Another study reiterates what we already know: In droves, millennials are venturing away from the traditional model of securing a primary care provider and opting not to access health care “as usual.”
Still, too many physicians do little more than shake their heads over this. We wonder when millennials will figure out they need a medical home for the best possible care – especially when a medical emergency occurs.
The spaces where we live and work can exert both strong and subtle influences on the way our brains function. They can make us anxious, distracted, inefficient or tired, affecting not only our cognitive ability but also our emotional state, mental stability, and physical well-being. Clinical medical practice, like much of life in our society, is tethered to indoor space, so physicians, staff and patients alike are particularly prone to …
I distinctly recall during residency a much older and well-respected clinical teacher periodically opining that what was needed in a particular patient case was “a dose of the tincture of time.”
For those less familiar with more historic terminology, a tincture is an alcoholic …
The National Rifle Association ruffled a lot of feathers recently when it published a tweet that said that doctors should “stay in their lane” on the subject of gun control.
As a practicing physician, you might be surprised to hear that I side with the NRA.
There’s something fundamentally different between diagnosing and treating a disease in a patient and recommending a new law because you treat people …
As the holidays approach, this time of year can be filled with mixed emotions for high-achieving medical professionals who find themselves in the hospital, clinics, and practices caring for patients instead of spending time with loved ones. It can be more hectic than ever as doctors try to be all things to family and friends while still carrying a full patient load.
When I was a young child, like most children, I loved Disney. However, my fascination with Disney did not involve the exhilarating theme parks, characters or delicious foods. As a young boy, I was captivated by the Disney culture, the multifaceted business model and the life and legacy of Walt Disney. During the past two decades, I have continually studied these complex concepts. Concurrently, I was pursuing a scientific education …
We have failed to address the scale of suicide and mental illness in the medical profession, which is a global issue. Each of us can help prevent doctor suicide with these five strategies both locally and worldwide:
1. We can destigmatize mental illness for doctors and medical students
First, we can change the negative attitudes to mental illness in our profession by accepting that doctors and medical students …
Retirement has gotten me edgy. Three months after departing, I had begun spending too much time horizontal, which I forced myself to remedy but then finding myself with nothing to do.
Moreover, things have gotten more noticeably like Bowling Alone, an often-cited book by Robert Putnam published in 2000 that describes attrition of diverse communal activities over the previous 30 years. For physicians, our daily activities prevent us from working in …
I was recently seeing a rather complicated medical patient in the hospital. We were treating both a heart and kidney condition, and things were not going so well. To spare anyone non-medical who is reading this the scientific details of the bodily processes involved, we were essentially balancing hydrating, with the need to get rid of excess fluid. After seeing the patient, I spoke with the nurse, went over the …
First impressions are critical. We are taught early in our careers that first impressions truly matter. Whether interviewing for medical school or a residency program, our goal is to make a positive first impression in hopes of making the cut at each checkpoint in our early careers.
These processes in our academic lives and careers are exhausting. As residencies and medical schools are becoming more competitive, the importance of first impressions …
This is how our medical technician greeted me as I arrived for my Wednesday morning practice session earlier this week, with a full panel of patients on the schedule set to see me over the next few hours.
Most of them were my own patients, well known to me, but a few were new patients who had been referred by colleagues in our institution, …
My medical school is located in Harrogate, Tennessee, a town of 4,000. That’s considered rural. My residency is located in Casper, Wyoming, a city of 60,000. There were some community attendings there that considered that rural. I live and practice in a town of 200. The closest hospitals to me are 40 minutes to one hour away. The roads are dangerous and frequently close in the winter, and winter lasts …
I recently read an article entitled “The family said, ‘Do everything.’” It described the case of an elderly patient at the end-stage of life. The article concluded that “If your loved one has reached an end-stage of life, do the right thing. Let them die peacefully.” While I agree with this author’s intent, recent experience has altered my perspective on the “right thing.”
As rewarding as working in emergency medicine can be, it also comes with some significant potential downsides. According to some recent studies, stress and burnout rates in the emergency room are some of the worst in the medical field. But don’t let that dampen your enthusiasm. Managing the proper …
For several years now, I’ve been the social media curmudgeon in medicine. In a 2011 New York Times op-ed titled “Don’t Quit This Day Job,” I argued that working part-time or leaving medicine goes against our obligation to patients and to the American taxpayers who subsidize graduate medical education to the tune of $15 billion per year.
But today, eight years after the passage of the Affordable Care …
Medical crises come in many forms: from illnesses to sudden injuries. Most often the victims are unsuspecting. They may be gradual in onset or happen in seconds. There are many causes, from faulty drivers to electrolyte disturbances. Mine was caused by a squirrel, a routine yard rodent. In less than three seconds, I went from a practicing physician with a heavy patient load to temporarily disabled.
I’ve been out of medicine a little over a month now. The first couple of weeks were crazy; I ran right to Boston to my MFA residency, and was too busy to really process much. When I got home, there were a lot of people and things to catch up with, and I had to figure out how to manage my days. I made sure I was getting my work for my MFA …
Holiday season is upon us, and it’s time to start thinking about staff appreciation.
A recent survey found that over 70 percent of medical office assistants (MOAs) are expecting a holiday bonus this season. Based on the survey results, the average cash bonus in 2017 fell between $200 to $500, with a few outliers paying out in the thousands. While a wide array of bonus and employee appreciation practices exist within …
It is a brave new world. I have used an electronic health record in my office for ten years. With a click of a mouse, I can show you how your blood pressure has varied over the last ten years. I can graph your hemoglobin, track your diabetes or tell you if that was the medication we tried last time.
