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The real story of Xylazine contamination in street fentanyl and how we can manage it

Julie Craig, MD

Meds

May 9, 2023

Have you heard the news?

“Flesh-eating ‘zombie’ drug ‘kills you from the inside out,'” headlines a CNN article.

“Tacoma market busted for selling ‘zombie’ drug,” barks out a Seattle-area news affiliate.

” Zombie drugs? Florida man stabs couple, eats dead man’s face in ‘random’ attack,” shouts a Syracuse news outlet.

Surely by now, you have heard chilling stories about …

The Kentucky Derby: factors that contribute to winning the most prestigious horse race in the world, and what medical training can learn from them

Corinne Sundar Rao, MD

Physician

May 9, 2023

The Kentucky Derby is an annual horse race held in Louisville, Kentucky, on the first Saturday in May. It is considered one of the most prestigious horse races in the world and is the first leg of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing, followed by Preakness Stakes and the Belmont stakes. At the time of this writing, Mage won the famous race in the 149th Kentucky Derby.

The Kentucky Derby has …

The AI revolution in health care: How entrepreneurs are transforming patient care with innovative solutions

Harvey Castro, MD, MBA

Tech

May 9, 2023

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought about a paradigm shift in the health care industry. According to Markets and Markets, the global AI in the health care market is projected to grow from $4.9 billion in 2020 to $45.2 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 44.9 percent during the forecast period. As health care demands …

The emotional toll of being a doctor: My story of witnessing death and coordinating care during COVID-19

Dr. Deisha Laksmitha Ayomi

Physician

May 9, 2023

When I was a medical student several years ago, I saw someone die in front of me for the first time. My classmate and I weren’t responsible for the patients; we only observed and made additional reports for our studies. The following day, we discussed the disease’s course, the medicines, prevention, and related topics. Most of the things we talked about were theoretical to help avoid future deaths like the …

Restoring professionalism in health care: How 8-hour shifts and direct payments could make a difference

Bruce L. Davidson, MD

Physician

May 9, 2023

Yes, America’s health insurance mess requires repair. Meanwhile, there’s an even more crushing burden on America’s patients and health professionals—the replacement of professionalism by greed, the replacement of genuine professional leaders with pliable greedy ones.

For a long time before the 1980s, nearly all hospital nurses worked 8-hour shifts, getting sign-off before and giving it after, the same for hospital respiratory therapists, custodians, and pharmacists. Then, in the …

How a pediatrician fought back against a manipulative CEO [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 8, 2023

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

In this episode, we speak with Karla Lester, a pediatrician and certified life and weight coach, about her experience with gaslighting in the workplace. Karla shares her story of encountering a hospital CEO who lied about outcomes …

A glimpse into the fragile balance of life and death in the ICU

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Physician

May 8, 2023

It was a calm and quiet night in the ICU during my rotation when suddenly, the piercing sound of a code blue alarm filled the air. An elderly female patient, 66 years old, had come in earlier with lung clots due to ovarian cancer. She was on the other side of the hospital, and as part of the ICU team, I was tasked along with my attending to immediately go …

AI’s transformative potential is threatened by security breaches, highlighting the need for robust cybersecurity measures

Harvey Castro, MD, MBA

Tech

May 8, 2023

As medical professionals, we recognize the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in improving diagnostic capabilities, personalizing treatments, and enhancing overall patient care. However, the increased risk of security breaches comes alongside these advancements, threatening patient privacy and intellectual property. This article highlights notable AI-based security breaches in health care organizations and underscores the importance of safeguarding sensitive information.

AI-based security breaches: a cause for concern

SingHealth data breach (2019): In an …

Breaking the stigma: Encouraging mental health help-seeking in medical trainees

Anonymous

Education

May 8, 2023

I won’t judge you for asking for help because that is how I hope you treat me.

It took me five years to accept the fact that I needed help. As I pursued athletic endeavors at the highest level in high school and college, my mind developed a twisted, compulsive mindset towards eating to control my life, navigate my cultural heritage, and succeed in my sport. For those five years, I …

Revolutionize your practice: the value-based care model that reduces physician burnout

Chandravadan Patel, MD

Physician

May 8, 2023

Nowadays, it’s clear that physician burnout is real. We know the statistics.

The American Medical Association reports that physician burnout – defined as a long-term stress reaction involving emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy toward patients, and a feeling of lower personal achievement – nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021.

