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The reality of health care workers in the pandemic: burnout, overwork, and inadequate support

Physician

March 10, 2023

“We appreciate your tireless efforts in these difficult times.”

Eyeroll. No, you don’t. I don’t need another meeting or committee. I don’t need a “Burn-Out Committee Action Plan.” I don’t need a “token of appreciation”— a pair of socks? (Really? How much did that cost?) I don’t need another seasoned and respected nurse leaving to travel and make bank or going to some made-up administrative role. I don’t need to come …

The benefits of facing mortality: How Bruce Springsteen and other rock stars prove productivity can increase with age

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

March 10, 2023

According to Chris Jordan, a New Jersey shore native who writes about music and entertainment, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed “like their lives depended on it” when they recently kicked off their 2023 tour in Tampa, Florida early February. The tour will keep the 73-year-old Springsteen on the road for six months, playing a total of 62 concerts, proving that mortality can be a …

Breaking the cycle of addiction treatment scams: a physician’s guide

Jack McGeachy, MD

Conditions

March 10, 2023

You sigh as you see the name on the next chart. “Good grief, this poor woman,” you think as you place your hand on the doorknob.

“Doctor, I really tried. I really tried this time!” she sobs.

“Cheryl, I know you did. But you’ve got a disease, and you need treatment.”

“Doc, I can’t go back there again. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. I’m going to lose my job. I can barely …

The vaccination dilemma: Protecting patient rights or caregiver freedom?

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

Conditions

March 10, 2023

Recently, I heard a news report regarding several state attorneys general suing the federal government to eliminate the requirement that health care providers be immunized against COVID. They argued that as fully immunized individuals still contract COVID, and that allowing unimmunized people to be rehired would relieve provider shortage, the regulation was unhelpful.

Initially, I agreed, as rehiring these individuals would generate some relief for those staff members who have worked …

Empowering physicians to lead: the benefits of physician leadership [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 9, 2023

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

In this episode, we are joined by Peter Angood, MD, CEO and president, American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL). We explore the increasing value of physician leadership in health care and dive into the findings of a …

Physicians in crisis: the battle for autonomy and happiness in a broken system

Gail Gazelle, MD

Physician

March 9, 2023

What’s one of the biggest complaints we physicians have about the current state of our jobs? It’s that we’ve lost our autonomy, that it has been taken from us by a health care system more focused on profits than on the well-being of patients and ourselves.

As a physician, you know firsthand how dysfunctional health care has become. There is abundant evidence that the modern health care system is more than …

8 practices for a happier old age

Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD

Physician

March 9, 2023

The key to aging well lies within you, the attitudes and responses you have to growing older and entering old age. Yes, there will be inevitable physical …

Read more…

8 practices for a happier old age

Nurse’s whistle of hopelessness: a tale of a dangerous workplace with no safety measures

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Conditions

March 9, 2023

I finally found time after retirement to clean out my nurse’s book bag. It contained items such as a stethoscope, extra playing cards for patients, highlighters, various pens, a penlight, a notebook with important phone numbers throughout the health care system, tourniquets for IVs, and a plastic whistle.

This health care system, which has a revenue of $5 billion per year and spans throughout America, is quite complex. Let me explain.

The …

Rethinking access to the American tip jar: It’s time to include nurses and dental hygienists

Eric Dessner, MD

Physician

March 9, 2023

Americans are accustomed to tipping for a wide array of services. We understand that our gratuity makes up an important percentage of the wages earned by many different types of laborers: massage therapists, Uber drivers, hair stylists, tour guides, room service providers, valets — the list goes on. Much of the time, we don’t just add a tip because we’re adhering to a cultural norm but rather because we genuinely …

Research literacy bridges the medical mistrust gap

Janice Phillips, PhD and Nikki Hopewell, MSc

Conditions

March 9, 2023

A long inglorious history of medical racism and mistreatment has dire health consequences. Consider the atrocities associated with experimentation on African Americans without informed consent during the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972), which eroded the trust in the medical profession and medical research, and undermined the nation’s ability to achieve health equity.

