A heartbreaking yet heartwarming story of a pediatric neurology resident’s struggle and empathy
The pager beeps early on the first day of my inpatient pediatric neurology service week. The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) would like us to perform a brain death examination on a young boy before potential organ donation. An apparently healthy boy who had an unexpected clinical course that led to his current state.
As a pediatric neurology resident, I often have difficult conversations with our patients and families, but the …
The rise of at-home STI testing: a solution to America’s growing problem or a risky gamble?
In 2021, I spent the year before starting medical school calling and counseling the patients of a busy urban emergency department on the results of their sexually transmitted infection (STI) tests.
“What exactly is gonorrhea?” some would ask. “Is there a cure?”
“No one ever taught me about this,” one older gentleman lamented when we discussed using condoms to prevent the transmission of infection.
Stories like his reflect our society’s hesitancy to discuss …
The struggle to save the unpredictable: a look inside emergency departments
Emergency departments have their share of regulars. The patients come back time and time again. Some you don’t mind. Some of you inwardly cringe and say, “Oh, God, them again.” Seriously, George, this is the second time this shift.
They come and go until you notice that you haven’t seen someone in a while. You don’t say their name because there’s an unspoken superstition that, like saying “Beetlejuice” three times, they’ll reappear. …
The future of medicine is now: AI’s role in diagnostics and treatment
OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the world by storm a couple of months ago when they opened it up for public use. Since then, people have shown the infinite number of ways it can be applied in just about every area of life, from telling you the recipe for your favorite food to writing scientific abstracts that are essentially indistinguishable from real ones.
It offers insights and ideas to abstract questions and truly …
How direct primary care can revolutionize health care [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!
The U.S. health care system ranks poorly among high-income countries, but the direct primary care (DPC) model offers a potential solution. In this model, primary care providers are paid a consistent fee through a retainer or membership …
The hidden costs of teaching surgery: an academic surgeon’s perspective
I ran across one of those bordering-on-sappy Facebook posts that always pull me in, asking people to describe their job poorly and make it comically accurate. The photographer admitted she would flash clients, shoot someone, and then frame someone else. The bartender alluded to being a psychiatrist, marriage counselor, babysitter, and thirst quencher. You get the picture.
I am sure that each specialty in medicine has its own pithy, confuscating …
It’s time to stop focusing on family weight
My eyes fell upon a horrible newspaper headline from 2008: “Fat kids die earlier.” That is the first article that I remember talking about obesity in childhood, but there were plenty more in the early 2000s. At the time, I clipped it because it reinforced my approach at the time: identify issues, educate, act, and avoid.
Over the past two decades, there has been an increase in the prevalence of children …
Navigating the challenges of coaching in the medical field
Coaching is a synonym for mentoring, counseling, guidance, preceptor, teacher, tutor, and professor. Regardless of how you choose to perceive the word “coaching,” the significant action implied by the word is to provide the client with appropriate verbal, video, written, and audio communication or information necessary to enable you to reach a higher level of success or accomplishment in your medical career.
Ads to physicians, like those below, occasionally have a …
Not just another Hallmark holiday: Happy National Women Physicians Day
February 3rd marks the annual observance of National Women Physicians Day, a special day dedicated to honoring the countless female physicians who have dedicated their lives to the health and well-being of their patients. The holiday was created in response to the fact that although women make up over half of all medical school graduates, they still only make up a small percentage of physicians in practice today. This day …
An angel in the woods: a tragic story and the gift of life
We lived in the woods. Five acres of trees. You could barely see the sky. We left the big city for this piece of heaven. And by chance, we met a couple that had a 5-year-old daughter. Our son was four years old. They became best friends. They’d swing on the swing set, play in the sandbox, and splash each other in our little pool.
Kayla was this sweet, tiny girl. …
Uncovering the hidden struggles of NYC nurses: an insider’s perspective [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!
In this episode, Molly M. Murray, a physician assistant, shares her personal experiences of working alongside nurses who are overworked and undervalued. From being spit on and cursed at, to being denied proper breaks and cost-of-living increases, nurses in …
Postpartum depression or psychosis: Understanding the reality behind Lindsay Clancy’s story
The recent case of Lindsay Clancy has weighed heavily on my heart over the past several days. According to her husband, she was a young mother who was suffering from postpartum depression or psychosis and receiving treatment in an intensive outpatient program. She allegedly took her children’s lives and tried to end her own life.
