Inside the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans

Policy
March 4, 2021

Contained inside the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans.

Included in the bill’s long list of stimulus spending is a provision that delivers on President Biden’s promise to strengthen the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

Obamacare’s big failure has been what it did not do to help––and actually hurt––middle-class buyers of individual health insurance. Since the health law’s inception, consumers, who are eligible for little …

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Perfectionism is your nemesis, not your superpower

Physician
March 4, 2021

Ballet dancers and doctors are essentially the same people. Long before I entered medicine, ballet taught me the skills that made me successful in my clinical practice.  I was a life-long learner.  I improved my skills with daily practice. I was creative with limited resources. I strived for excellence and was rewarded for these efforts.  The skills I learned as a professional ballet dancer prepared me well for medicine.

There was …

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Improving end of life care from the start of training

Physician
March 4, 2021

Physicians have gone toe-to-toe with death since the earliest days of the profession, even knowing that our efforts would often be futile. Over the past century, dramatic technological advances have nearly doubled the average American lifespan, and modern practitioners have a level of control over mortality previous generations could scarcely have imagined. But medicine has by no means conquered death. This puts health care providers in …

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Health care from the trenches: Change must come from us [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 3, 2021
YouTube video

“We, as a profession, must accept some blame for many of the developing problems in health care delivery. No, I am not suggesting that we caused the problem. I am stating that we have had ample opportunities to manage the debacle and even to reverse some of the disturbing trends, yet …

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We need to work together to help schools reopen [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 3, 2021
YouTube video

“Children cannot afford to wait, especially our youngest learners who have difficulty engaging on a screen.  We need to all work together to help schools reopen, especially in low-income communities that are disproportionately suffering and may lack the resources.  I stand with the AAP, CDC, European CDC, WHO, and UNICEF to support …

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What I learned from stepping away from medicine for a year

Physician
March 3, 2021

Before COVID-19, I left the practice of medicine for what would turn out to become an entire year. While away, I found a new way of seeing our hearts and bodies as humans in the medical profession, allowing me to return.

Here are five lessons I learned in the hope they might help others.

1. Perfectionism doesn’t make you perfect

If perfectionism isn’t an unwritten rule in our profession, it’s, at minimum, a …

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We need to stop blaming the doctors

Physician
March 3, 2021

“Why do they book your well-child checks for 15 minutes?” my medical student asked me yesterday.  I laughed.  I couldn’t help it.  Gut reaction – like when you laugh instead of cry.  I explained that all of our appointments are 15 minutes – well-checks (regardless of age), to colds, to suicidality or chest pain.  I work for a large hospital system, and that is how patients are booked.  I the …

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Why environmental justice is integral to the future of medicine

Policy
March 3, 2021

This past year has been one of overwhelming extremes: global pandemic, a national reckoning on racism, devastating wildfires and storms, and political disarray. To some it was perhaps just a difficult year. But to those who can identify the common thread of injustice, it is clear that this was the product of decades of systemic inequities. It is also clear that if these inequities are not addressed, what we have …

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How physicians can emerge stronger after 2020 [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 2, 2021
YouTube video

“With 2020 behind us and the pandemic still raging, it is incumbent upon us to take a close look in the rear-view mirror. While the vaccines’ approval gives us all hope, the vaccination initiative’s slow rollout should worry us. Physicians, health care providers, nurses, and essential workers, and patients and family …

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Why I trust the COVID vaccine [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 2, 2021
YouTube video

“Many friends have asked for my perspective on the COVID vaccine. Answering this requires both an explanation of clinical trials and an understanding of what normally slows down pharmaceutical development.

Importantly, COVID vaccines are required to go through the same process as every other pharmaceutical.

Vaccination is a personal choice, but I 100 percent …

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A beloved COVID ICU patient turns to comfort care

Conditions
March 2, 2021

Everyone loved Mrs. Maria. She was everyone’s mom, grandma, teacher.

Maria grew up in poverty. Though her family was poor, she knew her parents and siblings loved her and loved each other. But the one thing she knew her passion was at was school. Every morning she couldn’t wait to go to school and learn more. And she knew one day she would be a teacher.

Throughout the years, Maria excelled in …

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Lessons from endurance racing for combatting pandemic fatigue

Physician
March 2, 2021

A recent conversation with a nurse evoked a metaphor for the COVID-19 pandemic. The floor on which she worked had just had several patients die from COVID-19 in rapid succession. One particularly sad case involved a man saying his final goodbye to his mother, both infected with COVID-19, through a video call because they couldn’t be in the same room as the mother passed away. The nurse said that she …

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How to help your child succeed at applying to medical school

Education
March 2, 2021

An excerpt from Raising Doctors: The Med School Admissions Success Guide for Parents of Future Physicians.

Let’s look at how you as a parent can help your child succeed at applying to medical school.

Legitimacy and verifiability matter

Applying to medical school, I learned what types of activities, accomplishments, and qualifications were valued and what weren’t.

For example, medical schools may restrict …

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Samuel Shem, MD on how can we put the connection back into medicine [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 1, 2021
YouTube video

“There is a frenzy of trying to use technology to re-establish the healing human connection in the doctor-patient interaction. These efforts range from advanced transcription of voice-to-record, scribes who do the data recording during a patient encounter, and so on. The IT department at NYU Grossman Medical School, where I teach, …

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Why trust is the bedrock of public health policy

Physician
March 1, 2021

I was at my gym last night (yes, it’s finally open).  Billy Joel’s ballad about trust was the metronome to my squats.  Though vaccinated, I was wearing my mask.  Knowing the latest evidence about vaccines, my mask was only for the optics of those mostly maskless around me.  I overheard the couple next to me say, “OMG. Fauci says we should double-mask. What a BSer!”

Trust is fundamental to the delivery …

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A neurosurgeon explains why visualization works

Conditions
March 1, 2021

Brain science explains why visualization improves performance in the real world, helps make better decisions, and minimizes errors.

Before performing surgery, let’s say for a herniated disc, I stand in front of a white porcelain sink. Antiseptic bubbles cover my hands and drip from my forearms. The surgery takes place in my mind, playing like a movie on the inside of my eyelids: The setting of retractors, …

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How residents can create a positive clinical learning environment [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 28, 2021
YouTube video

“For me, the team room became a safe space filled with light, stories, laughter, and food. There, my residents helped me read CT scans, interpret CBCs, come up with the differential for bradycardia, and organize my oral presentations. My residents gifted me confidence, advice on the third year and specialty selection, …

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Why creative endeavors are important for the future surgeon

Education
February 27, 2021

As an aspiring surgeon, I at times contemplate whether being creative has any effect on my future career. On one hand, if you see surgery as an “art,” then possibly a creative personality is beneficial. On the other hand, surgery often seems objective and clear-cut, qualities often deemed uncreative. Perhaps even my goals of surgery and my interests in artistic creation are independent, noncommunicating personality features that are unrelated and …

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