KevinMD.com

Health care worker appreciation: When the thought doesn’t count

Conditions

June 14, 2022

Maybe we need to educate upper management — those multi-million-dollar hospitals with multi-million dollars per year salaried CEOs and board members with their financial perks — that health care professionals and nurses during “Health Care Worker/Nurse Week” in May of each year are no longer in the second grade.

Maybe we need to remind “them” that we are college-educated health care professionals with degrees, like ADNs, BSN, MSNs, RNs, LPNs, educators, …

The health care system will cause its own physician shortage

Advait Suvarnakar and Aashka Suvarnakar

Policy

June 14, 2022

A quarter of a million dollars — that’s the amount of debt the average medical student in the United States owes after completing medical school. After all the late nights studying, the endless exams and selfless sacrifice, it’s human nature to expect a historically stable career as the reward — right? I mean, weren’t we all told that “hard work pays off” at some point in our lives? For budding …

Eating disorder myths debunked [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 13, 2022

“When people think of eating disorders, the image is often of an emaciated, white teenage girl in the hospital hooked up to feeding tubes. In fact, eating disorders are varied in how they present in a person, and they certainly do not ‘look’ a certain way.

Eating disorders occur in all cultures, …

Flip the axis: primary care rotations

Russell Phillips, MD and Katie Cavender, MBA

Physician

June 13, 2022

Primary care is foundational to the U.S. health system, but not enough students are entering the field. Whether students are interested in medicine, nursing, social work or pharmacy — it is critical that we share the exciting aspects of primary care and then adequately prepare them to work in the field. High loan burden and low pay relative to other potential jobs and specialties and training within a culture that …

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Flip the axis: primary care rotations

Help stop health care burnout

Divya Srinivasan and Tejas Sekhar

Conditions

June 13, 2022

The landscape of medicine and health care is constantly changing. With the integration of electronic medical records (EMR) and other technological advances, physicians and health care providers must be much more adaptable than ever before and possess unprecedented levels of technical literacy in the field.

The modernization of health care has been a driver of burnout, defined as “the constellation of symptoms that occur when your energy account …

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Help stop health care burnout

10 suggestions for a smoother high school experience

Harriet Levy

Conditions

June 13, 2022

I used to spend most of my day listening.

As a high school counselor, I encouraged teenagers to talk. Feeling stressed, they said, is their automatic response to demanding teachers, parents’ high expectations, and the drama of shifting friendship alliances.

Daily dilemmas and problems affect everyone: the terrified boy who just heard rumors he was going to be jumped after school, the teary-eyed girl whose teacher embarrassed her in front of the …

Re-wounding the wounded healer

Constantine Ioannou, MD

Physician

June 13, 2022

I walk onto the inpatient unit on a Monday morning. The feeling of discomfort begins to overwhelm me. Perhaps this was due to being forced back to inpatient, but I felt it had to do with changes in the process.

I started my training at a time when therapy was a central part of education. Understanding even the most psychotic patients was a key element of our field. I do not …

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Re-wounding the wounded healer

Gender inequality is making burnout worse [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 12, 2022

“If we want to alleviate the fatigue and frustration women physicians are experiencing, we can always start by solving two old problems: (1) All doctors need fewer bureaucratic tasks forced upon them, and (2) women physicians must be able to work in environments free of harassment and discrimination.

There’s yet another solution …

3 decades in medicine: new name(s), same me

Toyin M. Falusi, MD

Physician

June 12, 2022

Many women change their last names after marriage, after a divorce, or just because. During my 30-year career in medicine, I have had three last names. Yes, not a typo, three!

I got married for the first time during my internal medicine residency. I didn’t change my name and was “Mrs. Married Name” to friends and family and “Dr. Maiden Name” at work. I grew as a physician, conducted research, and …

3 reasons practices should implement patient-initiated collaborative texting

Keith Dressler

Tech

June 12, 2022

Medical care continues to advance at a frenetic pace, with new diagnostics, treatments, and therapies arriving monthly. So why are medical communications still stuck in the 20th century?

