An excerpt from Narrative Medicine: The Fifth Vital Sign.
“If you don’t take a temperature, you can’t find a fever.”
— Samuel Shem, The House of God
I enrolled in a creative writing course at a local university to better understand the parameters of narrative medicine. I learned about the pillars of the narrative, such as poetry and creative nonfiction, and our class …
America expends much time, effort, and resources when people become seriously ill, bringing many face-to-face with their own mortality. For patients and their families, it is an emotional and difficult time under the best of circumstances. As a cardiologist, I participate in the decision-making that comes at this time, and it has provided me with the honor of delivering care that has allowed patients to rebound from acute illness and …
Assisted suicide is the wrong prescription
Match day. Many of you are rejoicing in the outcomes, while many of you might be experiencing these “other” emotions. They might sound like rejection, shame, hopelessness, despair, disappointment, anger, exhaustion, or self-doubt.
The wounds from this year’s match might still be fresh, and I do not want to thrust any toxic positivity on you. It’s okay if you are feeling awful right now; it’s natural. Give yourself time to process …
To the physician who didn’t match: You are not forgotten
As an anesthesiologist, I recall countless occasions when colleagues from the other side of the drape addressed me, like, “Anesthesia, did the patient receive antibiotics?” or “Anesthesia, I need more muscle relaxation here!”
Especially in my first years as a young physician full of insecurities, it intimidated me, so I never complained and only spoke up when vital.
Nowadays, I grasp the unspoken rules of the OR and can navigate the daily …
Anesthesia is not my name: Knowing each other’s name improves results in the OR
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We tackle the important topic of urinary incontinence with Sarah Boyles, a urogynecologist. Join us as we explore the often overlooked but impactful effects of urinary incontinence on individuals’ quality of life, its …
Understanding and addressing urinary incontinence [PODCAST]
In our hyperpolarized and political society, it seems everything has a political angle, including health care. I think that some of this conflict is unnecessarily but intentionally introduced by special interest groups to force a point, a change in policy, or the acceptance of societal positions that are controversial for many and not universally accepted. Examples include LGBT issues, gender changing or affirming care, abortion access, birth control, health …
Reducing political influence in health care: Building trust, transparency, and equity
As I wait for the next patient to be brought in, I start reviewing their chart. Past medical records have been received and scanned in per protocol, I see. This won’t be the first time I’ve seen his chart as he had to submit medical records and be approved before he could get an appointment to see me.
A forty-something African American male has been complaining of chronic back pain for …
Doctor charged after treating a DEA agent
Blockchain technology may revolutionize population health management. Patients and health care practitioners face the challenge of securely accessing, managing, integrating, and sharing health records. While blockchain is gaining attention in various industries, its application in health care and population health is still preliminary.
Data security and interoperability
By combining data security measures with innovative approaches to interoperability, blockchain technology offers a promising solution for overcoming the challenges inherent in traditional health care …
Blockchain technology in population health management
Imagine a day when you wake up from a perfect six hours and thirty-six minutes of restorative sleep. Overnight, a wearable device or implanted chip has been continuously monitoring and capturing a comprehensive set of your biological and physiological variables. The ingested data from the variables collected is processed through an adaptive machine learning algorithm to create a physician-directed longevity score to increase health span—the length of time a person …
The doctor’s digital twin will see you now
If only I had managed Mrs. Smith’s blood pressure better, she wouldn’t have had that car accident.
If I had made the case for a statin better, Mr. Wu would not have had the diverticulitis episode.
These types of thoughts have been with me for all of my decades of practicing medicine. Somehow, I’m supposed to blame myself for things that are less than ideal about my patients’ situations and about which …
From passion to burnout: When a doctor’s love hurts
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We sit down with Denise Reich, a patient advocate, to explore her journey of navigating the healthcare system with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). Denise shares her experiences from the initial mention of EDS during …
Navigating the health system with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome [PODCAST]
Fifteen years later and I can still see it.
I wasn’t able to go to the scene that night, but several of my colleagues did. As morning broke, a new shift of my colleagues went to the scene. And on the next morning, I did. We were there to provide medical support to the hundreds of investigators, evidence collectors, workers, and firemen who were helping with the scene. We were working …
Remembering Colgan Air Flight 3407: a medical responder’s story
It is somewhat cliché these days to talk about physician workforce shortages, but recent data highlights that the problem is getting worse. Two research publications this past year were particularly alarming.
First, in a recent analysis of internal medicine resident career plans from 2019 to 2021, only 9.4% of internal medicine residents indicated they planned to pursue a career …
Why we all need to care about the primary care physician shortage
An excerpt from Adventures of an American Medical Student.
I can still remember Ms. Osborne’s long, messy, brown hair and pale, attractive face like it was yesterday. She was young, and she presented to the Brighton Medical Center Emergency Department (ED) unconscious after an OxyContin overdose. I saw her as soon as she arrived with Brent Johnson, a young, trim, handsome MD who was wearing hunter green scrubs embroidered with …
From overdose to ICU: a doctor’s battle for a young woman’s life
Nope, nada, no gracias, non, rara—they may sound different, but they all mean the same thing: no. In our world of instant messaging, the immediate gratification society seems to have lost the ability to unplug, unwind, and say no to unnecessary demands, which inevitably causes us more inner distress than any good.
The journey into my medical career was anything but easy. It was grueling and made me question myself – …
“No” can be a complete sentence
Within 48 hours of every job posting, hundreds of applications pour in. As the hiring manager, you want to fill the position within two months, or your supervisor might cut it out of your budget. After triaging the unqualified applicants using data-driven filters and artificial intelligence tools, you still have a few hundred left. At this point, many hiring managers invite the remaining candidates to take a situational …
How situational judgment tests help medical schools evaluate applicants
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We sit down with Michael Pessman, a gerontologist, to discuss the unique risks older adults face with alcohol consumption. We’ll explore the enhanced physical and mental health benefits of participating in Dry January, …
Exploring the benefits of Dry January for older adults [PODCAST]
Those who know me well and even those who don’t are aware of my passion and commitment to the Kansas City Chiefs. As an avid fan who was born and raised in KC, I can assure everyone that there were many dark years and even decades prior to the current situation that have allowed us to live on high for the past few years. Football has been an outlet for …
Chiefs fan to gun violence advocate: How football and tragedy reshaped my mission
In the quaint New England town of Scituate, Rhode Island, with a population of 10,000, a health care revolution was brewing. Dr. Michael Fine, a passionate family physician, had moved to Scituate with his family in 1992 to serve a quiet, rural community with significant health care challenges. By 1999, though, Scituate’s residents had become very worried about the cost of health care. Two insurers packed up and left …
Kim Downey:
I recently had an enlightening conversation with Dr. Sarah Wittry. We enjoyed learning about all that we share in common!
As a physical therapist, I was delighted to hear that Dr. Wittry’s medical career began in physiatry/PM&R.
Having friends and relatives who have benefited from hospice care, I have tremendous respect for her current work in palliative medicine and hospice.
We spoke of how it has felt to each of us to …
Ditch the guilt and stress: Embrace your core values like this inspiring doctor mom
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