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How family presence in hospitals can be a lifeline for patients in crisis

Riya Sood

Education

November 25, 2024

During my time as a medical student shadowing in the intensive care unit, I met Ms. Stacey, hospitalized with a severe intestinal infection. As I entered her room, I saw her frail form lying amidst a web of tubes and monitors. Her prolonged hospital stay had visibly drained her, leaving her dependent on the vigilant care of both the medical staff and a quiet, devoted man sitting beside her bed—her …

How to dress like a doctor

Ann F. Beach, MD

Physician

November 25, 2024

Are you a medical student or resident rotating through new parts of the hospital? Then it’s a good time for some nuts-and-bolts advice about what you should wear on your upcoming rotations.

No, it’s not about looking like a doctor (whatever that is). It’s not about whether patients like white coats or not. Or whether white coats carry germs. It’s not about style and personal expression. It’s about how to have …

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How to dress like a doctor

A missing tracheostomy tube fragment in an asymptomatic 26-year-old

Dr. Mahmoud Hanafy Ali

Conditions

November 25, 2024

When a 26-year-old male with a history of tracheostomy arrived in our emergency department, the case appeared routine—until we uncovered an unusual detail. The patient’s sister had recently changed his tracheostomy tube at home but noticed something concerning afterward: the terminal piece, or the distal end of the tube, was missing. Despite searching, the piece couldn’t be found. This immediately raised concerns that it might be lodged within his trachea, …

Doctors at the forefront of health care reform [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 24, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

We dive into the complexities of the U.S. health care system and explore potential solutions before it reaches a breaking point. Alisa Berger, a urologist, shares her expert insights on the root causes …

Belief in God: Medicine’s guiding light through every challenge

Dr. Vivek Podder

Physician

November 24, 2024

In medicine, there’s a rhythm we grow accustomed to—diagnose, treat, move on to the next patient. But for me, beneath that rhythm, there’s always been a quiet hum: belief. Not the kind that seeks to explain every event or outcome, but the kind that reassures you that even when things go wrong, you are exactly where you need to be.

Faith in God didn’t arrive through one grand moment for me. …

More than just the flu: Helping families and doctors prepare for pan-respiratory viruses

Hilary Hatch, PhD

Conditions

November 24, 2024

In previous flu seasons, only about half of all Americans got the flu shot. Now we face pan-respiratory season, when we must worry about RSV, COVID, and the flu. The good news is these vaccines are lifesaving. The bad news is that if people don’t get them, they aren’t very effective and we might see fewer people get them at all.

As a clinical psychologist, I’ve spent my career thinking about …

Lessons from Forward Health: How direct primary care is the future of health care

Christopher Habig, MBA

Conditions

November 24, 2024

In the rapidly evolving landscape of health care, startups promising disruption often make headlines. But not all disruption leads to success. Forward Health, once hailed as a pioneer with its ultramodern clinics and AI-driven “doctor-in-a-box” CarePods, recently announced its abrupt closure. Despite raising over $650 million in funding, Forward’s inability to deliver on its ambitious promises is a case study in the pitfalls of prioritizing technology over patients.

The story of …

From ER overload to genetic breakthrough: How allergies transformed my life and career

Lynne Moronski, PhD, MPA, RN

Conditions

November 24, 2024

I went to the emergency room 16 times for allergies and asthma as a college freshman. Each time I was given a prescription for an EpiPen, an auto-injector pen that administers a dose of epinephrine, used for the emergency care of an acute allergic reaction.

I was told to figure out what I was allergic to. I tried very hard but couldn’t. All my life, I have had hives, eczema, asthma, …

Transforming public health: a physician’s innovative approach [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 23, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Join us for an insightful conversation with nephrologist and physician executive, David W. Moskowitz, as he shares his transformative views on the U.S. health care system. Drawing from his time as a Marshall …

Self-governance in the medical profession and medical malpractice

Howard Smith, MD

Physician

November 23, 2024

Fundamental in a medical malpractice lawsuit is determining whether an unfortunate outcome is an error of nature or a medical error. An error of nature results from a medical intervention that aligns with the standard of care. A medical error, on the other hand, results from a medical intervention that departs from the standard of care.

