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.
I see more and more patients decline to participate in clinical trials. Simultaneously, I hear patient advocates on the national stage clamoring for better trial access. Why the disconnect?
Let’s explore 7 reasons why clinical trial participation is right for you:
1. The smartest minds in medicine designed this for you. Clinical trials are not designed by one doctor on the fly. Most oncology drugs have been studied for at least six years …
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Scared of clinical trials? 7 reasons to not be.
“Mr. Jones, how are you this morning?” I ask.
A muffled, incoherent reply.
“Are you in pain?”
“No.”
I perform a brief, perfunctory exam — it’s unchanged from yesterday. I then glance at his breakfast tray on the bedside table — still untouched. The plastic mug is still full of watery, lukewarm coffee, and the rubbery pancakes on the plate are still intact. This is at least the third morning that my patient — …
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Nothing could help my patient, but ministering to him helped me
Physician burnout has become the new “buzzword” in the medical industry that is the catalyst for ongoing research and the implementation of new “pilot projects” in the academic world of medicine. However, the research that is being done, is fairly (and predictably) narrow-minded when it comes to teasing out who really is at highest risk for these burnout, depression and even physician suicide.
The research indicates that there are several risk …
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A warning to women doctors: You are more at risk for burnout
It’s Friday morning in any operating room, USA. Nurses and techs are scrambling to get everything in place before the surgeon arrives because if not, there will be hell to pay. The first patient arrives late, the second patient needs to use the bathroom, the third patient needs blankets before the IV is started … and here he comes … and we’re not ready. The fear is palpable.
Down the street, …
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Trauma in the OR. From doctors’ bullying.
It’s still dark out when I walk into the busy and bustling preoperative area where patients and their family members crowd into small bays. They hand over their personal belongings to the RNs and their trust to me. As I walk in, I grab my patient’s hand, smile and say, “Hello. My name is Dr. Shillcutt. I am a cardiac anesthesiologist, and I am going to take care of you …
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I’m your anesthesiologist. Let me explain what that means.
As a pediatrician, I work to keep children healthy so they can grow up and achieve their dreams. Occasionally, my naïve optimism has gotten the better of me. I especially have a soft spot for angry, defiant children. These children are given my undivided attention and respect, and I expect the same in return. I never call them names, insult them, or label them. On the contrary, I have high …
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The unexpected impact this patient had on his pediatrician
The “doctor-patient” relationship is tightly woven into the culture and history of medicine. But that special bond is under enormous pressure today. And to keep it from fraying, we need periodically to examine the fabric. Last month, the Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP), representing 28 of the nation’s largest and best medical groups in the U.S., did just that.
Annually, CAPP sponsors a meeting in Washington D.C. where it invites …
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Doctors and patients want the same thing in health care
The answer reflected off of her face, and I knew my news would be no surprise.
Nonetheless, the lump in my throat grew as I hesitated to tell her the latest we found on her recent scans. The fact that this was a recurrence of a previous cancer and she dealt with this inhumanity in the past also did not make it any easier.
It was then that Mrs. B spoke up, …
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What a patient taught her doctor about defying death
So, you’re a physician with a love of travel — awesome! One week of your salary allows you to travel anywhere in the world (coach, at least) — double awesome! But, as you are acutely aware, there is a catch … a big one. As a full time doc, how do you possibly get the time off to explore new cultures, hike/bike amazing trails and eat/drink around the globe?
As physicians …
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11 ways to be an doctor and still live your travel dreams
In response to recent national events, I have often reflected on privilege — what it means, and what I should do about it. Privilege is the freedom to have an advantage without the guilt of knowing that you have it, and not knowing that it is unfair. It is the freedom to say and do things that others cannot. Admittedly, I am male, which comes with certain privilege. I am …
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Let’s make our field welcoming to underrepresented minorities
An orthopedic surgeon and a neurosurgeon walk into a room …
Unfortunately, this is not the start of a joke. While we would prefer to be sharing best practices and treating patients in our exam rooms, the fact is we’re spending more time than we’d like in a courtroom. Because our medical liability system is broken, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, OB-GYNs and other specialty physicians continue to find themselves on the receiving …
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A doctor’s place is in the exam room
We are all panicked over student loan debt. The size of the loan can be worrisome — sometimes overwhelming. The average medical student debt is over $160,000, and it’s not unusual to owe $300,000 to $450,000! The compounded interest is growing every day and adding to your anxiety. Most early career physicians state the stress related to paying off these loans is their greatest emotional burden. Think about that — …
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Pay off your medical school loans for free? Here’s how.
School’s out! This time of year is met with great expectation in children all over the country. However, another unwelcomed guest, hunger, comes along with the summer break. Over 30 million children qualify for the National School Lunch Program which provides free or low-cost meals to children daily during the school year. When classes are out over the summer months, the food availability lessens for many children as parents aren’t …
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Summertime is no fun when you are hungry
Two hours of administrative tasks for every hour with patients. A proliferation of non-physician administrators deciding how the day is going to run. Little in our training about how to cope with uncertainty and change. It’s no surprise that burnout rates are approaching 60 percent. Despite being so common, when we see a colleague struggling with physician burnout, we may not know what to say. Responding appropriately can bring someone …
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How to respond to physician burnout in a colleague
Your brain is a three-pound hunk of biological tissue. And though it’s nothing more than a conglomeration of specialized cells, it generates the taste of cheesecake, the ecstasy of enchantment, and the misery of suffering. Amazing, right? I certainly think so, though I find myself among a shrinking minority. Whereas the eyes of our medical forefathers were turned toward the heavens in search of answers to seemingly unknowable questions — …
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Toward the stars: On humility and pain in medicine
Once during my TV news days, I was feeling pretty good about myself during a three-hour drive to the Mayo Clinic. “I am so glad I don’t practice!” I crowed to my photographer. “Practicing physicians are so sad. They’ve lost their income, their autonomy, and the public’s respect.”
My photographer didn’t miss a beat. “Yeah,” he replied. “They sound just like you.”
By which he meant that as a journalist, I’d lost …
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The striking parallels between doctors and journalists
I see them every time I wait in the inescapably long lines at the grocery store. They’re offering me so much. Fat-melting foods that “work like gastric bypass.” Sleep masks that prevent breast cancer. One day diets. And, of course, the perennial “medical miracles.” All these revelations can be mine with a simple magazine purchase.
It’s easy to dismiss the medical advice being propagated through the supermarket checkout aisle. Who would …
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Doctors should fight fake health news at the checkout aisle
In my last year of training, I came to realize the difference between doctors who felt successful and those who didn’t. From the beginning, I had always been hard on myself. I always thought about the decisions I made for every patient in detail, played them over and over in my head, and wondered what I could have done differently for each one. Whether or not their outcome was satisfactory, …
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How to maintain a sense of accomplishment as a physician
Pain is not a vital sign. It cannot be measured objectively, nor does an extreme value portend crisis as in the case of pulse or blood pressure. The myopic focus on pain in recent decades has been misguided and deleterious, and the opioid crisis is the result. Now, like ostriches with our heads in the sand, we are again playing victims instead of wielding power when we allow customer satisfaction …
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The myopic focus on pain has been misguided
