Nurse’s heart-wrenching encounter with newborn going through withdrawal
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 …
The impact of religious-spiritual values on individual lives
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 …
The link between thoughts and emotions: How to change your feelings by changing your thinking
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 …
The unspoken contract between doctors and patients: Navigating mental illness in the jail setting
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 …
Questioning medical traditions for the sake of patient care
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 …
Balancing patient care and bureaucracy [PODCAST]
Student loan forgiveness: a key step in achieving health equity for minority physicians and patients
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 …
Direct primary care: more access, more savings, more care
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 …
Doctors struggle with unrealistic expectations and lack of self-care, leading to a lack of mercy towards colleagues
“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 …
The decline of whole-person treatment in modern medicine
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 …
Creating a trauma-informed society: the role of government policy in reducing adverse childhood experiences [PODCAST]
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In this episode, we speak with Ariane Marie-Mitchell, a preventive medicine physician who discusses the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health and development. She discusses the challenges of using a clinical tool to diagnose patients …
A physician’s story of survival: the importance of seeking help
“Remember, today you could be standing next to someone trying their best not to fall apart. So whatever you do today, do it with kindness in your heart.” – Unknown
Today, I want to talk personally from the perspective of a Black, female, physician. I have a confession, I struggle with setting boundaries. I did not know how detrimental this challenge was until I started studying it more deeply. Did you …
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A mundane ultrasound? The emotional weight of diagnostic tests.
The word mundane is defined as an occurrence that is very ordinary and, therefore, not interesting. However, what may be mundane for one may be monumental for another, especially if one’s health is in question.
An ultrasound provides needed information to trained medical personnel for the evaluation of the health status of an individual. In many situations, it is a means to alert the physician to a potential problem situation for …
The abusive surgeon and the sleep-deprived intern: a novel
An excerpt from Doctor Zhulik.
Christmas Eve
“You know, you’re the worst f*cking intern I have ever seen.”
“I don’t know why the hell you’re even trying to become a surgeon, Appleby. You have the manual dexterity of a chimpanzee.” A heavy man, Bernstein’s belly burst out of the gown, threatening to push …
The medical school selection process may be more crucial for shaping the future physician workforce
Every year, thousands of applicants in the United States register for the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Many graduate medical education (GME) programs receive thousands of applications that are reviewed by recruitment teams with fewer than ten faculty members. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of applications for GME programs and an overwhelming number of interviews for ERAS applicants, even though only a few hundred …
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Healing hearts: the power of authentic connection in medicine [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!
In this episode, we speak with Elizabeth LaRusso, a psychiatrist who shares her experiences and insights on the importance of cultivating meaningful connections and holding space for others. She discusses the challenges of learning to hold space …
How to recognize and stop gaslighting in your relationships
An excerpt from The Gaslight Effect Recovery Guide: Your Personal Journey Toward Healing from Emotional Abuse.
Gaslighting is insidiously pervasive in today’s culture. We are inundated by an onslaught of news and information that we’re aware might not be accurate. In such a climate, we are presented with more occasions to …
Saying goodbye: the tragic impact of COVID-19 on families
“No, no, no! I’m having a nightmare!” She shrieked through the phone. I couldn’t bear to hear it as words fell clumsily out of my mouth. “Your husband couldn’t breathe on his own. We had to put him on a ventilator. I’m so sorry.”
I was apologizing already. I’m sure she knew that it wasn’t a good sign when a physician opened with an apology. “What does that mean?” she stuttered. …
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A couple’s journey with a rare neurodegenerative disorder
It was in 2012 that I started to realize that my wife Jennifer’s memory lapses were a significant sign to be taken seriously. That insight set us on a four-year journey, during which we engaged four neurologists in our quest for an answer. At last, Dr. Brent Fogel at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA diagnosed Jennifer with adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD), an ultra-rare, neurodegenerative disorder characterized …
Past Week
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What’s driving medical students away from primary care?
-
A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how
-
Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check
-
The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?
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A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?
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Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]
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Past 6 Months
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What’s driving medical students away from primary care?
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
-
What happened to real care in health care?
-
Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?
-
The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain
-
Recent Posts
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Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]
-
AI in mental health: a new frontier for therapy and support
-
What prostate cancer taught this physician about being a patient
-
Why fearing AI is really about fearing ourselves
-
The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you
-
Why great patient outcomes don’t protect female doctors from burnout [PODCAST]
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Past Week
-
What’s driving medical students away from primary care?
-
A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how
-
Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check
-
The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?
-
A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?
-
Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]
-
Past 6 Months
-
What’s driving medical students away from primary care?
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
-
What happened to real care in health care?
-
Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?
-
The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain
-
Recent Posts
-
Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]
-
AI in mental health: a new frontier for therapy and support
-
What prostate cancer taught this physician about being a patient
-
Why fearing AI is really about fearing ourselves
-
The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you
-
Why great patient outcomes don’t protect female doctors from burnout [PODCAST]
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