The DSM 5-TR nomenclature for this condition is peripartum onset, referring to mood onset during pregnancy …
ADVERTISEMENT
A cardiac arrest is a tragedy. Multiple cardiac arrests are a moral injury.
On January 2, 2023, Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin collapsed secondary to cardiac arrest on live television, horrifying millions of Americans. We saw broadcasters, fans, players, and reporters crying on live TV as they watched the psychological trauma of a resuscitation. “No one should ever have to witness this” was a common refrain during the broadcast. For that one night, America was privy to what thousands of health care workers …
7 ways to help your doctor help you: a guide to improving your health care experience
Surveys show that people are pretty unhappy with the state of health care in the United States these days. Insurance is way too expensive, and co-pays and cost-sharing are out of control, with patients paying the bulk of office visits out of their own pockets. Staffing shortages mean fewer people answer phones, and finding a primary care doctor open to new patients is darn near impossible in my neck …
How to speak “Southern” in the ER
While one could say I was born in the South, I had to move a lot closer to the Mississippi to find that my Southern California momma and daddy had left certain nuances of expressive gentility untouched in the process of raising me right. Northwest Arkansas, where we’ve come to settle, may not be considered the Deep South, but you certainly can hear it from here.
One good place to do …
ADVERTISEMENT
Hospitals at a breaking point: Lack of staff and resources leave ERs in chaos
I recently worked an evening shift in the emergency department the day before New Year’s Eve. Patients arrived in waves, by car and by ambulance. They seemed to check into the triage area every few minutes. When I left at midnight, there were 23 patients awaiting admission in the ER waiting for four, six, 12 or more hours — some for a full day.
Simultaneously, there were about 20 waiting to …
Navigating the health care system as a chronic patient and physician [PODCAST]
The short-term rental tax loophole: a game-changer for physicians
Tax benefits are one of the primary reasons many doctors invest in real estate. The U.S. government incentivizes real estate ownership as it is considered starting a business, which creates jobs and increases tax revenue. One way to achieve significant tax savings is by becoming a real estate professional, but this is impossible for those working full-time. An alternative option for these individuals is short-term rental properties.
A short-term rental (STR) …
ADVERTISEMENT
Breaking the burnout: How health care leaders can support physician well-being
Recently I was scrolling through posts from a physician leadership Facebook group. I came upon one that caught my eye. It said something like, “Does anyone have information I can share with my radiologists to show them the impact of working through lunch?”
I was happy to see a post that focused on physician well-being. A leader who cares enough and wants her physicians to take a break. And then …
Past Week
-
Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam
-
The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain
-
The hidden impact of denials on health care systems
-
Why no medical malpractice firm responded to my scientific protocol
-
Burnout isn’t ironclad—and neither are we
-
From rejection to resilience: my journey through emergency medicine residency
-
Past 6 Months
-
What happened to real care in health care?
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
Doctors don’t need yoga, they need time to smoke
-
Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
-
Flatline: Our nation is dying, and we’re ignoring the signs
-
How the CDC’s opioid rules created a crisis for chronic pain patients
-
Recent Posts
-
From rejection to resilience: my journey through emergency medicine residency
-
Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies
-
Why the words doctors use matter more than they think
-
What my first Match Day as a program director taught me about hope
-
Navigating the path from physician burnout to career balance [PODCAST]
-
Stop absorbing the chaos: How doctors can reclaim their well-being
-
Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
544
pages
Past Week
-
Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam
-
The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain
-
The hidden impact of denials on health care systems
-
Why no medical malpractice firm responded to my scientific protocol
-
Burnout isn’t ironclad—and neither are we
-
From rejection to resilience: my journey through emergency medicine residency
-
Past 6 Months
-
What happened to real care in health care?
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
Doctors don’t need yoga, they need time to smoke
-
Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
-
Flatline: Our nation is dying, and we’re ignoring the signs
-
How the CDC’s opioid rules created a crisis for chronic pain patients
-
Recent Posts
-
From rejection to resilience: my journey through emergency medicine residency
-
Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies
-
Why the words doctors use matter more than they think
-
What my first Match Day as a program director taught me about hope
-
Navigating the path from physician burnout to career balance [PODCAST]
-
Stop absorbing the chaos: How doctors can reclaim their well-being
-
