For me, the cheerful musical sounds of the holiday season invariably give way to a somber song: Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America.” Dubbed the “Godfather of Rap,” Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) embraced diverse musical styles alternating between jazz, blues, soul, and hip-hop. He wasn’t known for delivering good tidings as much as he was for sermonizing and engaging in “Small Talk at …
Suicide isn’t beautiful. It’s not glamorous. It’s not Virginia Woolf, with pockets full of stones walking calmly into the water surrounded by trees and dappled sunlight with string music playing in the background as you slowly sink under the water.
Suicide is blood and vomit pouring out of your nose. It’s losing control of your bladder and bowels and soiling yourself. It’s blood all over the bathroom floor. Or, it’s bits …
When the COVID-19 pandemic began to dominate all aspects of health care, many of our colleagues opted to wear scrubs instead of their routine work attire and white coats. They cited concerns about personal infectious risk and not wanting to bring the virus home to their loved ones on their clothes. This reluctance aligned with research on the white coat as a nidus for infection, but it conflicted with the …
Historically, the Canadian health care system has decided what should be done for the care of the population.
Who gets care, when and where, what is a priority, what delays are tolerable, and what degree of saturation is acceptable in a Quebec emergency room? This paternalistic approach is obsolete.
A modern service company must be interested in the needs and desires of its clientele.
Other than in the health …
In the very realistic fictional world of The White Coat Diaries by Dr. Madi Sinha, a first-year internal medicine resident goes through a harsh initiation into the realities of medical training. Protagonist Norah Kapadia encounters a complication of a penile implant in an elderly patient with end-stage liver disease and dementia. Her senior resident talks her through the problem of causing hematuria as she placed a catheter through an …
An excerpt from Patients in Peril: The Demise of Primary Care in America.
The last 100 years have seen an astonishing drop in the percentage of American physicians who practiced primary care. In the early 1930s, 87% of private practice physicians were in general care; by the early 1960s, this percentage …
Most physicians are aware of our nation’s disintegration of private medical practices. Bailing out of private medical practice for financial or other reasons predicts the takeover of government-controlled employed medical practice as well as the medical profession itself—including medical school education.
One world-renowned marketing and business expert offers important advice for medical care professionals who prefer to remain independent of such medical practice restrictions while we still can do so:
A lot …
An excerpt from Fifty Years a Doctor: The Journey of Sickness and Health, Four Plagues and the Pandemic.
President Kennedy’s assassination
One cold winter morning, all the medical students had to leave the warmth of the medical school to get to Kings County Hospital across the street for “rounding” with attendings.
We didn’t …
Have you ever experienced brain fog? It’s one thing to reach for an extra coffee or reflect on the vagaries of age, but growing research shows that subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a powerfully predictive indicator that many patients either dismiss or fail to report. About one in four people who experience SCD will have further declines – which can often be mitigated if patients report …
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“When my colleagues and I visited high-performing primary care clinics across the country, we sought insights to inform a new model for providing the most efficient and high-quality care. Here’s how we’re practicing in Primary Care 2.0.”
Most experts recommend that premed students seek medically-related jobs to gain early proficiency and support their medical school application. There is nothing like valuable hands-on experience, they say, for students to demonstrate their passion and knowledge about the field of medicine. According to the article “25 Health Care Jobs To Get Before Medical School,” written by the Indeed Editorial Team, “students who fill their resumes with volunteer work, …
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The game came down to the last seconds.
Down by three, we scored on a layup. Now a one-point game. And then, it was over. A narrow 1-point loss in the championship game for our middle school boys team.
One started crying, then another. It caught on like something infectious, and suddenly parents were tearing up as well. As one of the coaches for the team, I wondered what we could have …
“Fentanyl Vaccine a Potential ‘Game Changer’ for Opioid Crisis,” declares a Medscape headline.
“Fentanyl Vaccine Delivers Promising Results in Trial,” reports an industry website.
“A Vaccine Against Deadly Fentanyl Might Be Near,” promises US News & World Report.
Only the fourth headline I encounter puts the news into proper perspective: “New Fentanyl Vaccine …
Dear residents:
I heard the amazing news that each of you matched today. Congratulations! That is huge. You will be outstanding subspecialists!
The best part is that now you can take a deep breath and relax. The stress is over. Hopefully, you matched at your first choice, but please know that if you didn’t, it will be OK. I know the feeling. Although I was lucky to get my first choice for …
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“Doctors with mental illness don’t need more suicide awareness — we’re aware. And we don’t need confidential treatment opportunities. What we need is assurance from all invested parties — our employers, credentialing bodies, and licensing officials — …
“Holly, we’re really worried about you. You’ve been sleeping for days. Let us take you to the school clinic.”
I looked up at a figure in the bedroom door surrounded by a light that hurt my eyes. It was my college roommate, a sweet girl from North Carolina who had put up with my shit for most of our senior year. I wanted to bounce up and smile, to jump into …
She was 82 years old — sweet, frail, and maybe four feet eight inches tall.
She had many beloved children, grandchildren, and even a few great-grandchildren
They all grew up knowing that family was their core — their base, their home where love resided.
It was only a few days before Christmas, and Mrs. Mary entered our ICU.
COPD.
She lived with this for a long time. But this time, it crippled her. We gave …
A prominent celebrity named Stephen “tWitch” Boss of the Ellen DeGeneres Show took his life at 40. Boss’ contagious love of dancing, carefree spirit, and milewide grin brought joy to millions. From the outside looking in, we saw a gentle soul – a successful actor and dancer with a wife and three children.
Just days before his passing, Boss shared a joyful video on social media of him dancing …
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