Are you or a loved one aging, perhaps with a chronic heart or lung condition that limits daily activities? Do you have an older parent in a nursing home or who needs assistance with daily living activities? If so, read on and make the pledge.
As physicians, we see death every day. We see death made worse and more painful by poor advance care planning. Yet, despite the certainty of death …
Pledge to end your fear of death and end-of-life care
For the past several years, I have been befuddled by patients calling me by my first name (Sara) instead of my professional title (Dr. Jones). At first, I ignored this, but as it became more common, I started telling some of these patients that I preferred being called Dr. Jones rather than by first name. This took some patients aback — probably thinking I was a snob — while others …
Why do patients call me by my first name?
I’m an ER doc. I care for patients. All patients: Those who need to be in the ER; those who don’t; those who wouldn’t be there if they knew better. For them, for you and for fun, I’ve got some tips to keep you happy, safe and away from my ER. Enjoy.
1. Never, ever say “hold my beer and watch this!” Besides “I do!” they are the most dangerous words …
Studies show that when people know what palliative care is, they want it. Marketing genius Seth Godin talks about offering services that are “remarkable” — so good that a person would cross the street to tell a friend.
Palliative care has that kind of value, so why doesn’t our message travel upstream through word of mouth? Would-be evangelists are often flummoxed by the fact that the phrase has still has different …
10 commandments to help with palliative care messaging
Sequels generally disappoint. Jason couldn’t match the fear he generated in the original Friday the 13th. The sequel to the “Parachute,” a satirical piece canvassing PubMed for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing parachutes to placebo, matched its brilliance — and even exceeded it, though the margin can’t be confirmed with statistical significance. The “Parachute,” published in BMJ’s Christmas edition, will go down in …
Keeping the art of medical satire alive
First, the cancer diagnosis. Then, the barrage of trite encouragements: You can beat this! Don’t give up. Keep fighting! It’s not only friends and family members who utter these clichés — usually at a loss of what else to say. Health care providers also attempt to bolster patients’ morale with well-intentioned but well-worn phrases too. Unfortunately, these sentiments frequently fail to have the intended effect. Instead of conveying comfort and …
Have bad news for your patients? Mind your metaphors.
A career in health care provides an incredible life full of experiences, challenges, and heartbreak, mixed with incredible satisfaction. With the rapidly shifting global economy, health professionals retain a large degree of flexibility and geographic independence. That said, it takes a unique proposition from a recruiter to pull one away from a satisfying position. I have, on a rare occasion, taken the bait and enjoyed great rewards as a result. …
5 ways physician recruiters can improve their relationship with doctors
My elderly patients miss the days when, in an emergency, they could call their family doctor at home, and they’d be cared for. Retired doctors reminisce about the “good old days” when they were in charge of their own schedules and could prescribe whatever drug or test they felt necessary based on years of experience. While there was a strong doctor-patient relationship in those bygone days, it was not necessarily …
The commodification of health care is destroying the doctor-patient relationship
Her name was Callie (identifying information changed). She was four years old. She loved glitter and princesses and anything sparkly. She was affectionate and silly, and I fell hard for her. She was a patient, my patient, on the pediatric oncology unit during my very first ward rotation intern year.
On my first day, I was as scared as any person can be, palms sweating, heart pounding, faced with these tiny, …
To parents who have lost children: We never forget your children
When a patient goes to the doctor, they usually have a specific health problem in mind. Sometimes, the treatment is straightforward; a urinary tract infection warrants antibiotics. A laceration can be sutured. Other issues, however, are more complex. For example, communicating a terminal diagnosis to a patient. Consoling his grieving widow two months later. In circumstances like these, even if there is no cure, there is still space for healing.
Central …
Become more than a clinician. Be a healer.
There has been a disturbing shift in how medical professionals feel about their career. I almost cringe every time I’m at a party or social gathering now and tell people I retired early from my medical practice. I try not to bring it up.
I don’t cringe out of fear for how they will perceive me or whether they will look down upon me with condescending scorn about how I left …
The reason so many physicians are retiring early
The new Holy Grail of business, Customer Satisfaction — CSAT to her close friends — is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet customer expectations. In a marketplace where businesses compete for customers, CSAT is a key element of strategy.
Why?
Money.
Satisfied customers buy. They come back and buy more. They tell their friends, who’ll buy too. If satisfied, they’ll return and buy more. That’s gold for …
If you’re a parent who is still on the fence, trying to decide whether or not to vaccinate your children, I’m going to try to be kind and helpful. Here is a link to a video by a physician and father, Dr. Zubin Damania, with facts that may address some of your fears.
If you’re firmly pro-disease and anti-vaccine, however, I am baffled at your irrationality and frankly enraged by …
A physician who’s angry at the anti-vaxxers
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To treat any condition, the doctor needs to know what it is. You would not expect to have your sore ankle treated with penicillin or to have an appendectomy recommended for your sore throat. While this may be self-evident, I know of at least one patient who had a normal appendix removed because the surgeon did not notice the few telltale blisters that were warning the careful observer that the …
How to help your doctor with diagnosis
Being a primary care physician, I was afraid to start my own practice. There was discouragement from fellow physicians, hospital leaders, business colleagues, and even patients. Many said that the small practice model was not viable. With insurance mandates, mounting bureaucratic pressures from Medicare and Medicaid, increasing regulations by DEA, higher volumes of paperwork, and the health IT requirements, the task of setting up a private practice with primary care …
Physician Strong: a private practice journey
If you’ve browsed the internet recently, you probably have noticed the #10YearChallenge social media trend that has taken over our news feeds. The phenomena have individuals comparing a current photo of themselves, to their former self ten years ago. As I thought about how well (or not) I’ve aged over time, it got me thinking about the two most important advice I would give my younger self (knowing what I …
How physicians can develop their emotional intelligence
My fertility journey is not typical. I have not spent years “trying.” In fact, I have spent years trying not to get pregnant!
My husband has two daughters — and a vasectomy, so getting pregnant was a known challenge. Luckily, I like challenges. We went to an infertility specialist, who told us that reversal was not an option for us, and that IVF was our only option. A bunch of testing …
Physicians should talk about the F word: fertility
When I was a third-year medical student in 2006, I was assigned to spend the day at a well-known women’s health clinic in Toronto. I walked into the procedure room and introduced myself to the attending. His first words to me were: “Are you married?” I replied that I wasn’t married, and he (while continuing the procedure) asked, “Well, do you at least have a serious boyfriend?” Then he asked …
Refusing to walk past the old sexist standards in medicine
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
According to the 2018 Medscape National Physician Burnout Report, 42 percent of physicians are burned out. Of the doctors in that group, 56 percent place the blame squarely on the plethora of tasks they find themselves performing instead of being involved in actual patient care. Practicing medicine isn’t …
5 steps clinicians can take to get back to their patients
The rotations on adult medicine and critical care are probably the most challenging ones for the residents doing internal medicine residency. No matter how much we try, we tend to feel overwhelmed, fatigued and swamped sometimes. As we progress into residency, we not only gain knowledge and clinical skills but also learn to tackle the challenges of a busy schedule. Below are some of the tips that might be helpful.
1. …
5 tips for interns tackling a busy schedule
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