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The sense of powerlessness and being a cog in a wheel is now at an all-time high

Physician

June 6, 2021

Toward the end of my clinical career, I didn’t feel like I had control over much at all. The patient safety issues loomed large. We used ridiculous workarounds for broken processes. The constant vigilance to provide excellent care in a suboptimal environment was exhausting. I didn’t see anything I could change. Based on my work with physicians as a coach, I think that the sense of powerlessness and being a …

Blockchain in health care and in your portfolio [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 5, 2021

“The future of health care will be focused on prevention rather than focused on performing excessive medical treatments, diagnostic tests, and procedures. Many centralized processes, services, products, and entities will become unbundled, including insurance, hospitalization, inpatient and outpatient coding, medical billing, payments, patient care, medical education, licensure, and certification. Physicians, including Leah …

The future of residency interviews

Nicholas M. Heitkamp, MD and Lucas E. Morgan, MD

Physician

June 5, 2021

Programs and applicants displayed incredible adaptations during the 2020-2021 virtual residency interview season despite the adversity they faced due to COVID-19.

Moving forward, virtual features may be integrated with traditional methods for a more equitable and favorable experience. We present here a discussion on the pros and cons of the 2020-2021 “virtual” residency interview season — and ways of hybridizing virtual and in-person practices that reimagine modern interviewing and improve applicant …

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The future of residency interviews

How a doctor fell in love with a drug addict

Lauren Roth, MD

Physician

June 5, 2021

“Something’s wrong with Eddie.”

In four words, my entire wedding day collapsed around me. I’d just arrived at a beautiful Gothic chapel in a rented 1950 Rolls Royce, mom and dad on either side of me, prepared for a picture-perfect first look with my groom. As his mother’s words echoed in my ear, I immediately thought of all the scenarios that could be easily remedied so we could move forward with …

How photography made me a better doctor

Moksha Patel, MD

Physician

June 5, 2021

In my first year as an attending hospitalist, I personally discovered what Hippocrates realized millennia before, “Life is short and the art long.” Clinical reasoning is an intellectual labyrinth that can only be mastered with deliberate practice, introspection, and perseverance.

However, I soon found that spending hours poring through manuscripts and cases was not only cumbersome, but often counterproductive. It dawned on me then that athletes faced a similar predicament, one …

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How photography made me a better doctor

Patient satisfaction through a hospitalist lens [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 4, 2021

“In addition to leaking private information to an unauthorized individual who just happened to ask for Ms. Mann by name, Larry commanded Nigel to worsen this HIPAA violation. Given the tone of his command, Larry must have felt right proud of his informing an aggressive, unconfirmed querent. If so, perhaps he should …

Why physicians should care about emotional intelligence

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Physician

June 4, 2021

Most of us have heard the phrase “success is about who you know,” and that couldn’t be more true. The people we surround ourselves with are a direct reflection of our life and success. One thing that affects this is emotional intelligence, or EQ for short. It’s not just about how smart you are; it also has to do with your ability to understand and manage your own emotions and …

An update on prostate cancer treatment [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 3, 2021

“Even though prostate cancer patients are anxious to receive treatment, they still want to minimize their exposure to anyone outside their COVID bubble. One procedure that is especially attractive to our patients is focal therapy high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).

Focal therapy HIFU is appropriate for patients whose prostate cancer is diagnosed at …

A physician’s story of dissociative identity disorder

Shelley Kolton, MD

Conditions

June 3, 2021

An excerpt from Brain Storm: A Life in Pieces.

The first time it happened, I sat only a few feet away from Yael in her tiny office, a position that usually made me feel safe, but this time I was about to explode.

“Shelley, what’s going on?”

I couldn’t squelch my intense agitation. “I feel like I’m going to jump out a window!”

