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Join emergency physician Maureen Gibbons as they explore the concept of rethinking shift work in health care. They discuss how distributing shifts among multiple physicians can reduce burnout, enhance job satisfaction, and improve …
Redesigning shift work to improve patient care and well-being [PODCAST]
Of note, today, of all days, when the Supreme Court of the United States is to consider state bans on treatments for gender-affirming care of transsexual youths, virtually every internet site on the subject is blocked.
Nevertheless, I am a medical student in 1967. I do not need the internet; I lived through the beginning of gender-affirming care. My memory is clear.
I am reminded of the story of Dr. John Money, …
Gender affirming care: a matter for the Supreme Court or a matter for a medical malpractice court?
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir.
We work in high-pressure environments, where Dr. Death is often lurking. We can be superstitious. We can protect ourselves with a sense of humor. We can use words as a smokescreen to protect our sanity. See below.
I was a resident working in the NICU. The shifts were long—sometimes as long as thirty hours in …
The power of names: Superstition in the neonatal intensive care unit
In order to develop good speech and conversation skills, a child must pay attention to the speaker and respond back when spoken to. The importance of sustained attention, listening to, and focusing on another person by the young child is often overlooked and not recognized by parents and therapists alike. Many children with a speech delay and those with suspected autism show decreased attention along with their speech delay. Many …
How attention therapy transforms speech delay in young children
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We dive into the critical yet often overlooked topic of wealth-building for physicians. Guest Amir Baluch, an anesthesiologist and financial expert, shares actionable strategies for diversifying investments, creating passive income streams, and leveraging …
How physicians can turn their income into long-term wealth [PODCAST]
More than any other discipline of medicine, the specialty of pathology has an image problem. This is ironic for a field whose basic premise centers around images. This is also most unfortunate for medicine at large, as pathology constitutes a highly important component of modern medical care. It is estimated that 70 percent to 80 percent of all medical decisions are based either totally or partially on pathologic and/or laboratory-produced …
Dispelling misconceptions and myths about pathology and laboratory medicine
The cries of a newborn baby are usually a sign of life and hope, but for many families in low and middle-income countries, these cries can signal the beginning of a long and arduous journey. Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are a significant health burden, particularly in these regions, where they account for the highest years of disability. Despite advancements in medical science, the incidence of CHDs remains constant or may …
The hidden crisis: congenital heart diseases in low and middle-income countries
At the beginning of 2024, the nation continued to experience the impact of three declared public health emergencies with significant behavioral health implications: COVID-19, Mpox, and the opioid crisis. At the same time, three major national associations continued to highlight what they first described in 2021 as a “youth mental health crisis.” As we enter 2025, emergency declarations for two of these — Mpox and COVID-19 — have …
Why the opioid crisis and youth mental health demand urgent parity reforms in 2025
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Join us as we explore the emotional toll of high-stakes health care with physician, speaker, and thought leader Pamela Buchanan. Discover her insights on the “emotional flatline,” a defense mechanism that shields health …
Breaking the emotional flatline: Reclaiming empathy in medicine [PODCAST]
Our nation and the health care industry have been in shock following the assassination of the CEO of one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. The brazen killing of Brian Thompson and the suspected shooter Luigi Mangione has captured America’s attention. The assassination has focused public outrage toward the health care insurance industry and revealed a lack of empathy for the victim and his family. A recent survey …
Insurance denied her a voice, but this doctor wouldn’t back down
Emergency medicine is a career defined by its urgency, unpredictability, and intense human connection. But for those of us who work in the emergency department, it’s also a career shaped by the weight of the people we’ve cared for—the ones we’ve saved, the ones we’ve lost, and the ones whose stories stay with us long after our shifts end.
When I talk with colleagues about stepping back from clinical responsibilities, one …
The emotional toll of empathy in emergency medicine
In the fall of 2004, everything changed. I became a father for the first time. I had completed four years as a practicing primary care doctor at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California in the Department of Adult Medicine. I had my first op-ed piece published – “How to make your health insurance count as if your life depended on it” – as I was working hard on a book …
The mission to make health care equitable and accessible for all
Every year, medical trainee hopefuls submit the dreaded personal statement. Most follow a familiar formula based on advice from mentors, peers, or online guides: “Don’t stick out,” “Tell a story about a patient,” and so on. While this approach isn’t wrong, it leaves little room for the “personal” aspect—the only part of the ERAS application that truly allows insight into the individual behind the resume. Before submitting mine, I was …
From strawberries to stethoscopes: lessons in humanity from a future oncologist
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Radiologist Robyn Tiger shares her journey from childhood tragedy to a career dedicated to healing and self-discovery. Robyn recounts how the loss of her father to suicide sparked her passion for understanding the …
Rewriting the narrative on stress, burnout, and resilience [PODCAST]
Last September, NBC News aired a one-sided report on the arrangement between a county coroner and a medical school apropos the transfer of unclaimed corpses with reportedly inadequate effort to find family. In addition to a grieving family, an academic bioethicist was interviewed who expressed horror at the transfer procedure. The report did a disservice both to bioethics and to necessary medical training and research.
In a similar incident, a coroner …
How unclaimed bodies are fueling a medical ethics firestorm
As an emergency room physician with 20 years of experience, I’ve witnessed countless moments where patients come to the ER not because their symptoms demand urgent care, but because they lack understanding about their own medical conditions. These are not isolated incidents—they’re a systemic failure in communication that contributes to patient distress, health care inefficiency, and physician burnout.
This week alone, I had two particularly heart-wrenching encounters:
A 65-year-old man with metastatic …
How poor communication is killing patients and burning out doctors
It’s capitalism, it’s greed, it’s the hospitals, it’s all those things, but for me, it’s sadness, it’s loss, it’s crying myself to sleep. Lest I sound ungrateful, I am appreciative of the income and career it has afforded me. I am not the victim but also not the perpetrator. In reality, we are all both at one time or another.
It’s the hushed calls to let me know a dear patient …
Doctors reveal the unspoken toll of shame and sacrifice in medicine
I used to pride myself on being a perfectionist and high achiever, and I held onto those identities tightly. Today, my diplomas are stored in a box at the bottom of a closet. I recycled the majority of my race medals, and reviewing my CV contributes to pain. I have created space from these visual reminders of how hard my past self worked to feel some sense of worthiness in …
Is perfectionism something to strive for or heal from?
This article is sponsored by Stryker Oral Care.
Hospital-acquired pneumonia remains one of the most common—and deadly—infections patients face during hospitalization. Yet, while significant progress has been made in reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia, its lesser-known counterpart, non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NVHAP), continues to quietly …
In the United States, as many as 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage (before the end of the twentieth week of pregnancy) and approximately 1 percent in stillbirth (after the twentieth week, including time of delivery).
Parents who experience pregnancy loss are often left to grieve not only the child they never had the opportunity to know but also the loss of a future they had envisioned. The …
The hidden grief of Black fathers after pregnancy loss
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