Physician

Humanism in health care: How to address patient harm

Physician

December 12, 2023

I want to preface this story by stating that Sarah has given written authorization to share her story, allowing my colleague and me to transform a challenging experience into a valuable lesson in the inevitability of mistakes and the profound capacity for forgiveness and growth.

Ten years ago, I was approached by a distressed physician and colleague who had unintentionally harmed a patient during the course of an elective colon operation. …

America’s pain management nightmare: How the DEA shaped the opioid epidemic

L. Joseph Parker, MD

Physician

December 10, 2023

First, it’s essential to understand that your prosecution doesn’t define you as a person. Most likely, the DEA never bothered to speak with you before deciding to arrest and prosecute you. Even if they did, the decision to prosecute you had been made long before any conversation took place. Your prosecution is the result of a long and strategic process, one in which the very notions of truth and justice …

The middleman dilemma in health care

Anonymous

Physician

December 10, 2023

Imagine this scenario.

You’re negotiating the sale of your widget. Despite your earnest efforts, you hit a deadlock. The buyer, after consulting an expert on “fair market value” for widget prices, firmly states they won’t purchase your widget for $5.

In a new tactic, you turn away from the customer, shed your white coat, don a pair of Groucho Marx glasses, and pivot back.

“I’m the CEO of WidgetCorp. Ten bucks, take it …

Read more…

The middleman dilemma in health care

Why write? Physicians share their stories of healing through writing.

Kim Downey, PT

Physician

December 9, 2023

I’ve read countless articles, posts, blogs, and books over the past year and a half, written by physicians, and I’ve learned an incredible amount!

Every physician’s voice is special, distinct, and remarkable.

Why write? Write for yourself. Many articles, including at least one study by the American Psychological Association, speak to writing as being a powerful tool for stress relief and healing.

Some physicians write as part of a gratitude practice, some write …

A doctor struggles to provide mental health care in Appalachia

Ryan McCarthy, MD

Physician

December 8, 2023

As a West Virginia primary care doctor, I frequently—read: daily—find myself in uncomfortable situations. A few recent events, however, are out of the ordinary, even by the standards to which I am accustomed. Though unique to Martinsburg, WV, I expect similar themes in myriad offices across American health care. If your job resembles mine, I wonder if you feel as lost as I am, though I’m not sure where we …

Physicians are burned out. Could entrepreneurship be a cure?

Arun Mohan, MD, MBA

Physician

December 7, 2023

Recently, roughly 400 primary care and urgent care physicians at Allina Health System voted to unionize. In doing so, they became the largest group of unionized private-sector physicians in the country. Their decision is indicative of a hard reality of American health care–physicians are burned out.

Research shows from 2021 to 2022, 63 percent of surveyed physicians experienced at least one symptom of …

The dark role of science, medicine, and tasers

L. Joseph Parker, MD

Physician

December 7, 2023

The sciences and even medicine have long been used to justify atrocities. In the early 1800s, the United States of America was a slave nation. Citizens were allowed to purchase and imprison other races and hold them in bondage as property. This is different from indentured servitude, where someone is held in bondage until they pay off a debt. The indentured servant still has some rights and autonomy; the slave …

Beyond K-pop and kimchi: Unraveling the mental health tapestry of Korean Americans

Dae Sun Hwang, Thomas Pak, MD, and Joo-Young Lee, MD

Physician

December 7, 2023

Korean culture has been capturing the attention of a worldwide audience in large part thanks to success on multiple platforms, whether it be a binge-worthy TV show such as Squid Game, award-winning films like Parasite, or even world-class goals from the beloved Hotspurs team captain, Son Heung Min. Celebrating Korean culture jumps beyond the screen and into a pair of headphones thanks to the global fandom of K-pop or even …

Escape diagnostic rabbit holes with Markov chains

Anonymous

Physician

December 5, 2023

If you find yourself heading down a rabbit hole pursuing a diagnosis, consider using a Markov chain to get back out. No, it’s not a physical chain. It’s a metaphorical chain.

In mathematics, statistics, and research, a Markov chain is a series of branching events where the options of what comes next at each branch point are not limited by what happened at a previous branch point. That is, each step …

How medicine’s demanding training took my sleep away

Jennifer Lycette, MD

Physician

December 5, 2023

I, like many of my peers in medicine, am a terrible sleeper.

