The role of operations research in health care crisis management

Conditions
January 1, 2026

At the height of the COVID-19 surge, many hospital leaders faced moments they will never forget. Beds were nearly full. Staff were exhausted. Supplies that once felt routine suddenly became scarce. In those moments, decisions had to be made quickly, often based on experience, instinct, and whatever information was available at the time.

We like to believe that good leadership means trusting our gut. In clinical medicine, intuition matters. Years of …

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Personalized scientific communication: the patient experience

Physician
January 1, 2026

For decades, medicine has spoken the language of hazard ratios, Kaplan-Meier curves, and median survival differences. We have become fluent in the grammar of precision oncology, genomic signatures, driver mutations, targeted therapeutics, and real-time disease monitoring. But there is one language we have not yet mastered: the language of the patient’s lived experience.

Personalized medicine cannot stop at matching the right drug to the right tumor. It must also include personalized …

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From law to medicine: Witnessing trauma on the Pacific Coast Highway

Physician
January 1, 2026

An excerpt from Wipe Out, Rise Up: A Surf Session In Being a Leader, Pushing Past Limits, and Sustaining Health. Copyright © 2024 Scott Ellner. Published by BrightRay Publishing. All rights reserved.

Growing up in Southern California, I was well-acquainted with the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Cold water from Alaska flowed down the coast, meeting the warm, sunny climate of Los Angeles, roasted by the heat of the Santa …

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Why doctors struggle with treating friends and family

Physician
January 1, 2026

Early in medical school, a professor warned us: “Never prescribe for someone who isn’t your patient.” He shared a story of writing a simple antibiotic for a friend who later developed Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a devastating outcome that haunted him long after. His message was clear: There is a bright line between caring and causing harm.

Fifteen years out, we now understand just how blurry that line really is.

“First, do no harm” …

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The emotional toll of leaving patients behind

Conditions
January 1, 2026

This is not a detailed story like the ones I usually write. It’s just a little breeze of warmth that touched my soul and heart, and I wanted to share it with you.

I had been so overwhelmed over the past weeks, taking care of so many patients for months and staying in a place where there was no one to listen to me. In fact, I was the only listener …

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Peripheral artery disease prevention: Saving limbs and lives

Conditions
January 1, 2026

With the holiday season upon us, joy, warmth, and delicious food fill our homes. While we enjoy those festival meals, our own “life-highway” vessels quietly shoulder the burden of all the fats and sugars we consume. Alongside the happiness of the season comes an overlooked strain on our arteries. What strikes me even more, as a vascular specialist, is a recent study from the University Hospital at Downstate in …

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Artificial intelligence ends the dangerous cycle of delayed patient care [PODCAST]

Podcast
December 31, 2025
YouTube video

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Orthopedic surgeon Kevin J. Campbell discusses his article “Health care is having its Yahoo moment.” Kevin explains how the current medical system is stuck in an obsolete pipeline model similar to early …

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A simple nocturia management technique for seniors

Physician
December 31, 2025

As a 93-year-old physician, I am well acquainted with the ravages of aging and the continuous adaptations we all must make to accommodate its increasing demands. One area that is particularly troublesome is nocturia with repeated, late-night calls to the toilet. This is not only an issue of disturbed sleep, but also of safety. Nocturia involves leaving my bed, turning on a light, and making my way to the bathroom, …

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Lessons on leadership from a Navy surgeon and NFL doctor

Physician
December 31, 2025

In a valuable episode of the Wealth Planning for the Modern Physician podcast, host David Mandell, JD, MBA, spoke with Dr. Matthew Provencher, an orthopedic surgeon, Navy veteran, former team physician for the New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox, and current partner at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado. Dr. Provencher’s story spans small-town roots, elite military service, academic medicine, professional sports, and entrepreneurial ventures. His journey offers physicians …

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A clinician’s guide to embryo grading in IVF

Conditions
December 31, 2025

In the fast-paced world of reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI), even seasoned clinicians from other specialties can find themselves lost in the weeds of embryo reports. While most of us recall the basics of mitosis and meiosis from medical school, the clinical nuances of embryo morphology and grading are often not taught until fellowship.

