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Never let a bad job or bad people convince you to quit medicine

Physician

May 2, 2022

If you asked the third-grade version of most doctors what they wanted to be when they grew up, I bet most would have said, “I want to be a doctor!” I doubt many would have said “hospital administrator” or “life coach.” Yet, according to a recent Medscape survey, nearly one-quarter of physicians are considering a shift to non-clinical careers. They are burned out and want to work …

Want to improve your patient reviews or relationships? Learn to be present.

Diana Londoño, MD

Physician

May 2, 2022

I recently came across an article in the Journal of Urology that was trying to understand the determinants of patient satisfaction in the outpatient setting. They surveyed 500 patients over two months and asked questions about demographics, expectations regarding the time frame to obtain an appointment, appointment wait times, and the amount of time they expected to be spent with them, as well as expectations of being …

A state of service — and how flow can get you there

Benjamin Borokhovsky

Education

May 2, 2022

In 6th grade, my humanities teacher wrote a prompt for our class final: What is the purpose of life?

I immediately grabbed my pencil and thundered away without a second thought. Five minutes in, I was still the only one writing. Rachmaninoff, the famous Russian composer who was known for intricate melodies, once said that after one has played a great many number of notes does he realize that true genius …

A physician’s personal great resignation [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 1, 2022

“Before retirement, I switched everything I cared about to my personal one and unsubscribed to everything I didn’t care about. For the first few months, I religiously checked my work email. Sure, I was missing important information. I finally weaned myself like a reluctant nursing baby.

On the rare occasions I check …

A mother’s advice to her physician son

June Zanes Garen, RN

Education

May 1, 2022

I hope this finds you well. Today, I took some time shopping for a new outfit to wear to the upcoming festivities marking the end of your emergency medicine residency. We have celebrated many educational milestones over the years, haven’t we?

It seems like only yesterday that you started the third year of medical school. I remember the anticipation and pressure associated with moving out of the sim[ulation] lab and beginning …

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A mother’s advice to her physician son

What it is like to watch someone die

Casey Krickus

Education

May 1, 2022

At the start of my medical school’s clinical rotations, I was prepared with new scrubs, minute facts about diabetes and kidney disease, and a stethoscope that I struggled to hear murmurs with. What I was less prepared for was the emotional toll that seeing patients would exact.

I began on my obstetrics and gynecology rotation, one known mostly for happy events with the delivery of newborn babies. Yet this was the …

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What it is like to watch someone die

A voice from the lower decks of health care

Carolyn Joy Sachs, MD, MPH

Policy

May 1, 2022

“It feels different down here,” she said. I had just approached a young woman in our ED waiting room to apologize for the seven-hour wait to be seen. She looked at me with bloodshot, dark brown eyes and continued, “It feels like … the lower decks … Do you know what I mean?” I placed my hand on her shoulder, acknowledging her analogy with a shudder of complete understanding.

She was …

Why selling will make you a happier doctor [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 30, 2022

“Patients look to providers for guidance, wisdom, and hope. When patients receive a new chronic disease diagnosis, it can feel terminal to the layperson. Even pre-diabetes is traumatizing to an otherwise healthy adult.

We must not underestimate the power of our words.

Learn to see selling as a key skill to develop. As with other …

Your doctor may already be gone

Anonymous

Physician

April 30, 2022

The doctor you are seeing may have already left medicine.

Yes, you still have an appointment.

Yes, they are still in the room, taking your history and performing a physical exam.

But inside their mind, they have already decided.

They haven’t said it out loud.

There’s been no official resignation letter.

But it’s a done deal.

It may be six months from now or ten or twenty-four.

