Psychic numbing: Why we would prefer to save a single dog instead of thousands of humans
In 2002 a fire broke out on an oil tanker hundreds of miles south of Hawaii. All eight of the crew members were successfully rescued, but, as it was later realized, the captain’s dog, Hokget, was left behind. The two-year-old terrier was alone on the tanker, floating around in the Pacific Ocean.
The lost dog story made headlines, and people donated thousands of dollars to the Hawaiian Humane Society to save …
The promise of patient-centered biotechnology
An excerpt from Inside The Orphan Drug Revolution: The Promise of Patient-Centered Biotechnology.
Pre-revolutionary stirrings
Every revolution rises up against an order in need of reform. For the orphan drug revolution, that order was the pharmaceutical industry of the 1970s. Most pharma companies had been founded by entrepreneurial chemists or pharmacists decades …
The holidays can open up a range of emotions
Physician suicide rates are unacceptably high at baseline and go even higher during the holidays. The holiday increase in suicide rates is not unique to physicians, though. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), A 2021 survey showed that 3 in 5 Americans feel their mental health is negatively impacted by the holidays.
And suicide is a problem that goes beyond the …
Wisdom from 50 years a doctor [PODCAST]
Don’t make this mistake with gratitude
We hear it all the time.
Practice gratitude. Be thankful for what you have.
The evidence is clear. Being grateful does offer numerous scientifically proven benefits.
It makes sense why gratitude is good for you, from improved relationships to decreased physical pain to better sleep to increased happiness and self-esteem.
In fact, it’s one of the keys to leading an abundant life full of what you desire and deserve.
But gratitude is not just …
Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America” is upon us
For me, the cheerful musical sounds of the holiday season invariably give way to a somber song: Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America.” Dubbed the “Godfather of Rap,” Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) embraced diverse musical styles alternating between jazz, blues, soul, and hip-hop. He wasn’t known for delivering good tidings as much as he was for sermonizing and engaging in “Small Talk at …
Suicide isn’t painless for those left behind
Suicide isn’t beautiful. It’s not glamorous. It’s not Virginia Woolf, with pockets full of stones walking calmly into the water surrounded by trees and dappled sunlight with string music playing in the background as you slowly sink under the water.
Suicide is blood and vomit pouring out of your nose. It’s losing control of your bladder and bowels and soiling yourself. It’s blood all over the bathroom floor. Or, it’s bits …
When was the last time you wore a white coat?
When the COVID-19 pandemic began to dominate all aspects of health care, many of our colleagues opted to wear scrubs instead of their routine work attire and white coats. They cited concerns about personal infectious risk and not wanting to bring the virus home to their loved ones on their clothes. This reluctance aligned with research on the white coat as a nidus for infection, but it conflicted with the …
Physician contract horror stories [PODCAST]
What if we asked patients what they want?
Historically, the Canadian health care system has decided what should be done for the care of the population.
Who gets care, when and where, what is a priority, what delays are tolerable, and what degree of saturation is acceptable in a Quebec emergency room? This paternalistic approach is obsolete.
A modern service company must be interested in the needs and desires of its clientele.
Other than in the health …
Physicians: Are we still the good guys?
In the very realistic fictional world of The White Coat Diaries by Dr. Madi Sinha, a first-year internal medicine resident goes through a harsh initiation into the realities of medical training. Protagonist Norah Kapadia encounters a complication of a penile implant in an elderly patient with end-stage liver disease and dementia. Her senior resident talks her through the problem of causing hematuria as she placed a catheter through an …
The demise of primary care in America
An excerpt from Patients in Peril: The Demise of Primary Care in America.
The last 100 years have seen an astonishing drop in the percentage of American physicians who practiced primary care. In the early 1930s, 87% of private practice physicians were in general care; by the early 1960s, this percentage …
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When doctors develop [patient] portal hypertension [PODCAST]
An expert’s advice about staying in private medical practice
Most physicians are aware of our nation’s disintegration of private medical practices. Bailing out of private medical practice for financial or other reasons predicts the takeover of government-controlled employed medical practice as well as the medical profession itself—including medical school education.
One world-renowned marketing and business expert offers important advice for medical care professionals who prefer to remain independent of such medical practice restrictions while we still can do so:
A lot …
A retired physician’s medical school memories
An excerpt from Fifty Years a Doctor: The Journey of Sickness and Health, Four Plagues and the Pandemic.
President Kennedy’s assassination
One cold winter morning, all the medical students had to leave the warmth of the medical school to get to Kings County Hospital across the street for “rounding” with attendings.
We didn’t …
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The stigma of cognitive decline: Silence has a price
Have you ever experienced brain fog? It’s one thing to reach for an extra coffee or reflect on the vagaries of age, but growing research shows that subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a powerfully predictive indicator that many patients either dismiss or fail to report. About one in four people who experience SCD will have further declines – which can often be mitigated if patients report …
Primary Care 2.0: new thinking and practice redesign [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!
“When my colleagues and I visited high-performing primary care clinics across the country, we sought insights to inform a new model for providing the most efficient and high-quality care. Here’s how we’re practicing in Primary Care 2.0.”
The jobs you hold prior to medical school are important, but not for the reason you think
Most experts recommend that premed students seek medically-related jobs to gain early proficiency and support their medical school application. There is nothing like valuable hands-on experience, they say, for students to demonstrate their passion and knowledge about the field of medicine. According to the article “25 Health Care Jobs To Get Before Medical School,” written by the Indeed Editorial Team, “students who fill their resumes with volunteer work, …
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Reflecting on health and wellness: Celebrating the wins and learning from the losses
The game came down to the last seconds.
Down by three, we scored on a layup. Now a one-point game. And then, it was over. A narrow 1-point loss in the championship game for our middle school boys team.
One started crying, then another. It caught on like something infectious, and suddenly parents were tearing up as well. As one of the coaches for the team, I wondered what we could have …
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How trade wars could destroy the U.S. health care system
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The hidden bias young female physicians face every day
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How hospitals are quietly taking control of physicians
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How to advocate for your transgender child’s health care
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Doctors don’t need yoga, they need time to smoke
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Customer relationship management tools to beat physician burnout and regain practice control [PODCAST]
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Rural hospitals are vanishing—and lives are vanishing with them
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Taking a break from medicine: a physician assistant’s journey from burnout to world travel [PODCAST]
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Past Week
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
What happened to real care in health care?
-
How doctors can thrive despite declining reimbursements
-
Pope Francis dies at 88. What his care reveals about America’s failing hospitals.
-
Medical school admissions are racing toward an AI-driven disaster
-
Customer relationship management tools to beat physician burnout and regain practice control [PODCAST]
-
Past 6 Months
-
How trade wars could destroy the U.S. health care system
-
The hidden bias young female physicians face every day
-
How hospitals are quietly taking control of physicians
-
How to advocate for your transgender child’s health care
-
Doctors don’t need yoga, they need time to smoke
-
How the system hunts physicians who refuse to kneel
-
Recent Posts
-
Customer relationship management tools to beat physician burnout and regain practice control [PODCAST]
-
Rural hospitals are vanishing—and lives are vanishing with them
-
Medical gaslighting has emerged as a troubling issue for both patients and health care providers
-
Third-party litigation funding threatens access to health care
-
Fat guy in a little coat: Preventing childhood obesity
-
Taking a break from medicine: a physician assistant’s journey from burnout to world travel [PODCAST]
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