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

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“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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When my patients cared for me

Physician
August 28, 2022

As my patient’s face slowly became visible on the computer screen, I smiled and waved to her. She waved back with vigor.

She was a Cuban housekeeper who arrived in Miami during the Mariel boatlift in 1980. Now in her mid-60s, she had recently been diagnosed with leukemia and endured a two-month hospitalization during which her bone marrow grudgingly entered a remission, following an onslaught of chemotherapy. She was now back …

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Reversing the impact of the pandemic on childhood obesity [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 27, 2022
YouTube video

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“With schools closed, children spent hours upon hours sitting in front of a screen for instruction and homework. Non-academic screen time increased as well, with parents needing to work from home and thus relying more on screens …

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9 ways international medical graduates can boost their residency match outcomes

Education
August 27, 2022

International medical school graduates (IMGs) play an integral role in the health care system of the United States and constitute approximately one-quarter of the physician workforce. In 2022, fewer IMGs registered for Match than in 2021, with a match rate of 58.1 percent. The transition to USMLE Step 1 pass/fail, elimination of Step 2 Clinical Science, and implementation of secondary application will likely impact IMGs in their 2023 Match. Here …

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Just as medicine is rooted in relationships, so too is good advising

Education
August 27, 2022

“Well, you may think you want to be a surgeon, now that you’re young and think you can do it all, but that will change — once children are in the picture. You’ll see how hard it is to leave them and wish you could be with them all the time.”

As a young female medical student, I seriously considered the physician’s words. I imagined what it would be like to …

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Hope, with a ribbon of uncertainty curling gently around it

Physician
August 27, 2022

A tall, thin, down-glancing man slumped in a chair in the corner of the exam room.

His gray-haired wife sat primly next to him.

They were here with their adult wheelchair-bound daughter.

For the past two decades, the daughter had been under their constant care at home.

A chronic progressive illness had wreaked havoc on this young woman’s body.

Her adult life had been held prisoner by an insidious neurologic disorder.

She was having a problem …

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Getting an appointment with primary care is the Achilles’ heel of medicine [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 26, 2022
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“‘Doctor, it’s taken so long to get this appointment with you!’ This is the opening line of so many medical visits, and I find myself constantly apologizing to my patients on behalf of our system. After the …

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Urging patience with patient self-advocacy

Conditions
August 26, 2022

One conundrum patients face is the dichotomy of trusting our doctors whilst deep diving in web searches and seeking additional opinions. Another is when our findings and experiences do not align with our doctors or established practices and guidelines.

How would you react in the first consultation with a new patient who presented as I did: with a radiation oncologist in Houston, outcome data on three curative attempts, a graph of …

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A doctor for LGBTQ+ health needs [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 25, 2022
YouTube video

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“It is uncomfortable to be publically vulnerable with my story. I wish the statistics and research were enough to change the field of medicine for patients and physicians. I want people to care about the experience of …

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As we get older and the world changes, it’s not always an easy task to say “where”

Conditions
August 25, 2022

“Where does it hurt?”

As a child, I can remember this ubiquitous question being frequently asked of me. Having grown up on a farm, there was always some trouble for me to get into. A common hazard was my older sister’s 26-inch bicycle, which had no training wheels.

At age 5, if I was to be a “big kid,” I had to master the art of riding the “big” bike on our …

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When medicine surrenders to the body

Physician
August 25, 2022

I still get chills thinking about the moment I decided to go to medical school. I was bored in my college physiology class, watching the minute hand on the round lecture hall clock.

There were just a few minutes remaining in the class, and students were starting to pack up. The professor, Dr. Adams, said, “I want to talk about hemorrhage before you go.” His voice was getting lost in the …

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