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Bracing for change: the escalating importance of USMLE Step 2

Education

June 23, 2021

It’s a well-known fact that medical school has grown increasingly competitive over the past decade. While this is true that getting into medical school has become somewhat harder, what is more concerning is that for many students, admission to, and paying for, medical school does not guarantee a career as a physician. A critical part of becoming a physician is graduate medical education, or residency. It is well-known that there …

Malpractice claims from the COVID-19 pandemic [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 22, 2021

“We won’t know until 2022 or later whether there will be an increase in claims related to the pandemic. When a medical error occurs, it’s not like an automobile accident. Everybody nearby knows when there’s been an automobile accident because they hear screeching tires, a loud crash, and then sirens. But when …

Please don’t ask about my test scores, Mom

Casey P. Schukow, DO

Education

June 22, 2021

Being a medical student in a family that does not have any doctors, honestly, has many perks. Although I may not have all the experience a tenured physician has in diagnostics and clinical management, I recognize the importance my current exposures in medicine give me in addressing the concerns of my family members. While answers may not always come to me immediately when I’m asked things like, …

Surgeons: Check your ego

Diana Londoño, MD

Physician

June 22, 2021

How is your ego serving you?

Medicine is a hierarchical entity. More so in surgery.

There is a linear line of command from the chief to the junior to the intern to the med student to the aspiring med student.

“Shit rolls downhill,” we said as interns while we powered through the 29th-hour on-call or the seven pending discharge summaries we had to finish, while a nurse was yelling or paging us 12 …

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Surgeons: Check your ego

Love is the strongest medicine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 21, 2021

“We know this is true in our hearts and minds, but we also know it to be true in documentable terms. Studies have proven that strong, empathic engagement between doctors and their patients increases patients’ willingness to report symptoms and concerns. That in turn improves diagnostic accuracy. Empathy increases patient engagement …

Why doctors are such bad investors and how real estate can help [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 20, 2021

“How do we combat all these beliefs that can make doctors into bad investors? I have a few thoughts.

First of all, don’t panic. Most of us are indeed starting behind the eight-ball when it comes to wealth accumulation. But even with a shorter runway, physicians make enough money to make up for …

Happy Father’s Day in heaven

Mildred Perea-Bonet, MD

Physician

June 20, 2021

It sounds like a long time, but it really wasn’t. It was actually a very short period of time. My perspective of time changed with this number. I was close to my 9th birthday when my dad passed. He was only 48, and he had been diagnosed with lymphoma only a few years earlier. He passed after losing his battle to cancer. I remember saying my goodbyes in the hospital …

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Happy Father’s Day in heaven

Our niche world demands a new approach to health

Vikram Bakhru, MD, MBA and Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA

Physician

June 20, 2021

When Elvis Presley rolled up his sleeve and received the polio vaccine backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, most Americans knew about it. At the time, the only stars hotter than rock ‘n’ roll itself were Presley, the genre’s de facto king, and Sullivan, the host who brought its biggest headliners to the American people.

By 1957, polio incidence dropped by 85 to 90 percent because …

Health care leaders’ roles in pandemic recovery: Caring for caregivers [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 19, 2021

“These are extraordinary times. Leaders have the opportunity to seize the day, to lean into this turning point in health care delivery, to drive organizational transformation, and to emerge from the devastation of the pandemic with an organization in which patients and clinicians thrive.

You simply have to ask yourself, are you willing …

America’s path to reopening: an emergency physician’s perspective

Owais Durrani, MD

Physician

June 19, 2021

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 …

Physicians need growth days [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 18, 2021

“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 …

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Physicians need growth days [PODCAST]

Why physician-owned businesses need our attention and support

Michael Woo-Ming, MD

Physician

June 18, 2021

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 …

It’s not every day the head nurse on a medical floor accompanies a physician on a consultation

John Bishop, MD

Physician

June 18, 2021

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 …

Our extraordinary lungs’ power and fragility [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 17, 2021

“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 …

My pet taught me how to be a better physician

Marcelo Balancin, MD, PhD

Physician

June 17, 2021

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 …

Advice from graduating medical students to new ones [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 16, 2021

“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 …

Doctors beware: There’s a $400,000 target on your back

Tod Stillson, MD

Finance

June 16, 2021

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 …

In memory of Bernard Lown [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 15, 2021

“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 …

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In memory of Bernard Lown [PODCAST]

Can personality tests make you a better doctor?

Melinda Ring, MD

Conditions

June 15, 2021

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 …

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