Student advocacy through the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA)

Education
August 5, 2022

“Nerves ablaze, my voice cracked as I ended my remarks outlining the need for equitable data collection. I leaned towards the screen, adjusted my eyeline to make eye contact, and asked Representative Thomas Suozzi to support The Equitable Data Collection and Disclosure on COVID-19 Act. Representative Suozzi paused for a second, appeared to think over, or perhaps through the points of my argument–and then responded resolutely with, ‘I will cosign …

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Physician success is a team sport, so why are you on the field alone?

Physician
August 5, 2022

Get off the field.

Go back to the dugout and rally your team.

Create your rules of engagement.

The structure and hierarchy of medicine teach doctors to compete with one another. From the beginning, we’re told there are a finite number of acceptance letters sent to aspiring physicians. In medical school, we compete for one of a limited number of slots in highly selective and competitive training programs. And as attendings, we have …

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Why doctors should write poetry

Physician
August 5, 2022

It’s been two and a half years post-pandemic, and I still don’t feel normal.

There’s a dark veil hanging over my life. I feel oppressed, unable to practice the way I want, unable to live and think in ways other than this abnormal new biological pseudoscience I’m not expected to question so that I’m more inclusive.

There’s a sense of lost purpose like I no longer work to feel fulfilled. Instead, I …

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Patient-initiated collaborative texting [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 4, 2022
YouTube video

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“Nearly three-quarters of consumers say they prefer texting with a business if an actual human is the returning texts — no bots need reply.

But the rise of artificial intelligence has led to further advances in smart texting, …

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People behaving badly: 4 steps to de-escalate hostile people

Physician
August 4, 2022

Imagine that you are a brand-new attending in a hospital. You have your new starched white coat and stethoscope around your neck. Before you enter your patient’s room, the nurse says, “Whew! Good luck! The patient’s dad is really angry! He’s been yelling for the last ten minutes!”

Are you prepared? Do you know what to do?

The boundaries of unacceptable behavior have eroded in the past few years. Politicians, law enforcement, …

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We are all responsible for women physicians’ pay discrepancy

Physician
August 4, 2022

A recent JAMA article showed that starting salaries for female physicians were lower than that of their male counterparts in most subspecialties.

New physicians are not expected to have many differentiating factors besides gender, yet the starting salaries differ. It is important to note that specialties with a higher percentage of women also have lower salaries for bother men and women. As the percentage of women physicians in a given …

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The New Zealand health system in crisis: We need to look after our clinicians

Physician
August 4, 2022

I lay on an examination table while a plastic surgeon surveyed my skin to determine if a suspicious mole should be excised. I joked with him that I had once considered plastic surgery as a career. I knew he still worked at the hospital and fired a rhetorical question at him, enquiring if the hospital was still as busy as it was two years ago when I had worked there? …

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A breast cancer story from an Asian perspective [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 3, 2022
YouTube video

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“I was first diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), on May 15, 2015, at 41 years old. I had my annual exam with my gynecologist and told him I felt a small, …

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The patient I cannot help and a gun

Physician
August 3, 2022

“You’re my last hope.”

The words come from a patient I have no prayer of helping. He has had decades of back pain. He has had several surgeries, injections, hardware in, hardware out, but nothing has helped. He is unable to work. His struggle with back pain has ruined relationships, ruined his financial stability, ruined his mental health. His goals and mine are aligned. We both want to make his life …

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Cancer of the future: diagnosis, treatment, and impact on the health care system and patients

Meds
August 3, 2022

While cancer has been around for decades, the fight for survival and treatment options are still very top of mind. Treatment is simply playing catch up. We continue to try and get rid of the disease that has already infiltrated one’s body rather than catching it before it develops. We need to shift the focus from therapeutics that fight the disease to ways we can catch it before the deterioration …

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What it takes to build a pediatric weight management program

Physician
August 3, 2022

What they want is power, control, and to take all the credit. In short, they want what you have.

Vision. Even more so, the ability to manifest a vison. Even more so, they want your energy. Your passion.

“Candy Everybody Wants” by 10,000 Maniacs is an epic song. I know every word.

Hey hey give ‘em what they want
If lust and hate is the candy
If blood and love taste so sweet
Then we give …

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How to improve medication adherence [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 2, 2022
YouTube video

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“Automation and technologies can enable adherence, but true change happens when physicians and pharmacists work together in collaborative teams to achieve common goals: Better managed chronic conditions, fewer complications, and improved experience for patients and physicians.”

Tony Willoughby is …

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Special contractual issues for female physicians

Finance
August 2, 2022

As a physician’s attorney focusing on physician contract review, I spend all of my professional life reviewing and negotiating physician employment agreements. In my experience, women physicians have several issues that need special attention when negotiating their physician employment agreements.

Any physician needs to be familiar with appropriate compensation through benchmarking data such as that published by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). However, while this may be one of several …

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What makes up the ideal residency program for you?

Education
August 2, 2022

As we continue through the summer months, medical students are putting the finishing touches on their elective rotations for their fourth year.

These rotations, also known as audition rotations or sub-internships, enable students to “showcase” their talents, meet faculty and residents and put their best foot forward prior to submitting their electronic application.

A 2016 study showed that rotating improved a student’s chance of matching at that program by a factor of …

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If you don’t practice, don’t move, or you’ll probably lose your license

Physician
August 2, 2022

I left practice 25 years ago when I saw portents of clinical practice as it exists today: impersonal, with electronic records and assembly-line labor heralding the movement to institutional employment over private practice.

But it was also my genuine interest in population health and pharmaceutical medicine that propelled me into a nonclinical career. The jobs I chose in this millennium were with health insurance and pharmaceutical companies, …

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What this physician mom learned about shame [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 1, 2022
YouTube video

 

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“I cry often enough that my kids almost gleefully expect it, checking me for tears during movies or shows, shaking their heads in mock dismay when they see that their prediction is correct. I’ve cried many times at home, watching screens, reading books, …

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Make your health insurance broker a translator, not a shopper

Policy
August 1, 2022

In the unending ocean of choice and complexity of medical insurance, sailing your own ship is harder than it looks. Especially when you get a new job, age into Medicare, or turn 26 and thus can’t stay on your parent’s coverage. Every ship captain needs a helmsman—brokers are a major help for picking a health plan, but they are best used as an insurance translator rather than your personal shopper. …

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Less resiliency may heal burnout

Physician
August 1, 2022

The word “resiliency” has been lauded, applauded, and buzzed about in talks about physician burnout.

When I hear it, I tune out.

My stomach churns. I feel sick.

Why?

Because physicians are resilient.

We are, in fact, the walking, talking, breathing personification of the word.

We cannot manage to get through medical school, residency, and boards, without being resilient.

And remember, we do this by choice.

Lots of schooling and academic demands.

Inhumane hours.

Little sleep.

Extraordinary amounts of information to …

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A physician mom’s take on telemedicine [PODCAST]

Podcast
July 31, 2022
YouTube video

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“In early 2018 when I started full-time telemedicine, I was quite reluctant about losing the physical hands-on evaluation, especially the palpation, percussion, and auscultation components in the physical exam, and the holding hands, hugs, and handshakes of in-person visits.

But thankfully, I remembered one …

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