During my night shift at the emergency department, I encountered a 72-year-old decorated war veteran named Mr. Sun. Accompanied by his concerned wife, he came to address a year-long struggle with fatigue and a non-productive cough he’d been experiencing in recent weeks. Initially resistant to seeking medical attention, Mr. Sun finally gave in to his wife’s insistence.
As I entered the room to assess Mr. Sun, it was immediately apparent how …
In theory, the widespread adoption of health information technology (HIT) and integrated applications can improve patients’ access to their health information and facilitate patient-centered care. In reality, this increased reliance on patient-facing technologies and data derived from connected devices, machine learning, and artificial intelligence can widen gaps in access, create new barriers to health equity, and generate biases that influence research and clinical decision-making that negatively impact the patient experience …
Physicians are frustrated, and rightfully so, by the number of individuals and companies that do not provide direct medical care to patients yet profit off our services. Salary suppression is one of the many reasons physicians are leaving traditional medicine and seeking alternative careers. Although physicians have seen an increase in pay over the past 20 years, it has not matched the inflation rate. For example, Medicare reimbursement lags over …
January 2nd was a rough day for the sports world. People were captivated by the on-field “death” of a player. Players, coaches, fans, and staff were stunned by seeing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in real-time, maybe even for the first time. Thankfully the NFL had excellently trained teams on the sidelines prepared for these emergencies. Chest compressions were started in seconds, and spontaneous circulation returned in less than ten minutes. Damar …
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In this episode, pediatrician Wendy Schofer discusses physician appreciation. She emphasizes that appreciation is an offering of love that fulfills the psychological need for belonging and love. Wendy relates the five love languages to how physicians can …
This year’s Match Day for graduating medical students had the highest number of unfilled pediatrics residency spots in recent years. Fewer pediatricians means fewer pediatric subspecialists. Like too many of our deepest health disparities, this hurts teens the most and the current political climate may be to blame.
About 1 percent of pediatricians pursue fellowship training in adolescent medicine, a board-certified subspecialty devoted to …
In a Black Mirror-esque video I watched recently on YouTube, a young man with a persistent cough notices a booth labeled “Instant Doctor” as he’s waiting in a train station, and decides to give it a try. The somewhat pleasant robot voice immediately recognizes him and dutifully (creepily?) reads off his age, height, and weight. She then tells him he has two diagnoses: the first, a mild bronchial infection, is …
“Hispanic community makes up more than half of coronavirus cases in Southwest Michigan county” was the headline in the newspaper that caught my eye in August 2020 – that infamous year that the nation went into lockdown to prevent the spread of what was still a new and emerging virus.
It shocked me to realize that only three counties west of my Southcentral Michigan home, Latinos were …
The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have brought groundbreaking technologies that have revolutionized various industries, including health care. Two of the most promising AI innovations are Bing Copilot, powered by ChatGPT-4, and large language models (LLMs), which can potentially transform clinical practice and patient care. As the application of AI in health care becomes more prevalent in the future, it is …
It was a busy night in the emergency department, as usual. I rushed from one patient to the next, trying to keep up with the constant stream of people coming in with various ailments and injuries.
One patient, in particular, stood out to me that night. He was an older man, probably in his early 70s, who had come in complaining of severe back pain. After a thorough examination and some …
An excerpt from Huntington’s Disease Heroes: Inspiring Stories of Resilience from the HD Community.
These days as my father’s Huntington’s disease progresses and I take on more and more, I have learned how quickly being a caregiver can consume my life. Yes, he is still living two hours away, and …
Depression is a complex and multifaceted illness that affects millions of people worldwide. For a long time, the prevailing explanation for depression has been that a chemical imbalance in the brain causes it, and I, like many other clinicians, accepted this definition. However, looking back at my early years in clinical practice and comparing it to what I have witnessed and studied, the past diagnosis didn’t fully appreciate the uniqueness …
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In a grocery store recently, a friend’s young child gave a big hug to a brightly colored, meter-high plastic cartoon mascot for a well-known candy brand standing at the end of an aisle surrounded by many bags of the candy on sale.
“Aww, that’s so cute!” was the mother’s first reaction.
Then it dawned on her – it wasn’t cute at all.
It was, she realized, very effective and invasive marketing. Not only …
Childhood obesity has become a health crisis in the U.S. across all socioeconomic levels. CDC statistics from 2017 through 2020 indicate the following for children and adolescents ages two through 19:
“We need an urgent pain consult for patient Lucy Bee in room 5621. She’s a 17-year-old drug addict and is screaming and wanting morphine,” I was told. Lucy Bee is not a real patient, but a composite of patients I have cared for either when providing pain management services on our inpatient floors, or in the operating …
Wouldn’t you care to know that patient of yours who is likely to come down with a life-threatening case of ACE-Inhibitor induced angioedema? My guess is that you would, especially knowing that in health care delivery, prevention is king.
Better still, what if I tell you that with an AI-powered image analysis, you no longer have to spend agonizing hours waiting for a NightHawk CT scan report? It gets even more …
The last time I met with “The King,” I wasn’t planning on meeting with him alone. I never would. It was July 2019, and my family was flying to Europe the next day.
“The King” is the former hospital president/CEO, hired by the board in 2015. He was the former chief of pediatric surgery at a well-known children’s hospital who came along with a demand that his wife, who he often …
An excerpt from The Spine Encyclopedia: Everything You’ve Wanted to Know about Back and Neck Pain but Were Too Afraid to Ask.
As we age, our cells become less functional, and bodily tissues lose the ability to replenish and regenerate. The spine is not excluded from this process and undergoes predictable …
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