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The solution to a crumbling primary care foundation is direct primary care

Policy

December 14, 2022

In a report published by the Commonwealth Fund and released in August 2021, the performance of the U.S. health care system was compared to that of other high-income countries. The results were stunning: despite investing far more of its gross domestic product in health care, the U.S. ranks dead last overall and last on access to care, administrative efficiency, health equity, and health …

You need to ask these questions to teens starting hormone therapy [PODCAST]

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Podcast

December 13, 2022

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“A good history and physical, including screening, can prevent consequences that burden a patient’s daily life and increase health care costs. Assessing cardiovascular risk is a key part of the evaluation. Transgender individuals may have a compounded …

A job behind bars

Martha Rosenberg

Conditions

December 13, 2022

At least two million people in the United States are incarcerated in 122 United States prisons. Little is known about the prisoners themselves. Did their background condemn them to bad behavior? Or did they just make grievous mistakes? Do they suffer from a mental illness masquerading as criminal behavior? Can they change their life path? A mental health specialist with 25 years of direct …

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A job behind bars

Don’t be like Elon Musk. Get a lawyer for your clinic.

Kristin Puhl, MD

Physician

December 13, 2022

Employers need lawyers. This doesn’t just apply in medicine — it’s true everywhere. For a recent high-profile example, let’s consider Twitter. If massive layoffs had been made without adequate notice as required by California law, they could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages.

However, medicine likes to consider itself as different from other businesses. It’s a nice idea, this fantasy of the country doctor who delivers babies …

Is it really a woke nightmare for medical schools?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Education

December 13, 2022

Among the many definitions and meanings of the terms “woke” and “wokeism,” the two that capture the ideology best are contrasting meanings. The definitions are:

“The behavior and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice” (Collins English Dictionary),

and:

“A system of thought and behavior characterized by intolerance, policing the speech of others and proving one’s own superiority by denouncing others” (Psychology Today).

The first implies a benevolent society that …

What my 10 year old is teaching me about boundaries [PODCAST]

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Podcast

December 12, 2022

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“As I’ve been coaching physicians, I’ve realized that many of us have a tendency to just ‘grin and bear it’ when it comes to the challenges and stresses of the medical profession. We often tell ourselves that …

Drop the euphemisms and get uncomfortable when talking about abortion

Michael McCutchen, MD, MBA

Physician

December 12, 2022

It does not behoove us to mince words in a politically charged climate. To productively discuss any controversial topic, we must first define terms and get past the jargon and doublespeak that commonly muddles conversations on serious issues. The Oxford Dictionary defines euphemism as “a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.” We often use euphemisms …

Physician secrets that nurses need to know

Ronald Hirsch, MD

Physician

December 12, 2022

There is no one prototypical physician. Every physician has their own practice style, their own knowledge base, and their own preferred method of communication. In my role as medical director for case management at my community hospital, I was given 30 minutes during new nursing orientation to provide nurses tips when communicating with doctors.

I put together this list of things that physicians wished hospital nurses knew about them, both good …

U.S. adults should get routine anxiety screening. But then what?

Taylor Gurley, OTD

Conditions

December 12, 2022

For the first time, primary care physicians (PCPs) are being urged to screen their patients, above and below age 65, for mental health concerns alongside screening for physical health conditions. The United States Preventive Services Task Force has published its first recommendation for PCPs to screen adults for anxiety as standard practice. This recommendation followed a peak in the prevalence of mental illnesses in 2020. During this time and …

Every physician should own a timeshare [PODCAST]

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Podcast

December 11, 2022

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“One of the biggest misconceptions about timeshares is the idea that you have to visit the same location every year. In reality, timeshare owners have access to a wide range of properties and destinations through timeshare exchange …

Communication protocols exist for a reason

Michael J. Grace, JD

Conditions

December 11, 2022

An excerpt from The Mumbo Jumbo Fix: A Survival Guide for Effective Doctor-Patient-Nurse Communication.

Team building is a popular trend in health care. It promotes cooperation, trust and respect, improves communication, and enhances patient outcomes. Most of the time.

But the camaraderie and familiarity of working with the same group of people …

A physician in denial after being diagnosed with COVID-19

Alen Voskanian, MD

Conditions

December 11, 2022

Over the last three years, we have faced the original COVID-19, followed by Omicron, Delta, and monkeypox.

It is apropos that on the third anniversary of COVID-19, we are facing the tripledemic of COVID, influenza, and RSV.

After almost three years of not getting COVID-19, I started believing that my childhood fantasies about me being superman were true and that my immune system was superpowered with bullet-proof antibodies that would keep me …

Perfectionism will kill you

Jean Paul Brutus, MD

Physician

December 11, 2022

Every doctor wants to be perfect. We want to make sure our diagnosis is perfect. Our treatment plan is perfect, and our outcome will be perfect. Patients want the perfect doctor. They want us to get it right on the first try, each and every time. The problem is perfectionism, as hard as we try to achieve it or wish for it, is not attainable. Perfectionism will kill you.

All I ever wanted to be was a nurse [PODCAST]

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Podcast

December 10, 2022

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“As a nurse, I know how difficult and demanding the job can be. I’ve had patients try to physically attack me and it’s frustrating and disheartening to face such hostility. When I talk to people outside of the health …

How female social conditioning leads to burnout

Claudine Holt, MD

Physician

December 10, 2022

There has been a lot of talk about physician burnout over the past few years, and as an occupational medicine physician, I’m happy to see that conversation is taking place. For too long, we just saw burnout as an acceptable hazard that just comes with the job.

But it’s become clear to me that there’s a big missing piece in the discussion of burnout — particularly when we try to answer …

How medicine is broken

Janet Tamaren, MD

Physician

December 10, 2022

I read KevinMD regularly. I see a lot of stories about how broken medicine is: how doctors are retiring, leaving early because they are overworked or underappreciated, or being manipulated by corporate medicine. All these complaints are valid. There are also articles about how residency is brutal and causes mental distress to trainees, with the onerous hours and unrealistic expectations. That, too, is true. Medical training, at least in my experience, is …

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How medicine is broken

My personal cemetery

Veronica Bonales, MD

Physician

December 10, 2022

I love listening to podcasts on my way to work, and I was most excited when the second season of Dr. Death started. If you didn’t listen to the first season, it was about Dr. C. Duntsch, a neurosurgeon in the Dallas area who should never have been operating on people. He even left his best friend paralyzed from the neck down due to a botched surgery.

The second season follows …

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My personal cemetery

Cancer: Why silence and anonymity are also courageous

Anonymous

Conditions

December 10, 2022

Recently, I found a lump that was diagnosed as breast cancer. It is Stage IA, with a high chance of cure, but of course, more information might change that sooner or later. I have entered the uncertain world of being a patient – before this, as a physician myself, I happily avoided seeing the doctor.

While my cancer should be curable, and this will just be a …

The duality of being a female physician

Noel Dasgupta, MD

Physician

December 10, 2022

I am a female cardiologist that graduated from medical school almost 20 years ago. Although my core personality has remained constant, I have been viewed through multiple different optics. What I find most interesting is that while most of my patients would unanimously agree that I am a smart, talented, and dedicated professional, I have never achieved this level of validation from other professionals in medicine.

I stay the same, but …

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The duality of being a female physician

An empowered woman’s guide to better health [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 9, 2022

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“It is well known that men and women have different communication styles, and learning how to effectively communicate with each other is important. This is one of the main focuses of our book, which aims to give …

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