Becker’s also reports that the primary care specialties – internal medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine – are among the top 5 …

The “Blue Zone” asset: This unconventional asset is found in some of the world’s healthiest portfolios

Masterworks

Finance

May 7, 2023

This article is sponsored by Masterworks, the art investment platform.

Physicians face a dilemma.

U.S. physicians make $237,000 a year on average. That’s 4x more than most Americans. Very impressive if you ask me. But despite high earners, they still rarely achieve early retirement.

In fact, physicians usually retire at 69 years old. That’s …

Rebuilding trust in the patient-physician relationship in the digital health era [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 7, 2023

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join Arti Masturzo, an internal medicine physician and health care executive, as she shares her insights on the challenges of digital health tools and their impact on the patient-physician relationship. Discover how the digital health revolution is …

It’s time to replace the 0 to 10 pain intensity scale with a better measure

Mark Sullivan, MD and Jane Ballantyne, MD

Conditions

May 7, 2023

Adapted from The Right to Pain Relief and Other Deep Roots of the Opioid Epidemic. Published by Oxford University Press in January 2023.

The 0-to-10 pain intensity scale that has become a familiar feature of clinical care had its origin in experimental psychophysics studies that investigated the relationship between noxious stimulus …

Evidence-based medicine and bias: the truth about common therapies and clinical trials

Benjamin Borokhovsky

Conditions

May 7, 2023

Evidence-based medicine is a term that attendings like to pepper into their teaching rounds, and medical students like to conspicuously incorporate into their assessment and plan. There is so much clinical trial data out there that it is impossible to stay up to date on the most recent guidelines or the newest landmark trial that all of our time goes into scrutinizing the results. However, we rarely delve into the …

Reviving the art of medical poetry

Farid Alsabeh

Physician

May 7, 2023

It’s often said that medicine is an art: that practicing it requires more than just a knowledge of theory, but a certain flair, intuition, and attention to style.

We might agree that medicine has the form of art. But what about medicine as the content of art: as the material and even the inspiration for artistic expression?

That isn’t as strange as it seems. In fact, in the Islamic …

Read more…

Reviving the art of medical poetry

How healthism and moralizing health are costing us too much [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 6, 2023

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

In this episode, we will be joined by Kristen L. Cole, an assistant professor of communication studies. Kristen shares her personal journey with Crohn’s disease and how the pressure to control her health led her to accumulate …

The miracle cure: the world’s first successful bone marrow transplant for aplastic anemia

Fred Appelbaum, MD

Conditions

May 6, 2023

An excerpt from Living Medicine: Don Thomas, Marrow Transplantation, and the Cell Therapy Revolution.

Late in the summer of 1960, Dr. Clem Finch invited Dr. Don Thomas to Seattle to give a talk about his early experience with transplantation. Clem, who had been Thomas’s hematology fellowship instructor at the Brigham in …

Physician burnout: the impact of social media on mental health and the urgent need for change

Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Amy Bissada, DO & Jen Barna, MD

Social media

May 6, 2023

Burnout is an increasingly common phenomenon affecting approximately 63 percent of physicians. The etiology is multifactorial, with excessive workloads leading to sleep deprivation and curtailed self-care. Social media is a significant contributor to burnout that we easily overlook.

Perhaps we’re looking for an escape on social media, but is more screen time what we really need?

How does social media use contribute to burnout?

Let’s face it; social media is a time vacuum. …

The medical-industrial complex: Why physicians shouldn’t expect wealth

Curtis G. Graham, MD

Finance

May 6, 2023

The gradual influence of what’s called the “medical-industrial complex” has its tentacles wrapped around every physician’s medical career to the point that any practicing physician should expect no guarantee about becoming wealthy. Even the optimistic nature we carry along with our passion for improving our life circumstances and making a welcome difference in the health care we provide over the years will become tempered to reflect the demands of our …

Finding balance: How my practice became more Amazon than Etsy

Christine Meyer, MD

Physician

May 6, 2023

The other day, I spent an excessive amount of time trying to dry some lettuce leaves for a salad. After failing to act on my thought many times, I decided I needed a salad spinner. Due to my menopause brain (attention span: zero), I grabbed my phone, opened the Amazon app, and ordered the highest-rated salad spinner.

None of this information is groundbreaking, but what was impressive was that the package …