Narrative medicine develops empathy among physicians

Physician
August 31, 2022

A hallmark of modern medicine involves providing compassionate care through an empathetic doctor-patient relationship. This post describes one powerful technique for developing empathy among medical providers: narrative medicine writing.

What is empathy?

A basic definition of empathy involves your ability to understand someone else’s perspective by putting yourself in their (metaphorical) shoes. Empathy can involve cognitive aspects (i.e., understanding why a person is feeling sad or happy) or emotional aspects (i.e., sharing …

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It’s time to address pain despite the opioid crisis

Conditions
August 31, 2022

Have you ever felt as if your doctor wasn’t really listening to you or was just rushing through your appointment? Have you ever felt as if your doctor didn’t understand the pain you were in or didn’t take it seriously?

Most health care providers are evaluated based on the experience their patients had, and their payment is often based on those patient experience scores. A major component of patient …

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A paradigm of perseverance

Physician
August 31, 2022

At her Supreme Court confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson recounted a story from her time as a college undergraduate. She recalled being a freshman at Harvard after having attended public school in Miami, Florida, and her transition to life at the university had been challenging, causing her to question if she belonged at the school and if she could succeed. She was …

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Why the Inflation Reduction Act is a win for health care

Policy
August 31, 2022

Last winter, when the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) was declared “dead” after Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia revealed that he would not support it, health care reform advocates were disappointed. Hopes that important legislation would finally be passed to bring down the price of prescription drugs, bolster funding for home health care and expand subsidies to more Americans to afford health insurance were dashed.

Therefore, when we heard that …

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Why I’m leaving emergency medicine

Physician
August 31, 2022

I am hanging up my stethoscope and exiting the ambulance bay doors for the last time. I chose emergency medicine to care for critically ill and injured patients, and I’m leaving because this has become near impossible.

I believe it imperative to share some of the reasons that I, and many like me, are leaving a field we once loved, as their ramifications will sooner or later impact you and those …

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Combating antimicrobial resistance during COVID [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 30, 2022
YouTube video

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“While the world has spent the last two years laser-focused on the COVID pandemic, another public health threat is still lurking in the shadows: the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized since the …

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The art of medicine is born in the unforeseen

Physician
August 30, 2022

It was 2:21 a.m., and the pager exploded in my ear like I had forgotten to turn the volume down before plugging in my headphones. The nurses told me your heart rate was getting faster, and your oxygen was dipping lower. When I made it to your room, you were laying in urine because you were too weak to stand. Your breathing was rapid and shallow, like you were caught …

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Hippocrates is crying

Physician
August 30, 2022

My sister didn’t want to die from breast cancer. In the six years since her diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer, she fought valiantly to stay healthy and to continue to live. A superb oncologist put her cancer into complete remission, which lasted for some time before it reappeared in distant lymph nodes but not in any viscera.

One weekend she complained of severe stomach pain and sought help at a …

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When the time comes, be sure there’s something to retire to

Physician
August 30, 2022

“They may say I can’t sing, but they can never say I didn’t sing.”
– Florence Foster Jenkins.

I was a bachelor over the weekend. My wife Beth was in Columbus at a horse show, just killing it, while I languished at home in The Land with the dogs. Much of what a summer typically includes has been stolen by the traitorous behavior of my “good hip.” Where my left hip only …

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We’re confusing resilience with grit

Conditions
August 30, 2022

Reading many articles on burnout, physicians are understandably frustrated with being asked to be more resilient in the face of the pandemic, staffing shortages, and oppressive systems, to name a few. Often, when wellness is eluded to, physicians are encouraged to take better care of themselves or show “resilience” when truly what’s going on is that we’re asking them to adapt to unhealthy systems and show intense perseverance without signs …

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A death knell for cadavers

Education
August 30, 2022

If “video killed the radio star” and Zoom squelched the commute, it seems certain that virtual reality and three-dimensional imaging will be the death knell for cadavers.

