Practicing great medicine got a lot simpler. It’s health care that’s getting in the way.
We pay more than any other nation for health care, yet we have suffered the single biggest decline in life expectancy since WWII. Something went wrong. At a time of record inflation and rising taxes, isn’t it time we stopped to ask where the money is going, what exactly we are paying for, and why?
Astonishingly, nearly half the federal budget goes to health care in one way or another. Either …
Invest in your child. Invest in their future: ESG funds and 529 plans
For parents looking to fund their child’s education, a 529 plan is an optimal way to grow savings through investments and gain significant tax breaks in the process. But as we have previously explored, investments that grow your own portfolio may be causing harm to others by supporting companies that don’t take their social or environmental impact into as much consideration as their bottom line.
In recent years, “environmental, social, …
Tips to be a more productive, less stressed physician
Why should you be more productive? Because time is money? Not only that. I prefer time is family or time is go-home-sooner.
Being more productive in medicine isn’t working more hours or faster; it means working better.
Take breaks. Doctors rarely take breaks during their workday. Yet most employees do take two 15 minutes breaks each day. Do you feel like 15 minutes is too long? Take at least five minutes per …
Batman catching babies
Whenever asked, I hesitate to tell people what I do because when a young man says: “I’m a gynecologist,” he never seems to be taken quite so seriously. “No, really, I am” – “Oh.” Instead, I opt for the more charming “I deliver babies” line. Works every time.
And why is that? What about birth and babies triggers a sense of astonishment in people? Whatever it is, it seems to magically …
How discovering trauma changed this doctor’s life [PODCAST]
Activity is good. Exercise is better.
An excerpt from Man Overboard!: A Medical Lifeline for the Aging Male.
OK, you don’t consider yourself an exerciser. It’s just not you. You hate running. You don’t have the social temperament or the body image to show up in a gym. You’re not interested in doing a Turkey Trot, Reindeer …
The White House should help students swap out dairy milk in school lunches
I have an urgent request for the White House as it is garnering support for its national nutrition strategy that was unveiled at the September 28 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health: Tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop putting students’ health at risk, and cut the red tape for them to get nondairy replacements for dairy milk in school lunches.
In the United States, …
Next of kin in the medical decision making process
Four years ago, as chairman of the hospital ethics committee, I was asked to convene an emergency meeting brought by a distraught family as medical decisions had to be made for their ill loved one. The hospital, HMO lawyers, the family, three adult children, and their mother were at the meeting.
The father had arrived at the hospital unconscious and was admitted to the intensive care unit, where medical care was …
End printed medical journals [PODCAST]
Why do smart doctors sink money into silly investments?
People who’ve done what it takes to earn a medical degree are typically pretty special. Most doctors spend reasonably, invest wisely and incubate a healthy nest egg: a recipe for a comfortable retirement. But some doctors are profligate and foolishly fall prey to hare-brained financial schemes. On the outside, they seem just like their financially savvy brethren.
But, neuroscientifically speaking, something is lurking under the surface of the silly-money cohort. Let’s …
Pediatrician and pharmacist agree: Children should be vaccinated against COVID-19
With COVID-19 vaccines now widely available for children six months and older, we join pediatricians and pharmacists across the country and urge parents to vaccinate their young children against COVID-19 as soon as possible.
Schools are open and more activities are moving indoors with the cooler weather, so now is the time to ensure your child’s vaccines are up to date. Vaccinated children are much less likely to be infected than …
My motherland is burning, but patient care can’t wait
My relationship with my cultural identity has always been a complicated one. As many children of immigrants can relate, I often felt disconnected from my parents’ country of origin in an attempt to assimilate to American life.
I was born in Manhattan, New York, and have always defined myself as a New Yorker first and an Iranian-American second. From a young age, I have watched from the periphery as Iran has …
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What physicians can do in Ukraine [PODCAST]
For a better practitioner and better outcomes, we need to start teaching this
Current medical education promotes and encourages the textbook approach to learning, while interactive patient-centered learning rarely happens. Although rote learning plays a critical role in medical education, applying what is learned deepens the understanding and application of rote-learned materials. Undergraduate students can learn with supervision from instructors and patients, so they are prepared to practice medicine with excellence.
These trainees are learning the latest available techniques but lack the experiential wisdom …
Take steps (literally) to prevent dementia
A recent study out of England found that walking just under 10,000 steps a day reduces a person’s risk of developing dementia by 50 percent. Pick up the pace to a “brisk” walk (over 40 steps per minute), and that risk goes down even further. Perhaps most strikingly, the authors found that even a low number of daily steps was associated with a reduced risk of dementia.
The walking study …
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Is Google your first responder?
An excerpt from Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health.
How many times have you found yourself with an unusual symptom or ailment and then quickly opened your phone to Google what it means? A lot of us do it! Whether we are searching for information for …
KevinMD on the Stay Off My Operating Table podcast
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!
In this special episode, KevinMD is on the other side of the microphone as he’s interviewed by cardiothoracic surgeon Philip Ovadia and patient advocate Jack Heald, originally aired on the Stay Off My Operating Table podcast. …
Primary Care 2.0: new thinking and practice redesign
A patient of mine — we’ll call her Ruby — is a 79-year-old woman from the same part of rural Tennessee as my mother. Her recent successful experiences with treatment illustrate some of the themes that my colleagues and I encountered when we undertook an 18-month practice-design-thinking process. Let’s start with Ruby’s example and then dig into Primary Care …
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America is a magnet for global STEM talent
This essay is inspired in part by my recent encounter with a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). For starters, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — or NASA for short — is an agency of the U.S. government responsible for America’s space program and aeronautics research. JPL, NASA’s research and development center located in Pasadena, California, produces spacecraft called rovers used in extra-planetary explorations.
It turns out that this …
Past Week
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The hidden impact of denials on health care systems
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Why no medical malpractice firm responded to my scientific protocol
-
A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?
-
Why it’s time for doctors to become performance coaches
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Mindful negotiation: practical strategies for physician self-advocacy [PODCAST]
-
When asking one more question can change everything
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Past 6 Months
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What happened to real care in health care?
-
Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
How to build a culture where physicians feel valued [PODCAST]
-
How the CDC’s opioid rules created a crisis for chronic pain patients
-
Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?
-
Recent Posts
-
Mindful negotiation: practical strategies for physician self-advocacy [PODCAST]
-
How one simple breakfast question can transform patient care
-
Why your emotions are your greatest compass in therapy and life
-
Patients are not waiting: What MCDA twin parents teach us about shared decision-making
-
Nurses are the backbone of medicine—and they deserve better
-
How to change the world: Start by making your bed
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Past Week
-
The hidden impact of denials on health care systems
-
Why no medical malpractice firm responded to my scientific protocol
-
A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?
-
Why it’s time for doctors to become performance coaches
-
Mindful negotiation: practical strategies for physician self-advocacy [PODCAST]
-
When asking one more question can change everything
-
Past 6 Months
-
What happened to real care in health care?
-
Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
How to build a culture where physicians feel valued [PODCAST]
-
How the CDC’s opioid rules created a crisis for chronic pain patients
-
Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?
-
Recent Posts
-
Mindful negotiation: practical strategies for physician self-advocacy [PODCAST]
-
How one simple breakfast question can transform patient care
-
Why your emotions are your greatest compass in therapy and life
-
Patients are not waiting: What MCDA twin parents teach us about shared decision-making
-
Nurses are the backbone of medicine—and they deserve better
-
How to change the world: Start by making your bed
-
