8 scary financial mistakes physicians make with their money

Finance
January 14, 2022

Are you a physician who is having financial difficulties? Doctors are at unusually high risk of making scary financial blunders in their personal lives because they are high-income professionals.

Despite having a higher-than-average income, physicians can nevertheless develop unhealthy financial habits that will cost them in the long run. Physicians can easily fall into any financial pitfalls.

Fortunately, with a bit of foresight, it is easy to avoid doing …

Read more…

Our patients become an inextricable part of our lives [PODCAST]

Podcast
January 13, 2022
YouTube video

“The weekend after Isabelle’s discharge, I take my shoes outside onto the driveway. The sky is a brilliant blue, and green tinges of leaves poke through shells of buds; the wind slips through my fleece. I scrub the spots of blood with an antibacterial wipe, and tan shoe polish comes …

Read more…

Why we should celebrate the Great Resignation

Physician
January 13, 2022

There’s a lot of hubbub about The Great Resignation right now.

Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs each month. It’s happening in medicine and other sectors such as education, tech, and fast food. Interestingly, it’s not the typical younger employees driving the massive numbers; it’s mid-career workers.

In our household, we have seen both sides of the resignation. At the same time that my teen son quit his first job at …

Read more…

A new boon for Big Data and patient care

Policy
January 13, 2022

Big Data in medicine is the data analysis of large amounts of patient medical information to improve medical care. Analysis of data may be used to pick the best intervention for a patient based upon care outcomes of similar patients or to evaluate physicians.

The primary source of patient medical information is patient medical records, where a medical record reports what happens during an encounter, where an encounter …

Read more…

Listening to pain in our younger patients

Conditions
January 13, 2022

As a family physician for more than 40 years, I have seen countless patients struggling to alleviate chronic pain, with far too many turning to self-destructive coping methods such as alcohol and opioids. Unfortunately, the struggle with chronic pain isn’t going away – and more alarming is the fact that those suffering from it are getting younger and younger. The latest data on chronic pain show patients between age 18 …

Read more…

3 New Year’s resolutions that always get results

Physician
January 13, 2022

In a world of delightfully fit health coaches who gleefully snack on kale chips during the holidays, I am not one of them! I like to splurge. Holiday cookies are my weakness, and pecan balls did not disappoint this season! Did you stray from your health goals? I am right there with you. But as a coach, I believe in celebrations. There is no shame in indulging in treats on …

Read more…

How to end the misinformation pandemic [PODCAST]

Podcast
January 12, 2022
YouTube video

“The way to do this is by recognizing the power of words. I don’t mean fervently declaring one’s position and arguing why those who disagree are wrong. There has been way too much of this, and health professionals are no exception. Rather what’s needed to deliver the best health outcomes …

Read more…

COVID-19 and the Tuskegee syphilis study

Meds
January 12, 2022

Despite health professionals’ efforts at conveying the effectiveness of immunization, many African Americans remain skeptical about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Getting to the root of this distrust is critical as the Delta and Omicron variants stoke up the number of positive COVID-19 cases across the United States. And the spread of the virus is not uniform. According to the National Vital Statistics System, Black Americans incur the highest COVID-19 …

Read more…

The world according to Steinbeck

Physician
January 12, 2022

So I am on the road again — sort of. What I do is work away from home, which isn’t quite the same thing. Where I work as a radiologist is not within commuting distance, so I stay at a nearby hotel. In general, that has worked out fairly well.

Not long ago, however, when I went to start the car after breakfast, I became immediately aware of a roaring sound.

The …

Read more…

Good morning and thank you for flying SkyAnesthesia

Physician
January 12, 2022

This article is satire.

Good morning and thank you for flying SkyAnesthesia. I am your flight attendant, Dr. Jablonski, and my co-pilot this morning will be Attending Dr. To-Be-Named. This Boston-based flight crew is honored to serve you.

