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Simultaneously being a medical student and patient

Education

April 4, 2022

During my pathology rotation as a third-year medical student, I had the opportunity to examine many patients’ slides under the microscope. This allowed me to study and understand diseases in ways different from how I had often done during my previous rotations. I appreciated the various architectural patterns of cells, blood vessels, and tissues strewn across slides as I directed the microscope into focus. I often thought about how these …

Can patients just say no to treatment? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 3, 2022

“Deeming individuals ‘non-decisional’ for misinformed beliefs that are not representative of a psychiatric illness is inappropriate, unfairly medicalizes the narrative and incurs a risk of further public distrust of the health care system.

It is not the province of psychiatry to adjudicate uncomfortable social discourse so much as to elicit …

The sick-sick patient and the anesthesiologist

Audrey Shafer, MD

Physician

April 3, 2022

He was sick-sick but he had broken his hip, and if you put a broken bone and an orthopedist together, you have an operation. It wasn’t as far afield as the classic ortho-anesthesia video where ortho calls for an OR for a dead patient, but believe me, all kinds of badness can occur that turns sick to dead.

A good sign was that the patient was ornery. He didn’t so much …

Stop telling physicians to be more resilient

Lauren Roth, MD

Physician

April 3, 2022

I’ve come across several articles recently highlighting the Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Protection Act. The primary stated intent of this is “to improve mental health among health care workers. It is named in honor of an emergency physician who died by suicide during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Although my very first thought was, “oh, thank God … they are finally listening,” that was quickly replaced with a sick …

Asking for and receiving help is a sign of courageous leadership [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 2, 2022

“Far from signaling weakness, asking for and receiving help is not only a sign of strength, but a sign of courageous leadership. And so, I ask you to put on your own oxygen mask, and then to reach out and help your colleagues put on theirs, too. As physicians, …

The path to gender-affirming care is closing: We need to open it

Anonymous

Policy

April 2, 2022

Imagine losing control of your child’s life-saving care. The mental anxiety is overwhelming enough – then suddenly, all the decisions that should be up to your child, you, and your child’s physician are snatched out of your hands by faceless institutions. This is the fate currently befalling the families of transgender youth in Texas.

The Gender Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support Clinic (GENECIS) in Dallas, has been effectively …

It’s time to flip the script on peer evaluations

Wendy Schofer, MD

Physician

April 2, 2022

I just received my peer evaluation from work. And I’m gonna admit: I was nervous.

“Yikes.” I cringed when I saw it in my inbox. Would my colleagues call me out for not being as sharp, fast, or adept as them? Would they fault me because I just cannot stomach a dislocation despite working in a pediatric urgent care for several years? (True story: I damn near dropped out while treating …

Pause for a moment to feel your energy

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

April 2, 2022

When was the last time you paused for a moment to feel your energy? I mean, really get in touch with the energy you hold inside your being?

Could it be that, as physicians, we have gotten so used to feeling stressed or drained at the end of the day that we’ve forgotten how to feel at ease and be in a state of joy as we take care of our …

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Pause for a moment to feel your energy

The unheard cries: an obstetrician’s nightmare

Yuliya Malayev, DO, MPH

Physician

April 2, 2022

Her image captured the world: mangled hip, jutting belly, stretcher, war, a woman carried out of a bombed maternity hospital. She’s gray, contrasted against a colorful beach towel, among the smoldering ruins of Mariupol. The outcome was bad; neither she nor the baby survived despite the perimortem Cesarean. News stories reported that she gasped and, with her dying breaths, said that she did not want to live in a world …

To treat future COVID variants, we need more than vaccines [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 1, 2022

“With government and industry working hand in hand, we can develop and stockpile monoclonal antibody therapeutics in anticipation of variants to come. We need to be thinking several moves ahead to keep ahead of variants so that stockpiles of therapies do not become obsolete as they have now. Our …

Does your patient advocate have access to stop the medicalized death train?

L. Raquel Clary-Lantis, DO

Physician

April 1, 2022

My mom has Alzheimer’s dementia and lives in memory care. During her February 4th, 2022 health visit, her chart reflected stage FAST 7A (a 7-step staging system for dementia). I am her patient advocate, durable power of attorney for health care (DPOA-HC) that was activated two years ago. I was clear with her care team from the beginning that my mother is a DNAR and, when she became hospice eligible, …

If we better manage diabetes, can we better manage COVID?

Elizabeth Holt, MD

Conditions

April 1, 2022

Over their lifetimes, adults in the United States have a 40% chance of developing type 2 diabetes. And the likelihood for Latino adults is 25% higher. Even worse, Latinos develop type 2 diabetes when younger, and experience more severe complications and higher hospitalizations.

The stark disparities of type 2 diabetes reveal how cultural and social factors affect disadvantaged populations. As a case in point, managing diabetes is more difficult for patients …

I left medicine. Then I found meaning.

Danielle Sweeney, MD

Physician

April 1, 2022

Many years ago, doctors were relied upon to care for the health needs of their local communities. They were trusted fixtures relied upon to diagnose and treat whatever the ailment. They spent time interacting with patients, not paperwork or screens. There was no bureaucratic red tape or a long list of administrative procedures. It was pure medicine.

I think it would be safe to assume that burnout barely existed. These doctors …

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I left medicine. Then I found meaning.

I risked my career to save my life [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 31, 2022

“I have spent years in silence about my career decisions, nervous that my inability to take call and inability to thrive while sleep-deprived could be seen as weaknesses. Being afraid to admit I was advocating for my mental health and my life. That’s a problem. I am experiencing fear …

I gained weight and, with it, I gained life

Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD

Physician

March 31, 2022

First, this article is not to discredit or compare to anyone. This article is not to take away the celebrations of those whose behavioral changes have made them feel more healthy and fulfilled in their lives — though I will challenge the emphasis on the number on the scale as an outcome measurement to use for such celebrations. This article is to shine a light on a less commonly discussed, …

Going mobile: an antidote for career regret

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

March 31, 2022

This year, the National Resident Matching Program provided matching services to more than 42,000 applicants. A medical student’s choice of specialty is one of the most important decisions they will ever make. But deciding which medical specialty to enter can be difficult. The majority of medical students are indecisive about their intended area of practice. Over the course of medical school, only a quarter (26.1 percent) of …

What does Will Smith’s facial expression at the Oscars tell us about our patients?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

March 31, 2022

Will Smith’s Oscar smackdown of comedian Chris Rock proves one thing: violence should never be a response to insults – or any other inciting factors – in the heat of the moment. Will Smith knows it, and so do the millions of television viewers who witnessed the assault. Yet, despite Smith’s written apology to Rock, Smith may likely believe his actions were justified. Why do I say this? Because if …

How doctors can ensure their Latinx patients receive the best medical care

Andrea Mendiola-Iparraguirre, MD

Physician

March 31, 2022

“Any questions?” I asked one of my patients, Dona Maria, for the third time.

After her prolonged silence, I asked again, almost in despair, “anything else? Anything that you don’t like about what I have said? Or anything you don’t like about the medications I am recommending?” Dona Maria sees my disappointment and tries to smile at me. Then she shares some stories about her great-grandson, who just turned three.

It is …

Inside the race to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 30, 2022

“That year, 2020, Uğur told the crowd, would be the year BioNTech proved the doubters wrong.

There was no time to lose. Soon after he’d finished his talk, Uğur hopped on a plane to Seattle, where he met with a team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which had …

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