It’s time to retake the call room
For years, residents have tried valiantly to extract themselves from the hospital by physically moving out of the premises or reducing duty hours. Now it may be time to return.
Rents are rising, and in the major metropolitan areas where most residencies exist, this is being felt acutely. Salaries are generally static, but rents have risen about 7.4 percent compared to last year. Doctors come into residency with enormous …
Want to stop going through the motions and actually have the life you dreamed of? Try this.
Did you assume that your life would be magically perfect once you finished training?
I know I did.
I fully believed that once I graduated from my fellowship and became an attending, everything in my life would just fall right into place. Somehow my finances would be simple, my marriage would be great, I would be an amazing mother with well-behaved children, and things would be easy.
Wrong.
So many of us have this …
No wonder doctors feel like hamsters running on an exercise wheel to nowhere
Burnout. We define, measure, and talk about it endlessly but do little to fix it. Unchecked, it can lead to medical mistakes, career dissatisfaction, early retirement, provider suicide, and excess costs. With the recent pandemic, the public has become more aware of it, but action to fix it is still lagging.
Feeling underappreciated, feeling one’s work is meaningless, feeling powerless to make changes, and feelings of moral injury are but a …
When my patients cared for me
As my patient’s face slowly became visible on the computer screen, I smiled and waved to her. She waved back with vigor.
She was a Cuban housekeeper who arrived in Miami during the Mariel boatlift in 1980. Now in her mid-60s, she had recently been diagnosed with leukemia and endured a two-month hospitalization during which her bone marrow grudgingly entered a remission, following an onslaught of chemotherapy. She was now back …
Reversing the impact of the pandemic on childhood obesity [PODCAST]
The appendix: an ancient organ for the modern age
An excerpt from Tornado of Life: A Doctor’s Journey Through Constraints and Creativity in the ER. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2022.
The appendix is a body part with an image problem. Derived from the Latin word for “hanging on,” the term can mean a bodily outgrowth or …
9 ways international medical graduates can boost their residency match outcomes
International medical school graduates (IMGs) play an integral role in the health care system of the United States and constitute approximately one-quarter of the physician workforce. In 2022, fewer IMGs registered for Match than in 2021, with a match rate of 58.1 percent. The transition to USMLE Step 1 pass/fail, elimination of Step 2 Clinical Science, and implementation of secondary application will likely impact IMGs in their 2023 Match. Here …
Just as medicine is rooted in relationships, so too is good advising
“Well, you may think you want to be a surgeon, now that you’re young and think you can do it all, but that will change — once children are in the picture. You’ll see how hard it is to leave them and wish you could be with them all the time.”
As a young female medical student, I seriously considered the physician’s words. I imagined what it would be like to …
Hope, with a ribbon of uncertainty curling gently around it
A tall, thin, down-glancing man slumped in a chair in the corner of the exam room.
His gray-haired wife sat primly next to him.
They were here with their adult wheelchair-bound daughter.
For the past two decades, the daughter had been under their constant care at home.
A chronic progressive illness had wreaked havoc on this young woman’s body.
Her adult life had been held prisoner by an insidious neurologic disorder.
She was having a problem …
Getting an appointment with primary care is the Achilles’ heel of medicine [PODCAST]
American health care: the best of times and the worst of times
An excerpt from Healthcare Upside Down: A Critical Examination of Policy and Practice.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was …
Urging patience with patient self-advocacy
One conundrum patients face is the dichotomy of trusting our doctors whilst deep diving in web searches and seeking additional opinions. Another is when our findings and experiences do not align with our doctors or established practices and guidelines.
How would you react in the first consultation with a new patient who presented as I did: with a radiation oncologist in Houston, outcome data on three curative attempts, a graph of …
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The internet broke parenting. This pediatrician can fix it.
An excerpt from Parent Like a Pediatrician: All of the Facts, None of the Fear.
The internet broke parenting. In the “good old days,” parents followed a few basic pediatrician-approved rules—send your kid to school, give them healthy food, say “I love you”—and felt confident that they were raising their children …
Why I did not want to become a leader, and why accidentally becoming one was the best thing that happened to me
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
There are some moments in life that, when you look back years later, you see a pivot. The fork in the road you didn’t recognize at the time, that looking back, changed the trajectory of your life.
One of those moments in my life …
A doctor for LGBTQ+ health needs [PODCAST]
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As we get older and the world changes, it’s not always an easy task to say “where”
“Where does it hurt?”
As a child, I can remember this ubiquitous question being frequently asked of me. Having grown up on a farm, there was always some trouble for me to get into. A common hazard was my older sister’s 26-inch bicycle, which had no training wheels.
At age 5, if I was to be a “big kid,” I had to master the art of riding the “big” bike on our …
When medicine surrenders to the body
I still get chills thinking about the moment I decided to go to medical school. I was bored in my college physiology class, watching the minute hand on the round lecture hall clock.
There were just a few minutes remaining in the class, and students were starting to pack up. The professor, Dr. Adams, said, “I want to talk about hemorrhage before you go.” His voice was getting lost in the …
Improving communication requires tough soft skill development
If we are going to take on the challenge of improving communication and related behavior, a.k.a. “soft” skills among health care professionals, we should be realistic. As nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals, we are keenly aware of how difficult changing behavior can be. We see it daily in our patients’ efforts regarding healthy choices and lifestyles. For example, it can be hard to lose weight, exercise regularly, or …
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Who gets to go to medical school?
I knew I wanted to be a doctor when I was seven years old. I excelled in school, attended a good college, scored well on the MCAT, and was accepted into medical school just as I always knew I would be. It was only as I progressed in my career as a physician that I realized that being a white, middle-class individual had given me an advantage—I had access that …
Past Week
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The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain
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Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam
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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
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Misconceptions about food allergy safety in the skies [PODCAST]
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C. Everett Koop’s defining stand against the tobacco industry [PODCAST]
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Past 6 Months
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Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
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Doctors don’t need yoga, they need time to smoke
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What happened to real care in health care?
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The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
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How to build a culture where physicians feel valued [PODCAST]
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Flatline: Our nation is dying, and we’re ignoring the signs
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Recent Posts
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Misconceptions about food allergy safety in the skies [PODCAST]
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From rejection to resilience: my journey through emergency medicine residency
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Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies
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Why the words doctors use matter more than they think
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What my first Match Day as a program director taught me about hope
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Navigating the path from physician burnout to career balance [PODCAST]
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Past Week
-
The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain
-
Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam
-
The hidden impact of denials on health care systems
-
Why no medical malpractice firm responded to my scientific protocol
-
Misconceptions about food allergy safety in the skies [PODCAST]
-
C. Everett Koop’s defining stand against the tobacco industry [PODCAST]
-
Past 6 Months
-
Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting
-
Doctors don’t need yoga, they need time to smoke
-
What happened to real care in health care?
-
The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors
-
How to build a culture where physicians feel valued [PODCAST]
-
Flatline: Our nation is dying, and we’re ignoring the signs
-
Recent Posts
-
Misconceptions about food allergy safety in the skies [PODCAST]
-
From rejection to resilience: my journey through emergency medicine residency
-
Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies
-
Why the words doctors use matter more than they think
-
What my first Match Day as a program director taught me about hope
-
Navigating the path from physician burnout to career balance [PODCAST]
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