Physician

From doctor to worried family member: a call for more humanized care in the ICU

Physician

March 5, 2023

Recently I had the unfortunate experience of changing my perspective from being a doctor to becoming a worried family member.

My father spent five weeks in a hospital with a severe infection. Visiting hours were restricted to one hour per day – the aftermath of COVID – and getting information about his therapy, prognosis, etc., was nearly impossible.

Thankfully, my father recovered and was discharged. He was more than happy to go …

From cancer survivor to thriving mind: a journey to true healing and purpose

Samone Zarabi, MD

Physician

March 5, 2023

“I own the world!” was my exact thought when my doctors entered my bone-marrow transplant unit and said I was cancer-free! That joyous moment lasted a few seconds because they immediately declared, “Be careful, you have a 30 percent chance of recurrence from the same cancer and X percent chance of XYZ …”

I don’t remember the entire conversation as I stopped listening. My body became numb, and I was pushed …

Why physician-led health care leads to quality patient care

Peter Angood, MD

Physician

March 4, 2023

Excerpted from Physician Leadership: More Valuable Than Ever — A White Paper from the American Association for Physician Leadership.

Physician leadership is an essential element required to provide optimal patient-centered care. To succeed, health care must be quality-centered, safe, streamlined, measured, evidence-based, value-driven, innovative, fair, equitable, and physician-led.

The American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL) is focused on the personal transformation of all physicians, and through them, the organizations they serve. …

Don’t hold your breath: Non-competes are unlikely to disappear for physicians

Aaron Morgenstein, MD

Physician

March 3, 2023

Physician non-compete clauses have been a controversial topic for many years. These clauses within contractual agreements prevent physicians from joining or operating a competing practice within a certain distance or timeframe. With the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) looking into non-compete clauses, many people have wondered whether the FTC will finally end physician non-compete clauses.

On January 5, 2023, the FTC proposed a new rule that would ban employers from imposing …

The power of a simple form: a doctor’s experiment in building trust with patients

Anonymous

Physician

March 3, 2023

While we appreciate the importance of trust, not all patients have the same windows of opportunity to establish it with their physicians. The nature of each specialty and the severity of the patient’s condition influence how quickly and deeply trust can be created and maintained. The STEMI patient will quickly learn to trust the interventional cardiologist, and the trauma victim, and the surgeon.

Not surprisingly, it’s very challenging for physicians …

Patients vs. customers: the ethics of health care as a business

Jean Paul Brutus, MD

Physician

March 3, 2023

Medicine is both a business and a profession, with the business aspect being the provision of health care services for a fee and the professional aspect being the delivery of medical care for the patient’s benefit.

The business of medicine refers to the broader economic and political systems that shape the health care industry, such as government policies, insurance regulations, and the influence of pharmaceutical companies and other industry stakeholders.

The terms …

The hidden consequences of portal message fees

Eddie Fatakhov, MD, MBA

Physician

March 3, 2023

As the health care industry continues to evolve, many practices and hospitals have turned to electronic portals to communicate between patients and their providers. However, some practices have begun charging patients a fee for responding to messages sent through these portals. While this may seem like a viable solution for increasing revenue, it could ultimately have negative implications for the care of patients.

One major issue with charging patients for portal …

From patient-centered care to paperwork-centered practice: the decline of primary care

Leslie Saltzman, MD

Physician

March 2, 2023

A lot has been written about physician burnout, often it is attributed to the administrative burden, with some estimates that U.S. physicians spend an average of 1.84 hours a day completing documentation outside work hours. I’ve felt for some time that the administrative burden in primary care is increasing, but not due to the commonly cited endless EHR clicks or the burden of insurance companies’ forms and prior authorizations. It’s …

Celebrate Banana Cream Pie Day with your friendly hospitalist

Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD & Shreekant Vasudhev, MD

Physician

March 2, 2023

I am smart, I swear.

I graduated near the top of my class in medical school, I swear.

I kicked butt on the Step exams, I swear.

But ask me to manage someone’s diabetes or hypertension; No, thank you!

Thank God for hospitalists, a set of remarkable physicians that allow me to do my job effectively. Without them, I would be lost. Would you really want me, an orthopedic surgeon, to manage complex medical …

Retiring from medicine: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Janet Tamaren, MD

Physician

March 1, 2023

I retired as a physician at age 70, when COVID-19 came to town and the clinic I was working closed. During these past three years, I have had the luxury of a long view of my career. Every now and then, I feel the urge to pick up my stethoscope again and return to the practice of medicine. I’m tempted by the several good aspects of being a doctor.

