“When you enter medical school, you put your trust into an unspoken promise: Work hard, pass all your classes, and you’ll come out as a doctor after four years. While mostly true, this perception doesn’t take into account the residency application process and the possibility of graduating without a …
Unsolicited advice from unmatched residency applicants [PODCAST]
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 consultants. Most physicians do medical-legal consulting as a part-time side gig. All of the work is pre-litigation and pre-trial. I don’t act as a medical expert, and I don’t participate in medical malpractice cases.
There are over …
Medical-legal consulting as a side gig
I went ziplining with a group of fellow doctors this summer. It was an activity that was part of my Adventure Retreat for Women Physicians, which was a CME-awarding retreat that focused on having fun. This may sound extraneous, but making time for fun is one of the most impactful things you can do to bring more meaning and satisfaction into your life.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroscientist who …
How physicians can transform through play
So, your guy or gal is struggling with a serious emotional issue. Is that a basis for bailing?
Let’s get personal here; if you’ve got one foot out the door, you’re probably asking the wrong guy. One of my key values is loyalty. But before I start lecturing, let’s take a closer look at this issue.
A well-thought-out answer is important to this emotional quandary. Did your partner come into the relationship …
Is it OK to leave your partner in light of a serious emotional issue?
“I am sitting in hot springs deep in the dark and crisp air woods – naked. It has been a day of lectures and workshops at a retreat with my fellow physicians. We are all naked in the effervescent, warm bubbles of the springs. In the dark, I can …
Being naked with other doctors is a profound experience [PODCAST]
In almost all organizations, an employee has a supervisor responsible for guiding the employee in doing their job. This requires good communication between the two.
Currently, in medicine, especially during stays in the hospital, there is a similar relationship between physicians: The attending physician recruits the necessary specialist physicians to provide care for the patient and supervises their care. The difference is that this relationship is just for the patient, and …
Virtual organizations in health care
The New Year is a typical time for resolutions, and one of the most common ones is to get healthier. For many of us, a common stumbling block is dealing with low back pain. As a rehabilitation medicine physician, my focus is nonoperative spine care within one of the top orthopedic practices in the country. Let’s talk about the causes of low-back pain and what we can do about it.
1. …
Recently, I had a patient die unexpectedly in the operating room. I consider myself mentally tough, but this was the first time I’d ever experienced a situation like this, and the impact on me was far greater than I would have anticipated.
On its own, the patient dying was a terrible event, but after our futile and desperate attempts to save him failed, I still had to face the horror of …
The healing power of thank you
“I recognize that finding time for staff training and making sure the training is effectively practiced are challenges in a busy clinical setting. But taking care of patients means that both goals must be met to ensure safety, quality, and best possible clinical outcomes. As one who speaks and writes …
I will keep my advocacy sword polished and ready [PODCAST]
Anyone can make a mistake — even your health care provider. And sometimes, those mistakes end up in your medical records. That can cause a variety of issues, including misdiagnosis, medication interactions, missed follow-up testing and care, duplicate testing and billing errors. Fortunately, HIPAA gives you the right to request a copy of your medical records from any health care provider who has treated you so that you can review …
Beware of errors in your medical record
It began with a seemingly innocuous text from a friend of the family.
“Hi, Richard. I hope you’re well. I need to speak with you. Can I call you?”
The last time we spoke was at my brother’s long-postponed “celebration of life,” which we were able to hold a year after his passing finally. Our friend attended the wake, so feeling a sense of appreciation for his support during that time, I …
The COVID vaccine is a life raft. I’m not your life raft to get out of it.
It’s well known that coding changes drive provider behavior, and billing behavior drives provider decisions.
For the last 30 years, little has changed in health insurance billing, which is why the standard of care within the payer system has remained, well, standard.
Then the pandemic hit, and suddenly everything was turned on its head. Patient demands increased sharply, office visits became impossible or prohibited across most of the country, and with telemedicine, …
CPT coding changes: 5 proven methods of how to do more with less
“If you want to be happy in a million ways, for the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home.” The late Perry Como’s observations reflect a bittersweet truth about an unattainable goal — not just during the holiday season, but each day of the year — for the 1.4 million Americans age 65 and over who reside in long-term care facilities. Older Americans who might prefer to age in place …
Health care guest workers could make “home, sweet home” a reality for America’s seniors
“Confidence and humility are strongly related, but one arises when we focus on self, and the other arises when we focus on others. However, each attribute can become unhealthy when it becomes too extreme, or when we lose the perspective of the other attribute. In the case of confidence, we …
You are what you click: Transform your social media experience [PODCAST]
My respected neurosurgery colleague just ended his career inauspiciously — having had an affair with a resident.
While I don’t know the details, I do know that many a male leader, like my friend, has fallen from his perch due to “zipper malfunction.” Had they stronger zippers, maybe they would have kept their sensitive parts in their proper homes and carried on to fulfill their important jobs.
Disappointed, but not terribly surprised, …
Men in power seem to have a serious zipper malfunction problem
Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this article.
You used to come to us struggling to breathe and begging for our help, and while we stood over you preparing for intubation, we would feel all the feels while looking into eyes that we knew might never open again. We would break down and cry while telling your family that you didn’t make it or …
My grandfather passed in the early hours of December 11 and was buried the next day. It all happened very quickly. The last time I saw him was eight years ago. And that was the final time because I couldn’t make it to his funeral. Hopefully, when I look back at this, I’ll always remember to cherish my time with family, no matter how busy medical school or residency gets.
My …
My grandfather’s death: What I’ve learned about life
“Physicians can find — or start — writing workshops at medical conferences, or just about anywhere else, at any time. These workshops can become part of wellness or burnout-prevention events. To interact with other writers, all you need is a champion―someone to organize a time and space for you …
How writing fiction can free physicians [PODCAST]
Despite a national nursing shortage in the United States, over 80,000 qualified applications were not accepted at U.S. nursing schools in 2020, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
This was due primarily to a shortage of nursing professors and a limited number of clinical placements where nursing students get practical job training. Additional constraints include a …
The U.S. doesn’t have enough faculty to train the next generation of nurses
I was still a resident in May 2013. My new long-distance girlfriend gave me directions to take the train from the airport to the opposite side of her massive metroplex. As is likely common for a hayseed like me, I got lost finding the correct rail station and instead walked through the city’s large academic medical center by accident. With luggage in tow, I walked past a 900-bed county hospital …
Inequity contributes to burnout among new academic physicians
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