Physician

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.

Who will be delivering babies in the United States in coming years?

Valerie A. Jones, MD

Physician

April 10, 2017

The American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) estimates that the U.S. will have between 6,000 and 8,800 fewer OB/GYNs than needed by the year 2020. Additionally, there is a possible shortage of 22,000 by the year 2050.

What is being done about this problem? Well, there are currently efforts to attempt to increase the number of residency positions. There is also talk of having nurse midwives take a greater role. While those are valid …

Our responsibility to refugee children

Lacey Castellano, MD

Physician

April 9, 2017

I am a pediatric resident working, like many residents, in a clinic that sees many of the most vulnerable children in our area. We see many refugees and immigrants coming through our clinic, including many from the countries named in President Trump’s immigration ban.

These refugee children often suffer from afflictions we rarely see amongst our usual patient population: severe vitamin and nutritional deficiencies, intestinal parasites, malaria. They are often thin …

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Our responsibility to refugee children

Fighting burnout: No is the wrong answer. It is not acceptable.

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

Physician

April 9, 2017

Down in Baltimore for a meeting, long days full of plenary sessions and workshops, awards ceremonies and poster sessions. Recycled hotel air, bad coffee, great camaraderie.

Lots of new ideas, lots of new ways of looking at things, lots of reinventing the wheel, lots of hope for change. Lots of sessions about how to improve the environment for learners, how to engage medical students, how to build a curriculum, how to …

This physician fights burnout by having a binder of successes

Erin Barnes, MD

Physician

April 9, 2017

The hold music on the telephone cut off abruptly as the doctor I was trying to reach picked up the line. “Yes?” she said curtly.

“Hi, this is Erin Barnes,” I said. “I’m calling from Temple University Hospital in regard to one of your patients. She was admitted last week with anemia. We were initially concerned …

This is what every medical practice should have

David J. Norris, MD, MBA

Physician

April 8, 2017

An excerpt from The Financially Intelligent Physician: What They Didn’t Teach You in Medical School.

Every practice should have a dashboard of financial and performance metrics that the physician leader studies on a regular basis. A good dashboard should …

I once made a promise to a young boy with half a heart. I could not keep it.

Eugene Gu, MD

Physician

April 7, 2017

“Am I going to die?”

There was a mixture of fear and pain in my patient’s eyes. He was a second grader but had already survived three major heart surgeries. Now he had pneumonia and was struggling to breathe. We were about to intubate him.

“You’re a strong guy,” I whispered to him as his mother held his hand and sobbed. “We’ll get you through this.”

He died two days later.

I drove home …

What do you do when you know someone is going to die?

Jeremy Topin, MD

Physician

April 7, 2017

What do you do when you know someone is going to die? I’m not talking about death when it comes at the end of a long protracted illness or a terminal diagnosis. Or the final act at the end of a “good” life, when the body and mind have ultimately given way. I’m talking about when you realize the twenty-five-year-old woman in front of you, who you met five minutes ago, …

Have doctors become desensitized to gruesome realities?

Zahir Basrai, MD

Physician

April 7, 2017

So it’s a Wednesday night, and I just got home after completing a shift. I’m beat. My beautiful sofa beckons to me, and my TV seduces me with brainless images and sound. I succumb to the temptation. I turn on Netflix. Too many movies, too many decisions. Screw this; I didn’t just finish up a shift to have to sit and make more decisions. I go to the suggested for …

We’re not just doctors, we’re ambassadors of science

Ryan Steele, DO

Physician

April 7, 2017

The next time your patient walks into the exam room try starting off your visit a little differently. Instead of asking them how their weekend was, why not ask them, “Out of curiosity do you know any scientists?” No matter the answer, that visit is likely to be a standout memory in both of your days.

At a time when scientific debate, and rational thought, all too often falls silent to …

3 hidden rewards of practicing oncology in a small community

Jennifer Lycette, MD

Physician

April 6, 2017

There is a shortage of rural physicians in the U.S. My specialty, medical oncology, is but one of many specialties where the shortage is especially glaring. In oncology, I think there is perhaps a fear of practicing outside the walls of a large tertiary center and leaving behind the established framework and boundaries between the doctor and patient. I know it was a …

Can physicians be introverts? A introverted physician speaks her mind.

