Nearly half of all Americans have high blood pressure, but hypertension disproportionately affects Black Americans, with 56 percent of this population affected. The disparity is especially stark for stage II hypertension, which affects 42.1 percent of Black Americans compared with 28.7 percent of white Americans. “In the United States, at any decade of life, blacks have a higher prevalence of hypertension than that of …
We all know that life has its ups and downs.
And sometimes life gets really messy — and there are days and times that really suck! (No toxic positivity here.)
But we’re all just trying our best with what we have at that moment in time. (Don’t forget to give yourself some credit!)
That being said, there are also some habits that you may be (unconsciously) doing that are making …
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In this episode, we welcome Maria Xiang, a pediatric neurologist, join us to share her personal journey and insights on how to remain emotionally present in the midst of life’s challenges.
Maria opens up about how she believed that virtue and self-sacrifice were her protection, leading her to overwork and overprepare without considering her own …
Residency applicants, especially today, come from diverse backgrounds, including various careers, SESs, gap years, and geographic location. Despite an increase in applicants from diverse backgrounds, the application process may still perpetuate inequities for students and presents operational challenges for reviewing committees. Many of these intrinsic challenges to the application process have been compounded by shifting incentives inspired by changes to the Step 1 exam switching to a pass/fail format.
In light …
In a broad, ironic sense, the relationship between privileged humans and the marginalized wilderness has shifted over time. As humanity evolved and overcame its previous disadvantages, people began to consider the possibility of limiting human population growth to protect the environment. However, with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), it seems that privileged humanity may eventually become marginalized itself. This raises questions about whether AI should be restricted or …
Usually, patients remain unaware of the demands health care technology makes on the time and attention of physicians. The patient may sense the doctor is always rushing and perhaps not spending as much time with them as they would like, but they don’t realize that the computerization of the medical office is part of the reason why.
Health care providers, for their part, may feel the reliance on computer platforms has …
I saw a patient recently with a new brain tumor. She came with an internet search that suggested she had five years to live. I cannot beat that predictive confidence. The best I could do was to poke holes in the assumptions that servers and algorithms had made, to question the arc of the future, and finally to tell her that the tumor was small, likely benign, with minimal effect …
With the booming economy of predatory publishing in medicine, it is time to rethink what constitutes peer review and how peers are being standardized.
Perhaps with the absence of standardization for anonymous peers, manuscripts should undergo a pre-publication trial solely by editors (judges) rather than awaiting trial by peers (juries) unless the recruitment of editors is not standardized as well.
By suggesting peer reviewers at the time of manuscript submissions, authors might …
I treat at the dental school in my community, Louisville, Kentucky. I have been a patient there for more than 30 years, so I have had many soon-to-be licensed dentists and dental hygienists look at my teeth. I have never had a bad experience or a clunker as a student in all those years.
Students come from everywhere in America and beyond. Recently, I had one from Afghanistan, another from Syria, …
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Join us on this episode as we welcome Arnold Eiser, an internal medicine physician, as he shares his insights on Alzheimer’s disease. Arnold believes that Alzheimer’s may be largely preventable, despite conventional wisdom suggesting otherwise. He argues …
Premedical students are more stressed out and burned out than ever. It’s easy to see why: pre-med courses, medical school admissions committee expectations, and application process and cost are daunting and, in their current iteration, often harmful to students and society.
I am an emergency medicine and internal medicine physician at public and private teaching hospitals and direct and teach undergraduate courses at an affiliated university. I mentor/advise pre-med (particularly …
The world of cinema has always been a platform for creative minds to explore and express ideas about the future. Movies, especially those in the science fiction genre, have a unique ability to inspire innovation and predict future technologies. The intriguing portrayal of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technology in films often encourages researchers to transform these visions into reality. This article …
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March was Endometriosis Awareness Month, and my journey with the disease involved a medical error. The apology I received restored trust in my care, a pivotal moment I hope can occur between more patients and physicians.
Medical error disclosure to patients, where a medical professional reports and explains a medical mistake to a patient, is encouraged by the Joint Commission …
As a therapist and physician spouse who works with physicians and physician couples, I’ve seen the excitement and difficulty of exiting medical training and becoming an attending. The shift is a celebratory culmination of the physician’s hard work and a jarring transition with its unique challenges. Here are six things a new attending can do to recover from their residency experience and build a thriving next chapter.
1. Process …
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Join us with guest Kimberly Jackson-Bekemeier, a family physician with a personal story of managing Type 1 diabetes amidst the pandemic. Kimberly shares her journey of struggling with the diagnosis, feeling lost and alone, until she discovered …
The purpose of the serious illness conversation is to offer patients a clear choice between treating and not treating an incurable disease like liver cancer. The goal is to give the person permission to alleviate pain and suffering. The individual might decide to be treated as a patient or honored as a person if given this option near the end of life.
A non-serious illness conversation ends with the patient wishing …
As a cancer physician, the amount of data I obtain on my patients is ever-increasing, along with options for cancer therapies. This is, as the saying goes, a good problem to have, but the amount of data management oncologists must do after hours (because there isn’t enough time in the clinic day) to keep up with the deluge of input contributes to burnout.
Many things keep oncologists up at night, …
For the last century, no medical school in the U.S. has ever offered or provided business education to any medical students. Check it out yourself. Then consider, that over 95 percent of graduating physicians are business ignorant, after never being informed while in medical school about the substantial value that a business education provides to any physician, especially those in private medical practice. Why would that be?
That’s around 22,000 medical …
My hands were wet with warm soapy water as I washed the dinner pots and dishes. My mind wondered into autopilot, as it tends to do when I am doing my chores. I find washing dishes so mundane, so simple, so irritatingly boring. I begin the process grudgingly. After a few minutes, my thoughts start to change. I notice a certain peace and tranquility that comes from the process of …
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