Patients who are openly skeptical of a physician’s science-backed advice

Physician
August 22, 2022

I’ve just passed the 15-year milestone of practicing family medicine in a small farm town in the Midwest. Knowing my patients and their multi-generational families deeply and enjoying their trust is a major part of my job satisfaction.

Unfortunately, the last two years have put a serious dent in both the trust and the satisfaction.

No one ever takes all the advice their physician gives them, at least in my experience. Until …

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Keep us safe: Stop the violence against health care workers

Physician
August 22, 2022

Violence against health care workers has escalated to unprecedented levels in the last decade. The pandemic seems to have accelerated outbursts against health care providers online, in print, and in person.

A man from Tulsa, Oklahoma, recently angry over back pain, killed his surgeon and other health care workers before ending his own life.

Many health care workers report they are used to working in environments that are …

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Non-judgmental empathy in the exam room [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 21, 2022
YouTube video

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“I think we all have an inclination—at least from time to time—to judge others. No matter how experienced, compassionate, and professional we are as physicians, we’re still human. I can admit that I have indeed struggled with …

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Not a cheater? Let’s count the ways.

Conditions
August 21, 2022

Sexual infidelity is the headline grabber when most people think about betrayals in love relationships. But, everyday breaches of trust slide under the radar and can erode even the strongest of relationships.

A small lie about a purchase, a slight exaggeration about a job promotion, a cover-up about a forgotten birthday—each takes a bite out of trust and is a form of cheating. Most of us are disappointed by a love …

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Controlling physician behavior

Physician
August 21, 2022

Some years ago, I had the privilege of serving as chief of staff of my community hospital. One of my responsibilities was to review complaints directed at doctors. Ten to twenty “occurrence reports” came across my desk every week. Most were from nurses who felt doctors had unfairly reproached them.

Hospitals are required by their deeming organizations — ours is The Joint Commission (TJC) — to adjudicate each item with due …

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Computers and your hands: Dispelling common myths

Conditions
August 21, 2022

Have you heard that computer use causes carpal tunnel syndrome? In fact, there is a near-universal belief that technology gadgets can cause all sorts of hand problems. Both the lay public and most healthcare providers believe that entities such as “Blackberry thumb” and “repetitive strain injury” truly exist and that common hand problems such as flexor tendonitis and basal joint arthritis of the thumb are caused by repetitive typing or …

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Tips for treating high-weight patients [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 20, 2022
YouTube video

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“It might seem odd to write about what high-weight patients would like when they meet with their doctors. Don’t they want what every patient wants? The answer is yes, but the fact is, they often don’t get …

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Who even reads personal statements?

Education
August 20, 2022

The following article is satire.

We’re again approaching that time of year for medical students: ERAS application season. As students whimper and wonder if they’re making the right career choice, as they set their dreams on a specialty but have been told they need a “backup,” while determining their geographical boundaries of where they can possibly think of living for the next three to who-knows-how-many-years. With all this chaos, they must …

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Doctoring in the backwoods: challenges and rewards

Physician
August 20, 2022

I worked in rural Kentucky for 20 years, all of it in poverty clinics. I suspect I got to know my patients better than someone working in a specialty clinic in a big city. The challenges and rewards of doctoring are unique to each specialty. But these are the challenges and rewards I experienced in primary care in the backwoods.

I learned that doctoring is hard. People always come in complaining …

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How the culture of health care perpetuates racism [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 19, 2022
YouTube video

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“Many health care professionals go into health care to help people, no matter their race, socioeconomic status, or other identities. Even as white health care professionals start to learn about the systemic nature of racism, something that …

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What it means to leave clinical medicine

Physician
August 19, 2022

Not too long ago, a circumstance occurred. I have experienced similar circumstances several times in my career. However, this time, my response was different.   It was like a switch in my brain flipped. I was ready to leave clinical medicine. It was time for the next chapter.

Wow! It was a moment of surprise, relief, and excitement, quickly followed by a WTF? Where was this thought coming from? There was …

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On the boundaries of medicine, medical education, and political passion

Physician
August 19, 2022

On July 25, 2022, dozens of medical students at the University of Michigan School of Medicine walked out of the school’s White Coat Ceremony when the keynote speaker, Dr. Kristin Collier, an assistant professor of medicine, approached the podium. Dr. Collier is pro-life and has expressed her anti-abortion views in tweets and interviews. She was chosen as keynote speaker by a vote by the university’s Gold Humanism Honor Society. A …

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The story of keeping my daughter safe

Physician
August 19, 2022

“What does it mean when there are two pink lines?”

Her voice is hesitant, eyes searching to find mine across the counter. She knows what it means. I know what it means. I turn to the test to confirm and slowly put on a mask.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, my brother-in-law took to calling her “Miracle” because, despite none of us having any particular tie to organized religion, that’s …

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To scribe or not to scribe? That is the question. [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 18, 2022
YouTube video

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“I was working at an urgent treatment center, where a busy Saturday in January would be overwhelming. At one point, I hired a scribe. She was a bright young woman interested in medicine and some alacrity with …

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Self-discovery, health and fitness as the ultimate remedy for stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout

Physician
August 18, 2022

Within the last two weeks, I’ve read several studies pertaining to provider burnout. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve lost count of the number of articles I’ve come across addressing this issue as well as potential root causes and expert suggested remedies.

One study suggested over 50 percent of us have fallen victim. Another suggested our so-called “creative” administrators and governing bodies, who are supposed to have our backs, actually …

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Remembering my grandmother in the ICU

Physician
August 18, 2022

ICU psychosis is a common phenomenon in hospitals. Most of us as clinicians deal with it well.

However, the ordeal changes when your loved one is struck with it. My grandmother, always admired for her storytelling skills, is now admitted with intestinal obstruction, and her worsening Parkinson’s has just escalated the intensity of her psychosis.

Now she tells me a story of a woman carrying knives, seeing blood everywhere, selling half the …

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Does patient-centered care really meet human-centered care?

Physician
August 18, 2022

This episode was during my elective time in India in the late winter of 2017. It was a patient-centered learning opportunity for students around the world who has an interest in medicine. I was excited about this because of my earliest clinical exposure to patient encounters as a medical student. I was excited to meet the patients, talk to them, and help them despite the uncertainty and emptiness in my …

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What you need to know about monkeypox [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 17, 2022
YouTube video

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“What is currently known is that monkeypox is transmitted primarily through close contact with skin lesions, bodily fluids, and respiratory droplets. Men aged between 20 and 50 years, many of whom have sex with other men (MSM), …

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Ayman al-Zawahri: the doctor who dispensed death 

Physician
August 17, 2022

On May 2, 2011, a few minutes past 1 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time, a U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six left the Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan and headed for the compound of a high-value target in Abbottabad, Pakistan, located just a few miles away from that nation’s military academy.

It was an operation that lasted 38 minutes, following which U.S. forces returned to Afghanistan with the slain …

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