The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

Meds
March 22, 2023

We’ve all heard about America’s so-called “opioid epidemic.” Nearly 100,000 people died in 2021 of causes that included overdose by one or more narcotic drugs and often alcohol. We also hear assertions from anti-opioid advocates that this epidemic was caused by doctors “over-prescribing” opioid pain relievers to their patients. These assertions are fundamentally wrong on fact. U.S. national health care policy and law redirections are needed to correct such distortions.

Doctors …

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How medical student loan forgiveness can advance health equity [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 21, 2023
YouTube video

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Join us as we welcome Katrina Gipson, an emergency medicine physician, to discuss the intersection of student loan debt and health equity. As the Supreme Court reviews the Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program, Katrina sheds light …

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The rise of generative AI in health care: Here’s what you need to know

Tech
March 21, 2023

It has been an exciting several weeks for AI enthusiasts worldwide, particularly those in health care.

OpenAI recently released GPT-4, a major upgrade over ChatGPT. Microsoft updated Bing search engine and Office365 business applications Word, Powerpoint, and Excel will run on GPT-4. Google announced PaLM API and MakerSuite, which enables developers to experiment with Large Language Models (LLM), whereas MakerSuite allows quick prototypes.

These generative AI announcements from OpenAI, Microsoft, …

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Finding peace through surrender: a personal exploration

Physician
March 21, 2023

Words are everything.

They carry energy. They are the currency of our connection to each other. They are the currency through which we will share with future generations; they are how we communicate with people in generations past. And they carry weight in terms of how we speak to ourselves.

When we begin to grow in awareness of the words we are using and the language we choose, it sometimes becomes humbling …

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The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

Physician
March 21, 2023

Five-hundred and fifty-five. That’s the number of first-year emergency medicine (EM) residency spots that went unfilled in the Match. Before discussing the implications for nationwide residency programs, applicants, and patients, we must ask how we got here?! Emergency medicine used to be a “sexy” specialty. The TV series ER ran for 15 seasons. Emergency medicine was once a part of the infamous E-ROAD (EM, radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, dermatology) lifestyle specialties. …

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Unlocking the secret to successful weight loss: Curiosity is the key

Conditions
March 21, 2023

The obesity epidemic is reaching an all-time high. It’s no surprise why – the fitness industry pushing expensive diets and intense workouts, combined with limited access to affordable health care options, makes it difficult for people to maintain health in our society today. And what’s even more concerning? More than 72 percent of Americans are now overweight or obese, impacting not just us but future generations too, affecting over …

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The teacher who changed my life through reading

Conditions
March 21, 2023

It is near summer now as I write this brief narrative. This time of year, when I turn on my car radio, I sometimes hear various individuals talking about summer reading, past or present.

These programs got me thinking about Percy Holmes, or the late Percy Holmes, an English teacher I had in the tenth grade at Haverhill High School in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

I remember Mr. Holmes as a dapper little man, …

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Revaluating mental health assessments: It’s not just the patient you should consider

Conditions
March 21, 2023

I believe that mental health care is one of the most underrated areas in health care. Mental illness is an epidemic plaguing virtually every corner of the world. While great strides have been made in identifying and treating mental disorders, particularly in wealthier countries, many people remain without adequate care for their conditions. The numbers are staggering. According to the World Health Organization 2020 report, almost 1 billion people worldwide …

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Beyond the disease: the power of empathy in health care

Physician
March 21, 2023

They are not just sick people in need of care. They are people with lives, hopes, plans, and dreams. A day before they showed up, they may have dropped a son at school, taken a daughter to soccer practice, made dinner, had lunch with friends, done their nails, or even bought a new golf club.

Of course, there is the drug addict with endocarditis, the perpetual drunk with intracranial hematoma, or even …

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Rescuing primary care: the role of health administrators [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 20, 2023
YouTube video

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We welcome Sara Pastoor, a family physician, and delve into the pressing issue of the primary care crisis in the U.S. health care system. With projections showing growth in the market for health administrators, we discuss how …

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Breaking down barriers: How technology is improving diabetes management in underserved communities

Conditions
March 20, 2023

Despite advancements in health information technology (HIT), the prevalence of diabetes in the United States continues to be high and is the seventh leading cause of death. Diabetes management in underserved communities has challenges concerning health care access for high-risk groups, often resulting in debilitating health outcomes worsened by adverse socio-economic consequences. Optimal HbA1c levels, controlled for by risk reduction, are essential. If diabetics encounter barriers to health care services, …

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From penicillin to digital health: the impact of social media on medicine

Social media
March 20, 2023

In a growing social media world population, one cannot ignore the technological invasion of the medical world. From the discovery of penicillin to electronic medical records and the digital health revolution, real medical revolutions are not too many.

However, social media is disrupting the medical ecosystem and how we practice medicine. Information to the public is moving from a “push system,” where the teacher or the publisher decides what information to …

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Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

Policy
March 20, 2023

As anyone in health care knows, a strong nurse-physician dynamic is critical to achieving successful patient outcomes. To provide a quality care experience, it is essential to have a clinical team that knows how to collaborate to achieve that goal. If we don’t know how to work together, or how to coordinate our care, it’s going to be very difficult to maintain a safe environment for the patient.

Nurses are at …

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How to overcome telemedicine’s biggest obstacles

Physician
March 20, 2023

The global health care sector has undergone a digital revolution, with telemedicine at the forefront of this transformation. Telemedicine offers promising opportunities to enhance patient care, reduce costs, and expand access to health care services. However, its widespread adoption faces several challenges that must be addressed for its full potential to be realized. This article discusses the barriers to telemedicine adoption and provides strategies for successful implementation by health care …

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Deaths of despair: an urgent call for a collective response to the crisis in U.S. life expectancy

Policy
March 20, 2023

Some grim news has emerged revealing the sad decline in the health of the United States. America saw its most significant 2-year fall in life expectancy, 2.7 years, in almost 100 years. This has led to U.S. life expectancy being at its lowest since the mid-1990s. This unprecedented fall requires deep examination.

 While COVID is a major cause behind this decline, another …

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Redefining success: a journey of self-discovery and fulfillment [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 19, 2023
YouTube video

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We are joined by Ketan Kulkarni, a physician entrepreneur. We dive into the often-used but loosely defined word “success.” With the constant bombardment of images of success through the media, it’s easy to feel lost and unclear …

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The patient who became my soulmate

Physician
March 19, 2023

As oncologists, we encounter numerous patients on a daily basis and form emotional bonds with many of them, especially if they survive long enough and continue to see the same doctor for several years. This bond can grow so deep that we feel their pain, cry with them, and sometimes even realize that some of our patients are our soulmates.

According to Wikipedia, a soulmate is a person ideally suited to …

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Breaking the stigma: Addressing the struggles of physicians

Physician
March 19, 2023

The state of health care in the U.S. is widely considered to be inadequate. I recently learned in an online class that family doctors in Canada only have 10 minutes per patient. I am unsure who sets or enforces this rule and it is unclear why anyone would choose such a job. As an introvert, I understand the toll of being present for others all day, but 10 minutes to …

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Can AI solve the physician shortage crisis?

Tech
March 19, 2023

A 2021 Merritt Hawkins article reports increasing physician shortfalls in the U.S. while pointing out that almost 50 percent of all currently practicing physicians are older than 55. In some medical specialties, the “greater-than-55” physician numbers are between 60 to 90+ percent.

Similar findings have been confirmed in an updated January 2023 Becker’s Hospital Review article. These recent reports estimate that there will be a …

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