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“I’d rather drive a Cadillac!”: The privilege problem in hospitals

Physician

January 30, 2022

As a surgical intern, my days started early, and I was tired as I entered Mr. M’s room that evening armed with a nasal feeding tube and lubricant.

Mr. M was an African-American gentleman in his early 50s. He looked worn and much older than his years. Mr. M had end-stage liver disease and was on the liver transplant list. With a distended abdomen full of fluid, improving his nutrition and …

A physician’s running list of microaffirmations

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

Physician

January 30, 2022

Microaffirmations are the antidote to microaggressions. Microaggressions are the little insidious comments or acts of barely perceptible injustice and bias that bite and nip and slowly erode our confidence in our belonging, worth, and power. As I continued the medical training journey, I continually searched for the antidote. Mere protection against the daily barbs and arrows was not enough. I needed more than protection- I needed an offensive strategy as …

The gift of honoring life

Sarah Snell, MD

Physician

January 30, 2022

The doorbell at my father’s house rang, and the dogs went crazy. A physician was at the front door who had requested to come to pay his respects and to check on my father, as he had lost his wife (my mother) of more than six decades just days before.

He sat with us at the kitchen table, and we spoke briefly of other things: dogs he never thought he’d own …

Read more…

The gift of honoring life

Prioritizing physician wellness: Reducing burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

Lalitha Sundararaman, MD

Physician

January 30, 2022

A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

The World Health Organization defines burnout in its International Classification of Diseases as chronic workplace stress that has not been adequately managed, resulting in depletion, mental distancing from one’s job, and reduced efficacy. Physician burnout rates were already …

Pay heed to the little life traumas that hit us daily [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 29, 2022

“Taking stock of all these experiences, I feel like I have no answers. They lead me to a space of unrest and dissatisfaction for not having a pill that would instantly drop 10 kilos, cure hep E, curb food craving or resolve a heartache.

But I feel grateful for bypassing most …

The form of functional female bodies

Drea Burbank, MD

Physician

January 29, 2022

The U.S. Congress is considering regulating one of the most lucrative and powerful companies in the U.S. because teenage girls are attempting suicide over algorithmic images of female bodies.

As an MD-technologist, this is my jam. For over ten years, I’ve been obsessed with how technology makes us sick and how it can be used to make us healthy. So what can we learn from …

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The form of functional female bodies

Why do we obsess and repeat?

Radhule Weininger, MD, PhD

Conditions

January 29, 2022

An excerpt from Heart Medicine: How to Stop Painful Patterns and Find Peace and Freedom–at Last. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO.

For many months, Leila could not stop ruminating about the fateful event of spilling coffee on her ex–mother-in-law’s tunic. Images from the traumatic event on her son’s wedding day returned repeatedly, intermingling with related …

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Why do we obsess and repeat?

When records are wrong, patients are at risk [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 28, 2022

“Inaccurate patient records aren’t just an inconvenience. They’re a risk. The EHR might speak for the patient when they cannot speak for themselves, and if it’s wrong, it’s a serious liability.

In lieu of any system-wide improvements to EHRs, I try to be vigilant. I ask the medical assistants to review the medication list …

Here’s what it takes to do good science under pressure

Fiona Greenland, PhD and Michelle D. Fabiani, PhD

Conditions

January 28, 2022

How can you know that science done quickly during a crisis is good science?

This question has taken on new relevance with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Researchers developed vaccines in under a year — easily breaking the previous record of four years. But that pace of development may be part of the reason about 1 in 7 unvaccinated adults in the U.S. say Read more…

Here’s what it takes to do good science under pressure

Is EMTALA really protecting patients during COVID?

Trent Dietsche

Policy

January 28, 2022

I am a physician at a critical access hospital. I manage both the ER and inpatient service and am the only physician in the hospital. This is the reality for many rural hospitals across the country. With no urgent care in town, and with primary care offices few and far between, these hospitals see everything.

