There were about nine of us waiting to cross the street. Several were Asian; there were also a few black and brown men.
A van approached the curb to turn. It was one of those vans with a back door that slides along a track. That back door was wide open, even though the van was in motion. As it pulled closer, we saw that there were three young white men …
The small steps to ensure everyone experiences dignity
Ask anybody who works with me — I ask to be called Nisha in most cases. I’m really not someone who wants everyone to call me “Dr. Mehta.” It may just be because it makes me feel old, but for whatever reason, it’s a personal preference.
The exception to that is when I’m speaking to patients or in a context where I’m presenting myself or my thoughts as a physician in a …
Why being referred to as a physician matters
In a 2012 blog post called “Things that puzzle me about surgical education,” I wrote the following:
There was the emphasis that still exists today on making sure every resident did research. At last, some are questioning the value of this for the average clinical surgeon. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom, there is no evidence that a resident who is dragged kicking and screaming through a clinical research project or …
Residents should not be mandated to do research
The path to becoming a physician is a long and character-defining one. From the moment one first realizes that they want to become a doctor, applies to medical school, and then goes through the rigorous next few years of exam after exam and exhausting clinical rotations — the road is certainly not for the faint-hearted. Everybody is aware of how much knowledge and hard work is required to become a …
These 2 events made this doctor a more compassionate physician
If a person is outside of the medical field it can sometimes be difficult for them to perceive what it is like to be a physician. One of the most surprising places to get an inside view of both the personal and professional lives of the people behind the white coat is on TV. Although there are many inaccuracies in TV shows with a medical framework, one thing that a …
Medical TV shows give insight into the lives of physicians
Perhaps one of the hardest things about medicine is cross-coverage, that is, to be the covering doctor for your partners, whether for the occasional night, weekend, or longer. It’s not something done only in oncology. All specialties in medicine have this system, which allows us to have lives outside of our hospitals and clinics. What’s …
Cross-coverage has made me aware of the art in medicine
Martha (not her real name) was not an overly complex case in my field of geriatric psychology. But the case was complex enough to require multiple approaches and reliable follow up. And in rural Mississippi, follow up can be elusive. Soon it occurred to me that Martha’s case is emblematic of how caring for this vulnerable population often runs up against a huge problem — the Medicare merry-go-round.
A 78-eight-year-old with …
The Medicare merry-go-round in geriatric psychiatry
“I just don’t get it,” sighed the young mother, who was propped up in a hospital rocking chair, nursing her beautiful two-day-old infant. Mary (not her real name) continued, “I’ve been doing everything right. I have a job, an apartment, I pay my bills, and look” – Mary nods towards a shiny new black and pink infant car-seat sitting in the corner, “I even have a car seat. I’m ready.” …
The struggles of women in recovery during pregnancy
You extend a firm handshake and get ready to sit down at the table across from your mentor for the first time.
Woah, wait. Let’s back up to the legwork that should have happened prior to this meeting. First step, you found the mentor (see this post for practical ideas on how to find a mentor). Neither you nor the mentor have a lot of time — a frequent obstacle often …
Your first meeting with a mentor
I log onto KevinMD every day to get my much-needed dose of physician commiseration. At least once a day, one of us writes an article about burnout. It typically leaves me feeling quite validated. I particularly enjoy reading the comments section, as many of you make me laugh with your physician reality-based humor.
I am more burned out than I ever hoped to be. I work in primary care, have a …
This burned out physician was happier as a resident
In 2013 I began searching for ways I could change my career to reduce my workload, but not give up medicine altogether. During that time I took a cruise and looked at various jobs I could do on a cruise ship. One of the jobs I was qualified for, I thought, was to be a Cruise Ship Doctor.
After talking with the ship’s doctor to find out what it was like …
What to do if you want to be a cruise ship doctor
Six months ago, I had severe right flank pain. In the ER, I had an ultrasound showing a possible kidney stone. I deferred a CT scan and went home with medication. I fit the textbook picture: I had abnormal imaging, and I was given a treatment and discharged. I was advised to return if the pain worsened or failed to resolve. I briefly improved, but then the pain returned much …
A physician’s personal crisis with pain
Angela Harris has been here in the hospital for six hours, awaiting the results of her CT scan. I won’t take responsibility for all of that wait time: complicated CT scans and labs do take a significant amount of time to perform. But she didn’t need to wait the last hour.
She was waiting on me — her emergency physician — because I needed to confirm her cancer diagnosis with radiology, …
Cushioning the fall of bad news
ADVERTISEMENT
One of the things that can help a physician live a balanced life is finding ways to thrive in the workplace. This is currently a work in progress for me, but I am excited to share what I have learned so far. For some context, I was previously practicing as a nephrologist; and I transitioned to being a hospitalist on an as-needed basis to create flexibility in my schedule. This …
Physician, heal thyself: How to thrive in your medical career
Speeding through town, I had just dropped off a kid at football practice. I raced back to the church to drop off another kid, then drove quickly to a soccer practice for a third. At about 7:00, I start to lose my cool. I’m used to my husband being late. But tonight I was frustrated. I sat in the parking lot with two babies, strapped in their seatbelts, fidgeting and …
My spouse is your doctor. And there’s no one else I’d rather share him with.
We are in the midst of an epidemic of physician burnout, depression and suicide. Although the causes are debatable, there can be little doubt that increasing demands for financial performance and patient satisfaction, decreasing autonomy, and physicians’ individual liability for systemic risk management decisions in a majority of practice settings are significant contributors to these adverse outcomes.
At the same time physician burnout, depression, and suicide rates have been rising; tremendous …
It’s time for hospitals to publicly disclose physician satisfaction, burnout, and suicide rates
I recently needed to transfer my patient to a larger medical center for some urgent care. As I sat there in my relatively small hospital working out where they would be best served, a famous academic medical center that was not too far away, came to mind. I placed a call to the facility’s bed facilitator, who took the patient’s details from me, and was told to await a callback …
Why the battle against being called a provider is probably lost
The most common response when I introduce myself as a preventive medicine resident is an interjection, “You mean family medicine?” I have come to realize that the majority of the healthcare field has never heard of preventive medicine as a unique medical specialty. It’s a shame, because preventive medicine is truly the best medical specialty you’ve never heard of.
Preventive medicine practices at the intersection of public health and clinical medicine …
The best medical specialty you’ve never heard of
Although my father did not discover penicillin, he helped do the research showing its effectiveness in curing infective endocarditis. As an internist, he then became enamored with the role antibiotics could play in treating infections. Growing up, my siblings and I can attest to his unbridled enthusiasm, as every time we contracted a cold, we would get a shot of the wonder mold in our butts. The fact that colds …
The unscientific lure of antibiotics
As a retired physician who has written a book about end-of-life issues for elderly patients, I have placed myself in an awkward position. According to most guidelines, at age 67, I am elderly. How will I approach the end of my life?
Not only do my personal medical concerns career around in the echo chamber of my own mind, but I have the added challenge of trying to follow my own …
An aging physician muses on end-of-life care
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
