I’m covering the practice of a “Dr. Feel Good”

Physician
March 9, 2022

Every now and then, a physician in a group practice or clinic setting disappears abruptly. Sometimes this is due to illness or a family problem; occasionally, the doctor has encountered a professional difficulty of one sort or another that precludes them from continuing to practice. The abruptly disappearing physician’s patients must be cared for by covering colleagues. This is especially important for patients who are being treated with controlled substances …

Read more…

Eating disorders thrive in secrecy, so let’s talk about it [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 8, 2022
YouTube video

“I was diagnosed over 20 years ago, and looking back, I feel privileged that I did meet the stereotype for anorexia and be forced into treatment. However, along the way, I have gained insight that people of all bodies share my struggles. And the use of weight/BMI to determine whether …

Read more…

The missing doctors’ goodbyes

Physician
March 8, 2022

There is a particular pang of regret I get when I think about the patients who I have failed to say goodbye to.

By this, I mean when a physician leaves a group or practice, they are often prevented from sharing their next destination. Like most young physicians, I had left my first employer within five years and was barred from sharing my next job details. I had learned in training …

Read more…

Why always being positive might be the worst thing for physicians to do

Physician
March 8, 2022

During the current COVID-19 pandemic and with staffing shortages, you’ve probably heard the phrase “stay positive.”

Perhaps this message comes from well-intended institutional leadership, mentors, colleagues, family members, friends or even yourself.

On the surface, the mantra of “staying positive” sounds appealing. Of course, I want to be positive for my family, patients, colleagues, learners, or people whom I lead, right? But what does “staying positive” really mean? And what might be …

Read more…

What the Friday 5 p.m. consult says about your priorities

Physician
March 8, 2022

Everyone dreads the Friday 5 p.m. consult.

As a physician-in-training, I had more than one of those. But having young kids waiting to be picked up from daycare made that decision tougher.

In one particularly memorable event, I left work, picked up my daughter from daycare, and headed to catch the commuter train when I received the consult. In those days, bringing your infant with you to work would have been deemed unprofessional. …

Read more…

An epidemiologist talks about the “next” COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions
March 8, 2022

An interview with Rich DiPentima, MPH, former chief of communicable disease epidemiology at the New Hampshire Division of Public Health.

Rosenberg: As the former chief of communicable disease epidemiology at the New Hampshire Division of Public Health and deputy public health director in Manchester, NH, you wrote an op-ed a few months ago that compared COVID-19 with previous pandemics. Can you elaborate?

Dipentima: With smallpox, the only reservoir was …

Read more…

Tax planning tips for physicians

Sponsored
March 7, 2022
YouTube video

This article is sponsored by Wall Street Alliance Group, specializing in physician financial planning.

Often, physicians only give minimal attention to their financial futures, but potential federal changes could make tax planning even more important. The proposed infrastructure …

Read more…

The latest plague of the pandemic: a smartphone app

Physician
March 7, 2022

Just as we begin to exit the latest surge of the global COVID-19 pandemic another challenge to health care is appearing—the efforts to combat physician burnout.

One example of a proposed solution is the Clinician Experience Project, which is now marketed to improve health care organizations’ patient satisfaction scores. In the midst of the worst global pandemic in 100 years, it is widely recognized that physician burnout is a widespread problem. …

Read more…

When it comes to diet culture, it’s time to end the abuse

Conditions
March 7, 2022

When you hear someone talk about a relationship that is oppressive, shameful, controlling, and detrimental to the person’s physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing: How would you define the relationship? Would you want the person to stay?

If you heard someone say that their relationship made them isolated, depressed, disconnected: Would you encourage them to stay?

This is the type of relationship people are often pushed into when subject to weight biases …

Read more…

3 ways interoperability will improve health care

Tech
March 7, 2022

In health information technology circles, interoperability has become quite the buzzword. A Google search for “Interoperability in Healthcare” yielded 28 million results. Given its pervasiveness, it’s not surprising that the precise meaning of the term is often obscured. The 21st Century Cures Act defined three key components of interoperability: “(A)… the secure exchange of electronic health information with, and use of electronic health information from, other health …

Read more…

Why health care delivery is an exceptionally different industry [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 6, 2022
YouTube video

“The business of health care delivery differs markedly from other consumer and service industries in many ways. First and foremost, the economics differ. Specifically, the payers of medical care are often different from the customers, the government and third-party insurers are the primary payers, demand is inelastic, quality metrics are …

Read more…

Selectively sharing genetic information in the future

Conditions
March 6, 2022

Communicating with relatives that they may share a gene variant that could cause disease is problematic. Maybe you do not want to share that information with other relatives. Maybe other relatives do not want to know about such information.

Examples of such gene variants are BRCA1 and BRCA2 that predispose women to breast and ovarian cancer and men for some forms of cancer.

Medical practice may make more use …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

Why we should celebrate the Great Resignation [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 5, 2022
YouTube video

“I see lamenting the Great Resignation. I celebrate it. It’s not so much about what people are leaving – but where are they going? What have they empowered themselves to become?

The thought, ‘There has to be something more,’ has been pondered and fleshed out. We are stretching our wings, …

Read more…

Why air pollution is making us infertile

Conditions
March 5, 2022

The fertility rate in the United States, and globally, has been on a steady decline. This is the sixth consecutive year that there has been a reduction in the fertility rate, which has decreased by an average of 2 percent. Numerous factors contribute to the global decline in fertility, such as economic instability, increased educational attainment among women, delaying marriage, and the decrease in …

Read more…

How to cope with pandemic fatigue

Physician
March 5, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has been raging in the United States for over two years. Health care workers across the country have been chronically pushed to their limits as we navigate difficult situations on a daily basis. The advent of the COVID-19 vaccine, although a powerful tool in our crusade against the pandemic, has created a new branch of emotions for health care workers towards unvaccinated patients or those with vaccine …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

Listening to the doctor’s heart

Conditions
March 5, 2022

I’ve had doctors listen to my heart many times in my life. Recent work I did in Pakistan as an anthropologist let me listen to theirs.

A few months ago, I embarked on an ethnographic study to understand what health care professionals saw as the psychosocial needs of pediatric patients. This involved conversations with several doctors in Pakistan, who had volunteered to share their views about pediatric patient care. As I …

Read more…

Digital apps and sustaining mental health [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 4, 2022
YouTube video

“Digital mental health apps have increased access to mental health care for people around the world. You can find services that fit your specific needs, often on a 24/7/365 basis, so if you need support in the middle of the night, it’s there. Digital apps can include resource libraries, …

Read more…

Human nature will help patients better than any algorithm or AI

Tech
March 4, 2022

Tapping into the mindset of one of the most villainous cinematic computers, the HAL 9000 of 2001 A Space Odyssey, may provide introspection to save us from the same paranoid meltdown that led HAL (spoiler alert) to embark on a murderous rampage. Homicidal activity should not be a lurking risk in any of us, but burnout is.

Briefly, in case you are unfamiliar with Stanly Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s sci-fi …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

Am I a doctor or a contingency plan?

Physician
March 4, 2022

Before COVID-19, meal planning and grocery shopping were the most time-consuming tasks of my life as a physician and mother of three young children. Now, meal planning is an indulgence compared to “COVID contingency planning” — the taxing brainwork of imagining multiple possible scenarios and following them through to the end with every iteration and its possible consequence accounted for. Add to this the need to insert updated but easy-to-misinterpret …

Read more…

546
pages