And it’s no wonder, after all. I spent the better part of my twenties and thirties training my brain not to give in to sleep when I needed it. Then, in the rare hours I did sleep, I was forced to wake at a moment’s notice and go from deep sleep to high alert. Sometimes, I was asked to …

Navigating physician shortages in rural communities

Stacy Wentworth, MD

Physician

December 5, 2023

In the rural area where I practice, two general surgeons recently retired, a medical oncologist moved out of the community, and two urologists left over a year ago. My patients with cancer are left wondering who will care for them. And this small community is not alone. An aging physician population, burnout, and understaffing of other health care workers all contribute to rising rates of physicians moving and leaving communities.

One …

Kintsugi: Embracing brokenness and empathy

Nessa Meshkaty, MD

Physician

December 4, 2023

In the Japanese tradition of kintsugi, broken things are repaired with gold joinery. The repaired object is even lovelier than the original. The breakage and repair become an acknowledged part of the object’s history. The scars and wounds are cherished rather than disguised. What a beautiful reminder to harness the powers of darkness and light that exist within us and the world.

In the book, Born for Love: Why Empathy …

Physicians turn feelings of frustration and powerlessness into purpose and hope

Kim Downey, PT

Physician

December 4, 2023

Every physician has a story to tell, about their medical training, about their clinical work. Every story is unique. Simultaneously, there are common shared themes about the joys and the difficulties. These experiences are universal, regardless of gender, specialty, or geographic location.

I asked two physicians, a female ER doctor on the East Coast in the U.S., and a male trauma-informed physician-coach in the U.K., to tell us how their experiences …

Tackling health care conflicts and stereotyping

Deepak Gupta, MD

Physician

December 2, 2023

Concerns about conflicts of interest and stereotyping differ in their complexity. Resolving stereotyping-related concerns is relatively straightforward. Stereotyping should be dismantled immediately, regardless of the reasons for its creation, before it continues to perpetuate unchecked. However, merely dissolving stereotyping might not be enough if one form of stereotyping is replaced by another. Therefore, the ongoing effort to combat stereotyping must continue. When aiming to dissolve any stereotyping and ensure it …

A physician’s cry in light of world events

Fareeha Khan, MD

Physician

November 30, 2023

I am not a pediatrician, and I am glad that I am not. There was a time in my life when becoming a pediatrician was a genuine career aspiration, but the universe clearly steered me away from it. After becoming a mother and receiving the title of a “NICU mom,” I could see how switching tracks was a blessing for my sanity. Those who continue to provide this noble service …

10 things to know about your doctor that will get you better care

Dawn Sears, MD & Kim Downey, PT

Physician

November 29, 2023

During a recent conversation with Dr. Dawn Sears, I mentioned that I was working on a presentation I wish to give locally, speaking on “How caring for your doctor gets you better care.”

Our discussion revealed some important insights all patients should be aware of, which we share here:

1. Let the pilot fly the plane. Passengers generally don’t walk onto an airplane and start complaining to the pilot about their seat …

Physician burnout reimagined

Claudia Finkelstein, MD

Physician

November 28, 2023

While preparing yet another talk about burnout, I had a brainstorm. I created a counterpoint PowerPoint (or tongue-in-cheek complementary model) to The Stanford Model of Professional Fulfillment. Perhaps it was a particularly irreverent or flippant stage of my own stuttering burnout. Maybe it was passive-aggressive pent-up frustration. Whatever it was, I came up with a “new and improved” model for physician burnout. I’ve gotten rather burned out on burnout. …

Read more…

Physician burnout reimagined

Government surveillance: How electronic prescription records are changing medicine

L. Joseph Parker, MD

Physician

November 28, 2023

Every time an American fills a prescription, a searchable electronic database record is made. This record is kept, like the paper records of a few decades ago, to allow for verification of medications dispensed in the U.S. But in the past, to access these records, enforcement agencies had to get a search warrant signed by a judge. This meant that the authorities had to have and show to the court …

Intensive caring: Reminding patients they matter

Harvey Max Chochinov, MD, PhD

Physician

November 28, 2023

Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement and palliative care, famously said, “You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life.” This quote has become the central philosophical tenet of palliative care. It implores us to remind patients, who may be feeling helpless, hopeless, or worthless, that they matter. There is abundant evidence that patients approaching death are susceptible to …

Empowering health care workers amid consolidation

Anonymous

Physician

November 27, 2023

If there is one root cause of all the disgruntlement among health care workers, it is that we lost autonomy due to hospital consolidation. Relationships are largely about leverage. With rare exceptions, a single doctor cannot dramatically impact the bottom line of a hospital chain, whereas the loss of your professional income—particularly for those of us geographically rooted in an area with few alternatives—is devastating.

The beauty of locums is that …

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