By this title, I mean whether it is a good idea or not to hire a scribe to enter data into the electronic medical record (EMR) system.
I favor having a scribe. I came of age with paper charts, and I found the transition to EMR tricky and time-consuming.
My chief argument favoring scribes is that scribes can save doctors a lot of time. And by saving time, scribes can also help …
To scribe or not to scribe? That is the question.
“That is a very heteronormative lens.”
These words were uttered to me by a 23-year-old female patient as I explained i-PLEDGE and the steps she must complete to take oral isotretinoin.
The visit started as fairly routine. A young female presented with a complaint of acne. I quickly appraised the patient on entering. She was petite, with a blonde pixie cut. She wore clothes that …
A call to dismantle structural heteronormative care
It is getting very crowded in my exam room. As a practicing obstetrician, I have counseled women for more than the past 36 years and our conversations have always been private. Suddenly, for the first time in 50 years, judges and politicians are vying to join me in these intimate moments that can involve the life or death of the mother. This is impossible for me to comprehend or accept.
The …
Reproductive and abortion care is health care
I know most of us have started adapting to the new way of life in our practice. However, some of us are still skeptical. I’m hoping to reach out to the skeptical ones among us.
The reason I say that is I was in your shoes as I started my career in a brick-and-mortar practice. In 2017 when my twins were born and after a short parental leave, I returned to …
A physician mom’s take on telemedicine
“More studies are needed to fully understand the impact of in-home hospital care programs on quality and cost. Extending the waivers will give physicians, health systems, health services researchers, and policymakers the opportunity to further analyze these programs’ results to determine the future for this person-centered care model.
The movement from inpatient …
Why Congress should extend acute care at home waivers [PODCAST]
May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and I want to share my story of my dad’s journey after his strokes.
Doors open and shut during the early morning hours. I hear the drip dispensing the next dose and some muffled chatter outside the room. Several phones are ringing in all directions, and I listen to alarms going off next door. This means the heart rate is too high.
Snoring beside me, I …
While the world has spent the last two years laser-focused on the COVID pandemic, another public health threat is still lurking in the shadows: the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized since the early 1900s, yet rigorous research over the past decade has illuminated the magnitude of the threat and its implications for future infection control. More than 35 thousand patients die from antibacterial resistance every …
Combating antimicrobial resistance during COVID: What clinicians need to know
Medicine as art appealed to me as a child. Working with families to achieve a state of health was an admirable goal—if naïve. I only went to the physician for immunizations and obligatory school physicals during childhood. My mom employed home remedies and time if I became ill, which fortunately worked.
I had no concept of what a career in medicine involved. Over twenty-five years, I explored every avenue available to …
A physician returns to creativity
“At the interpersonal level, people can help to normalize vaccination as the standard among their friends and family–not by lecturing or hectoring, simply by openly sharing that they themselves are vaccinated. Health care providers also have a role to play in de-sensationalizing the issue and making discussions about COVID vaccination a more routine …
Health care communications during the pandemic era [PODCAST]
On April 12, 2022, Day One of the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard civil defamation trial began. In the days that have ensued, more than 330 million viewers from the United States, Canada, and the U.K. watched the televised trial. At the core of the trial is the issue of intimate partner violence and its aftermath. Depp and Heard have each claimed to be victims of intimate …
Depp v. Heard and uncovering the truth about intimate partner violence
It was supposed to be a routine 20-week ultrasound appointment. The specialist abruptly knocked and entered. The next few hours of my life went by in choppy, disconnected segments. The specialist said he was sorry. Her bones were not growing properly. Her rib cage was small. Her lungs were underdeveloped. This baby, whom I had allowed myself to love and believe in after my normal prenatal testing and ultrasounds, living …
A choice of maternal compassion
Joint pain, nausea, dizziness, bloating, palpitations, urticaria, headache, and fatigue. Surely this must be a list of the chief concerns for each of your first eight patients for the day.
No, these chief concerns all belong to your very first patient of the day. A new patient is scheduled for a 20-minute slot.
How will you possibly get out of the room in time? How can you ever help this young woman? …
Nineteen children were killed in a mass shooting in Texas. I have barely escaped the pandemonium of the pediatric emergency department to scarf down a bowl of pasta when I hear the announcement on the breakroom TV. My stomach drops. Again? How is it possible?
I step back into the ED and immediately am called over by an agitated mother whose infant came in with respiratory distress 30 minutes earlier. Any …
Senators are killing children by failing to enact gun control laws
I sifted through both cars, my own and my husband’s, underneath our boys’ baseball equipment, candy wrappers, and empty water bottles. The felt bag was nowhere to be found.
I was finally ready to take this bag of a dozen sweaters, some of which were my fancy cashmeres, to the dry cleaners. Why a dozen, you may ask? Well, these were essentially all the nice sweaters I owned. I waited a …
Mothers and sweaters: the gifts of letting go
“No one anticipated how the pandemic would impact their Deaf colleagues’ work environment and career opportunities. Yet, 15% of adults report some form of hearing difficulty. This number increases dramatically with advancing age, with 50% of those aged 75 years or older experiencing hearing difficulty. The exact number of Deaf/Hard of …
Practicing medicine as a Deaf physician is an uphill battle [PODCAST]
On May 14, 2022, ten people were fatally shot with three injured at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, NY, constituting the second most deadly mass shooting this year at the time of writing. As the number of mass shootings and fatalities continues to climb each year with alarming frequency, researchers and policymakers have sought to examine the factors contributing to an increased incidence of deadly domestic terrorist …
The Buffalo mass shooting and food deserts
It is too early to hear the narratives from the families of the 19 children slain this week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, near San Antonio, Texas. But narratives from the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting, the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, and 16 other deadly gun violence events have just been published by Red Penguin books. From Bullet to Bullhorn is the …
A gun message for woke corporations
In a world where we are constantly bombarded with bad news, it is easy to forget the manner in which news is reported can impact and cause harm to vulnerable individuals. The topic of suicide is one such sensitive subject, and there are guidelines for the appropriate reporting of deaths by suicide to help mitigate potential risk. Despite these guidelines, sensationalized stories about death by suicide are often splashed across …
How the Judd family has honored their mother
I have been privileged to work with and learn from some of the best. Skilled, talented, giving, compassionate human beings who support their patients and each other. I have been pulled up by nurses who saw more in me than I saw in myself. I have been mentored by them and am a much better nurse practitioner because of what I’ve learned from them. I’ve also had the privilege to …
It’s time for someone to show up for nurses
Many Americans will lose access to vital health care services in a few short months unless Congress passes bipartisan legislation already introduced in both the House and Senate.
Co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore) and Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act extends waivers allowing patients with acute illnesses to receive hospital-level care at home. The waivers are set to …
The public health emergency brought health care into the 21st century. Let’s keep moving forward.
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