Naming the anti-Asian racism of U.S. COVID-19 policy

Conditions
May 14, 2022

It started as the “Chinese virus.” Then the “kung flu.” Then came the boycotts of Chinatowns, the rise in harassment, assaults, and murders. The recognition of hate and discrimination against Asian Americans was long overdue. However, anti-Asian racism doesn’t just manifest in hate speech or violence; it has undermined the U.S. COVID-19 policy response.

In 2020, American media narratives frequently painted Asian nations’ success in controlling COVID-19 as the result of …

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Listening to the doctor’s heart [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 13, 2022
YouTube video

“A few months ago, I embarked on an ethnographic study to understand what health care professionals saw as the psychosocial needs of pediatric patients. This involved conversations with several doctors in Pakistan, who had volunteered to share their views about pediatric patient care. As I engaged in deep, organic discussions with …

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A specific way to improve our health care delivery system

Policy
May 13, 2022

This spring, in my culminating semester of PA school, I took a course entitled “Health Care Delivery Systems.” After 30-something months, the end was in sight, and I was not particularly excited for another serious class while I was wrapping up rotations, studying for my boards, and writing my master’s paper.

However, as soon as I started working on the class assignments, I realized this class might deserve a higher rank …

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Are psychedelics the heroes or villains?

Meds
May 13, 2022

Like many fellow Americans, I had my first psychedelic experience in the middle of the pandemic, in a place where the use of psychedelics is decriminalized.

I grew up in a Communist country, and the ban and stigma against psychedelics were tremendous. There was no plant medicine available, and I didn’t know even one person using anything other than alcohol and prescription drugs.

I read Michael Pollan’s book How …

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Inside the mind of a medical novel writer [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 12, 2022
YouTube video

In this episode, we talk with writer Dustin Grinnell. He takes us behind the scenes on his ideas for his books, his research process, and how he brings medical stories to life. We also delve into the realm of speculative fiction, and how that intersects with medicine, technology, and ethical dilemmas.

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Gender inequality is making burnout worse

Physician
May 12, 2022

The 2022 Medscape poll on physician burnout confirms what has been painfully obvious to doctors on the frontlines of COVID-19: Their burnout is intensifying.

According to the survey of 13,000 doctors, the nation’s most burned-out physicians are those in emergency medicine (60%) and critical care (56%). Medscape, a leading health care publication, describes burnout as “long-term, unresolvable job-related stress that leads to exhaustion, cynicism, and …

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Lesson learned: Pick your battles

Conditions
May 12, 2022

It was a known fact — I was 4′ 11″ but I had a mouth on me to compensate. I was loud and noisy. Fellow nurses called me the “rebel without a cause.”

But I had a cause.

I knew I was David against Goliath. Almost everything became my cause. And I verbally fought my way through this iron-clad management structure.

I had to fight for the betterment of the patients, their survival, …

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Your doctors don’t keep track of what they’re doing

Tech
May 12, 2022

A little-known fact about doctors that most patients would find horrifying is that physicians don’t keep track of their results.

If I botch a knee surgery so badly that my patient requires five repairs by a different specialist, I might never find out. As a result, I will continue to use a flawed technique on patient after patient. The fact that I never hear from any of them again will be …

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What are your true colors?

Physician
May 12, 2022

We have probably heard this saying with different permutations many times about someone showing “their true colors.”

As physician and best-selling author, Tess Gerritsen, shared: “There is no better test of character than when you’re tossed into crisis. That’s when we see one’s true colors shine through. So, I try my best to make my characters personally involved in the plot, in a way that stresses them and tests them.”

It made …

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COVID-19 and the Great Resignation: a catalyst, not the cause [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 11, 2022
YouTube video

“The Great Resignation. I doubt there is a medical practice out there that has not been affected by it. And experts predict we are just at the beginning. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ early data from 2022 shows that health care is among the top three industries increasing in monthly …

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An example of medical-legal consulting

Physician
May 11, 2022

Medical-legal consulting is a great way to use your medical training in a non-clinical field that helps people. Physicians all over the country are now doing medical-legal consulting as a rewarding part-time gig.

One service out of many we provide is to give our opinions regarding the causation of traumatic injuries.  Some attorneys ask us to provide opinion letters regarding a particular injury caused in a work-related situation, a personal injury …

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Jim Dahle, MD and the White Coat Investor [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 10, 2022
YouTube video

In this episode, I interview Jim Dahle, creator of the White Coat Investor. He has literally created a new asset class of content: the health care professional personal finance space.

He discusses how he got his start with the White Coat Investor, why his message still resonates today, and how financial literacy …

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Medicine and motherhood: on call forever

Physician
May 10, 2022

My residency baby just turned eighteen. Obviously, he isn’t really a baby anymore. He is six foot four and going to college, but somehow, I still think of him as that little baby. Maybe I’m just relieved that “we” both made it to eighteen. By “we,” I mean “me” as a physician mom and “him” as a person. I realize that sounds ridiculous, but honestly, being a physician mom is …

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A call to action for my medical colleagues

Conditions
May 10, 2022

Modern medicine, a system originally designed to fix acute health care problems, now creates more chronic health care problems than helping to solve them. I see the dangers of over-testing and over-prescribing taking place each day in my day-to-day pediatric clinical practice.

It scares me to see how many doctors reflexively prescribe pills designed to merely mask symptoms rather than take time to understand the underlying cause or that most chronic …

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Introducing a new kind of financial advisory. Custom built to serve physicians.

Sponsored
May 9, 2022

This article is sponsored by Forme Financial, a highly specialized advisory that works only with physicians.

Whether in early practice or nearing retirement, physicians face far more career and financial complexities than other professions. But until now they were limited to financial advisors who offer essentially the same solutions to all their clients, regardless of profession.

Forme Financial …

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We are not defined by what we eat [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 9, 2022
YouTube video

“I propose that we look at what each choice in food does for us: How does it make my body feel? How am I able to sleep and move and focus when I eat this food? How am I giving my body what it needs right now and what will keep it …

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Toxicity, gaslighting, and passive aggression in fellowship

Physician
May 9, 2022

“Yeah, I mean, whatever, it’s a master’s! Have your own damn party.”

My jaw dropped in disgusted shock. The wall was thin, very thin. Come to think of it, it wasn’t even a wall. It was a partition: the separation of space between different office spaces. My mentor uttered these words: Assigned to support, encourage, and guide me through training; the person supposedly invested in my personal and professional growth. This …

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How medical careers are like argyle sweaters

Physician
May 9, 2022

Working in health care, going through medical school and residency, changes who you are.  We invest so much of ourselves and our potential futures into accomplishing board certification.  Once we achieve this feat, we often live in fear of one day losing what we have achieved.  After all, many of us have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of dollars, relationships, friendships, marriages, the ability to have children, joys of life, our …

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A surgeon’s favorite stomach surgery patient

Conditions
May 9, 2022

High on my list of favorite operations was surgery on the stomach: The anatomy is neat, the re-plumbing alternatives clever, technical challenges rewarding, and, because it’s well-supplied with blood, complication-free healing is pretty predictable. Also, several procedures were invented by and named for history’s pioneer surgeons, and it’s nice to feel the connection, heir to the discoveries and invention of the greats. Let me tell you about one of my …

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