We see patients with ailments from a minor finger laceration to those with septic shock from …

It’s time for physicians to stop taking patient calls at night

Betsy Rodriguez, MD

Physician

January 28, 2022

The calls started during dinner.

“I forgot to get my med refilled, and now I’m out. Can you call it in?”

“I’m reading these colonoscopy prep instructions, and I see I was supposed to stop eating seeds a week ago. Should I still take the prep?”

“I haven’t had a bowel movement in three days. What should I do?”

The calls continued during the night. As usual, there were a lot of bowel prep …

Mental health and the balance between technology and the human touch [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 27, 2022

“The reality of the last two years is that almost all of us have experienced some mental health disorder symptoms, and that mental and physical health are equally important components of overall health. We call these subclinical symptoms, or symptoms that are there but that don’t meet full criteria for …

We need each other, as COVID pulls us apart

Anthony Fleg, MD

Physician

January 27, 2022

As a family medicine physician, I am not sure about a whole lot as we turn into the third year of pandemic living. I can’t give you a decent prognosis of where Omicron is going to take us or how many it will take from us. I am not even sure of the public health approach at this moment where COVID seems to outsmart us repeatedly. (A reminder that this …

Autism spectrum disorder and the masks we wear

Lisa Yeh, MD

Conditions

January 27, 2022

In the ongoing saga of the pandemic, there is the debate whether to wear a mask or not. These are physical masks that temporarily hide our face, but we all wear another type of mask, a metaphorical mask. These are the masks we put on to present who we want the world to see. People who are referred to as having “high functioning autism” often put on the greatest masks …

Men’s health is a catastrophe. Here’s how we can help. [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 26, 2022

“A hundred years ago, women lived one year longer than men, but now they live five years longer than men. And things are getting worse. Currently, the lifespan of men in the U.S. is declining due to alcohol, opioids, and suicide. These trends need to change.

I take care of men. …

A neurologist grapples with aducanumab

Anonymous

Conditions

January 26, 2022

I have been following the controversy surrounding the approval of the new Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab with great interest. Until a year and a half ago, I worked as a neurologist in an adult general neurology clinic. Many of my patients had dementia. While I thoroughly enjoyed seeing these patients and their family members, I often felt helpless when treating them. When I left clinical practice to explore a non-clinical career …

Read more…

A neurologist grapples with aducanumab

Setting boundaries and the power of saying no

Christina Long, MD

Physician

January 26, 2022

As a working mom of three kids and an emergency medicine physician, I have had to embrace home workouts since before the pandemic. I am a huge Peloton fan! In December of 2020, Robin Arzón, VP of fitness and an instructor for Peloton, partnered with Shonda Rhimes (creator of Grey’s Anatomy) to do a series about Rhimes’ book Year of Yes.

The power of saying yes. In 2020, just pre-pandemic, I …

The pandemic drives a decline in teen substance abuse

Richard Capriola, MBA

Conditions

January 26, 2022

The percentage of teens using illicit substances dropped significantly in 2021 as the pandemic forced them into isolation from friends, classrooms, and extracurricular activities. Alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine vaping – the most commonly used substances by teens all showed declines from 2020.

These findings were reported by a Monitoring the Future survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.

The survey is given annually to students …

Don’t look in. What you will see is uncomfortable.

Owais Durrani, MD

Physician

January 26, 2022

Don’t look in: No, this isn’t a typo, it’s the sentiment many of my colleagues and I feel right about now. After a long stretch of shifts over New Year’s, I needed a mental break, so I logged into my trusty Netflix account and front and center was Don’t Look Up, the Leonardo DiCaprio dark satire about a comet hurtling towards earth (spoiler alert) and humanities failed efforts to take …

Patient surveys: the quest for positive reviews [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 25, 2022

“Studies show that those physicians with negative online reviews were more often scored poorly due to non-physician specific causes. In my career, I’ve read comments from patients that said they were not satisfied with their provider because they didn’t like the color of the walls in the exam room. …

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