Aparna Iyer, MD

Physician

April 6, 2017

I’ve known since I was very young that I just experienced life differently than did my extroverted family members and friends. During parties, they seemed to truly enjoy the loudness and chaos of get togethers and the seemingly endless small talk, while I would secretly yearn to return home so that I could read my latest novel in peace. An older family member once told me that I would eventually …

5 ways physicians suffer by complaining

Maiysha Clairborne, MD

Physician

April 5, 2017

There’s a saying: “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.” However, some people thrive by complaining. These people, when presented with potential solutions to the problem, argue and invalidate all possibilities presented. Sounds familiar? Being a physician advocate in the battle to lower physician burnout and prevent suicide in doctors, I am disheartened to see this phenomenon in our community. While there are frontline physicians — even physician leaders — …

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5 ways physicians suffer by complaining

Will we solve health care by blaming doctors?

Thomas D. Guastavino, MD

Physician

April 5, 2017

I started my career in the late 1980s and retired just recently. I am very grateful that I caught at least a few years of the “golden age” of medicine because those years made all the difference.

Over my career, I witnessed many different efforts at health care reform proposed, attempted and failed. DRGs, Hillarycare, private insurance capitation, “To Err is Human,” Medicare fraud crackdowns, Global and Bundled payments, general reimbursement …

We want a federal budget where the trade-offs support life, not death

Edward C. Halperin, MD

Physician

April 5, 2017

When I entered college, I took a course in introductory economics. Human wants are unlimited, I learned, but resources are limited. Therefore, we have to make choices about what we spend money on. That, I was told, was what economics was all about — how we make choices and allocate resources.

My economics textbook illustrated the point by quoting from Nazi Germany’s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels who said: “We can do …

The metric, the dialectic, and the chart electric

Kjell Benson, MD

Physician

April 4, 2017

“There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.”
– Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History

It is 1940, and the Nazi horror is bearing down on Europe. France has fallen, and refugees are streaming out, fleeing to safety through neutral states and America. Walter Benjamin, a Jew, and a German philosopher, joins a small group being guided through southern Spain with …

It’s OK for physicians to say they’re struggling

Kip Wenger, DO

Physician

April 4, 2017

Physicians are trained to assess and care for patients who walk through their hospital or clinic doors. Few of us are prepared to watch for signs that one of our colleagues may need help.

That changed for me with one trauma case. I came into the emergency department as the patient arrived — a 33-year-old female with multiple, self-inflicted stab wounds. I walked around the corner to the trauma bay and …

Think we evolved to eat meat? Think again.

Shivam Joshi, MD

Physician

April 4, 2017

Eating meat has been linked to cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia and many other diseases. Nearly every modern lifestyle disease has been associated with meat. With so much emerging evidence against meat, it begs the question: Did we …

8 things doctors secretly want to tell their patients

Brian C. Joondeph, MD

Physician

April 4, 2017

As the repeal of Obamacare is debated in the halls of Congress and on cable TV, one common theme is: “What will happen to patients?” Questions loom about what might change with coverage, about cost, about whether you’ll still be able to keep your doctor, and if medications will still be covered

But what about doctors? What about how they’re doing?

There are things doctors want to tell their patients, not only about …

A call for compassion: Treat residents like how we treat patients

Michelle Hofmeister, MD

Physician

April 3, 2017

The alarm on my phone screeches, jolting me awake to another day of hating my patients and my work. I try to get up to get ready for clinic, but my body is nailed to the bed. I cannot even lift my head without a dizzying blur knocking me back down. I am a resident physician with depression and anxiety. I was in a top ten residency in my field. …

Do dog walkers make more money than doctors?

Pamela Wible, MD

Physician

April 3, 2017

I recently reported on a doctor-turned-dog-walker who says with her career switch she’ll enjoy more happiness — and income! In her own words:

Dear Pamela, Today I realized that if I become a dog walker and charge $25/hour and walk five dogs per day, I would make my equivalent salary with fewer hassles. I’m seriously considering this as a career move. I could …

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Do dog walkers make more money than doctors?

Physician

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