How every doctor should address a patient’s pain
From medical school to residency, I’ve worked with colleagues who don’t prescribe pain medications for their patients who truly need them. Or they are just very hesitant about doing so. Some simply don’t believe in them. Others fear the legal implications like being named to a med mal or wrongful death lawsuit. And several avoid pain meds, specifically opioids, like the plague because of possible addiction risk even when their …
Academic medicine on life support: a letter to a newly appointed CEO of a leading academic medical institution
Congratulations on our leading academic medical institution (LAMI) yet again making it to the top ten list of the U.S. News & World Report!
You have taken the reins in perilous times (globally and domestically), and what you do and what you stand for will determine if this great hospital will not just survive but survive with its brand and reputation intact. Getting hired as a physician who grew up in …
Trauma and burnout among frontline health care workers
Thinking back to 2020, concerning the emergence of COVID-19 and the first hard lockdowns all over the world. Individuals from all walks of life were frightened, locking themselves in their homes for fear of being infected. Yet, frontline providers and health care workers had to carry on with their daily jobs. Were they less scared than the nonmedical layman or immune to the virus? Unfortunately, they weren’t. They were just …
Are you ready to hear the truths about perfectionism? [PODCAST]
How doctors can regain control of their software
I spent a year as a UCSF postdoc with the leaked tobacco documents. And this article is taken directly from the tobacco-control playbook. In the tobacco wars, we learned that: when a disease is caused by a for-profit industry, the only successful approach is regulation first, followed by treatment.
Here is exactly how and why doctors should regulate EHR and regain control of their cognitive …
I didn’t know her name until it was over
I didn’t know her name until it was over, much too late. What I knew was she was thirteen and that on this winter day, someone in her family had been pulling her behind their car on a sled. No doubt laughing and looking in the rear-view mirror, the person driving had whipsawed around a corner, and the young girl — probably screaming (fear? delight?) — held onto the sled …
A pervasive culture of time constraints in health care
Picture this. A patient in a hospital or rehab facility has just finished exercising with therapy. He is thirsty, and he thinks he might as well ask for a snack now because he will be hungry in 30 minutes. His therapist sets him up in his wheelchair (brakes locked), tray table with all necessities positioned in front of him, with his call bell within reach. As she approaches the door …
Preserving humanity in the ICU [PODCAST]
Our Shakespearean love affair with BMI
I’m standing outside the exam room, reviewing Marcus, my 16-year-old patient’s growth chart, specifically his BMI. It’s up again, and my heart sinks. I feel that all too common rush of frustration and disappointment and, “Why am I here and what is the point?”
“Am I just here to document weight gain in my patients?”
Marcus has been coming to my pediatric weight management clinic for over two years and has high …
Breast implant illness: It’s not all in your head
“It’s just part of getting older.”
“Welcome to being a woman.”
“I hear this all the time from women. You just need to learn to deal with it.”
“Here’s a pill. See you in six months.”
“I have run all the labs I can think of. They are all normal. There’s nothing wrong. I’m sure it’s just stress.”
“It’s probably in your head.”
“There’s nothing I can do for you.”
Every doctor visit was the same. Each …
My high school was harder than my first year of medical school
I am a second-year medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. In 2018, I graduated from Westwood High School in Austin, Texas. My experience at Westwood was harder than my first year of medical school at UTMB. I wrote this piece to provide some context to students like myself who struggled or are struggling with public school in Texas.
When I was 17 years old, …
What a lifetime of gaslighting by other doctors feels like [PODCAST]
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“Ehlers-Danlos syndrome patients take an average of 10 years to be diagnosed.
In that time, the pain from microtrauma and joint instability can become unbearable. “Just exercising more” can backfire, causing injury and disability and creating a cycle of added …
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Misaligned expectations lead to conflict, burnout, and disillusioned physician leaders
Would you expect the chef at a restaurant to be told that they are not only required to prepare the food in the kitchen but also deliver it to each of the tables and manage the billing? What about sorting out the restaurant’s finances or understanding the number of patrons that need to flow through per night to optimize income? If this sounds unreasonable, how did we end up asking …
When can physicians start spending money?
You may never have created a budget. Not everyone does. For many of us in medicine, our saving so completely dwarfs our spending that we’ve never needed to use a budget. We just wing it. Why do some physicians spend so little?
Spending money is hard for many people, including physicians. After years of frugality in education and training, then funneling money into investments, planning for the future, building life for …
When a hospital unexpectedly closes
An excerpt from The Evening Hero.
This was apparently not to be a Yungman-only meeting. It was in their conference room, same one where had their monthly morbidity and mortality conferences, and it was packed with doctors. In fact, there was just one chair open, and Yungmans best friend Ken the …
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A caregiver’s love story [PODCAST]
5 things I would never do as an allergy and immune system expert
Jumping on the recent TikTok trend of medical professionals sharing the things they would never do given their knowledge and expertise, I am sharing the five things I would never do as a board-certified allergist-immunologist.
1. I would never rely on a Primatene mist inhaler to treat my asthma or breathing symptoms alone. Primatene mist is a controversial over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler that can be used for mild intermittent asthma. This inhaler …
Breaking the vicious cycle of medical malpractice lawsuits
Lawsuits are conventional in medical practice.
An unhappy patient hires a malpractice attorney, who hires a medical expert, who interprets the standards of care and generalizes a departure from the standards of care and proximate cause. The preponderance of evidence is 50% certainty plus an ill-defined scintilla, which needs to be only 0.01% to be good enough.
The lawyer sues the doctor, who notifies the malpractice carrier, hires a defense counsel, and …
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Learn to round on yourself
I always think of the beginning of July as the New Year in medicine. It’s when medical students become interns, interns become residents, and residents become newly minted attendings. With each change is an increase in responsibility.
I remember paying even more attention to the history and physical each time I crossed that threshold. With an increased sense of purpose and responsibility. This was true in the office and during admissions …
Past Week
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What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab
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How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight
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How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine
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Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure
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Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor
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Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care
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Past 6 Months
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Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients
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How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care
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What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab
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How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship
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The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you
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The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care
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Why male fertility needs to be part of every health conversation
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Improving patient encounters: time-saving strategies for physicians [PODCAST]
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Past Week
-
What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab
-
How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight
-
How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine
-
Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure
-
Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor
-
Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care
-
Past 6 Months
-
Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients
-
How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care
-
What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab
-
How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship
-
The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you
-
The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care
-
Recent Posts
-
Inside human trafficking: a guide to recognizing and preventing it [PODCAST]
-
Earwax could hold secrets to cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease
-
Why male fertility needs to be part of every health conversation
-
Why health care must adapt to meet the needs of older adults with disabilities
-
How doctors took back control from hospital executives
-
Improving patient encounters: time-saving strategies for physicians [PODCAST]
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