Understanding these metrics is essential for informed decision-making. Whether you are an OB/GYN managing patient expectations or …

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Why women’s symptoms are dismissed in medicine

Conditions
December 31, 2025

I walked out of my physician’s office steady and clear in my decision to transfer my care. I didn’t accuse her of anything. I didn’t raise my voice. I simply informed her that I would be transitioning to another clinician within the same concierge program.

She immediately assumed I was leaving for financial reasons and suggested physicians to see outside the system. When I clarified that her administrator had already approved …

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Sjogren’s, fibromyalgia, and the weight of invisible illness

Physician
December 31, 2025

Some illnesses do not storm the body to the brink of death. They don’t show up in emergency rooms or leave dramatic scans behind. Yet they quietly hollow a life from the inside, stealing ease, stealing spontaneity, turning ordinary days into endurance tests. Autoimmune disease and chronic pain often live in that space: not terminal, but relentless; not fatal, yet capable of dimming the world so deeply that survival becomes …

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When racism findings challenge institutional narratives

Physician
December 31, 2025

In the annals of social science, few imperatives are more solemnly intoned than the necessity of measuring racism with the cold precision that only quantification can provide. Only when bias is reduced to p-values and effect sizes may one confidently proclaim, “Behold, the incontrovertible evidence of racism,” secure in the knowledge that no reasonable interlocutor can wriggle free on the strength of anecdote or wounded sentiment. Yet such measurements, to …

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Early detection fails when screening guidelines ignore young women [PODCAST]

Podcast
December 30, 2025
YouTube video

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Psychotherapist and patient advocate Sara Rands discusses her article “Early-onset breast cancer: a survivor’s story.” Sara shares her harrowing journey of finding a lump at age 32 despite having no family history …

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Student loan cuts for health professionals

Policy
December 30, 2025

I want to make something clear from the very beginning, because this point often gets lost when taking this perspective on this topic.

Nurses, physician assistants, occupational therapists, physical therapists, medical assistants, and every allied-health professional are indispensable to our health care system. They are professionals whose expertise saves lives, keeps clinics running, and provides the continuity of care that physicians alone cannot sustain. Their work is rigorous, their training is …

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GLP-1 psychological side effects: a psychiatrist’s view

Conditions
December 30, 2025

As a physician-psychiatrist, I have watched the rise of GLP-1 medications (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound) with genuine admiration. They are transforming metabolic health, reducing cardiovascular risk, and offering hope to patients who have struggled for decades. For many, these medications are lifesaving.

But alongside the excitement, I’m witnessing something rarely discussed: a change in personality and affect, especially at higher doses.

This pattern reminds me of the early days of SSRIs. When …

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Why lab monkey escapes demand transparency

Policy
December 30, 2025

A laboratory transport truck crashed in Mississippi last month resulting in eight monkeys escaping, seven of whom were shot and killed after surviving the initial crash. Tragedies like this happen too often. Over the past two decades, there have been more than 15 publicly reported lab monkey escapes, both during transportation and directly from labs, including from the California, Southwest, and Oregon National Primate Research …

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Emotional awareness and expression therapy explained

Conditions
December 30, 2025

Most people assume that pain and illness are caused only by injury or disease. If your back hurts, it must be damaged; abdominal pain must come only from inflammation, infection, or tumor. Most physicians learn this in medical school, as I did. But treatment based on this assumption often fails to provide relief for persistent pain, leaving millions of patients and countless well-intentioned physicians frustrated and in despair. The result …

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Tangible support saves health care workers from systemic collapse [PODCAST]

Podcast
December 29, 2025
YouTube video

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CEO, president, and founder of the Clinician Burnout Foundation Jodie Green and physician advocate and physical therapist Kim Downey discuss their article “Why wellness programs fail health care.” Jodie and Kim explain …

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