The good

The conversations …

Good doctors vs. bad hospitals: the battle for patient care

Ron Virmani, MD

Physician

February 28, 2023

The public and the politicians may be missing the boat when they do not question the role of hospitals in the present health care debate. The hospitals have hung themselves out to be the “good guys” who hire and keep good doctors and promote the practice of good medicine. They portray themselves as the pillars of communities.

But in 1999, the Institute of Medicine reported that 98,000 deaths occurred in hospitals …

The physician-patient connection: Ensuring mutual understanding

Adam Bitterman, DO

Physician

February 28, 2023

Do patients truly understand?

The question is not meant to be rhetorical. I have many conversations throughout the day with patients across all socioeconomic backgrounds and with varying levels of education.

The discussions include details surrounding their disease-specific particulars, treatment options, and surgical protocols. Patients digest my thoughts and then respond with specific questions of their own. They ask for instructions as well as the nuances of the healing process.

I confess that …

The power of personal stories in vaccination awareness

Alexander Rakowsky, MD

Physician

February 27, 2023

“How was your Thanksgiving?”

This may seem like an odd question to ask at the end of January, but I had not seen Ahmed (not real name) and his mother since his last infant well visit in late October. This family moved to central Ohio about two years ago, escaping the ravages of living in a country that has seen a civil war for the better of 20 years. Ahmed’s mom …

The comfort of colleagues: a story of love and loss in palliative care

Eve Makoff, MD

Physician

February 27, 2023

“I just can’t. I can’t,” Wendy sobbed into my hair. We barely made it out the door when our bodies collapsed together, puddles holding puddles. The children, 5 and 7, had just left with their tiny grey backpacks, tiny soldiers off to the abyss. Pastel crayon drawings taped to every pale pink wall: “Mom! Get well soon!” But she wouldn’t. Rainbows and stick figures clung to the white paper on …

The pebble versus the rock: a case for mental health reform

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Physician

February 26, 2023

What would you expect to see if you threw a pebble in a pond? You would likely see a ripple in the water, extending wider than the diameter of the pebble. Seeing a pebble drop into a pond and create ripples is always mesmerizing. It’s amazing to observe the concentric circles slowly expanding outwards from the point of impact. It’s a fascinating example of how energy can travel through water, …

Combining academic medicine and private practice: a success story

Francisco M. Torres, MD

Physician

February 26, 2023

In the United States, physicians are typically categorized as either academics or private practitioners. However, a case can be made that it is possible to construct a career path that incorporates both professional avenues. I was put in an excellent position to realize this during my fellowship at LSU, which structured some parts of its community medicine program in a way that resembled private practice.

I enjoyed my experience as a …

Why your intuition is key to better physical and emotional health

Jennifer Shaer, MD

Physician

February 26, 2023

In residency, we are trained to follow our intuition. In pediatrics, this translates into learning how to recognize a sick kid. Of course, we are taught what to look for on the physical exam and the labs and what protocols to follow, but we are also taught how to listen to our instincts. When our gut tells us we have a sick kid, we don’t overthink; we set into action. …

Breaking free from corporate medicine: one doctor’s quest for ethical care

Wendy Dean, MD and Simon G. Talbot, MD

Physician

February 25, 2023

An excerpt from If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It’s So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First.

In late March 2021, during a lull between the third and fourth waves of the coronavirus pandemic, I drove to the small town three hours west of the …

The power of listening: a poem from a chronic pain patient to their doctor

Aaron Morgenstein, MD

Physician

February 25, 2023

Per the CDC, 11 to 40 percent of Americans struggle with chronic pain. All physicians must treat patients with chronic pain, whether they are spine surgeons or primary care physicians. It is a disease we can not escape.

We do not have a one-time pill to fix chronic pain.

Unlike other diseases, we do not necessarily have a cure for chronic pain. In medical school and residency, we are provided with …

Does ageism lurk behind mandatory retirement for physicians?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

February 25, 2023

Several years ago, a good friend and colleague – the chairman of a psychiatry department – notified people about his retirement in a department newsletter. He wrote, “I sent out a letter to the alumni and adjunct faculty that I will retire on June 30 [2021]. I had decided five years ago that when I reached a certain age, I was going to retire. Such decisions have multiple determinants and …

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