Telehealth is the future but it is obscured by a dismal present [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 21, 2020
YouTube video

“Will the unfavorable regulatory environment permit telehealth to flourish? Perforce we’re beginning to see a relaxation of restrictions that have hitherto obstructed progress.  Recently, federal officials approved interstate licensing, thereby prompting greater telehealth conversion, utilization, and expansion. Medicare’s 1135 Waiver is also encouraging, and, in as much as it serves the same ends, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s leave to prescribe via …

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Why we’ll never eradicate malignancy in medical training

Physician
October 21, 2020

For a bunch of folks striving to stomp out malignant processes in our patients, we sure tolerate a fair amount of destructive behavior among training programs.

I’ll be the first to say I’m not the most delicate flower in the garden. Before pursuing medicine, I was a college athlete. I’m no stranger to long hours, harsh coaches, or repeated failures.

Medical students get their first bitter taste of malignant …

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The issue of tie-downs in the emergency department

Physician
October 21, 2020

During a typically busy Saturday evening shift in the emergency department (ED), I am summoned to the trauma room for a “tie-down,” an agitated patient needing restraints. I find the entrance choked with police officers and push my way through to see the patient.  Once there, I see a large, young appearing Black man lying on his back, his hands cuffed tightly together on his stomach, a netted hood over …

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Can what you eat worsen your ADHD? [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 20, 2020
YouTube video

“Suzy was a bright and hardworking student. However, even though she was conscientious and generally cheery, her grades began to fall during her senior year, and she started to feel depressed. She also constantly had an upset stomach, which she had just accepted as a way of life. She’d had an ADHD diagnosis since she was younger, but while Ritalin had …

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“You’re fired”: 2 words this doctor never expected to hear

Physician
October 20, 2020

It took me 47 years to hear those two devastating words, “You’re fired.”

It’s not like I didn’t have a slew of jobs before becoming a physician.  I cut lawns and raked leaves as an early teen; I worked in a fast-food restaurant when I was 14 using my older brother’s ID, I worked in a carwash one summer, I even worked for a national department store. I was always polite, …

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Sexual offender treatment during COVID-19 [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 19, 2020
YouTube video

“Let’s not suffer more hardship then already incurred by COVID-19. Recognizing that both the psychosocial stressors arising from COVID-19 and the withdrawal of effective sexual offender treatment increase the risk of sexual violence, public safety demands that offenders have access to treatment. Without sexual offender treatment during COVID-19, we exchange one public health crisis for another.”

Renée Sorrentino is …

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The burden of the badge: an MD student’s response to the FIGS controversy

Education
October 19, 2020

Recently, FIGS – a design-driven medical apparel company – published its latest video advertisement: a young woman in bubblegum pink scrubs struts into view, shaking her FIGS-clad hips for the camera while holding a Medical Terminology for Dummies textbook upside-down. Forget practicing medicine; this woman isn’t fit to drive. The camera pans, emphatically, towards her badge, which reads DO – short for doctor of osteopathic medicine. Ahhh, the viewer is …

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Be an upstander and not a bystander [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 18, 2020
YouTube video

“The incident bothered me all day and the following many days. I couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was and brushed it aside and stopped thinking about it. In the wake of recent events, it dawned upon me that it wasn’t the patient’s comments that bothered me. It was the fact that no one standing in the room witnessing …

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Medical school in the age of Zoom

Education
October 18, 2020

What has medical school been like in the age of Zoom? Before I was a student doctor, I was an undergraduate student pining after the halls of medicine and the truthfully looking forwards to the rigors of medical school. Upon acceptance to medical school at the University of California, San Diego, I celebrated via Zoom with family. Orientation week was a hybrid model of Zoom and on-campus socially distanced activities. …

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This physician is tired, and he’s not alone

Physician
October 18, 2020

I have a lot of energy. I have been going and going and going for so long.

And today, it hit me.

I’m tired.

I began this pursuit of medicine in 1983 when I decided to be a zoology major. I worked and went to medical school. And I went to medical school and worked. Then I worked and went to three years of emergency medicine residency and worked hard for those three …

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What it’s like to write about COVID-19 while it’s killing your mom [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 17, 2020
YouTube video

“My mom was beyond vulnerable to the virus. May of 2020 marked two years since she’d become a nursing home resident—receiving care for several chronic illnesses. She died of failure to thrive due to Coronavirus 2019 on June 1, 2020, at the age of 75.

As her oldest child, her health care proxy, and a health care writer for more than 15 years, I knew that a positive result …

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Doctors in tech cities are losing the rat race

Finance
October 17, 2020

Populous cities are populous, well, because people want to live there. Whether the appeal comes from greater career opportunities or simply being closer to family, these places have continuously grown over the last few decades.

The growth is seemingly self-sustaining — certain industries and businesses exist because there is a population that desires these services. In return, these businesses require workers, so they attract people to the region. Add nice weather …

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What does a physician’s ideal life look like? [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 16, 2020
YouTube video

“You are a physician. You have put in years of hard work and sacrifice getting here. Now what?

Does your life look and feel exactly how you imagined it would? If not, what does your ideal life look like?

Certainly, answers to this question are deeply personal, and will vary depending on the individual. As physicians, we need to engage in a process …

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A medical student volunteers with the medical corps [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 15, 2020
YouTube video

“An email arrived inviting med students to join the State of Georgia’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). The MRC is an organization of doctors, nurses, PAs, EMTs, and med students who are the first medical boots on the ground for disasters in Georgia. They establish mobile hospitals and provide medical care. With extra time in isolation, I signed up and shortly received …

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What are the limitations of COVID-19 testing?

Conditions
October 15, 2020

COVID-19, first identified in December 2019 and declared a global pandemic in March 2020, has taken a toll on everyone around the world. After months of varying levels of lockdown and quarantine, people are developing pandemic fatigue, and craving human contact and normalcy again. This, coupled with the reopening of the nation, businesses reopening, and schools back in session, many people are relying on COVID-19 testing to say they are …

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Attacks on osteopathic medicine are attacks on all physicians

Physician
October 15, 2020

It was distressing to hear and read recent and ongoing disparaging comments about osteopathic medicine, attacking one of our own, from remarks by Rachel Maddow to tweets by Cher and a derogatory video, since removed, portraying a female DO by Figs Scrubs.

Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley, DO, serves as the Physician to the President. This emergency medicine-trained combat veteran graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is well-qualified …

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Unconventional residency interview tips

Physician
October 15, 2020

I’ve done a lot of interviews on my road to becoming a cardiology fellow. Here are a few topics that people don’t talk about enough.

Speed dating

I think of interviews like speed dating. Everyone puts on their “first date.” Everyone behaves their best; therefore, you can’t trust everything people say. Your job is to really listen to what people are saying, how they’re saying it, when they pause, when they fish …

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Free speech, cancel culture, and taking down statues [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 14, 2020
YouTube video

“History cannot be changed and should not be erased. The First Amendment was placed first for a reason. It is the bedrock of our nation’s ability to overcome despots like Hitler and to abolish slavery. However, it comes at a price. You may hear things you don’t like or make you uncomfortable. You may see statues or places like the Old …

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The million-dollar ski boat mistake

Finance
October 14, 2020

Forums and Facebook groups abound with a frequently asked question that sounds something like this: “Should we sell our positive cash flow rental to buy (insert fun new toy), so we don’t have to attain a loan?”

When someone wants to buy a new car, boat or motorhome — but they have learned that buying toys with borrowed money is a bad idea — they start thinking about how they can …

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