It doesn’t matter because the decision has …

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Your doctor may already be gone

The dichotomy of patient needs and patient wants

Paul Pender, MD

Physician

April 30, 2022

As a practicing ophthalmologist, I saw many patients who had developed blurred vision, glare, or trouble reading. These patients needed to understand that cataracts were the cause of their vision problems and how the cataracts developed and how they should be treated. I would begin the explanation by using a large, plastic eye model to show the lens’s position and how a clouded lens would affect vision. I would then …

When quality measures interfere with good care

Michael McCutchen, MD, MBA

Policy

April 30, 2022

All medical professionals are familiar with the jargon: quality metrics, P4P, low-cost/high-value care, PQRS, and meaningful use. We see these terms in multiple emails, staff and clinical meetings, and organization-wide initiatives. These measures and guidelines will significantly impact the type and quality of care we provide to our patients and how we are paid for it. This movement is not necessarily detrimental and could lead to improved health among …

Don’t be in a hurry to fast [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 29, 2022

“There is a lot of confusion and outright falsehoods about fasting. You can search the internet for clarity and end up more confused than when you started.

The fact is, fasting can be a very effective tool to improve your metabolic health, increase insulin sensitivity and help you lose weight. But, who should …

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Don’t be in a hurry to fast [PODCAST]

Why is it hard to find grace in medicine?

Marsha Hamner, MD

Physician

April 29, 2022

“If I make a mistake, my patient could go home in a body bag.”

I don’t recall whom I first heard this from, but it stuck in my mind as terrifying thoughts do. And we wonder why burnout in medicine is a thing.

Mistakes in medicine can cause mortal consequences. They can harm another human being. We can’t escape this reality. We can’t undo it. We don’t get “three lives,” as in …

Shame, guilt, perfectionism and ego: a terrible combination

Diana Londoño, MD

Physician

April 29, 2022

The levels of physician burnout which are a constellation of symptoms including feeling apathy, fatigue, depersonalization, and detachment are a group of feelings that have plagued health care.

But within the last two years, burnout has exploded to upwards of 65 percent in specialties like emergency, critical care, and infectious disease. It is not surprising, as these specialties have been on the frontlines of COVID care.

Why does this matter?

Because — we …

How to be more like fungi

Sarah Averill, MD

Physician

April 29, 2022

“Mycelium is ecological connective tissue, the living seam by which much of the world is stitched into relation.”
-Merlin Sheldrake

Merlin Sheldrake invites us to see the world from the point of view of mycelium. He coaxes the reader to “[i]magine that [they] could pass through two doors at once. It’s inconceivable, yet fungi do it all the time. When faced with a forked path, fungal hyphae don’t have to choose one …

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How to be more like fungi

Inhaler nonadherence and social determinants of health [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 28, 2022

“In St. Louis, asthma is the greatest health care inequity, with African-American children having an incidence rate greater than 10x that of white children. Children in St. Louis are afflicted by rates of asthma 3x higher than that of the national average, and asthma is currently the leading chief complaint at St. …

8 things to negotiate besides salary

Altelisha Taylor, MD, MPH

Finance

April 28, 2022

Whether we are considering a new job or up for review at our current place of employment, there are several things we should negotiate. Many of us focus solely on salary, but there are other things we should be sure to negotiate as well:

1. Benefits and insurance. One of the first things to consider besides salary is benefits. For physicians and other young professionals with college degrees, student loan forgiveness …

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8 things to negotiate besides salary

What it means to be board certified in health and wellness coaching

Jessica Singh, MD

Physician

April 28, 2022

After I passed my emergency medicine oral boards in 2019, I learned that the American Board of Emergency Medicine was implementing MyEMCert modules, an alternative means of maintaining certification. I was so excited never to have to take a multiple-hour board exam again. However, now that I have become a holistic coach, I find myself preparing for the National Board of …

Reversing the impact of the pandemic on childhood obesity

Teresa Fuller, MD, PhD

Conditions

April 28, 2022

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and communities had to take rapid and decisive action to protect their citizens against this novel virus. While it was yet unclear how dangerous the COVID-19 infection may be to children, their teachers, and their families, governments quickly shut down schools and activities to slow the spread among the population at large.

Before the pandemic, childhood obesity was already a crisis with …

Listening to pain in our younger patients [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 27, 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 …

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