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To achieve health equity, culturally relevant care must be the standard of care [PODCAST]

Podcast

December 6, 2021

“Practicing culturally relevant care means we can account for the social determinants of health, barriers to access, and the emotional disconnect that results from the status quo, one-size-fits-all approach many patients have come to expect. It helps us reach into underserved communities and lift them up, which is essential during …

The race to find uses for Big Data

Afua Aning, MD

Tech

December 6, 2021

Smartwatch wearers: Have you checked your smartwatch lately? Did it tell you how many steps you have or how fast your heart is beating? How accurate is the information? What does that number mean for your overall health, and where do all of those numbers go after they are reported back to your computer?

The health care industry is under constant pressure to securely store patient information and still have it …

Read more…

The race to find uses for Big Data

To be, or not to be, vulnerable in a relationship

Joel Block, PhD

Conditions

December 6, 2021

The word vulnerable is derived from the Latin, “vulnerare,” to wound. Vulnerable literally means “able to be wounded.” In common usage, we refer to being vulnerable when we’re feeling weak, fragile, and emotionally worn down. No wonder most of us want nothing to do with vulnerability. Beginning in childhood, we learn to protect ourselves from emotional attacks perpetrated by family members, peers, and teachers. What’s more, if our parents are …

Patient surveys: the quest for positive reviews

Peter Valenzuela, MD, MBA

Physician

December 6, 2021

An excerpt from Doc-Related: A Physician’s Guide to Fixing Our Ailing Health Care System.

Early in my career as a rural physician in Texas, I took care of a couple in their mid-70s named Vernon and Nellie. They drove in from another small town 50 miles away. Nellie usually did all the talking, while her husband, Vernon, sat quietly next to …

Amid powerlessness, reclaim your personal power [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 5, 2021

“You have more power than you realize.

It’s no secret that medical providers feel structurally powerless in our chaotic health care system. Control over the volume, pace, and elements of our work often rests squarely in the hands of others. But know this: Your own personal power over your work remains …

Beat the overwhelm this holiday season and set the stage for cheer

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

December 5, 2021

Like anyone else, the holiday season can be the source of great joy. And it can add to the stress and overwhelm that physicians already experience. The practicing physician may find herself torn between responsibilities in the clinical setting and the preparations needed to make a memorable holiday experience for family and friends.

It starts with rushing from work to make it to the store before closing. It’s planning, decorating, baking, …

My patient and I were born on the same day. It took a tragedy to bring us back together.

Patrick Connolly, MD

Physician

December 5, 2021

It was a hot afternoon, but no dog day humidity yet. I was driving back from a satellite office when our nurse practitioner called. A patient with a condition we’d seen many times before, a brain hemorrhage, her consciousness waning. The CT scan showed blood in the ventricles obstructing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid.

The pressure was building and our patient was dying. She needed an external ventricular drain to relieve …

War is really not all it’s cracked up to be

Michael J. Collins, MD

Physician

December 5, 2021

An excerpt from All Bleeding Stops.

42nd Surgical Hospital
Phu Bai
Republic of Vietnam
December 1967

Private Ira Stein has so many wounds, has lost so much blood, that the corpsmen nearly bring him straight to Graves. Steve Benson can’t get a pressure. He shakes his head. “Matthew, there’s no point taking this kid to the OR. He’s too far gone. He has no chance.”

“Bullshit!” …

Instead of focusing on your time, focus on your energy [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 4, 2021

“I can attest to the tremendous power of simply noticing these rhythms and attending to them. It’s part of a larger attempt to live a more authentic life. So much of my time over the past 20 years has been vying to achieve someone else’s standards or to live …

Our patients become an inextricable part of our lives

Benjamin Rattray, DO, MBA

Physician

December 4, 2021

In the early evening, I stand in the grocery store checkout line. A young mother in front of me presses a pig-tailed toddler against her hip as she rummages for her credit card, and a man with silvered hair and a monogrammed shirt shifts impatiently behind me. As I watch the toddler, I’m hit with a twinge of nostalgia. I think of how I used to pull my daughter’s hair …

The voices of women physicians with infertility

Dawn Baker, MD

Physician

December 4, 2021

“I wish I had known how common this is. I would have started sooner.”

It is currently estimated that one in four women physicians has infertility (compared to one in eight in the general population). Why do I care? Because I’m one of them. But truly, we should all care. These women are our partners, colleagues, trainees, and friends. Their experiences shape the landscape of physician wellness for all of us.

To …

The pain of doctoring and a call for change

Maseray S. Kamara, MD

Physician

December 4, 2021

Below are moments from my intern year of general surgery residency. They represent moments that occurred over three years ago, which I took home to my journal to process and work through. Back then, the moments left me speechless. And today, re-visiting them, the moments clearly demonstrate the fragility of the human spirit.

A silently sobbing 7-year-old the day after surgical repair of his broken femur. His face contorted. His pain …

Stories of surgery, clarity, and grace [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 3, 2021

“My mother, bless her ninety-year-old heart, is slowing down. The things that made her happiest — getting to church, visiting friends, taking walks, and wandering the aisles in the grocery store —are increasingly difficult. She worries that her lack of energy will soon make every activity impossible.

It is 2005 and …

Racism in medicine much more than just overt

Courtney Markham-Abedi, MD

Physician

December 3, 2021

When the term white supremacy culture is used, people get uncomfortable — they picture the skinhead as the prototypical racist. And while those people are dangerous, whether by their openly racist views being broadcast or in other subtle ways, they are largely recognizable.

White supremacy culture is inescapable in the United States. We have been saturated in it. Our country was founded on its tenants. The far more dangerous racist is …

Parallels between Alec Baldwin’s Rust movie set and the unvaccinated

David M. Mitchell, MD, PhD

Physician

December 3, 2021

The recent tragic shooting on the Rust movie set shocked me. A good friend, a prominent cinematographer in Hollywood, texted me his blunt assessment: “Live rounds on a set. Ridiculously unprofessional.”

Humans are naturally shaken when there is a senseless loss of life. Or are they?

As a hospital physician who has personally watched many people die unnecessarily of COVID-19, I found this fatal filming accident to be a powerful metaphor that …

A physician’s guide to the best way to invest in real estate

Alan Donenfeld & The Podcast by KevinMD

There is no quick fix for kids’ cold and flu symptoms but there are things you can do

Olivia Ostrow, MD and Janet Reynolds, MD

Conditions

December 2, 2021

Colder weather is upon us again – and so is cold and flu season. Nearly two years into the fight against COVID-19, we welcome children returning to schools, daycare, and sports. But with the loosening of restrictions and increased social contacts, we are also now seeing increased circulation of common seasonal respiratory viruses.

Kids are experiencing cough and cold symptoms, including fever, congestion, and sore throat due to other respiratory viruses …

A physician’s exam room should be educational and inviting

Hayward Zwerling, MD

Physician

December 2, 2021

Today’s health care system has become so standardized that if a person in a medical office were instantly and magically transported to a medical office in another city, the person would instantly recognize that they were still in a medical office. Our offices are now antiseptic, cold, and devoid of educational material and humanity, and this office decor can adversely impact a physician’s ability to provide care to their patients.

When …

Grow, share, eat: We have the opportunity to subvert the dominant supply chain

John La Puma, MD

Policy

December 2, 2021

You might not be able to afford the usual Christmas roast this year.

According to the USDA, beef prices in the U.S. are up nearly 10 percent this year over last. And it’s not just in the U.S. Distribution and other supply chain problems have led to severe price inflation for produce in Beijing, where a pound of lettuce now costs as much as a pound of pork. China’s agriculture ministry …