Recently, NBC Nightly News did a story featuring staff members from Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine using the metaverse and 3D imaging to map out the details of an upcoming complex brain surgery. No matter that the four participants were in different …

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Secrets for managing time, stress, and people [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 29, 2022
YouTube video

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

“Every January, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions. It’s a joyous time full of high hopes.

Ask people what they wish to achieve or hope to accomplish in the following year, and the answer will usually be …

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The why doesn’t matter: Highland Park

Physician
August 29, 2022

Hatred doesn’t have to have a motive. Hatred does because hatred can.

Hatred can disguise itself as a man dressed as a woman. Hatred does because hatred can.

Hatred can get guns and weapons and kill innocent people celebrating their freedom on July 4, twenty-five miles outside of Chicago. Hatred does because hatred can.

Hatred can be arrested without incident. Hatred does because hatred can.

Hatred has the privilege of being denied bail and …

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Fill mid-level positions with unmatched medical graduates

Education
August 29, 2022

In a crowded primary care clinic in an inner city, Mr. Smith, with pursed lips, was sitting next to his oxygen tank and waiting patiently for his doctor. He gratefully commented on how much the oxygen tank had helped him with his daily activities. However, his recent Covid-19 infection had exacerbated his symptoms. It had been more than two weeks since he started coughing. He couldn’t wait to see his …

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Immediate, accurate diagnosis is crucial to the future of equitable patient care

Tech
August 29, 2022

As the pandemic-stricken health systems recover from the unprecedented challenges that tested them for preparedness, agility, and health equity, the pandemic undoubtedly also nurtured rapid innovation in telehealth, vaccine manufacturing, and point-of-care diagnostics, which have streamlined and accelerated patients’ access to immediate care at the point of need.

These technological medical advances, especially in the realm of point-of-care diagnostics, are transforming our health system in three especially important ways:

Firstly, point-of-care diagnostics …

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Toughness is not infinite and is not defined by a dollar amount

Physician
August 29, 2022

We knew the job would be tough but never considered how tough. Demanding jobs should be compensated accordingly, but what is the correlation between job choice, toughness, and salary? Is no job too tough as long as they pay you enough?

After residency, I narrowed my options down to two private practice positions. One was a small group practice with one office location and a higher call burden in the Midwest. …

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Activism is a part of medicine and we cannot remain neutral [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 28, 2022
YouTube video

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

“Nowadays, even scientific fact has been politicized. Even though many of us may wish to stay out of politics and stick to our “nobler” lane of medicine, the reality is even your clinical practice could be considered …

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It’s time to retake the call room

Physician
August 28, 2022

For years, residents have tried valiantly to extract themselves from the hospital by physically moving out of the premises or reducing duty hours. Now it may be time to return.

Rents are rising, and in the major metropolitan areas where most residencies exist, this is being felt acutely. Salaries are generally static, but rents have risen about 7.4 percent compared to last year. Doctors come into residency with enormous …

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Want to stop going through the motions and actually have the life you dreamed of? Try this.

Physician
August 28, 2022

Did you assume that your life would be magically perfect once you finished training?

I know I did.

I fully believed that once I graduated from my fellowship and became an attending, everything in my life would just fall right into place. Somehow my finances would be simple, my marriage would be great, I would be an amazing mother with well-behaved children, and things would be easy.

Wrong.

So many of us have this …

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No wonder doctors feel like hamsters running on an exercise wheel to nowhere

Physician
August 28, 2022

Burnout. We define, measure, and talk about it endlessly but do little to fix it. Unchecked, it can lead to medical mistakes, career dissatisfaction, early retirement, provider suicide, and excess costs. With the recent pandemic, the public has become more aware of it, but action to fix it is still lagging.

Feeling underappreciated, feeling one’s work is meaningless, feeling powerless to make changes, and feelings of moral injury are but a …

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