Since June 2022, the U.K. has been carrying on an inquiry, still ongoing two years later, into the response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping to learn lessons that could be useful in the future.
Here are a few of its revelations.
Matt Hancock, health secretary to Boris Johnson, prime …
All around the world, health care systems are crumbling, resulting in less effective clinical care and damage to health care workers. We all recognize the need for change and want to see it. But could doctors’ psychological makeup hamper the achievement of the actual change we wish to see in our systems?
The nature of doctors
Worldwide, those who enter a medical career are intelligent and driven individuals. Throughout our training, we …
In the fast-paced environment of a doctor’s office, accuracy and operational effectiveness are paramount. Often bustling with activity, meticulous office coordination is needed to guarantee that every aspect runs smoothly. From managing patient records to ensuring the availability of medical equipment, the daily operations of health care facilities hinge on the seamless integration of various components. Every piece of equipment, every supply, and every record needs to be in the …
I can hear my husband chuckling from the cavern of journal piles and stacks of free conference tote bags he refers to as his home office. “I am looking at a graph of your publications,” he calls out to me as I putter around the house. An inauspicious start.
As I look over his shoulder at the laptop screen, he shows the tiny dot representing my singular publication—work I did as …
According to the 2024 Doximity survey, the average annual compensation for a family physician is around $300,813. For 90 percent of family doctors, this is their reality—stuck in the matrix of traditional employment. They feel unloved, undervalued, and used by the system to feed the corporate cash register. I know because that is what I did for the first 15 years of my career. However, I discovered a better …
An excerpt from Race for a Remedy: The Science and Scientists Behind the Next Life-Saving Cancer Medicine.
I like to compare diabetes and cancer. Both are chronic illnesses with a trend of increasing new cases globally over the past decades, and both are expected to be among the leading diagnoses in the world with an estimated one-half billion people living with either diabetes or cancer by 2040.
The similarities don’t end …
When it comes to exercise, it is possible to get too much of a good thing. Regular participation in appropriate mild to moderate exercise is one of the most important habits for optimal health. The kind of detrimental excess endurance exercise I’m going to implicate includes marathon distance running, 100-mile bike rides, Iron Man/Half Iron Man triathlons, and other flat-out, pedal-to-the-metal exertions for more than an hour. Regrettably, I confess: …
An excerpt from Judas Dentistry: How Dentists Scorn Science, Break the Hippocratic Oath, and Wreck Their Patients’ Minds and Bodies.
Our kindly dentist almost killed my wife, Judy. During her late teens, she had a single front tooth destroyed in an auto accident. So this dentist carved the teeth on either side to support a bridge. When these died, he drilled and mummified them into “root canals.” As the years …
“Rules and regulations, who needs them? Throw them out the door.”
— Graham Nash (lyrics), from “Chicago,” sung by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Business entrepreneur and billionaire Michael B. Kim recently was quoted as saying: “Leadership without ethics is a body without a soul.” Kim donated $25 million to his alma mater, Haverford College in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to start a new Institute for Ethical Inquiry and Leadership. His goal is …
The obvious answer is just that, of course. I would save my wife and myself. Everything else is replaceable—well, almost everything. Read on.
Twenty years ago, before the launch of the iPhone and before social media ruled the world, two of the most important things in any traditional American family’s house were the family Bible and the family’s pictures. I will leave the Bible and commentary on it for another question …
I’ve always adored cinnamon. Its aroma warms the cockles of my heart, and its flavor makes me feel as if I’m wrapped up in an old fairy tale. However, I was floored when I reviewed some of the latest research regarding the effects of cinnamon on brain health.
Cinnamon is a type of laurel plant (believe it or not, there are almost three thousand members of the Lauraceae family). Cinnamon happens …
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An excerpt from Just One Heart: A Cardiologist’s Guide to Healing, Health, and Happiness.
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”
— Helen Keller
In my journey of the heart, two atlases, seemingly worlds apart, converged to illuminate the interconnected dimensions of the heart. They helped me …
When demand exceeds supply, a resource is limited. Allocating those resources “involves a tension between efficiency and equity.” The market has several ways to allot those limited resources, beginning with cost. For example, frequent flyer miles, a form of resource allocation, may not seem controversial, except to those getting on last, where there is no room for their carry-on. Health care is a limited resource for many reasons, and equity …
The yearly arrival of Santa Claus was a wonderful ritual of my early childhood years and later as I became a parent and a grandparent. It was exciting and fun, and the production provided mystery and joy. The fact that millions of people look forward to giving without getting accolades for doing so symbolizes the best in human nature. We willingly give credit to a myth for bestowing on those …
The aging baby boomer generation is creating a multitude of new challenges for our already stretched thin health care sector. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2030, all baby boomers will be older than 65, with about one in every five residents being of retirement age and increasing demand for health care services. Simultaneously, many of our clinicians are nearing retirement or choosing to retire early. The …
A few years into my faculty career, my division chief met with me to discuss late charts. “Britt, charts,” she said. “You just have to make it happen.” I don’t remember much about the specifics of what was said in that meeting, but I know exactly how I felt: a flood of shame overlying simmering anger. This someone that I respected, someone who had carved a way for the department …
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