Something is wrong. You can feel it, but you cannot put your finger on it. You go through the motions daily, but your joy is gone-its soul-sucking. Your patients sense it too. They used to love coming to see you, but now they see the changes. The light has gone out of your eyes. You used to love your job, but now it feels like a burden. This is not …
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of spouting the same old worsening childhood obesity statistics, applying the same dilute and sometimes broken strategy, not getting anywhere, judging myself as a doctor, then shifting the blame to my patient and their parents, then feeling powerless and defeated.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
It’s a cycle we’re stuck in, and it’s not serving anyone, especially our patients.
I’m not going to go over the impact …
Well, I am that family physician and geriatrician who is now almost 70 years old. And I cannot believe it because, in some ways, I am still like 27 years old!
First of all, I’m very healthy, and I’m lucky that nobody in my family had colon cancer or any cancer. Most of my relatives lived into the late 80s, and my grandmother and my grand grandfather lived to the ripe …
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“As we slowly emerge from the physical withdrawal required during the pandemic, the emotional toll of this past year will become increasingly apparent. Complicated problems demand organized, financially-supported solutions. We need a mental health infrastructure bill now, …
There is something special about that childhood friend. It’s a bond that lasts a lifetime, something we can only experience fully in our formative years. My friend was Richard. We were inseparable in school growing up, then roommates in college, growing into manhood together. When it came time for medical school, I went to Dallas, and Richard to Houston, where he would start his career. We drifted apart in those …
An excerpt from Azazel’s Public House.
Pete tried to invade Tommy’s brain and force an oops moment. But the ramparts of the neurosurgeon’s mind were unassailable.
Clancy, unaware he was battling on two fronts, tried to spare any brain that had a …
There are no clear statistics, polls, or studies to know exactly how many physicians each year, or within their working lifetime, switch specialties. But with physician dissatisfaction scores steadily rising, this is becoming a very common sentiment.
First, I want to normalize and encourage everyone to practice self-compassion during this process.
I personally changed specialties early in my career and have numerous colleagues who also changed. We all profess immense happiness in …
In Australia recently, a woman successfully sued a hospital for $2.4 million for a series of misdiagnoses that left her quadriplegic. A London woman was recently misdiagnosed four times before doctors discovered she had cervical cancer.
A Canadian woman recently filed a $3.5 million lawsuit claiming she was misdiagnosed and ignored when relaying her symptoms to doctors; she could have died. A 26-year-old woman nearly died after a …
“Arriving at an acceptance of one’s mortality is a process, not an epiphany.”
– Atul Gawande
Imagine a group of old (mature) friends gathered for a “girls” weekend in balmy Florida. The friendships started in grammar school and have continued for the better part of 50 years. These women have met at least once a year for more than 25 years and shared life’s ups and downs. On this trip, one of …
The nicest patient I’ve ever met was Mr. Harris.
I first met him in the ED with his son and daughter by his side, noticing a foley bag filled with bright red blood.
He was an elderly gentleman with ALS and was brought by his children for hematuria and blood clots overnight. Never happened before, and we were all unsure of the cause. Urinalysis soon showed likely UTI, so we started antibiotics. …
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“ME/CFS is a complex multi-system illness that destroys lives (essentially killing the person yet leaving them alive). It leaves patients with unimaginable fatigue, post-exertional malaise (meaning that minor exertion makes them feel worse), cognitive deficits, cardiovascular dysfunction, …
Your smartwatch talks a lot but may not say as much as you believe with regard to health. Constant data collection from wearables claims to improve medicine at large. Is the “quantified self” the next evolution or a gimmick for patients?
Imagine your sleep and heart data beamed straight to your medical record. Your care team might notice a red flag and schedule a virtual appointment immediately. Health care wearables, meaning …
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The callous and inhumane dislocation of migrants recently perpetrated by governors of the states of Florida and Texas reminded me of an equally disdainful and appalling tactic utilized by health care workers since the 1960s: “Greyhound therapy.”
Greyhound therapy refers to attempts by health care workers and administrators to remove undesirable patients from emergency rooms, hospitals, and other types of facilities by providing them one-way tickets on a Greyhound Lines …
This year, I stopped doing surgery — giving up the knife, so to speak. It wasn’t an easy decision to make. I’ve been a surgeon for 32 years since graduating from medical school. It’s been a distinct part of who I am for most of my life.
This doesn’t mean I’ve retired. I’m still practicing in a clinic-based setting and still do procedures in the office. I just no longer operate …
An excerpt from How to Lose Weight for the Last Time: Brain-Based Solutions for Permanent Weight Loss. Copyright © 2022 by Katrina Ubell. Reprinted with permission of Balance Publishing. All rights reserved.
“I just really like food.”
“Eating at a beautiful restaurant or tasting something different and special while traveling is one …
This article is sponsored by the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience. AI-driven ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) promises to help by revolutionizing patient and provider experiences with clinical documentation that writes itself.
For decades, researchers have been working toward a vision of ambient intelligence, finding ways to harness cloud, advanced AI, and the Internet of Things to create more intelligent spaces that help …
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“The boundaries of unacceptable behavior have eroded in the past few years. Politicians, law enforcement, movie stars, health care providers, the health care system, and society, in general, are all acting badly occasionally. I’m amazed but no …
It’s not that I hate football; truly I don’t. I try hard to get into it. I scan the sports page to become familiar with names, rivalries, predictions, and opinions. I tune in to Sports Extra on Sunday nights for the weekend analysis and wrap-up. I watch the introduction to televised games for the opening excitement and colorful background of the teams. I’ve enjoyed a few episodes of Hard Knocks.
Why …
Throughout my life, I have been trained by Jesuit institutions. I have loved all of what they have prescribed – to “find God in all things,” to “care for the entire person,” to “be a woman with and for others.” But the most important pillar that I have gained from these educational institutions is to have a reflective mind – the ability to ask why and dig deeper into a …
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