The problem in medical malpractice is that errors of nature can be random occurrences even …

How my father taught me the true meaning of generosity

Dr. Damane Zehra

Physician

November 23, 2024

I enjoy buying gifts for people I adore. It’s my love language. I enjoy seeing the smile, joy, or surprise in the eyes of those who receive my gifts. I live for these moments.

There were times when people did not express how much they appreciated my gift, but I could see it in their eyes. It’s not just my wild imagination; it’s because I’m always confident that what I buy …

Why doctors increasingly turn away from rural clinical practice

Harry Severance, MD

Physician

November 23, 2024

It was recently reported that barely 10 percent of U.S. doctors work in rural health care. That number is continuing to shrink, while over 20 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, and more than 80 percent of rural Americans are considered medically underserved.

There are many reasons why doctors, mid-levels, and other health care workers are avoiding rural practice opportunities.

The one I want to focus on today is …

How social prescribing is redefining patient care [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 22, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Join us for an enlightening conversation with Julia Hotz, journalist and author of The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging. We explore the transformative potential of social …

The unspoken grief of doctors: How losing a patient changes them forever

Humeira Badsha, MD

Physician

November 22, 2024

I didn’t know
when I placed my stethoscope on your chest,
listening,
that I was listening for the last time.

I didn’t know
that you said,
“when the doctor sees me, I will be fine.”

I wish I had held you longer.
If I had known it would be the last time,
I would have listened
to your heart
for a few more minutes.

I am sorry you had to go
too soon.
It still hurts so much when I lose,
and death steals
my patient.

Over …

Did Step 1’s pass/fail switch actually increase medical student burnout?

Christian Tallo and Aaron Kiel

Education

November 22, 2024

In January 2022, the medical school curriculum underwent a transformative shift when Step 1, the first of three licensing exams for U.S. medical students, switched from numerical score to a pass/fail (P/F) grading system. Now, with several years of perspective, we can assess the broader implications of this change on medical education. The primary objective of this reform was to alleviate the pressures associated with Step 1 and to …

How lifestyle choices today could impact your future family’s fertility [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 21, 2024

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Epigenetics is transforming our understanding of fertility. In this episode, fertility specialist Dr. Oluyemisi (Yemi) Famuyiwa joins us to explore how lifestyle factors like diet, stress, and environmental exposures influence gene expression through …

Resilient heart: a journey through medicine and life

Adrienne Ligouri, MD, MPH

Physician

November 21, 2024

Prologue: a life forged in resilience

If you had asked me in the early days of my life where I thought I would end up, my answer would have been straightforward—a career in medicine like my mother, a family of my own, and perhaps a path well-traveled. But life rarely follows the lines we draw for it. Instead, it takes unpredictable turns, tests our strength in ways we never expect, and …

Is the Goldwater Rule hindering us?

David Galinsky, MD

Physician

November 21, 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. He has said things that are not true about vaccines, autism, raw milk, and more that we do not have to list here. Furthermore, I do not want to waste time with facts about his opinions. The health professionals who are reading this essay already know that RFK Jr.’s opinions are not supported by facts.

If …

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Is the Goldwater Rule hindering us?

How life’s biggest lessons shape us: a journey through struggle, loss, and resilience

Dr. Vivek Podder

Physician

November 21, 2024

Life has a way of teaching us through the most unexpected experiences, often in moments that feel daunting. I reflect on this often, especially when I consider my own journey—a journey shaped by illness, loss, inspiration, and a constant hunger for knowledge. One lifetime can feel too short to absorb everything there is to learn, yet the most meaningful lessons often emerge in this brevity.

As a child, I never imagined …

Navigating patient transitions following the withdrawal of Oxbryta

Akshat Jain, MD

Meds

November 21, 2024

The withdrawal of Oxbryta (voxelotor) from global markets, announced by Pfizer after a recent data review revealed a rise in deaths and complications, has left sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in a precarious situation. The sudden nature of the announcement caught the patient and physician community off guard, as there was no prewarning. For an already narrow world of options available to people with sickle cell disease, this came as …

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