The details have been changed, but the story is true. A physician I know goes to work each day by 7:30 a.m. He is a confident, competent leader in every way within his clinic. But each night, he goes home to a spouse who is losing steam in every way. Diagnosed with a chronic condition, she is growing increasingly weak and dependent. He asks her how she is, and she …
What happens when you can’t fix it? Tales from the home front.
“A resurgent CDC is necessary to recapture the vitality of U.S. medical science. A scientific researcher alone cannot do this work. This will also require heavy managerial work and restructuring and charting a different course altogether. CDC will need a double-headed leader approach, one excelling in scientific expertise and …
There are so many paths to financial freedom. It does not matter if it’s starting another business, investing in real estate, or saving in your 401(k). You will reach financial independence as a physician if you save and invest. The most crucial factor in achieving financial independence is consistency.
There are so many paths to financial freedom
Charlotte: I initially met Richard at a wedding. Standing near the much-desired sushi buffet, we quickly started talking about the broken infrastructure of the health care system. At the time, I was an exhausted intern in internal medicine, happy to have the right weekend off. I shared big dreams of one day creating a new model of medical delivery. Richard, a senior executive with decades of leadership experience, listened compassionately. …
An unplanned conversation leads to a mentorship opportunity
It was my son’s birthday, and I wanted to give him a gift he would remember. He had written a story when he was seven years old about eating boogers. As a urologist, I can attest that this is not a healthy habit and do not recommend it. I helped him publish his first book, Boogers for Brunch, on Amazon.
I …
Want to publish a children’s book? Here’s how.
An excerpt from The Unseen Body: A Doctor’s Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy.
Everybody learns in grade school that the human body is composed mostly of water—roughly 60 percent in adults goes the statistic. I learned this fact as a child and understood that humans share their aqueous makeup with all other organisms. I imagined living things as …
This episode is sponsored by Athelas, the number one provider of remote patient monitoring.
“I’m a small-time doc in a small town, and I work at a small hospital in the Midwest, and I’m proud of it. The huge university hospitals (like Cleveland Clinic) get all the glory …
A shout out to small hospitals [PODCAST]
The health care environment you are about to enter is very different from the one that existed when you entered school. The COVID pandemic has changed us all, but we, the health care providers, have taken one of the biggest hits.
We are exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally, and professionally. Even before the pandemic, we were often short-staffed and now those of us that are left are thankful for any staff, and …
A message to new health care professionals
This summer is supposed to be my turn to start residency in the States. I hear enough about work-life balance; but have mostly seen residents push the limits of what could be considered a human existence because it’s known: If you don’t work yourself to death, someone else will.
I’ve heard conversations about whether it’s proper to get married or have children during residency. Usually, the consensus is “no.” Is all …
Residency doesn’t have to be a war
The problem
Even in the midst of a global pandemic, mental health in medicine is rarely discussed. And yet, the circumstances of our profession create the perfect milieu for darkness. The long work hours. The regularity of tragedy and loss. The nights, weekends, and holidays you miss with those you love. The constant pressure to be perfect — to be professional, to be composed, to be vigilant, to not make any …
Reflections on physician mental health and tips for sustaining it
Primary care doctors have had enough. I’m sick of it as a family physician, and I know you are too. In our never-ending battle with insurance companies and CMS bureaucrats over how to do our job, the new turf is value-based care (VBC), and the latest weapon against us is metrics.
The central goals of VBC are timely access, better care quality, and efficiency. One could argue if …
Metric fever will decimate our primary care workforce
This episode is sponsored by Athelas, the number one provider of remote patient monitoring.
“This last mile of the COVID pandemic—Omicron or not—is a painstaking one-on-one endeavor. As is most of primary care. Sadly, we now have to deal with political epidemiology as much as emotional and …
Danielle Ofri, MD on sharing stories and the emotional epidemiology of disease [PODCAST]
This article is sponsored by BeMo Academic Consulting, one of the most sought-after academic consulting firms for helping applicants with admissions to highly competitive programs and its staunch advocacy for fair admissions.
Almost every professional or academic program has its most feared admissions component. Those who …
BeMo MCAT Prep lesson #1: The liberal arts is a friend of MCAT test-takers
I still recall the ICU physician holding my hand and preparing me for the possibility I might not survive the blood clots in my lungs, pulmonary embolism. It was eighteen years ago when out of the blue, I found myself unexpectedly holding the hand of that gentle, concerned doctor, whose name I do not even know. My son was three years old at the time, and all I could think …
Patients are captive pharmacy benefits manager consumers
As our health care system teeters yet again on the brink of collapse, the big questions on so many of our minds are: What does our future hold for us as physicians? What is our path forward?
As physicians, we currently live and work in a constant state of crisis. We’ve seen record numbers of patients, experienced personnel shortages, and instituted crisis staffing and standards of care. We’ve cared for patients …
Fellow physicians, what is our path forward?
Living in the U.S., chances are you get some regular mail that you never signed up for — a magazine, a journal, a sales flier. As medical professionals, we also get these free journals related to our field. We don’t always have the time to fact-check a publication. And with names that appear to be legitimate, we might take information at face value. This is especially true if we are …
Misinformation in transgender health care is harming patient care
While chatting with a physician client of mine recently, an important topic came up that she hadn’t really asked about previously. My client is in her late 40s and is currently single with no plans of getting married. She’s the only child of her aged parents, and after working as a physician for over 15 years, she has become financially successful enough to slow her career down a bit. Her …
Estate planning and asset protection challenges and strategies for single physicians
This episode is sponsored by Athelas, the number one provider of remote patient monitoring.
“Medical-legal consulting is a great way to use your medical training in a non-clinical field that helps people. I started this field 14 years ago and have trained over 1,600 physicians to be medical-legal …
Medical-legal consulting as a side gig [PODCAST]
We are surrounded by technology.
This hasn’t always been the case in the health care industry—we can be a bit more “deliberate,” if you will—but the pandemic notably accelerated the pace at which organizations invested in new technology. Rock Health’s 2021 year-end report found that digital health funding among U.S.-based startups reached a record $29.1 billion in 2021, which almost doubled the number ($14.9 billion) from 2020. The …
Here’s a crazy thought: Make technology work for doctors
My 13-year-old daughter was writhing on the floor from pain in her back and belly, a fever, and intermittent chest pains. She was two days out from a spine surgery intended to fix an 8-month-old gymnastics injury. She couldn’t take any steps on her own, and it was a three-person project just to get her from the couch to the chair.
“Go to the ER,” the hospital answering service said.
I tried …
The paradox of treating pain in a system too full to manage it
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