Addressing health disparities to improve patient safety

Physician
February 13, 2023

A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Health disparities affecting minority and vulnerable populations are increasingly well-recognized after the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across a large number of quality metrics, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s latest National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report found that Blacks, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, …

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Beyond the physical: How hand injuries affect identity and expression [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 12, 2023
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In this episode, we’re joined by Peter T. Hetzler, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, to discuss the importance of the hand in human identity and expression. In the U.S. private sector, hand injuries were the second most …

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Gaslighting and dismissal: the consequences of invalidating patients’ concerns

Physician
February 12, 2023

Social media has really exposed the trauma caused by gaslighting, dismissal, and misogyny by medical professionals. Chronic illness groups are rife with posts recounting the poor treatment they suffered at the hands of doctors. Imagine presenting with extreme fatigue, intermittent balance problems, and tingling in your hands and, after a cursory exam, being told your symptoms are due to stress and to lose weight. Two years later, you are diagnosed …

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A look into the safety of children products following baby formula recalls

Conditions
February 12, 2023

We previously reported about the national baby formula shortage that began in February 2022 and lasted for several months, affecting countless infants, parents, and caregivers and intensifying distress amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, these supply chain disruptions were largely exacerbated by the novel coronavirus for numerous industries, including the food and infant care sectors, thereby further compounding the already precarious situation. As a result, these industry-wide shortages …

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Why Black women are dying during pregnancy and what we can do about it

Conditions
February 12, 2023

“Dr. Forna, I’m not going to die this pregnancy, am I?”

“No, ma’am. You’re not going to die this pregnancy. Not on my watch! We are going to do everything we can to keep you safe.”

I’ve had this conversation with pregnant women many times in my over 20-year career as an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB/GYN). Still, they have become more frequent in the last few years as more stories of Black women dying …

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Providing clean water to remote villages: the dialyzer filtration system

Conditions
February 12, 2023

Those of us who live in developed nations generally take for granted that we have ready access to clean water. Yet, the World Health Organization estimates that over two billion people worldwide must drink unsafe water. This problem is often greatest in remote areas of developing countries. Ingestion of water from rivers, wells, and other sources that feces have contaminated induces diarrheal …

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Opioid addiction: Understanding the risk factors with a predictive model [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 11, 2023
YouTube video

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In this episode, we’re discussing the opioid epidemic and its impact on our society. Our guest is Gary Call, a family physician, who shares the emotional and financial cost on individuals and families caused by opioid addiction …

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Patients lose when states block independent doctors

Policy
February 11, 2023

Patients win when independent doctors open shop. More choice means improved service and lower costs for everyone. Yet states often intervene to shut down health care competition.

Virginia regulators blocked Maryland-based radiologist Mark Monteferrante when he tried to expand his independent practice across state lines. Alabama regulators stopped family physician Nancy White when she tried to offer residential drug treatment at a 16-bed facility. And Iowa regulators stalled ophthalmologist Lee Birchansky …

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The ICU nurse shortage: How cost-cutting is endangering patient care

Conditions
February 11, 2023

Recently, I read an article by an ICU nurse that discussed the disturbing trend of replacing seasoned nurses with inexperienced ones in the name of cost-cutting. This issue is not limited to the ICU but is rampant in every area of nursing.

As a psychiatric nurse with 45 years of experience, 35 of which were as a board-certified psychiatric nurse, and a former mentor and preceptor, I have witnessed the …

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Surviving and thriving: the new reality for chronically ill children

Conditions
February 11, 2023

My daughter was born with cystic fibrosis (CF). CF has been a catastrophic disease, historically fatal in childhood. CF is not pretty; it affects nearly every organ system, slowly and systematically damaging them. People with CF have thick, sticky mucous, which clogs their airways, pancreatic ducts, sinuses, and intestines. This mucous causes numerous health issues.

CF has been around for a long time. In the Middle Ages, a poem warns parents, …

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Why reaching your goals won’t bring lasting happiness

Physician
February 11, 2023

It’s January, so much of social media, news, magazine articles, and the like turns to goals, goals, goals.

Having a goal for your life is like having a diagnosis for a patient.

Now you have a direction (for healing). You know what you have to do to get there (the specific treatment), you know what the obstacles might be (complications), and yet you have to keep an open mind in case you …

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Why being a perfectionist can be good for patient care [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 10, 2023
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In this episode, we welcome Scott Abramson, a neurologist with over 40 years of experience in the field. We discuss the topic of perfectionism in the medical profession, and how it can have both positive and negative …

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Breaking the glass ceiling in medicine: the struggles and strengths of female doctors

Physician
February 10, 2023

There’s some pretty good evidence out there that women physicians provide really good medical care—in some cases, better than their male counterparts. For instance, a 2017 study showed that hospitalized Medicare patients under the care of a female doctor had lower rates of 30-day mortality and readmission to the hospital than those cared for by a male doctor. A study in Canada in 2016 found that patients of female doctors …

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Health care’s future with ChatGPT: Exploring the potential of AI in medicine [BONUS PODCAST]

Podcast
February 10, 2023
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In this episode, we are joined by Harvey Castro, a physician, health care consultant, and serial entrepreneur, to discuss the exciting potential of the generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) in the field of medicine and health care. ChatGPT …

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Focused to a fault: Medical education and how it holds us hostage from living well

Education
February 10, 2023

One of the head-scratchers about American culture is that anxiety, depression, unwanted weight gain, and a soaring prevalence of lifestyle diseases clearly plague our society. Yet, the primary metric we use to measure our country’s “success,” GDP, doesn’t even account for this suffering.

Society has a variety of needs that must be met to be truly successful, not just economically productive. As Senator Robert Kennedy memorably said, “GDP measures everything …

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Only physicians can find the balance between tradition and active disruption

Physician
February 10, 2023

It is clear to most of us who practice medicine that the medical system is at a crossroads unlike any other in recent history, between competing crises of uncontrolled medical costs, escalating administrative burdens, consolidation and employment of physician practices, burnout, and the rapid development and entrance of new, largely untested technologies. I am sure that I am not alone as a physician who wonders what will the medical system …

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Doctors and dating: the challenges of balancing a demanding career and personal life

Physician
February 10, 2023

The word “career” has two meanings. A career in medicine fulfills both meanings quite neatly. In the traditional sense, it can be defined as an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life. On the other hand, it can mean moving swiftly and in an uncontrolled way. As in, “Her car careered across the road and into a ditch.”

Being a physician is a blur of late nights, cold …

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How female physicians are changing the game for women entrepreneurs [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 9, 2023
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In this episode, we have Samantha Lai, a medical student as our guest. She will discuss the disparity in venture capital investment for startups led by women, and how this gap can be narrowed by encouraging female …

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The unexpected gift of friendship in trying times

Conditions
February 9, 2023

I spotted her on the opposite sidewalk, standing right next to the idling police cruiser. Petite. Brunette. Late 80s and leaning over her red walker as she stared, transfixed, as the EMTs eased her husband into the back of the ambulance.

A few minutes earlier, one of the many sidewalk onlookers had explained: “Poor old man was just crossing the street. Someone said he’d just gone to buy a bagel for …

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Why the name “emergency medicine” is no longer adequate: a call for change

Physician
February 9, 2023

I am an emergency physician in training. It’s a thrilling and rewarding job learning to treat the severely ill and injured. But it is also a rare clinical shift when I don’t treat patients with life-limiting alcohol and drug addiction, people struggling with homelessness, those whose behavior does not allow them to safely be in a shelter with others, undocumented immigrants with nowhere else to turn for aid, uninsured patients …

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