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Secret support for this family caregiver

Conditions

May 19, 2024

Last month, while spring cleaning my home-based office, I faced off with a bookshelf full of past writing journals.

Get rid of them (I coaxed myself). Whatever you wrote here is history now.

My inner packrat resisted. Couldn’t I just box them up and move them to the basement to join all those other journals that, together, chronicle my three-plus decades of living in the United States?

One gray-covered notebook with pink post-it …

The voice that saved lives: a doctor’s pandemic hero

Zoran Naumovski, MD

Physician

May 19, 2024

I would not recognize her if she crossed before me on the street. I could not pick her out in a staff photo of her and her colleagues. I do not know the color of her hair or skin; I could not even guess if she is short or tall. But her voice—I know her voice. I could recognize that voice anywhere.

I first met Julie sometime before the COVID pandemic, …

Rethinking postpartum mental health [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 18, 2024

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Join Emily Little, a perinatal health researcher and founder of Nurturely, about the evolving definition of “postpartum” and its predominant association with postpartum depression. We’ll explore societal influences on this shift, disparities in …

Breaking the stigma with science

Caissa Troutman, MD

Conditions

May 18, 2024

Oxford Dictionary defines stigma as “a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person.” In other words, it’s a state of being in shame. One of the most influential thought leaders in shame is Brene Brown. She describes shame as “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. We feel like something we have experienced, done, …

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Breaking the stigma with science

Mastering prompt engineering to elevate AI in clinical practice

Fady Chamoun, MD

Tech

May 18, 2024

As health care professionals, we are constantly seeking innovative ways to leverage technology to improve patient outcomes. One emerging tool with immense potential is artificial intelligence (AI). However, to fully harness AI’s power in clinical settings, we must first master the art of prompt engineering.

Effective prompt crafting hinges on six essential elements:

1. Clear task definition. Precisely articulating the specific request or objective we have for the AI system ensures its …

Is it ever too late to attend medical school? A nontraditional student shares her thoughts.

Yasi Arabi

Education

May 18, 2024

In a world where the path to medical school is often depicted as a one-size-fits-all journey, my story is a testament to the fact that there is no cookie-cutter method for current or prospective doctors. I am now a third-year osteopathic medical student, but my path to get here has taken many detours.

A nontraditional medical applicant is anyone who has followed an unorthodox path to medical school. We exhibit qualities …

Clean drug paraphernalia in harm reduction [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 17, 2024

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Join us for a discussion on harm reduction and the controversy surrounding the provision of clean drug paraphernalia in harm reduction kits. Our guest, Bonzo Reddick, a family physician, will shed light on …

Health insurers are ignoring price transparency rules at the expense of private practice

Nathaniel Arana

Policy

May 17, 2024

Since January 1, 2023, the Transparency in Coverage Rule required health insurance providers and health insurers to provide price information to participants in a publicly accessible place. This means consumers should, in theory, be able to go to any payer’s website and see what different doctors, hospitals, and health systems are charging for the same services. The law was meant to allow consumers the ability to shop for health care …

Pain management realities [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 16, 2024

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Join L. Joseph Parker, a research physician, as we delve into the biases and challenges faced by health care professionals in diagnosing and treating chronic pain, particularly in marginalized communities. Joseph sheds light …

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Pain management realities [PODCAST]

TV medical school: where doctors don’t need nurses and bullets heal themselves

Ann F. Beach, MD

Physician

May 16, 2024

Clearly, four years of college, four years of medical school, and three years of pediatric residency weren’t a complete medical education. There are so many things I didn’t know until I started watching action-packed TV shows, especially the ones with SWAT teams, detectives, and lots of blood.

