Breaking the cycle of violence in hospitals: the role of trauma-informed care

Policy
November 7, 2022

“We use a punishment mindset that exacerbates the trauma (people have already suffered). We have to change that.”
– Bryan Stevenson, Director of the Equal Justice Initiative

 In the months preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, our quality improvement team was discussing the safety of providers and staff on a weekly basis. This was not in the context of a communicable disease or sufficient personal protective equipment but instead related to another insidious health …

Read more…

Big Joe: living proof of a surgeon’s fallibility

Physician
November 7, 2022

When I think of Big Joe, I see his overalls and how he filled them. And how a couple of months after I operated on him, there was room for both of us in there. Big Joe: farmer, salt of the earth, tough, stoic. And now, bright orange. My initial recommendation, while probably justified, damn near killed him. Big Joe hadn’t been sick a day in his life. He worked …

Read more…

Not listening carefully to a vulnerable patient can become a matter of life or death

Conditions
November 7, 2022

Paula came to my office on a Monday afternoon, a few months after burying her husband. She and John had been inseparable. They were both my patients, so I knew John had spent the last six months battling lung cancer. They had been married forty-five years when John died. I sincerely offered Paula my condolences on that Monday afternoon. I could tell she was in pain and shared how she …

Read more…

Protect Black women’s maternal health [PODCAST]

Podcast
November 6, 2022
YouTube video

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

“It is impossible to fix a system with an unwillingness to bend. It means working together to accomplish a goal.

Living in the gray requires a commitment to growth and discomfort. In the gray, it is possible to …

Read more…

New proposals for universal health care in Oregon and Washington

Policy
November 6, 2022

Once again, it’s time to consider universal health care. What are the implications? Could it happen?

After something of a hiatus during the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the battles over its implementation, legislative committees in Oregon and Washington are looking at new proposals for state-based universal health care. Oregon’s task force report was completed in September, while Washington’s “baseline report” was finished this month.

While there’s a fair amount …

Read more…

Coaching vs. therapy: A physician coach and psychiatrist explains

Physician
November 6, 2022

“Are you analyzing me?”

Psychiatrists become acclimated to this question being launched by anyone to whom we are brave enough to disclose our occupation. Mental health stigma persists, and psychiatrist jokes are part of that legacy. All humor holds some truth, and this joke reflects discomfort around the mystique of psychiatry. How does it actually work? What do psychiatrists actually do to heal people? How do you know when a psychiatrist …

Read more…

Physicians and activism: Why did it take Roe’s downfall for us to get involved?

Physician
November 6, 2022

I drive through my leafy suburb, awash in beautiful foliage. It’s peak color, with vermillion juxtaposed with citrine and crimson. And I see the reality of our ugly world peeking in every so often. Proposition 3 signs are casually sprinkled on lawns, intersections, and billboards; they’re in harsh black and white, implying the proposition is too confusing or too extreme. And the issue it represents is a clear-cut dichotomy.

We are …

Read more…

My one case of COVID impacted dozens of lives [PODCAST]

Podcast
November 5, 2022
YouTube video

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

“If any of those people get infected, their illness will potentially impact dozens more. COVID infection may now be ‘just a cold,’ at least for the vaccinated. But no one should think this ‘you do you, I’ll …

Read more…

Say “I love you” often and mean it

Conditions
November 5, 2022

I normally start October off by changing my Facebook profile picture to a pink survivor ribbon and celebrating my breast cancer survivorship, but this October was different. I slept on October 1st because I had spent 48 hours at Gulf Coast Medical Center when hurricane Ian struck Southwest Florida three days before. I was absolutely exhausted when I arrived home after the storm. The world was turned upside down. Then …

Read more…

There is no cure for your disease

Physician
November 5, 2022

I shall translate.

This is her big day! She is meeting with her specialist for the first time, excited to finally hear that she will be cured from her annoying disease.

I am there to interpret back and forth between her and her doctor to eliminate the language barrier.

She has been suffering from this terrible disease affecting multiple organ systems in her frail body for a long time.

Today, she is done!

With her …

Read more…

What being a hospice volunteer taught me about health care

Education
November 5, 2022

The finality of death is a powerful teacher. For some patients, being diagnosed with a terminal illness is an experience that lends a tremendous shift in perspective and newfound authenticity. This can be instructive to them and the people around them. As psychologist Charles Garfield says, “The living have much to learn from the dying.”

This applies not only to the experience of a terminal illness but also to its …

Read more…

Stop going through the motions and actually have the life you dreamed of [PODCAST]

Podcast
November 4, 2022
YouTube video

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

“Try incorporating the three small practices of your choice into your day-to-day for two weeks and watch your experience of your life transform.

You have worked far too hard to just go through the motions forever. Starting today, …

Read more…

My daughter and COVID: a tale of 3 doctors

Conditions
November 4, 2022

It was the best of medical encounters; it was the worst of medical encounters. But it is indeed a story of how two physicians viewed the same situation very differently, and how one brought trauma to a young patient, and one (two) brought healing to that very patient with the same set of information.

My daughter was a healthy and vibrant 12-year-old when she first had COVID in June 2020. She …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

Why body type standards are wrong in measuring health

Conditions
November 4, 2022

When you visit your doctor for your regular check-up, just like every human being, your body and health are judged by three main scientific standards to determine if you are healthy and “normal.”

Standard 1 is the Standard Scientific Human Body Anatomy Book Body Type (BT1) found in any scientifically approved human body anatomy book. According to mainstream science and medical doctors, every human being is born in a standard BT1. …

Read more…

A doctor’s foray into online therapy

Conditions
November 4, 2022

I’ve had my share of therapy.

My mother was a clinical psychologist, and I grew up around the concepts of consciousness and the unconscious, growth and awareness, and “authenticity” before “authenticity” was even a buzzword. I’m quite certain she did some sort of therapy on me during my childhood. I remember vividly her briefcase with the blocks from the Stanford-Binet IQ test. She prepped me at home, at 4, in advance …

Read more…

Who reads personal statements? [PODCAST]

Podcast
November 3, 2022
YouTube video

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

“You received an interview invite based on ERAS filters the program set, so you already have your foot in the door. Don’t have them yawning at a two-page extravaganza of your life story that makes them wonder …

Read more…

The merry-go-round of rounding

Physician
November 3, 2022

You start off your morning by receiving the patient handoff, then you “pre-round” on the EHR (furiously scribbling down information), then you physically pre-round on patients (or at least the “sick” ones), then you move onto some form of “proper” rounds that are generally attending specific (walk rounds, sit-down rounds, family-centered rounds, etc.), with the aid of the EHR or flying by the seat of your pants (a.k.a. depending on …

Read more…

Doctors are like hamsters running on an exercise wheel to nowhere [PODCAST]

Podcast
November 2, 2022
YouTube video

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

“No wonder doctors feel like hamsters running on an exercise wheel to nowhere. And this sense of futility is driving burnout. How much patient care will you get out of docs who have moved on to nonclinical …

Read more…

626
pages