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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 …
How a pediatrician fought back against a manipulative CEO [PODCAST]
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 …
A glimpse into the fragile balance of life and death in the ICU
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 …
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 …
Breaking the stigma: Encouraging mental health help-seeking in medical trainees
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 …
Revolutionize your practice: the value-based care model that reduces physician burnout
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 …
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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 …
Rebuilding trust in the patient-physician relationship in the digital health era [PODCAST]
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 …
It’s time to replace the 0 to 10 pain intensity scale with a better measure
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 …
Evidence-based medicine and bias: the truth about common therapies and clinical trials
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 …
Reviving the art of medical poetry
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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 …
How healthism and moralizing health are costing us too much [PODCAST]
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 …
The miracle cure: the world’s first successful bone marrow transplant for aplastic anemia
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. …
Physician burnout: the impact of social media on mental health and the urgent need for change
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 …
The medical-industrial complex: Why physicians shouldn’t expect wealth
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 …
Finding balance: How my practice became more Amazon than Etsy
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In this episode, we sit down with Dawn Baker, an anesthesiologist and author of Lean Out: A Professional Woman’s Guide to Finding Authentic Work-Life Balance, to discuss the dangers of the treadmill of achievement. We explore the …
Treadmill of achievement: How it can be addictive and dangerous [PODCAST]
Her back was mottled, and she could barely sit up. She was weak from her invasive cancer. I visited her on Easter Sunday. Perhaps it was God’s will that I didn’t have an elaborate Easter dinner with ham, rolls, pies, and house decor filled with decorative bunnies. Instead, I went to visit this dear friend I met by happenstance and her dear husband who always seemed to help me out. …
Unwavering faith: a woman’s journey through cancer and beyond
How many times have you wished that you had more time? Do you feel like you’re too busy? Feel frazzled, rushed, and stressed?
No matter how much fame and fortune we may have, time is one thing that money can’t buy. One constant for every single one of us. Whether you are Jeff Bezos or a frenzied physician, we all only have 24 hours a day, seven days a week, …
Effective delegation: the key to unlocking more time and less stress in your busy life
As ethnic diversity increases in the United States, it is important for physicians (and all in the health care delivery workforce) to keep in mind what factors play significant roles in the matter of ethnic health disparities.
With a U.S. population of over 330 million, Hispanics—inclusive of Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and South Americans—now number 62 million, according to the 2020 Census. This equates to almost 19 percent of the …
Breaking down the link between social rejection and Black women’s health outcomes
No one feels sorry for American doctors. They are some of the highest-paid in the world and spend their lives in the country with the highest nominal GDP in the world. But why is it so hard to find any doctors who actually like their job? Why do so many dream of walking away? Here are five reasons why.
The electronic medical record (EMR)
Technology is amazing, and the EMR is no …
Breaking point: the 5 reasons American doctors are dreaming of walking away from medicine
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