My training was clearly deficient in neck jabbing. You know, when the bad guys sneak up on the good guy, jab him randomly in …

Generation Z and implications for medical education

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Education

May 16, 2024

Many Baby Boomers have been quick to point out that 2024 is not 1968. When students occupied buildings at Columbia University 56 years ago, at least their objectives were clear – to put an end to the Vietnam War. Do students today who have camped out at Columbia, and a multitude of universities across the U.S. and disrupted graduation ceremonies want to end the war between Israel and Hamas, …

Big pharma ignores low-cost migraine solution

John C. Hagan III, MD

Meds

May 16, 2024

If you are a fan of pharma, you might want to skip this article. Some pharma enthusiasts will call it a rant. By pharma, I mean avaricious pharmaceutical (a pleonasm) companies collectively. On the other hand, those of you who treat acute migraines will learn of a highly effective, innovative, inexpensive, and relatively safe way to help many of your migraineurs. Those of you who believe that pharma is interested …

Physician well-being in a corporatized health care system [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 15, 2024

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Join Wendy Dean, a psychiatrist with expertise in physician well-being and the intersection of medicine and corporate interests. Wendy shares insights into the challenges physicians face when their values clash with the corporate …

Shifting gears: Navigating identity and role changes throughout a physician’s career

Aseem Desai, MD

Physician

May 15, 2024

Physicians dedicate their lives to healing others, often at the expense of their own well-being. This intense focus on professional success can, over time, become a kind of addiction. As physicians progress through different stages of their careers, it becomes crucial to adapt and redefine their professional identity beyond the confines of clinical practice.

The evolving roles of physicians

The concept of a physician’s role is dynamic and ever-evolving. Early career stages …

The hidden dangers of mislabeling pain patients: a medical crisis

L. Joseph Parker, MD

Physician

May 15, 2024

I am very concerned about the mislabeling of patients who suffer from pain that is being carried out in a wholesale fashion by some in the American medical community. This mislabeling is the result of the most dangerous combination in the world: good intentions and avarice. These two have recently combined to create distortions that are now to the point of wholesale fraud. Calling something what it is not can …

More than a doctor: My unexpected path to building a thriving business

Stacey Funt, MD

Physician

May 15, 2024

When I was younger, I could not remember a time I wanted to be anything other than a doctor, and I thought this would satisfy all I wanted in my work life. Many years later, I realized I was yearning for a side gig. Based on the existence of more than 110,000 members in a related Facebook group, I wasn’t alone. A side gig can increase life satisfaction by heightening …

AI to the rescue: a game-changer for physician burnout?

Stuart Akerman, MD

Tech

May 15, 2024

If you’re a physician reading this, the concept of burnout likely needs no introduction. The harsh realities of our profession—long hours, extreme stress, mounting paperwork—have taken an immense toll on clinicians across every specialty. Everywhere you look, it seems there’s another survey about the escalating number of physicians who self-identify as burning out.

I don’t need to cite statistics to convey the impacts—most of us have experienced them firsthand: emotional exhaustion, …

Finding my calling: a surgeon’s path through medical school

Carol Scott-Conner, MD, PhD

Physician

May 15, 2024

September 1974. I was a third-year medical student at NYU. My husband and I, newlyweds, lived in a single room in the med student dorm. Fortunately, third-year students took night calls, so on those nights, my husband had the single pull-out bed all to himself.

If family medicine and emergency medicine existed as defined specialties at that time, our med school didn’t acknowledge them. Seven years later, as a chief resident, …

Takeaways from my first year as an attending physician [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 14, 2024

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Join obstetrician-gynecologist Roshni D. Patel for an engaging discussion on navigating the challenges of the medical field. With firsthand experiences, Roshni shares valuable insights on overcoming underestimation, persistently advocating for what you need …

Once a pillar, now in ruins: the state of primary care

Ross L. Fisher, MD

Physician

May 14, 2024

Primary care outpatient general internal medicine is dead. Following a lengthy decline over years of languishing, it finally succumbed to terminal underappreciation and fiscal neglect. We shall never see the likes of it again. As with most good things taken for granted, it won’t be missed until it is far too late and the extinction is complete.

Our current health care system has morphed into a bloated bureaucracy that has lost …