Despite the ubiquitous presence of smartphones among consumers of all ages, medical practices still use one-to-one telephone calls as the primary communications vehicle. While some communications have moved to patient portals, responses often take hours — or days — if they are answered …

Receiving feedback and critique is a complicated art

Toba Bolaji, DO

Physician

June 12, 2022

In the mid 16th century, surgical education was that of a true apprenticeship. The student learned through direct observership and imitation of a skilled, elder surgeon. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that surgical education evolved into a formalized and structured program. Dr. William Osler introduced the concepts of specialty clerkships and bedside rounds in the late 1800s. Graduated autonomy, introduced by Dr. William Halsted in the …

Thoughts of a retired physician [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 11, 2022

“COVID-19 melted down the world at a very inopportune time in history. Just as medicine was getting a handle on previously intractable conditions, from sophisticated diabetes management to less invasive surgical procedures, a new threat that devastates our population with few good treatments overwhelms health care.

Medical workers come to the rescue, …

The cost of cosmetic procedures resulting in short-term disabilities

Joanna Wang

Conditions

June 11, 2022

In a viral video shared on Twitter in 2021, we see a line of women waiting to board a flight from Santo Domingo to Atlanta. Airline staff in safety vests stand around the women, all of whom are sitting—in wheelchairs. These women had recently undergone the popular Brazilian butt lift or “BBL” surgery, where fat is transferred from one part of the body to the buttocks, despite …

How the EHR is like a growing blob

Sarah Sciascia, MD

Physician

June 11, 2022

I’m not sure about you, but May 27 cannot come soon enough for me. Finally, after three years, we will get the next installment of Stranger Things and another round of monsters, friendships, and 80s memories.

For those of us Gen X-ers who grew up when all that retro fashion and music wasn’t retro, it’s a return to simpler days. Thankfully we didn’t have to worry about demogorgons IRL back then.

Now …

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How the EHR is like a growing blob

Simple solutions for social connections

Grisel Rodriguez-Morales, LCSW

Conditions

June 11, 2022

When Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa acquired the company that makes Lovot, a pet-sized robot for emotional support, it spoke about more than a financial investment in robotics. The news was tied to love, companionship, and healing. It also revealed the global loneliness and social isolation pandemic. The use of assistive robots is gaining popularity in Japan and China to deal with the caregiver shortage because social isolation is …

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Simple solutions for social connections

Nurses are struggling in isolation [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 10, 2022

“It’s apparent to most that the dark clouds and stormy waters in the business of health care continue. There is much that needs attention from both health care workers and consumers.

We have learned that when we work together, strength, creativity, and energy multiply exponentially.

We need to move forward and create a …

Burnout is a sign of something more sinister

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Physician

June 10, 2022

Burnout is a sign of something even more sinister. It’s a sign that our society is out of balance. We’ve become a society that values productivity above all else. We’re always working, hustling, and trying to get ahead. And, as a result, we’re burnout. We’re exhausted, anxious and depressed.

We’re struggling to keep up with the demands of our jobs and our lives. And, worst of all, we’re not even sure …

Shift from fighting for reproductive rights to fighting for reproductive justice

Ira Memaj, MPH

Policy

June 10, 2022

Although feminist movements include the fight for reproductive rights, they tend to forget to center on justice. Historically, the protection of women’s reproductive rights has not been a priority for governments; however, the drive and the act of attacking and dismantling a women’s bodily autonomy and dignity has been and continues to be. In the U.S., the Second Great Awakening, a period in the late 1800s that …

A psychiatrist presenting emotion [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 9, 2022

“Many families still prefer their providers to wear a mask. I have no way to know who carries what political or health views around their mask-wearing. Their masks were off, and mine was on. When I asked them for their preference of whether they feel comfortable with me wearing a mask …