High pitched alarms, low pitched beeps, the rhythmic inhale and exhale of the ventilator – those were the sounds in my emergency department one year ago. There were no kids running down the hall, no friends making light of their 50-something-year-old friend whose LeBron James delusions resulted in an ER visit and sutures, and no, not even worried family members.
Texas, like much of the country, was headed for …
“We can move from being a reactor to creator. Creators think of the future and make it start happening today. Reactors are just dealing with the crisis at hand, not progressing, feeling stuck, feeling like life is unfair. Reactors are people-pleasing, reacting to everything said, constantly worrying about how to win …
Like most, our family decided that we had outgrown our current home a few years ago and wanted to move into a larger house that offered more square footage and land. It had been nearly twenty years since living in the house we have owned since the end of the residency, and the house-hunting effort seemed more bewildering and confusing than two decades ago. At the time, I was too …
An excerpt from Act of Negligence. Copyright © 2021 by John Bishop. All rights reserved. Published by Mantid Press.
Beatrice Adams
Monday, May 15, 2000
“Morning, Mrs. Adams. I’m Dr. Brady.”
There was no response from the patient in Room 823 of University Hospital. She was crouched on the bed, in position to leap toward the end of the bed in the direction of …
“With the obvious accounted for, we turned to the obscure, the area of medicine where judgment and experience come into play. Fortunately, we received sound advice and guidance from the infectious disease physicians. Stick to the basics, they stressed, only do them better. We continued our patient on the first-line anti-TB drugs …
In the last year, amidst COVID-19 news, animals have gained their place: cats harboring the virus, pet abandonment and, paradoxically, rising adoptions. Cats and dogs are now in the spotlight. I’m a physician, and my personal animal-related COVID-19 story changed the way I practice medicine.
During lockdown in 2020, we decided to adopt a kitten. As both animal abandonment and adoption were on the rise, we brought home a three-month-old orange …
Available in 155 countries, found in 75 different languages, and having at least 689 million monthly active users worldwide, the social media platform, TikTok, has taken the online world by force since its arrival in 2016. Its ability for users to create brief, 5 to 60 second long videos, while tagging their video content using “hashtags” (#) and establishing “followers” has made TikTok …
“We need you to join the ranks of this time-honored profession with new eyes and determined minds and eyes that see medicine’s problematic foundations and minds that are willing to act on it. Because it is you, future medical students, who will soon take up the mantle of pushing medicine to change …
President Joe Biden recently signaled that a multi-trillion-dollar spending plan for our country should be paid for by the rich corporations and wealthy individual Americans who make over $400,000. Doctors fit the latter category and should tune in.
Beyond the government, the unique qualities of doctors make us a target for many who want to access our high income and our business revenue. Our passivity to these poachers places us at …
“Ever the teacher, the Dr. Lown we knew modeled ‘The Lost Art of Healing’ (the title of one of his books) in the clinic, the laboratory, and the halls of power. As health professionals, we watched him listen carefully to his patients; as citizens, we saw him listen deeply to our …
Back in medical school, during a first-year retreat, our whole class did the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) psychometric test, supposedly to help us learn what field of medicine might be the best fit for our unique combination of characteristics. It was the first time I’d done a formalized personality assessment, and it felt like something closer to a Cosmo quiz than a valid tool for career guidance. Since then, I’ve …
My role as a care coordinator for a local mobile health clinic — the mobile outreach clinic (MOC) — comes with responsibilities seldomly awarded to an undergraduate, 20-year old, volunteer student. MOC is unique in that it not only provides free, low-barrier, patient-centered primary care, but it also assigns patients to volunteer care coordinators. Care coordinators have a daunting task: to identify our assigned patients’ socioeconomic barriers to health and …
“Legislative advocacy has become difficult for the severe autism population since the DSM-5 lumped Asperger’s syndrome with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Further complicating the matter, a new population recently emerged who identify as “autistic” without having a diagnosis from a qualified health care professional.
Without a clear distinction for various parts of the spectrum, …
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The COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on institutions that we did not think were pausable, allowing us to ask critical questions regarding their relevance and necessity. One such institution is the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). During COVID-19, Prometric sites closed, delaying exams for many. In response to public outcry, Step 2 CS has become defunct. Before COVID-19, there had been calls to reform the expensive licensing exams, …
“My thoughts immediately went to the tragic loss of one of my best clients, a physician who recently passed away after battling COVID-19. I remember him not only as an excellent physician but even more so as a great person.
Unlike many physicians I speak to in the course of my work, this …
Value-based care has become a buzzword over the past decade with early experiments in Massachusetts, followed by creating Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) as part of the Affordable Care Act. As commercial insurers jumped onto this bandwagon, most providers became familiar with the concepts of gainsharing, upside and downside risk, and bundled payments.
Much of the activity in this space has focused on primary care, particularly for ACOs and ACO lookalikes. …
“Even though there has been a lot of progress, LGBTQ youth are still struggling with discrimination. I am disheartened that 40 percent of LGBTQ youth surveyed by the Trevor project in 2020 seriously considered suicide in the previous 12 months, and the amount of LGBTQ youth reaching out to the Trevor project …
Feedback is an integral part of growing as a clinician. We all have room for improvement, and each and every one of us is a work in progress. We all grow by having others observe us and discuss how we are doing with each of us. Giving feedback also becomes an integral part of our medical education and formal training, and it must be something we strive to become good …
Due to COVID-19, hospitals were forced to reevaluate and rework systems and processes that had been around for decades. From managing the increasing demands for testing and treating patients with the coronavirus to acquiring necessary medical equipment to keeping beds available, hospital administrators, providers, and staff showed true heroism. At the same time, the constant ebb and flow of COVID-19 surges caused hospitals to experience significant financial challenges, and …
“Taking control of distress is done by embracing the concept of ‘mental fitness.’ Being mentally fit enables one to overcome the negative emotions that have traditionally sabotaged our lives, both personally and professionally. Similar to physical fitness optimizing our bodily strength, mental fitness promotes achievement in our performance, relationships, and sense …
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