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Medical student Christopher Nmai discusses his article, “Leaving medicine is not a failure: It might be the change you always needed.” Christopher shares his deeply personal decision to forgo residency and explore …
Why more medical students are leaving medicine before residency [PODCAST]
Physicians, practices, and other health care providers seem to face a continual decline in reimbursements. According to an AMA analysis, inflation-adjusted Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians dropped 22 percent from 2001 to 2021, and insurers of Affordable Care Act plans denied 17 percent of in-network claims in 2021.
The gut reaction is often to increase growth, but that brings on problems of its own, like reduced profitability from increased overhead and …
4 strategies to boost your medical practice’s profitability
I’ve just returned from the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Conference in Michigan, an inspiring confluence of advocacy, research, and business, all focused on one shared mission: Improving the lives of those living with food allergies. I’ve been attending food allergy research forums around the world for over a decade, and I can honestly say the momentum and possibilities in this field have never been more exciting. We’re entering an …
What Avarie’s death in Rome teaches us about the gaps in food allergy education
Four rigorous years, filled with countless long days and nights of education, is often just the beginning for most medical trainees. The Match and subsequent residency await on the horizon. It is the norm in health care, and very few stray from that path. But medicine is a long and arduous path, one that can take its toll on trainees and physicians alike.
As I entered my final year …
Leaving medicine is not a failure: It might be the change you always needed
A personal discovery
“I used to have respiratory allergies back home, but since I moved to Málaga, they didn’t bother me anymore,” a patient answered to the usual question, “Do you have any allergies?” during a checkup in my occupational medicine practice. He was from India, and he had moved to Málaga two years before our talk. He was the fourth patient within a month telling me the same story (before …
How moving abroad eased my allergies
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Anesthesiologist Colleen Naglee discusses her article, “We should tip health care workers too.” Colleen reflects on the rise of tipping culture in everyday services and questions why health care workers—who risk violence, …
Why health care workers deserve more than a thank you [PODCAST]
Gone are the days when careers followed linear paths and job titles neatly fit into predefined boxes. Today’s health care industry celebrates versatility, and hybrid professionals are redefining what it means to succeed. A hybrid health care professional combines skills and expertise from different fields, blending knowledge to create unique value in the health care space. Whether you’re a nurse with coding skills, a doctor with a passion for data …
An excerpt from Dr. Koop: The Many Lives of the Surgeon General.
“I was the salesman for pediatric surgery. I have the knack of talking to an audience and convincing [them] about what I’m saying is true.”
– CEK
The early 1950s witnessed an extraordinary burst of professional activity on the part of the young surgeon, still in his 30s, as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) …
C. Everett Koop takes the lead, seeking specialty recognition
I was checking into a hotel the other day and noticed a QR code to tip the front desk staff. In an era where we book online, check in online, and check out online, I am not exactly sure where that tip request comes from. Tipping culture has crossed a line. We can now thank anyone in the service industry with an easy Venmo payment.
And now I …
We should tip health care workers too
The recent focus on the Canada-U.S. border has led to frequent confusion between human smuggling and human trafficking. Smuggling involves people moving across international borders. In most cases, irregular migrants who are smuggled into the country consent to assistance. Human trafficking, on the other hand, involves the exploitation of people for sex or labor through coercion, regardless of geographic movement.
Continued conflation of these terms will undoubtedly harm anti-human trafficking efforts …
Human trafficking isn’t what you think: Why education is key to stopping it
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Family nurse practitioner Bettina Reed discusses her article, “The hidden crisis in health care: How corporate greed is destroying patient care.” Drawing from four decades of experience across hospitals, private practices, FQHCs, …
Why health care is collapsing under corporate greed [PODCAST]
Every year, there are 85,000 medical malpractice lawsuits, of which 66.6 percent are frivolous. In the course of my endeavor to remedy frivolous medical malpractice claims, I introduce myself to 50 of the nation’s most prestigious medical malpractice law firms, both plaintiff and defense firms. I make it known that I have developed a risk management process. I make contact to explore the possibility of collaborating with them in some …
The shocking silence of top law firms on frivolous medical lawsuits
She arrives at the emergency room, her body limp, her breath shallow. The gurney rushes through the glass doors, past her family, who stand frozen in place, their eyes wide with fear. Her teenage daughter grips her little brother’s hand, whispering, “Mom’s going to be OK, right?”
Inside, the team springs into action.
“No pulse.”
“No spontaneous breathing.”
“Start compressions!”
Flatline: Our nation is dying, and we’re ignoring the signs
What if the cost of being a “good doctor” didn’t have to be your well-being?
For many physicians—especially those drawn to lifestyle medicine and whole-person care—this question feels quietly radical.
We’ve been conditioned to give until we’re empty. To serve at the expense of our sleep, our health, and sometimes even our sense of self.
We were taught to sacrifice.
To stay …
What if we stopped sacrificing ourselves to practice medicine?
Social media is an incredible tool for staying connected with loved ones and the world. But sometimes, I wonder, are we truly connected? Or is this connection merely an illusion?
I was addicted to social media. I believe this addiction began in 2012, during my first year of medical school. That’s when I asked my father to install an internet connection, claiming it was just for study purposes. It’s a common …
How I escaped the toxic grip of social media
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Psychiatrist Muhamad Aly Rifai discusses his article, “The future of psychiatry: How AI and genetics are reshaping mental health care.” Muhamad explores how the integration of genetic research, biomarkers, electrophysiology, and artificial …
How AI and genetics are revolutionizing psychiatric diagnosis and treatment [PODCAST]
Walking through the expo floor at yet another health care technology conference, I couldn’t help but feel like I was in some weird mix between a tech convention and a futuristic farmers’ market. Stalls displayed shiny new AI technologies that promised to revolutionize health care—in theory, at least. But somewhere between the AI-powered ambient scribes and smart scheduling systems, I started to wonder where we’re actually headed.
Maybe it’s …
Doctors don’t need yoga, they need time to smoke
The first time I witnessed someone die in front of me will stay with me for a long time. I was only eighteen, early in my EMT experience, and transporting a patient home from the hospital while my colleague drove the ambulance. The patient was an eighty-seven-year-old man, and although I do not remember the exact diagnosis, I knew he was on hospice, nonverbal, and expected to pass soon. He …
The emotional weight of witnessing a patient’s final moments
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Physician executive Tim Wetherill discusses his article, “Why AI is the perfect neutral arbiter for health care claims.” Tim explores how deeply embedded incentives, inefficiencies, and subjectivity in the current claims adjudication …
How AI can eliminate bias and inefficiency in health care billing [PODCAST]
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) often develops unnoticed, gradually impairing kidney function. Approximately 950 million people worldwide are affected by CKD, and it is now the 9th leading cause of death, projected to become the 5th leading cause in the near future.
For years, I was unaware of the severe health battle brewing beneath the surface—until a routine pregnancy scan in 2015, at the age …
How early CKD diagnosis can save lives: a transplant survivor’s journey
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