Medical mistrust continues to worsen due to the negative health care experiences African Americans still endure today. For …

A fine line between DNR and denied treatment for the elderly [PODCAST]

Alan Lindemann, MD & The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 8, 2023

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

In this episode, we welcome Alan Lindemann, an obstetrics-gynecology physician, to discuss the issue of autonomy and treatment for elderly patients. He shares his experiences in the long-term care setting, and the disturbing trend of interpreting do …

The algorithm’s dilemma: Navigating ethics in health care

Jennifer Lycette, MD

Tech

March 8, 2023

An excerpt from The Algorithm Will See You Now.

Jacie shoved her glasses up her nose. “For those not selected, when PRIMA gives its report, or whatever… and if it says the treatment won’t work, how do you tell the patient?”

“We don’t.” Hope paused. “That’s the nurse’s job, of course.”

Cecilia gave …

Gratitude takes practice. How come health care workers aren’t better at it?

Craig Bowron, MD

Physician

March 8, 2023

Like interest rates and food prices, burnout among health care providers continues to rise.

From my perch—as a hospitalist in a large tertiary hospital—the sheer terror of the early days of the COVID pandemic has been replaced by a grinding fatigue fueled by staffing shortages across the entire health care system.

Patients and their families are burned out too, frustrated by delays and shortcomings in care that inevitably arise in an overworked …

Fool women twice? Drug makers revive menopause as a “disease.”

Martha Rosenberg

Conditions

March 8, 2023

In the words of the late soccer great Pelé spoofed on Saturday Night Live, women’s health has been “very, very good” for drug makers. In 2002, 61 million prescriptions were written for women in the U.S. for hormones to treat the so-called “disease” of menopause (which was once treated with electroshock therapy—yes, ECT).

Until the government-sponsored Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) found in 2002 that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) …

Transforming health care with AI: Google Bard and BioGPT lead the way

Harvey Castro, MD, MBA

Tech

March 8, 2023

Generative language models such as Google Bard and BioGPT are two cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to revolutionize Health care by providing accurate and reliable information to patients and health care professionals alike. Google Bard is powered by LaMDA and trained on web data, while BioGPT is developed by Microsoft and trained on biomedical literature. Both models can perform various tasks, such as answering questions, extracting relevant data, and …

Is mandating pre-medical training widening disparities in the U.S. physician workforce?

Deepak Gupta, MD and Sarwan Kumar, MD

Education

March 8, 2023

Around 75 percent of U.S. physicians are U.S. MD/DOs who have completed pre-medical training, while the remaining 25 percent are international medical graduates (IMGs) who may not have completed pre-medical training but are still able to take the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) and become licensed to practice medicine in the U.S.

From the patient’s perspective, pre-medical training may not be necessary unless pre-medical training-deficient IMGs are not evenly distributed …

Critical thinking in pain management [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 7, 2023

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

In this episode, we welcome special guest Ronald A. Zent, a family physician, to discuss the ongoing opioid crisis. With a fourfold increase in opioid prescriptions and overdose deaths from 1999-2010, Ronald shares his insights on how …

The Titanic sinking: a metaphor for the impending collapse of medicine

Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD & Shreekant Vasudhev, MD

Physician

March 7, 2023

The re-release of the movie Titanic marks its 25th anniversary since it first sailed into theaters. Can you believe it? Twenty-five years ago, we watched Rose get undressed for a self-portrait with only a necklace on, Jack yelling, “I’m the king of the world” from the boat’s bow, and the two of them doin’ the dirty in the backseat of an automobile. This fictional love story of Rose and Jack …

Grieving parents want the truth

Colin Campbell

Conditions

March 7, 2023

Adapted from Finding the Words: Working Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose.

I am glad I got to watch my kids die. To be clear, I’m not glad they died. I am heartbroken and devastated, and there is a never-ending hole of aching and pain in my heart. My teenage …

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Grieving parents want the truth

Patient empowerment: the key to solving the health care crisis

Ann M. Hester, MD

Physician

March 7, 2023

A sobering study by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts an unthinkable shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 doctors by 2034. If underserved populations had fewer barriers to medical care, that shortfall could reach over 180,000! Successfully navigating these uncharted waters will require strategic planning and innovation.

Even the current state is so dire that the American Medical Association (AMA) developed a critical action plan: AMA’s Recovery Plan for …