“You’re …

Ketamine’s non-anesthetic powers: Please wait for the science

Theodore Klug, MD

Meds

June 3, 2021

Ketamine (colloquially called “K,” “Special K,” or “Vitamin K”) is a potent, dissociative anesthetic. More specifically, it is a nonselective NMDA antagonist that initiates a wide array of physiological effects, already having ingratiated itself to a wider audience through its potential for abuse. Once used primarily in veterinary medicine, ketamine in recent years, however, has seen its medical applications extend beyond the realm of anesthesia, with clinical options now including …

Organizations that nurture physicians’ careers can attract and retain the best doctors

Steve Adelman, MD

Physician

June 3, 2021

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of assisting more than 2,000 distressed physicians – some with burnout, others with “rough edges,” still others with psychiatric conditions or misuse of drugs and alcohol. Some of these doctors were still functioning well; others had lost their licenses and their livelihoods, hoping against hope that they would somehow be able to return to medicine. Linking all these physicians is a shared passion …

Why do physicians fail to focus on their personal finances? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 2, 2021

“We need to crawl before we walk and walk before we run. The first step is to establish your why. Why do you want the financial freedom to practice medicine because you want to, the way you want to instead of because you have to? Without a why, even achieving financial …

The Pandora’s box of Step 2 CS reporting

Anonymous

Education

June 2, 2021

Introduction

The USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) exam was implemented to assess medical students/graduates based on 12 standardized clinical encounters. The exam was graded as pass/fail based on three components: integrative clinical encounter (ICE), communication and interpersonal skills (CIS), and spoken English proficiency (SEP). To receive an overall passing grade, an examinee was required to pass all three components.

Over the years, there have been increasing demands to …

Confession from a female doctor: I am sexist

Christine J. Ko, MD

Physician

June 2, 2021

Maybe it’s a testament to a hardy relationship that there was no resulting argument. Without thinking, I blurted out, “You are so sexist!” I could immediately tell by my husband’s face, his upper eyelids and eyebrows lifted a bit, his mouth freeze-framed in a small “o” — my exclamation surprised and insulted him. Maybe it was a completely unfair assessment; after all, he was standing at the sink, his hands …

Medicine’s contribution to my family [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 1, 2021

“My children are embarking on their own lives now. While their paths are not taking them into medicine, I see how medicine has influenced their lives. They are committed to investing in themselves to reach their desired outcomes. They understand the value of dreaming big as they create a life and career …

365 shows later: The Podcast by KevinMD’s most popular episodes

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 1, 2021

It’s been such an inspiring journey for The Podcast by KevinMD! I started the show one year ago, on June 1, 2020. I didn’t know what to expect, who would want to be on the show, or who would listen. Heck, I didn’t know the first thing in starting a podcast.

I did know one thing: Thousands intersect with our health care …

8 things I learned in my first year as an attending

Roshni D. Patel, DO

Physician

June 1, 2021

1. You will be underestimated. This can look like many things: Little jokes about how young you look, having to correct how others say your name, having your orders questioned or not completed.

What got me through this was reminding myself why I was there: I am Dr. Patel here to take care of Patient X, and this is what we need to do. Make sure your badge works where it …

Reflecting on COVID-19 and combustion [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 31, 2021

“Decreasing the burden of combustion material, whether from a cigarette, a power plant, or an engine, will not only pay off now in reducing COVID-19 but also in future pandemics and in reaping the health care benefits of decreasing the constant toll of tobacco and air pollution in our communities. As …

The mission of medicine: not just a job

Pepi Granat, MD

Physician

May 31, 2021

The mission of medicine is to heal the sick. When cure is elusive, it is to relieve distress, and always to comfort. All of us who became physicians had our reasons, but we had to have a genuine interest and ability in science, and an appreciation of people as individuals living in families and societies. We had to be willing to work hard to learn and to keep up with …

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The mission of medicine: not just a job

Breastfeeding is not the end all be all

Helen C. Wang, MD

Conditions

May 31, 2021

“Thank you. You’re the first to say it’s OK for me not to breastfeed.”

These words have been said to me before by tearful, exhausted mothers. It had been sporadic, but now, it feels like I hear this every day in the clinic. Each time, I feel a rush of mixed feelings as I explain that other options had not been explored because of the known benefits of breastfeeding. I tell …

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Breastfeeding is not the end all be all

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