In the market for a locum tenens position? If you search online “How to book a locum assignment?” you’ll likely find vague advice such as “Develop a relationship with a recruiter.” Or “Do your homework when choosing an agency.” Thanks, Internet …
Having worked as a locum tenens recruiter for over 15 years, I have seen consistent trends in how the best clinicians are able to stand out and book jobs. …
8 secrets to landing a locum tenens job
I have now been out of the active medicine for two years. I still have dreams about being a doctor and practice. I don’t think you can do the same thing day in and day out for 40 years and not have it be a part of who you are. I am still asked my opinion by friends and family about their health issues, and frankly, I find my fund …
What life is like for this retired physician
The average amount of time it takes someone to become a physician is approximately 11 years, and for those pursuing further specialization, one can easily add a couple of years to that. The time certainly adds up by investing years in college, medical school, residency, and fellowship. By the time I will be an independently practicing cardiologist, I would have invested about 16 years into my training. That’s almost half …
Your physician is the everyday champion
Should newspapers sell advertising space to those who propagate misleading or demonstrably false information about scientific issues? Is the paper’s desire to earn “a little extra cash for depleted print coffers,” as the New York Times’ public editor put it, a good enough justification for doing so?
These are questions raised by the recent decisions by the Times and the Washington Post to publish in their print editions full-page, paid advertisements filled …
Are newspapers willing to mislead the public, for a price?
A few weeks after I started residency, two of my peers killed themselves in New York City. No one I knew was surprised.
Intern year is hell, and everybody knows it from TV shows like “Scrubs” and books like “House of God.” Old doctors tell tall tales of working a million hours without sleep before training standards got “soft,” limiting residents’ monthly work hours to 320 and requiring four days off. …
Stressed and sad as a medical intern? You’re not alone
One stunning afternoon I walked into a patient’s room to discuss our plan, informing her that the nurse would come to draw blood.
“You can draw my blood, Miss,” said the male family member sitting in a corner of the room, as far from the patient as possible, his legs crossed, smirking, “We can go into the next room and lock the door.”
His smug grin brought back memories of older men …
Please call me doctor: In defense of feminist medicine
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., and opioids account for over 60 percent of those deaths. While opioids are effective pain medications when used in the proper setting, concerns arise when the patient’s condition lasts longer than three months, and prescribing more medication does not necessarily result in better pain control.
Building a strong doctor-patient rapport can help facilitate conversations with patients …
Prescribing opioids safely: How to have difficult patient conversations
The opioid epidemic has been declared loud and clear in the media over the past several years. Doctors have been demonized, and patients have been stereotyped. The statistics are alarming. However, I have yet to see anything published that focuses on the patient who lives with chronic pain. There is very little understanding for these individuals.
Let me be more specific. Society reacts empathetically towards the person who has pain related …
Where is the patient in the discussion of the opioid epidemic?
Watching events unfold at United Airlines over the last few days have filled me with shock, awe, and horror. As a result of this public relations disaster, their motto “flying the friendly skies” has turned into “not enough seating, prepare for a beating.” America stands as a beacon of freedom from oppression. United Airlines was an iconic American company until last Sunday, with a responsibility to uphold the intent of …
United Airlines should do more than apologize profusely #BoycottUnited
I took my dog to the vet today. You’d think this would be a straightforward sort of thing for a medical professional. You’d be wrong.
When I woke my dog up at 5:15 a.m. (my new daily start time, as it’s apparently the only way I can find time to do board questions and is also the excuse I use when I miss the majority of said questions), he seemed sleepy.
He’s …
I sometimes need to be reminded I’m not just a doctor, I’m human too
“Do you have sex with men, women or both?”
This is the way that we were taught in medical school to ask a patient about their sexual history. When we took our sample standardized patient exams, we were scored whether or not we asked this question. In my understanding, this was supposed to be a non-judgmental, non-assuming way to elicit a sexual history.
However, romantic partners generally come before sex (unless we …
Please stop asking about my wife
“For someone with your breast size, the risk of a complication is pretty high. I would recommend against the surgery.”
I smiled at the 50-year-old woman who sat in front of me wearing a pink, paper gown and a crestfallen look. She had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and was planning on undergoing a mastectomy as part of her cancer treatment. Her breast surgeon had referred her to me to discuss …
Why doctors have a hard time talking about obesity
A keynote address to Gold Humanism Honor Society Induction Ceremony, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.
As an intern, I was assigned to 9 weeks over the year on the bone marrow transplant inpatient unit. It was medically fascinating but emotionally draining and anxiety provoking. I began to get nauseated going to work because I was having such a hard time with the rotation. As I sank deeper …
Physicians can choose to nurture their human side
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This happened in my first couple years of practice, but I will never forget her.
I stood at the doorway of the funeral home, a 26-year-old mother lying in the open casket was off to the side. Standing out among the crowd of mourners was a tall man holding his one-year-old daughter, her curly locks of hair bouncing as he moved.
Soon after they were married, she became pregnant. They were a …
I failed my patient, and it’s a burden I’ll carry with me
Everyone has their abscess story. Tales of pressurized pockets of pus abound. Trust me: However far-fetched they may seem, they’re not. I had one such experience last week in which a man came to me with a painful red swollen lump on his back. It was about 2 inches in diameter, angry and fluctuant (softened) and ready to be drained, which he pleaded with me to do. So I did.
Although …
Never underestimate the power of pus
From time to time, friends, patients, and relatives ask my advice on participating in a medical experiment. My response has been no. More accurately, once I explain to them the realities of research, they don’t need to be persuaded. They back away.
Here’s the key point. When an individual volunteers to join a research project, the medical study is not designed to benefit the individual patient. This point is sorely misunderstood …
Before you join a clinical trial: Read this first
A few years ago, my colleagues and I started a non-profit called Women in Anesthesiology. I started medical school late and had two children in residency (earning the delightful label of elderly primigravida or, if you prefer, geriatric pregnancy). My co-resident and I noticed few women in our department, and even fewer in leadership. We charged forward, starting a local, then national group. At the same time, a separate Facebook …
Maybe it’s time for physicians to lean out
At first, you’ll question reality. You will hear your own words, but they’ll sound foreign — apart from you. The ground will still reassuringly push back against your toes when you walk out of the room, but you will wonder if they are your feet. Like in a movie, you will negotiate the world convincingly. Yet, you are an actor playing a part. It is not the real you.
Be assured …
What do you feel when someone dies?
My entire childhood I wanted to become a doctor. When asked by adults what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was always the same answer. Never did I consider being a fireman or policeman or professional athlete. It was always the same answer: doctor. You see, my father was a small-town, general practice doctor who was somewhat of a legend in town because of his unfailing dedication …
Medicine comes in second for me
“Help!” I yelled out of our open apartment door.
I was seven years old, and my family had recently emigrated from Egypt to the U.S. We’d been feeling elated that week because, after months of interviews, my father had matched into a pediatric residency.
That morning, he’d awoke feeling nauseated. My mother and sister went to buy some soothing food. I noticed that he’d vomited in the bathroom; now he was feeling …
My prayers and my medical practice
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