We are the voice of reason, the scientific experts, and the advocates for our patients

Conditions
April 15, 2022

These last two years have been extremely challenging for most health care professionals. Watching society challenge essential health and science principles that we have known to be fact has been difficult to bear. Being villainized, health care workers went from being hailed “health care heroes” to being the target of hate, violence, and disregard.

These past few years have been a year of reckoning in many ways. The COVID-19 pandemic has …

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A tale of 2 nurses

Conditions
April 15, 2022

There is no denying that we live and work in some extraordinarily trying times. Cast your eyes in the direction of any streaming news source, and another breaking story that describes the catastrophic dumpster fire of the current state of the U.S. health care industry will jump out at you.

The weight of this downward spiral, coupled with staggering workloads, makes it almost impossible for those struggling in the front lines …

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We’re losing the war. No, not that one.

Physician
April 15, 2022

In the coming months, no one can predict with certainty what will happen with the war in Ukraine. But there’s one thing we do know for sure. The United States will soon reach an unthinkable milestone: One million Americans will have died of COVID-19. Over the last month, while many people were celebrating the rollback of mask mandates and other pandemic restrictions, over 1,000 Americans continued to quietly succumb to …

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Acknowledging and mitigating unconscious bias in health care [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 14, 2022
YouTube video

“Unconscious bias in health care describes associations or attitudes that reflexively alter our perceptions, thereby unintentionally affecting behavior, interactions, and decision-making. Health care organizations need to be actively discussing this subject at the highest level to find gaps and learn where to dedicate resources for improvement, even if it …

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A physician’s personal great resignation

Physician
April 14, 2022

It’s been a year since I retired from almost 40 years as a pediatrician (most of that time as a pediatric hospitalist). What have I learned? What surprised me?

1. I have finally caught up on my sleep. I have been convinced that I still had a cumulative sleep deficit dating back to med school. After one solid year of sleeping 8-9 hours a night and waking up without an alarm …

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It’s time to focus on non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia

Conditions
April 14, 2022

Pneumonia is the deadliest of all hospital-acquired infections in the United States, costs 3 billion dollars per year and is the leading cause of new antibiotic initiation in hospitals. Hospital-acquired pneumonia is classified as either ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) or non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NVHAP). For the past 15 years, VAP has dominated our attention, resulting in the wide implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies that have …

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In defense of medical errors

Physician
April 14, 2022

I gasped at the guilty verdict that halted my indifferent scroll through the newsfeed.

In the course of her duties, a nurse who had accidentally administered the wrong drug, self-reported her mistake, and remorsefully admitted her error to a body of her peers was turned into a criminal.

If that standard was applied across the board to medical mishaps, health care as we know it would not exist. We will all be …

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Remove race from clinical guidelines [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 13, 2022
YouTube video

“We need to address the underlying preventable factors that cause more Black Americans to die of heart attacks and strokes and suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes complications than white Americans instead of focusing on non-existent biological differences. I would like to see the scientific disciplines unite to …

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The relationship between communication and burnout

Physician
April 13, 2022

Recently, colleagues asked me how I solve burnout with communication. From the tone of their voice, they thought I was in over my head, and this was never going to work. I thought, wow, this is a great opportunity for me to share.

I came into the field of burnout through bullying. I’ve been the victim, and I’ve been the bystander-more times than I can count. I’ve been a locums physician …

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COVID-19 and the Great Resignation: a catalyst, not the cause

Physician
April 13, 2022

The Great Resignation. I doubt there is a medical practice out there that has not been affected by it. And experts predict we are just at the beginning. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ early data from 2022 shows that health care is among the top three industries increasing in monthly “quit rate,” second only to accommodation and food services. 2.6 million health care workers quit their jobs from May …

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A surprising way to create safer, more efficient patient care

Conditions
April 13, 2022

For practicing physicians, inclusivity proves critical.

Not because of HR mandates. Not because it’s a good thing to do.

Inclusivity improves your patients’ care. It enables you to be a better doctor.

Rising complexity, rapid change, and treating far-flung patients mean physicians need information from all angles of care.

Physicians need to know that everyone participating in your patients’ care can tell you vital information. They must feel safe and comfortable communicating with you …

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Writing is an outlet for this physician [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 12, 2022
YouTube video

“There is something about physically putting pen to paper, that connection between your mind and your body that is just very health-inducing. And it takes time. And often we do not dedicate the time to taking care of ourselves and something as simple as writing in a journal, writing these, …

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Seen but not heard: How does the medical system value its scribes?

Physician
April 12, 2022

As an off-cycle medical student with an extended break between the completion of my M4 rotations and the conferment of my MD, I took a job as a medical scribe to keep myself active in the clinical setting (and, it must be said, provide myself with much-needed income).

I was atypical among most medical scribes, who are generally college students/graduates looking to obtain experience before applying to postgraduate medical programs, so …

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Physician burnout and a big career change

Physician
April 12, 2022

Physician burnout continues to increase as we enter into year three of the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, the Physicians Foundation reported data from a survey of 2,504 physicians conducted from May 26-June 9, 2021. In this survey, 61 percent of physicians reported experiencing burnout, an increase from 40 percent reported in the 2018 data. This burnout is often seen in those who, during their midlife, may feel what Brene …

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Medicine won’t keep you warm at night

Education
April 12, 2022

Life continues in medical school and residency. Engagements, marriages, and divorces. Becoming a parent to a child. Having a dog or cat. Love and loss. Life and death. Then there is the uniqueness and privilege of being in medical training combined with great responsibilities and pressures that set the stage for some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows.

Prior to beginning medical school, I was told by a …

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How the pandemic affected teen mental health and substance abuse [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 11, 2022
YouTube video

“Two issues drive teen substance use: drug availability and perception of risk.

Availability: Today’s teens know that obtaining substances is far too easy. For example, 70 percent of high school seniors say marijuana is either “fairly easy” or “very easy” to obtain. Seventy-seven percent say getting their hands on alcohol is …

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Mixed emotions on Doctors’ Day

Physician
April 11, 2022

So many mixed emotions as I scrolled the multiple acknowledgments on social media this recent Doctors’ Day. Although it is nice to be recognized, are we just supposed to forget the recent hostility and disrespect? Can we ever really thank those on the frontlines who risked their lives during the pandemic? The recognition comes too late for the many doctors and trainees who did not survive. How do we honor …

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The emotional aspect of surviving a lawsuit or disciplinary action

Physician
April 11, 2022

Malpractice claims and disciplinary actions are unfortunate realities for too many physicians. A 2016 survey of physicians revealed that 34 percent of them had been sued, and 16.8 percent had been sued more than once. By the time a doctor is 54 years old, there is almost a 50 percent chance that they will have been sued. Disciplinary actions are far less common, but a comprehensive review …

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International medical graduates ease the U.S. doctor shortage

Education
April 11, 2022

Thousands of young doctors just learned where they’ll be spending the next few years of their lives in residency.

A significant number of them will be U.S. citizens who completed medical school abroad. This corps of internationally educated doctors has become increasingly important to the U.S. health care system — and is tackling a disproportionate share of America’s biggest health care challenges.

The United States desperately needs doctors. According to the Association …

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Incredible true stories of pioneer patients [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 10, 2022
YouTube video

“It was probably in early 1803, as Jenner’s fame swelled and more doctors were adopting vaccination, when Bell met a farmer with a curious story. The farmer’s name was Benjamin Jesty, from the Downshay farm in a nearby village. Seeing the growing practice of vaccination, Jesty was eager to …

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