I was brought to tears today, suddenly, unexpectedly, by the ringing of a bell. I had passed a small sign earlier, and I knew that the ringing signified the completion of someone’s chemotherapy. As I heard cheers, I thought how amazing this group of individuals (who I could not see, closeted as I was behind a curtained space) had a shared experience of crossing the finish line.
There is a lot …
With yet another highly contagious COVID variant sweeping the East Coast, it’s never been more clear that we need a systems approach to reforming epidemiology in the U.S. Several legislative approaches, including the PREVENT Pandemics Act and public health loan forgiveness, offer a promising start, but as a scientist who was on the ground during COVID, it is clear to me that much more is needed. Specifically, the CDC, …
“There are, in truth, no specialties in medicine, since to know fully many of the most important diseases, one must be familiar with their manifestation in many organs.”
– Sir William Osler, MD.
I agree with this statement to an extent. However, I wholeheartedly respect and admire many subspecialists whom we all rely on. Disease does not usually wave a red flag and manifest extravagantly in one organ system. It usually is …
Americans give lip service to the importance of teamwork. But most often, we credit success to individuals. Perhaps nowhere is this “MVP mindset” more apparent than in medicine.
The brilliant lone physician — gallantly battling to save a patient’s life — is the TV-inspired image most of us conjure up when we think of the medical profession. While that archetypal hero was, in fact, the best hope for patients in the …
As a PA, I’ve worked in some of the city’s busiest emergency departments. While they differ in practice styles, patient population, and architecture, they all have one thing in common: the nurses are overworked. As thousands of them go on strike and thousands more threaten to do the same, it should come as no surprise to anyone who has witnessed their plight.
I have seen NYC RNs be spit on and …
In the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the piper tunefully leads the children astray and to their doom.
Well, the piper has returned. Actually, he has been back for several years, but few noticed. This time he is not making off with the children but rather the beds they lie in, specifically pediatric hospital beds. This was not really obvious except to pediatricians until the recent calamitous “triple epidemic” …
According to the World Health Organization, cervical cancer is among the most preventable and treatable gynecological cancers. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and longitudinal screening are highly effective modes of prevention and detection, respectively. While statistics on the efficacy of vaccination and screening are promising, the realities surrounding cervical cancer outcomes are anything but. A closer look at the diagnosis and mortality rates paints quite a bleak picture.
The United States’ …
Maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the United States are among the highest in the developed world—impacting roughly 50,000 women each year and taking the lives of 700 mothers annually. Three in five of these deaths are preventable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. HHS) announced $350 million in awards to …
I always knew my work schedule, but this time I got it wrong … or maybe I got it right. I clocked in and reported to the ICU for my night shift to start, but I wasn’t on the schedule. Strangely enough, they had enough nurses that night. The nursing supervisor asked if I would be willing to go to the neonatal ICU (NICU) and rock a baby. Except for …
A friend of mine recently went into the hospital for a surgical operation. Afterward, she told me about a conversation she had with her doctors. Meeting with her surgeon and her anesthesiologist before surgery, this retired lifelong Sunday school teacher couldn’t resist the temptation to give them both a Bible lesson. “Let me ask you, doctors,” she inquired, “who do you think performed the first surgery?” As the doctors pondered …
Your emotions result from the way you think about things. Before you can experience (feel) any event, you must process it with your mind and give it meaning (thought). You must understand what is happening to you before you can feel it. Every time you feel sad or have intense negative emotions about something, try to identify the corresponding negative thought that you probably had just prior. By learning to …
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There exists an unspoken contract between doctors and patients. The patient tells the doctor what is wrong with as much detail as possible, and the doctor uses their knowledge and skills to make the patient feel better. However, this paradigm does not always work.
I am a jailhouse psychiatrist, working with some of the most mentally ill individuals today. Those with serious mental illness (SMI), such as schizophrenia or severe bipolar …
The United States consumes forty-six million turkeys every Thanksgiving. Have you ever wondered why? When traditions take hold in society, we start to forget why they existed in the first place. For example, the tradition of eating turkey on Thanksgiving started with a writer named Sarah Josepha Hale, who published scenic depictions of American life in New England. She subsequently campaigned for everyone to adopt her depiction of a cooked …
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As student loan forgiveness awaits a decision from the Supreme Court, the Department of Education has launched a program that can forgive student loan debt for over 40,000 Americans and ease student debt burdens for up to 3.6 million borrowers. As this news circulates, what is less discussed is how student loan debt affects doctors and everyday citizens’ health – especially those who are underrepresented minorities.
Excessive student loans are …
Your doctor will see you now. Really, now. Come on in! Forget about waiting for two months for an appointment, hours on hold, or a six-hour wait at an urgent care clinic. Your doctor can see you now; shoot them a text.
More and more primary care clinics are providing a more personal, accessible, convenient, and affordable health care option called direct primary care (DPC). This model focuses on patients rather …
“Mercy and consideration for the other man, but none for yourself, upon whom you have to keep an incessant watch.”
– Sir William Osler, MD.
Ironic, isn’t it? The physician is expected to go above and beyond, superhuman even, held to an unrealistic standard above most others, and yet, is their own worst critic. (Or was until social media, but that is another writing for another day.)
We continuously hold ourselves to that …
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Recently, a nurse practitioner responded to one of my op-eds in which I discussed the doctor-patient relationship. The nurse said:
I feel so frustrated at times, by the time constraints forced on us by using a business model of practice. In the 30-plus years I’ve been a nurse, we have moved from patient-centered care (which is the current inaccurate buzzword for the type of care we provide) to …
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