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A physician’s plea to patients

How to make compassion your personal pain reliever

Michael Maddaus, MD

Physician

October 30, 2019

Five months ago, “little kids” started visiting my father-in-law, stealing things. The hallucinations and dementia progressed, and we were forced to move him to a memory care unit.

Memory care unit is the polite term for a lockup unit for people with dementia. Walking through the locked doors for the first time triggered in me an intense urge to run away.

First, you encounter the “dementia parking lot” with the “inmates” parked …

This pediatrician gives her kids candy on Halloween. Here are 7 guilt-free candy tips.

Jennifer Trachtenberg, MD

Physician

October 30, 2019

I’m a pediatrician, mom of three. And to many, this may come as a surprise, but yes, I give my kids candy on Halloween. And I don’t mean the organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, no artificial colors or flavoring, good for you “treats.” I’m talking about chocolate, caramel bars, gummies, and sour balls. Personally, my all-time favorite is red Twizzlers (yup, I’m admitting over the internet) Nevertheless, I have spent over two …

The bedside nurse is under siege

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

October 29, 2019

Nurses are the very heart of health care. These wonderful professionals work tirelessly for the good of their patients, spending the most time with them and often being their biggest advocates and best friends during what is a frightening experience in the hospital. In my career, I’ve worked with some truly magnificent nurses, who would be an asset to any organization. Every practicing doctor has also been in situations where it’s …

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The bedside nurse is under siege

An appreciation for a hospital volunteer

Kathleen Lo, MD

Physician

October 29, 2019

Did I ever get to thank you for helping me? I am one of the pediatric residents you see running around like a headless chicken. We first met over a year ago when I was just a wee intern. You helped me calm an anxious boy who was about to get stitches. He had sliced his arm with a box cutter, creating a gaping wound for me to close. I’m …

A guide to couples matching

Lucas R. Cusumano, MD, MPH

Physician

October 29, 2019

I consider myself one of the lucky ones because my wife and I couples matched to the same institution for residency. At the time we put our residency match lists in, we were just boyfriend and girlfriend, and the decision to couples match felt like a bigger leap forward for our relationship than deciding to ask her to marry me about a year later. It was the right decision for …

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A guide to couples matching

The stigma of motherhood in medicine

Qaali Hussein, MD

Physician

October 28, 2019

Women who become doctors must often choose between motherhood and medicine. I’m a mother and a surgeon. I never thought of choosing between the two, even though my employers often asked me to.

Today I work as a trauma surgeon in a busy practice. It’s been a long journey since the day five years ago when I …

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The stigma of motherhood in medicine

The “heart” way to victory

Brian Lima, MD

Physician

October 28, 2019

An excerpt from Heart To Beat: A Cardiac Surgeon’s Inspiring Story of Success and Overcoming Adversity―The Heart Way.

What if we approached life’s challenges and setbacks like our own hearts continuously strive to meet the demands of our body—unrelenting, constant effort, and action even in dire circumstances? Rather than shying away from these obstacles, or dwelling on our mistakes and misfortunes, what if we just kept methodically moving forward, …

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The “heart” way to victory

Each line on the radiology list is a patient’s line in the sand

James C. Salwitz, MD

Physician

October 28, 2019

Lists guide our lives. Some are easy, even fun, like a menu or shopping list. Some are simple tick-offs for work, like my wife’s honey-do list. Others are frightening, like a draft list. Some are melancholy, such as the inventory in a Will. We are inspired by our bucket-list. Finally, some are exciting, but stir conflict, like a wedding invitation list. I have a list, which makes me slightly anxious, a little depressed, and which takes modest courage to open …

Patients are used to seeing physicians who are not their doctors

Michael Kirsch, MD

Physician

October 27, 2019

Nowadays, patients are used to seeing physicians who are not their doctors. Often, patients may be seeing a nurse practitioner, a highly trained professional for their medical care, instead of a physician. A generation ago, patients nearly always saw their own physician, including if a patient was hospitalized. Imagine that: Your own primary care doctor sees you in the hospital, an event that occurred when dinosaurs roamed freely.

The medical universe …

When we walk into a patient’s room, we are entering a story

Jordan Messler, MD

Physician

October 27, 2019

The doctor opened the door after a gentle knock. He was greeted with warmth, offered a seat by Mary, and promptly sat down on the end of the hospital bed. As he sat, the family stood to greet him. They discussed the grandkids, the trips taken since they last saw each other. The room felt peaceful. Time slowed down.

Walking in behind my attending, I had been ruminating about the lengthy patient list, the work to be done. Then …

All the wellness in the world won’t help physician burnout

Leonard Su, MD

Physician

October 26, 2019

I will always be a vascular surgeon.

But let’s be clear; I no longer practice vascular surgery.

Despite a busy practice, happy patients, local awards, and the respect of my peers, I quit. I gave it all up. All of the education, all of the endless training, all of the time, hard work, and, yes, all of the salary — I turned my back on it.

Why?

I am a recovering patient with constant …

How best to support, honor, and show gratitude for your mentors

Johanna Vidal Phelan, MD, MBA

Physician

October 26, 2019

I recently had the amazing opportunity to both witness and participate in an event where my Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) pediatric mentor received a lifetime achievement award for her many years of exemplary service to the pediatric community of Southern New Jersey.

My mentor’s leadership, compassion, and dedication to serving the Latino community have set an example — not only for patients and their families but for generations of pediatricians …

Don’t wait for your career. Consider having kids now.

Justine Lee, DVM

Physician

October 24, 2019

No one tells you to put your veterinary career on hold to have kids, right?

After all, we’re supposed to forge ahead and get through veterinary school, go on to our internship and residency, or go build ourselves up in private practice (or academia), right? We’re supposed to buy that small business to help pay off our loans while balancing work-life balance despite our workaholic personalities, correct?

Well, no one tells you …

We must find a way to reward doctors who are caring and compassionate

Rob Lamberts, MD

Physician

October 24, 2019

It was about ten years ago.

I was already running about an hour behind, and the next patient on my schedule was a familiar one. But not for good reasons. This was a very complicated patient with huge emotional needs, whose visits would routinely go 30 to 45 minutes, well beyond the 15 minutes allotted. My heart sank. I would either have to hurry a visit with a genuinely needy person, …

We must hold the government accountable for the health of the most vulnerable

Bonnie H. Arzuaga, MD

Physician

October 23, 2019

898.

This is the number of cases of mumps that occurred in migrant detention camps in a 12-month period between September 2018 and August 2019. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 84% of the migrants who contracted the illness did so while they were in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or another U.S. agency. Only 5% had been infected before they were apprehended. …

Moral injury from a primary care perspective

Talal Khan, MD

Physician

October 23, 2019

The backbone of a great health care system is its primary care task force. From Singapore to France, elite health care systems rely on these cerebral doctors to provide preventive, urgent, and acute care along with chronic disease management. Primary care doctors have a broad-ranging impact from health care access, cost control, and impact on mortality and morbidity rates.

I was a graduate of a class of 50, of which only …

Physicians: Constantly focus on raising your game

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

October 23, 2019

A couple of months ago I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine, who is a doctor in England. We were talking sports, specifically tennis at Wimbledon and the superb performance of Roger Federer. He made a remark that I thought was great observation: “That psychological ability to raise your game rather than lose heart when behind is common to all elite sportspeople, but quite unusual in …

Physician

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