Doctors don’t get sick. Right?
We’re certainly not supposed to. Throughout our training, the consequences of illness are dire—if you have to miss a day, someone else, someone you know well and care about, will have to fill in. They will probably have to fill in on their one day off that week. You know they’ll be angry and sad. If you’re still a med student rather than a resident, the …
What do doctors do when they get sick?
“We must believe that inside, where our spirits live, there is an understanding, a belief, in those people we have loved and who have loved us, that they will live in us even if they are far away. And perhaps more important these days is that our physical presence is less …
A story of a good death [PODCAST]
An excerpt from Living in the Moment: A Guide to Overcoming Challenges and Finding Moments of Joy in Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.
When confronted with an injury or an illness in a loved one, it’s human nature to respond, “Do everything! Whatever it takes!” Pulling out all the …
Minimize medication. Treat pain. Relieve agitation.
As we are all processing the horrific events that occurred in Texas, as a psychiatrist and advocate for individuals suffering from mental illness, I beg you not to state this individual was mentally ill. We do not know enough information to come to this conclusion.
We know that individuals with mental illness are not more violent than peers without mental illness. We need to lean into the research, look at other …
It’s time for evidence-based change to reduce gun violence
The practice of medicine goes beyond treating bodily wounds or electrolyte imbalances but also involves understanding and holistically helping patients. To ensure that the health care system functions well, physicians work tirelessly around the clock to provide care, support, and hope. Our focus is on delivering the best possible care to our patients, often putting aside our own needs and wants to complete the never-ending daily scroll of to-dos and …
Creating and promoting a culture of wellness in medicine
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, as we always do, though at a personal and communal price. Somebody else keeps our food available, allows our …
Doctors as organizational stewards
“We can talk about the system-based approaches we have instituted to avoid burnout and the negative emotional consequences that arise from medical errors, miscommunication, or negative outcomes that occur outside our sphere of control: Just culture. Peer review. Physician health and wellness committees. Social events. CMEs about burnout. Burnout surveys. State-run …
Why is it hard to find grace in medicine? [PODCAST]
Bringing in the mail recently, I was pleased to see a thick 5-by-7-inch booklet among the catalogs and bills. The anticipation of reading a few Reader’s Digest short stories and “Humor in Uniform” made the evening seem pleasurable. But when I opened the 244-page Reader’s Digest-sized booklet, I found the “Senior’s Blue Book for Greater Boston.” Here was page after page of assisted living communities, retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities, …
Dvořák Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”) – Movement II ‘Largo’: a soundscape like floating beside the clouds in a perfect blue sky. The brass chords flood your ears. The underlying orchestra adds harmonic depth and richness. The English horn solo tugs at heartstrings, sighing at the end of each phrase.
After years spent in numerous youth symphonic orchestras, this performance stands out to me among an …
On my second year-long round of burnout, I lay in bed at night as I festered in my negativity, thinking to myself, “What am I good at, what do I like to do, what am I supposed to be doing?” Little did I realize this was a spiritual crisis.
After almost 15 years as a urologist, I wondered, “What else can I do? What am I supposed to be doing because …
“Maintaining a relationship during nursing school takes some effort. Your time is taken up by studying, classes, clinicals and labs. Oh, did I mention studying? At the end of the day, there is just not much time left for significant others. Now, I am referring to romantic relationships here, but the …
How to maintain your relationships during nursing school [PODCAST]
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]
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