This piece started out focusing on the impact of colds on our lives, particularly if COVID is now “just a cold.”
But now it’s personal.
My husband and I escaped COVID until now by being very careful until we got vaccinated. Once vaccinated, we focused on living our lives safely – no eating at indoor restaurants (there are plenty of outdoor venues to choose from), masking indoors and testing when gathering with …
Almost 20 percent of America’s population lives in rural areas of the country, where accessing health care facilities and services can be challenging. The patient-to-primary care physician ratio in rural areas is only 39.8 physicians per 100,000 residents, compared to 53.3 physicians in urban areas.
Rural hospitals work diligently to meet the health needs of the populations they serve, but they have long struggled with staffing shortages, inconsistent patient volumes, …
I am an anesthesiologist, a physician with a specialization in anesthesia. I chose this profession, with its difficulties and its rewards. I knew there would be sacrifices and I have gladly made them. I didn’t expect this, yet here I am, doing what has to be done, if for no other reason than it is what I do.
I want to share with you something I wrote in the summer of …
Congratulations! You made it through residency. On to the next stage of your emergency medicine career – attending-hood (and for some fellowship)!
Here are ten tips we learned during our first year as attendings at an academic emergency medicine department.
1. Efficiency comes with time. Start off making sure you are methodical. Unlike residency, you will no longer have an attending re-ordering hemolyzed labs or ensuring a negative HCG prior to obtaining …
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!
“Since President Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971, and despite some great victories and many losses, there continues to be a never-ending battle in this long-fought war that seems never-ending. The convergence of great intellect and …
As a parent of elementary school children, every mass shooting, particularly ones killing school children like in Uvalde, jolts my doing-the-mom-thing-just-keep-busy-can’t-stop denial. On the last day of school before summer vacation, when the bus doors squeaked open, and my kids hopped off, I experienced a momentary sense of relief. They were safe for one more day, at least from school shootings. I hugged my kindergartener and patted the head (that’s …
The twice-vaxxed, twice-boosted First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, tested negative for COVID after taking Paxlovid. And then she rebounded, just like her husband did weeks ago or like Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Chief Medical Advisor to the president Anthony Fauci did in June or like the 1 to Read more…
An excerpt from A Caregiver’s Love Story.
After Bill was given his terminal diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and the bloody nose scare, I began to worry about the future. It was like “waiting for the other shoe to drop,” wondering when and how his death would happen. I …
For all the time and attention that’s placed on whether opioids should be prescribed or even removed from the market, we must put equal – if not greater – emphasis on enhancing access to non-opioid pain treatments. Not prescribing opioids doesn’t solve or eliminate the root issue and reason many people are on painkillers to begin with—chronic pain.
Fifty million Americans live in chronic, debilitating pain. For many, their pain …
Health isn’t about luck — it’s about intentionality. But even if you’re doing and saying all the right things, you might not be any closer to your goals.
I know because I was there.
As a heart surgeon, I was very good at following the rules.
But I was still morbidly obese.
I followed the food pyramid to a T.
I exercised for the recommended amount of time each day.
I thought I was doing everything …
An excerpt from Balance, Pedal, Breathe: A Journey Through Medical School.
What I loved about radiology was the magic. Invisible beams revealed mysteries no one could see on the surface of a person. Each of us harbors a secret life. This might be a simple quirk of anatomy: a liver lobe …
ADVERTISEMENT
I could give you several examples of racism I have witnessed in my lifetime of nursing. But there is one incident that always comes up: Olisa.
Her name was passed down to her from her great-great-grandmother. Her name meant “God’s promise.”
Olisa came from a long line of nurses. Her great-great-grandmother was a nurse, nanny, and an enslaved person owned by some wealthy folks on their Southern plantation.
But the torch was passed …
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!
“All physicians need to be concerned about issues such as potential delays in the start date, restrictive covenants, potential ownership in a private practice, malpractice tail coverage, employee benefits, etc. Unfortunately, until discrimination against female physicians ends, …
“If both of you are the same, then one of you is unnecessary.”
That’s one of my brother-in-law’s favorite quotes, and I think it’s applicable to the ongoing debate for physicians to be called “physicians” instead of “providers.”
When you think about what’s been happening in health care, physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners are advertised as equivalent.
How is this equivalence being promoted? By lumping us all into the same category called …
“I’m taking another job,” said our nanny after my husband and I returned home from a rare date night.
My immediate numbness was a sign that my mind, body, and soul knew what was about to change in my life.
I had thrived over the past three years as a mother and a physician, despite the many expected challenges of early parenthood. I had started a new job as I found out …
Working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic has immersed physicians in technology, perhaps accelerating its integration with medical practice – but not necessarily its acceptance or authenticity.
I tend to doubt the veracity of much of what I read in electronic health care records. I also question reports based on data gleaned from large medical databases – for example, summaries about physician compensation and practice trends.
Many reports that profile physicians are generated …
An excerpt from Preventing Prostate Cancer: Reduce Your Risk With Simple, Proactive Choices.
Prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in men globally. Within the United States, the American Cancer Society found that one in eight men are diagnosed …
This article is sponsored by Composer. Composer’s powerful platform lets you automatically invest through strategies that react to the market and capture the upside while protecting your downside.
Markets have boomed in the last decade. When markets were on their way up, physicians didn’t need to carefully consider whether their financial advisor …
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
