In 2017 at the age of 62, I retired from my position as a family nurse practitioner when the small, independently owned private practice where I had been employed for 20 years was sold to the local hospital. I had been having some odd motor symptoms that were diagnosed as akinetic-rigid Parkinson’s disease in 2015.
The stiffness and reduced fine motor coordination on my dominant left side made many common tasks, …
They’re very easy to spot. Sometimes it’s the crisp, brand-new lab coat or the shadows under their eyes. Often it’s announced in large letters on their ID badge. Or the badge is hidden, which is also a tell. If they’re trying to avoid being spotted, they’ll usually say they’re “working with” my doctor, as though I can’t figure out what that means.
Well, hello, resident doctor.
I see a lot of you …
An excerpt from Sleep Reimagined: The Fast Track to a Revitalized Life.
Stimulus control is highly useful in treating insomnia and can be considered a partner to sleep restriction because it helps maximize sleep efficiency by limiting disturbances. Stimulus control is based on the concept of conditioning and association. Its goal …
For 44 years, Iranians have been living in captivity. Since the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, Iranians are no longer willing to tolerate life under the Islamic Republic and have spearheaded the largest women’s rights movement of our century.
With the focus on the people in Iran, few have discussed the challenges faced by the Iranian diaspora in this fight for the liberty of the Iranian people. For months, major news …
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Today’s guest is Maha Al-Ghafry, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who shares her experience with clinical rounds.
As health care professionals, we know the struggle of clinical rounds, where you receive patient handoffs, pre-round on EHR, physically pre-round on patients, …
“Don’t confuse your Google search with my medical degree.”
We’ve all seen the mug and likely had a little chuckle. Maybe it has even recalled to mind a particular patient or encounter. Other than thinking of it as a snarky joke (no shade on those of you who have one, truly), I have not given it much thought until a recent patient encounter.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to …
As Physicians Week and Doctors’ Day approach, I’m getting ready for the flurry of posts and memes that get shared on social media about the appreciation being extended to us. Whether it is from our patients, colleagues, or administration, the common theme seems to be: the pizza delivery to the breakroom (getting cold while I run around hair-on-fire seeing all the patients) and the CEO emailing, “Thank You, Providers” is …
Life keeps buffeting the patient diagnosed with several chronic conditions, like continuous incoming and outgoing mammoth ocean waves flooding over one’s body, raising you high up into the air and then sucking you downward, a struggle to keep your head above the water for survival. There is no rest, true calmness, or time to catch your breath.
My time is dictated by scheduling appointments with my doctor, who then lends me …
An excerpt from The Heart of Fear: A Surgeon’s Collection of Stories on Adversity, Passion and Perseverance.
Each step is calculated.
Each step is deliberate.
Each step is taken with the goal of saving a life.
Everyone needs a hobby, but skydiving can predispose you to precarious scenarios. When you’re in a high-stress situation, your training kicks in. You do what you need to do to regain control, deploy your reserve, and fly your …
In March 2020, I was directing a federally qualified health center in rural New Mexico when the first flashover of COVID ripped through the state. In two days, the clinics transitioned from an entirely in-person model to a near-total remote model. The transformation was raw and unplanned, trialing mediocre communications platforms in real-time and stumbling through the vagaries of electronic prescribing. As we got our feet under us, unexpected upsides …
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Meet Corinne Sundar Rao, an internal medicine physician who found her passion in ballroom dancing. After 14 years of practicing medicine, she transitioned into being a full-time hospitalist but still felt like something was missing. One day, …
An excerpt from Beautiful Trauma: An Explosion, an Obsession, and a New Lease on Life.
The experience of trauma changes us. Like spilled ink, it seeps into every aspect of our being, perceptibly and imperceptibly tinting memory, perspective, identity, and beliefs, long after clinical symptoms fade. Prompted by almost any encounter …
We must confess: We both have Apple iPhones and have never read Apple’s user or licensing agreements. Have you? We assume that most of you have not read Apple’s agreements. And like most of you, we ain’t got time for that. We “agree” to the terms, unaware of what is in those documents. Is that a problem?
Right or wrong, we presume that by using Apple’s iPhone, they have access to …
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An editorial in JAMA by Donald Berwick, MD, speaks about the “existential threat of greed in U.S. health care.” He points his finger at all segments of health care, including physicians.
In my specialty of vascular medicine, I have encountered a number of physicians who blatantly and repeatedly urge their patients to undergo saphenous vein ablations even though these veins, by my examination, are completely normal. These are often patients who …
The power of Play-Doh. This sounds like such an ironic phrase considering the malleability of this childhood favorite. Between several personal trips to the local store, our clinic buying several boxes, and getting donations from one of our amazing third years who has donated books and goodies for our patients since early intern year; we ended up having a plethora of the stuff.
We needed to make room for more spring-focused …
Whenever you’re feeling sick, most people will tell you not to Google your symptoms or try to self-diagnose: That’s the quickest way to spiral into panic mode. Reading a list of possible diseases you didn’t even know existed but now are sure you have brings the hypochondriac out of even the most stoic person.
But what happens when you can search the internet for physician-level diagnoses of your aches and pains? …
Is there anyone out there not familiar with Dr. Glaucomflecken? The fictional character created by Will Flanary, a practicing ophthalmologist, has entertained many on social media. If you are not aware of him, you should be! Dr. Glaucomflecken’s laugh-out-loud satirical short videos on medicine resonate with all physicians and others in the health care industry.
Dr. Flanary’s recent attacks on social media of private equity, insurance companies, and non-competes …
For people who deal with life and death daily in our work, you would think suicide among us physicians would not be an option. Sadly, it is — and not necessarily a new reality. Let me explain.
Sometimes we agree to do something and can never quite envision where that road may lead.
Here’s an example: For several years, I had written a pedestrian medical column for a respected Midwestern newspaper. Straightforward, …
I was unsettled by an email that our graduate medical education (GME) office recently sent out to all residents at my institution “sharing a friendly reminder that parking spaces identified as ‘physician parking’ are for attending physicians only” and “residents and fellows who park in ‘physician parking spaces’ will receive a parking ticket.” I have parked next to only non-physician (including non-resident physician) staff in those spaces every day for …
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