A neurosurgeon’s proposal to reduce burnout in medicine and beyond

Physician
February 7, 2022

In a previous article, I described the brain-damaging effects of allowing work-life balance to fall into disequilibrium. For example, scientists from the Karolinska Institute, in Sweden, reported that burnout may weaken the connectivity between far-flung regions of the brain and may even result in brain atrophy.

A burnout crisis in medicine has been simmering for more than a decade. In 2015, researchers from the Mayo Clinic reported on …

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The CDC’s continuing failures: Is there a way out?

Physician
February 7, 2022

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is in the eye of a storm after a controversial new guideline from CDC regarding the isolation of COVID-19 patients. The recent CDC directive suggested that everyone stay home for five days after a positive test regardless of vaccination status. If there are no symptoms or the symptoms are resolving after five days, you can leave …

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The work of an emergency department nurse through the eyes of a medical student

Education
February 7, 2022

Each time I am in the emergency department (ED) as a medical student, I meet new members of the health care team that make superior patient care possible. I have quickly developed a greater appreciation for the fact that no medical professional works in an isolated bubble. The strengths that each other bring to the table are paramount to the flow of patient progress. Before my time as a medical …

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Why and how to get a second opinion [PODCAST]

Policy
February 6, 2022
YouTube video

“In the end, the patient-physician relationship is crucial to overall decision-making for any plan of care, treatment, or surgery. There are many variations in the reviewed studies in health care literature as to the cost-effectiveness of second opinions in medicine. These studies could be easily misconstrued that there are …

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Stop prescribing one eating disorder to treat another: Why under and overeating are not “opposite problems”

Physician
February 6, 2022

Throughout my recovery journey from anorexia with a propensity for compulsive exercise, I have often heard, in a tone full of self-judgment, “I have the opposite problem.”

What the person is typically referring to is that they feel they eat too much, exercise too little, or both. The self-judgment usually reflects the way society places a positive value on undereating and over-exercising and negative connotation on the opposite. The interactions demonstrate …

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The power of a patient’s thank you

Physician
February 6, 2022

I turned to leave.

She spoke softly, “Thank you. Thank you for coming.”

The way these words were spoken caused me to gulp a deep breath while my heart fluttered.

In my mind, I was doing my job. A physician visiting one of our COVID-positive patients in the hospital.

In my mind, I wasn’t even able to offer her human connection as I would have wished to do.

Sound: Gowned up in PPE, including two …

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What really happens when the unvaccinated get sick with COVID

Conditions
February 6, 2022

“My body, my rights.”

“My body is a temple.”

“I don’t want poison going into my body.”

” I’ve done my research.”

And they refuse to wear masks; they refuse to social distance. They refuse COVID vaccinations and the booster. Essentially, they spit in the face of the population that trusts in science and medical research.

The disrespect and disregard for scientists, medical doctors, RNs and respiratory therapists are astonishing.

Their support groups tout ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine …

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What shared journeys to the afterlife teach about dying well and living better [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 5, 2022
YouTube video

“The more I spoke with individuals who had experienced a shared crossing event, the more I also noticed repeating patterns. A woman in West Virginia and a woman in Australia with deeply similar experiences around the loss of a baby. A grown daughter in California and a grown daughter in …

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What does it even mean to work through the unimaginable?

Physician
February 5, 2022

When the Delta variant hit Mississippi, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published alarming statistics for maternal and perinatal deaths. Pregnant women were dying at three times the pre-COVID baseline rate. These young, healthy women would rapidly deteriorate in a matter of days, with three weeks as the average time to death. And those were just the moms. Fetuses under 20 weeks gestation aren’t counted in the mortality rate …

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The silent burden of shame

Physician
February 5, 2022

Shame.

It’s what keeps physicians silent. It’s what keeps physicians from getting the help they need.

I’ve been a successful doctor for many years, but I’ve lived with the shame of having an eating disorder. It was my secret that hardly anyone in my life knew about.

No more. My shame is gone, and I’m ready to tell you my story.

When I was in eating disorder recovery, my …

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Inside the race to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions
February 5, 2022

An excerpt from The Vaccine: Inside the Race to Conquer the COVID-19 Pandemic. Copyright © 2022 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.

For the first time in weeks, Uğur Şahin’s calendar was clear. It was a Friday morning and the two-bedroom apartment he shared with his wife, Özlem Türeci, and their teenage daughter was unusually …

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Is Descovy really the better option? [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 4, 2022
YouTube video

“As individual patients, we often don’t think about these costs. In my Instagram poll, nearly everyone taking Descovy reported receiving the drug effectively for free, largely due to Gilead’s copay coupons. However, as with anything in life, nothing really ever is free. More patients taking Descovy rather than generic …

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Why do physicians stay in toxic work environments?

Physician
February 4, 2022

For the most highly educated and specialized professional on the health care totem pole, physicians put up with a ridiculous amount of nonsense in the workplace.

You are pressured to see high volumes of patients in a rapid-fire fashion (15 minutes per visit) even when it interferes with the quality of care.

You are expected to complete mundane and excessive administrative tasks and generally are not directly compensated for this time.

You are …

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Patients need palliative care to manage the pain of sickle cell disease

Conditions
February 4, 2022

Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects about 100,000 Americans as an inherited genetic disorder with intermittent exacerbations requiring hospitalization. SCD is also a painful and complicated disease with no single physician specialist that can provide pain relief. While SCD pain is similar in severity to cancer pain, patients struggle to find adequate pain relief because they are often labeled as “doesn’t appear in pain” as the …

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Why telehealth will change the course of autism

Conditions
February 4, 2022

As a medical student working in East Harlem, I see inequities in access to care on a daily basis. These inequities are exemplified amongst children suffering from neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism. In 2000, about 1 in 150 children were identified as having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That rate has skyrocketed to 1 in 44 today. For parents and their children, it is well appreciated that an …

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A physician’s money goals for 2022

Finance
February 4, 2022

It’s 2022, and many of us want this year to be better than last year. Instead of just hoping this happens, let’s make some realistic goals and put steps in place to achieve them. Here are some of my 2022 goals:

1. Continue to invest at least 10 percent of my salary in retirement accounts. Investing money gives me the opportunity to allow my money to grow. Because of inflation (the …

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Noah Kaufman, MD on the cryptocurrency market and educating physicians about Bitcoin [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 3, 2022
YouTube video

Emergency physician and financial planner Noah Kaufman gives a general cryptocurrency market update. He discusses the state of Bitcoin and the impact of fiscal tightening by the Federal Reserve and also comments on Paul Krugman’s recent New York Times column comparing cryptocurrency to the subprime mortgage crisis. Finally, we talk …

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