While our Team SkyAnesthesia, or TSA for short, does not utilize metal detectors, please remove all jewelry and body piercings prior to boarding. Please be sure to securely stow your belongings in the provided …

Read more…

The displacement of the health care family

Conditions
January 12, 2022

Along came COVID, and no one was prepared. We had minimal PPE. We were told to put our N95 mask in a paper bag, use it on every patient, and use it for one full week. Normally the N95 mask would be disposed of after each patient room exit.

Health care staff was dying at the hands of COVID and lack of PPE. Over 115,000 health care workers died from COVID. …

Read more…

Stress: Is it time to expose the alcohol con? [PODCAST]

Podcast
January 11, 2022
YouTube video

“Stress is just part of the alcohol con trick. And the truth is that every benefit we have ever imagined alcohol giving us it doesn’t. It is a drug, and it works the same way as all other drugs.

Many of my clients are doctors and nurses, and some are …

Read more…

The difficulty in coming home: What doctors and soldiers have in common

Physician
January 11, 2022

When I was married to a physician, dinner was often delayed. When he finally came home, I was hungry if I hadn’t already eaten with the kids. Our dog would greet him with her whole body of yearning and relief, tail wagging furiously, whining, smiling, crying. She was the embodiment of what I felt but could not express. So I watched with jealousy as our dog received from my husband …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

Mental health advocacy applies to physicians, too

Conditions
January 11, 2022

Mental health has blazed its way to the forefront of the national conversation over the last decade. Increased awareness and decreased stigmatization around mental health issues have undoubtedly allowed many to have access to necessary resources, and the world is better off because of it. Influencers no longer shy away from discussing these topics, and employers are taking steps to create cultural change in …

Read more…

We have been forced into a mass casualty scenario

Physician
January 11, 2022

I spent the past year and a half of this pandemic getting a degree in quality, safety, and leadership. Though there were days, nights, and weeks where I simply did not know how I could finish the work or go on, I never realized how much I needed the work to help me process what is happening around us. To help me navigate my rage at the state of our …

Read more…

Crowdfunding to pay health bills [PODCAST]

Podcast
January 10, 2022
YouTube video

“Crowdfunding models of paying for health care maximize the probability that all members’ eligible bills will be paid in full each month. These models come without the burdens of skyrocketing premiums and deductibles. Unlike traditional models, members aren’t chained to yearly contracts and have more flexibility and autonomy with …

Read more…

I’m a burned out family doctor and racism is part of the problem

Physician
January 10, 2022

Stories of overworked and burned out, front line health care workers have been in the news since early in the pandemic. Job vacancies in health care and social assistance are at a record high, according to Statistics Canada data published in March of 2021.

At the same time, COVID has highlighted the persistent health disparities between white and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) …

Read more…

Do we really know why they died? The inaccuracy on death certificates.

Physician
January 10, 2022

Despite protests from the medical community contained in multiple amicus curiae briefs, the Pennsylvania Superior Court recently ruled that the term “cause of death” on death certificates is ambiguous and should include any physician errors that contributed to the death — they were correct.

What they failed to consider was that, without an autopsy, the listed cause of death is often wrong, so using it to determine precipitating …

Read more…

What this primary care physician learned from her COVID-19 infection

Conditions
January 10, 2022

March 2020. Administrators informed us that primary care physicians would be deployed to the “front lines” – either the emergency department or the COVID-19 wards. When I shared my news with my 21-year-old daughter, she cried and hugged me and said, “I don’t want you to die.”

Fate intervened, and I didn’t get deployed. By the time I was up, the numbers improved, and it was time to return to my …

Read more…

Why you should not use BMI for your New Year’s resolution

Conditions
January 10, 2022

My patient balanced precariously in the bustling hallway as she carefully removed her boots and slipped into lightweight sandals. My medical assistant offered to hold her purse and jacket as my patient held her breath and stepped onto the scale. Squinting at the numbers, my patient sagged in frustration. “Same as last year. Nothing I do ever works.”

By the time I met her in the exam room, the patient had …

Read more…

627
pages