“Have you ever wondered how many times death has not come, but could have? On the corner of Church Street and Dubuque how close was I, pausing to assess an ice-sheeted puddle just before a woman turns, her head turned too, searching for what? A snack? A phone? A child crying? …
Residency interviews and the inner muse [PODCAST]
Recently, the New England Journal of Medicine published “Oral Health for All — Realizing the Promise of Science,” authored by some of the most respected officials in dentistry and medicine, including the U.S. Surgeon General. They declared the pressing need to address the “global public health threat” of inequitable dental care. With a surprisingly populist title, it was refreshing for a public health dentist to see a …
Oral health is justice for all
Patients need access to their health care data and health care consumers need access to their health care information. Data and information are not the same. Data is akin to the ingredients for a meal, while information is more like the meal. Imagine ordering a meal in a restaurant. The wait staff brings the ingredients to your table. You still need a chef to prepare the dinner. This is much …
Patient platforms should be intuitive in design and execution
In 2017, I was medically discharged from the military due to an exacerbation of an eating disorder. At that time, anorexia nervosa (AN) provided relief from the depression that I had developed secondary to the multitude of stressors that came with being in the Air Force and an oral and maxillofacial surgery resident. Years later, I have made major career pivots to regain my health. However, military and medical culture …
Military and medicine: 10 shared risk factors for eating disorder development
“Oh no, it’s a doctor hopper. You know who I’m talking about: the patients with twenty previous doctors documented in their chart. The ones who took years to be diagnosed. The ones who still have not been diagnosed, but insist something is wrong. They’re just jumping around until they get their …
A patient explains the reasons behind doctor hopping [PODCAST]
I will tell you why health care professionals feel they need to be superhuman, without needs or vulnerabilities.
Because that is who we want to be, why we got into the field, and then our training reinforces those very ideas. We exist to take care of others, not be taken care of.
I am a health care professional. I also struggle with major depressive disorder (MDD) as well as an eating disorder. …
Our vulnerabilities, when treated and acknowledged, can become our biggest strength
Our profession often sends the message that we are invincible heroes.
Here’s my vulnerable and honest admission: I lapped that up. There was something so seductive about denying pesky human requirements, like sleep, regular exercise, and time to decompress. I liked being needed more than I liked having needs.
I sublimated mine under my superhero cape right up until the time I hit a kryptonite wall. There …
We are humans first and inspiring, gifted healers second
It started as the “Chinese virus.” Then the “kung flu.” Then came the boycotts of Chinatowns, the rise in harassment, assaults, and murders. The recognition of hate and discrimination against Asian Americans was long overdue. However, anti-Asian racism doesn’t just manifest in hate speech or violence; it has undermined the U.S. COVID-19 policy response.
In 2020, American media narratives frequently painted Asian nations’ success in controlling COVID-19 as the result of …
Naming the anti-Asian racism of U.S. COVID-19 policy
“A few months ago, I embarked on an ethnographic study to understand what health care professionals saw as the psychosocial needs of pediatric patients. This involved conversations with several doctors in Pakistan, who had volunteered to share their views about pediatric patient care. As I engaged in deep, organic discussions with …
Listening to the doctor’s heart [PODCAST]
This spring, in my culminating semester of PA school, I took a course entitled “Health Care Delivery Systems.” After 30-something months, the end was in sight, and I was not particularly excited for another serious class while I was wrapping up rotations, studying for my boards, and writing my master’s paper.
However, as soon as I started working on the class assignments, I realized this class might deserve a higher rank …
A specific way to improve our health care delivery system
Like many fellow Americans, I had my first psychedelic experience in the middle of the pandemic, in a place where the use of psychedelics is decriminalized.
I grew up in a Communist country, and the ban and stigma against psychedelics were tremendous. There was no plant medicine available, and I didn’t know even one person using anything other than alcohol and prescription drugs.
I read Michael Pollan’s book How …
Are psychedelics the heroes or villains?
In this episode, we talk with writer Dustin Grinnell. He takes us behind the scenes on his ideas for his books, his research process, and how he brings medical stories to life. We also delve into the realm of speculative fiction, and how that intersects with medicine, technology, and ethical dilemmas.
Inside the mind of a medical novel writer [PODCAST]
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.
As leaders in patient safety, anesthesiologists are committed to improving patient care and positively impacting the experiences of expectant mothers to ensure the health and safety of mom and baby. Along with primary health care providers, anesthesiologists are available to help expectant …
All mothers deserve to give their newborns the best start in life
The 2022 Medscape poll on physician burnout confirms what has been painfully obvious to doctors on the frontlines of COVID-19: Their burnout is intensifying.
According to the survey of 13,000 doctors, the nation’s most burned-out physicians are those in emergency medicine (60%) and critical care (56%). Medscape, a leading health care publication, describes burnout as “long-term, unresolvable job-related stress that leads to exhaustion, cynicism, and …
Gender inequality is making burnout worse
It was a known fact — I was 4′ 11″ but I had a mouth on me to compensate. I was loud and noisy. Fellow nurses called me the “rebel without a cause.”
But I had a cause.
I knew I was David against Goliath. Almost everything became my cause. And I verbally fought my way through this iron-clad management structure.
I had to fight for the betterment of the patients, their survival, …
Lesson learned: Pick your battles
A little-known fact about doctors that most patients would find horrifying is that physicians don’t keep track of their results.
If I botch a knee surgery so badly that my patient requires five repairs by a different specialist, I might never find out. As a result, I will continue to use a flawed technique on patient after patient. The fact that I never hear from any of them again will be …
Your doctors don’t keep track of what they’re doing
We have probably heard this saying with different permutations many times about someone showing “their true colors.”
As physician and best-selling author, Tess Gerritsen, shared: “There is no better test of character than when you’re tossed into crisis. That’s when we see one’s true colors shine through. So, I try my best to make my characters personally involved in the plot, in a way that stresses them and tests them.”
It made …
“The Great Resignation. I doubt there is a medical practice out there that has not been affected by it. And experts predict we are just at the beginning. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ early data from 2022 shows that health care is among the top three industries increasing in monthly …
COVID-19 and the Great Resignation: a catalyst, not the cause [PODCAST]
Medical-legal consulting is a great way to use your medical training in a non-clinical field that helps people. Physicians all over the country are now doing medical-legal consulting as a rewarding part-time gig.
One service out of many we provide is to give our opinions regarding the causation of traumatic injuries. Some attorneys ask us to provide opinion letters regarding a particular injury caused in a work-related situation, a personal injury …
An example of medical-legal consulting
In this episode, I interview Jim Dahle, creator of the White Coat Investor. He has literally created a new asset class of content: the health care professional personal finance space.
He discusses how he got his start with the White Coat Investor, why his message still resonates today, and how financial literacy …
Jim Dahle, MD and the White Coat Investor [PODCAST]
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