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Health care as an uncommon good

Policy

April 29, 2021

American medicine is facing an identity crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to socioeconomic health disparities and turned up the heat on the question of whether health care is a right or a privilege. The financial strain on hospitals resulting from the temporary postponement of scheduled surgeries exposed a vulnerability caused by an inherently flawed payment system.

The answer to the right versus privilege question has much more significant implications …

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Health care as an uncommon good

A medical ethicist asks questions about CPAP

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

Conditions

April 29, 2021

About a year ago, I was referred to a sleep clinic and was diagnosed with “very mild obstructive sleep apnoea” (OSA). A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device was recommended with a litany of disorders that would occur (heart disease, CVA, HTN, decreased mortality, motor vehicle accidents, etc.) if I did not use the apparatus consistently and properly.

I assiduously used it for two test periods. Though the physician reported improvement, …

Our work as physicians and healers is to see the whole patient [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 28, 2021

“Instead of focusing on one organ system, I want to know everything. The diagnostic challenge is to discern patterns of insults, symptoms, and lab tests that correlate with specific microbes, specific organ dysfunction, specific diet issues, and environmental exposures. We keep asking questions until we detect patterns in the chronically ill …

Best practices in virtual residency interviewing

Madhumitha Rajagopal and Jaclyn Yamada

Education

April 28, 2021

The 2021 residency match “capstoned” the inaugural virtual interview season. Interviews may likely continue to incorporate some virtual aspects given the realized efficiencies. But these efficiencies come at a cost: limiting the applicant’s ability to get a feel of the programs and adding virtual fatigue to the inevitable stress of interviews.

As two medical students who participated in this most recent interview season, here are a few best practices we encountered …

A physician’s personal story with opioids

Andy Lamb, MD

Physician

April 28, 2021

I once spoke at a leadership forum on opioid abuse. I was asked to speak about the role of hospital systems in addressing this important issue. As I thought about what I would say, I realized there was very little I could add. The crisis is epidemic, and hospitals are ill-prepared to do anything proactive. It is that overwhelming. Leading medical missions, I learned an important lesson that …

Physician suicide: We need safe spaces to talk about it [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 27, 2021

“Suicide is a path, whether fast or slow, that a person chooses to take because of their own reasons. We certainly can never predict suicide or truly understand it. But with that said, every time it happens, it is a tragic loss of life that time can and will never heal.

We must …

An organizational solution to lactation support for women physicians

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

Conditions

April 27, 2021

In a previous post, I recognized lactation support for women physicians as an equity issue. Many of the women physicians I’ve interviewed have identified returning to work while breastfeeding as a major challenge and a major source of stress. Providing accommodations to ensure that these professionals have access to the resources they need to do their work is essential to creating an equitable workplace.

Soon after I published …

Does your reaction to COVID reveal your political leaning?

P. Dileep Kumar, MD, MBA

Conditions

April 27, 2021

COVID-19 is the first-ever “politicized pandemic” in human history. COVID-19 happened in an era of widespread social media which helped the general population to understand the disease better and faster. However, the public also formulated an opinion about it. The problem was that their opinions were distilled by the information they were exposed to. And a large chunk of the information available was not scrutinized or scientifically proven.

This is a …

3 ways technology in the ER boosts the patient experience

Justin Schrager, MD, MPH

Tech

April 27, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the vital roles effective communication and reliable technology play in the patient journey, starting from the moment a patient is on the way to the emergency department (ED) through to discharge. There are many moving parts during an ED visit, and the process of keeping the patient, their family, and other departments within the hospital or health system informed is no small feat …

Why quitting medicine is hard

Elijah Sadaphal, MD

Physician

April 27, 2021

This is a message to any medical doctor who is unhappy with their career. The individual reasons for this dissatisfaction will vary. Whatever the issue, it is important to ask, “Is the problem correctable?” If yes, then you must act and secure your happiness. If no, you must consider other options. One uncomplicated choice is to stay in medicine and practice somewhere else. However, you may also be unhappy in …

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Why quitting medicine is hard

My Klonopin withdrawal story [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 26, 2021

“Our relationship with Big Pharma is a dangerous, nasty, and abusive one, and it can prove to be fatal too. Benzos aren’t limited to a specific class, race, gender, creed, etc. Many stars have died from mixing benzodiazepines with opioids or illegal drugs.

It has been a little over a year that I have been …

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My Klonopin withdrawal story [PODCAST]

Let’s talk about vanishing twin syndrome

Nichole Cubbage

Conditions

April 26, 2021

This letter serves to provide my story for other women who may experience vanishing twin syndrome (VTS) and the providers that care for them, especially given how common VTS is and will continue to be.

For the folks who are either physicians or becoming care providers, I hope you choose to familiarize yourself with this odd yet common form of loss. I encourage you to respect a woman’s right to decide …

Research and censorship in an uncertain time

Joseph B. Fraiman, MD and Martha Rosenberg

Conditions

April 26, 2021

Joseph B. Fraiman is an emergency medicine physician currently practicing at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center and three other regional hospitals in Louisiana. This interview, conducted by journalist Martha Rosenberg, has been edited for clarity and length.

Rosenberg: Working at ERs in Louisiana hospitals that serve bayou communities, how seriously were you affected by COVID-19?

Fraiman: When COVID-19 began, as the only physician overnight, I was pronouncing or intubating patients two or three …

Focus medical education on training the whole person [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 25, 2021

“Had I understood the nature of my struggles and felt permitted and supported in actively addressing them, I would have been more effective, a better learner, and more fulfilled. After trying out a few clinical settings, a lot of reading, and some much-needed coaching, I found my identity as a healthy, …

Powerful prescription relief for ocular itch from allergic conjunctivitis

Cynthia Matossian, MD and Edward J. Meier, MD

Medicine is very much like driving. But don’t be a passive driver.

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Education

April 25, 2021

Medicine is very much like driving. As an emergency physician, when you see a patient, you ask the same questions, “What brought you in today? What’s bothering you?” and go through the normal flow of the history and physical. You order the same labs and imaging reflexively. When you’re driving to a location that you’ve been to many times before, when you get into your car again and turn the …

Training rural physicians is racial justice

Kristin Puhl, MD

Physician

April 25, 2021

Training physicians to serve in rural areas is a vital piece of modern medical education. It’s also frequently overlooked. Most medical education institutions are in cities, because cities allow us to concentrate the learning opportunities: the specialists, the large hospitals, the high patient volumes. This creates an automatic, unintended bias among doctors—the idea that to be a good doctor, they need to practice in a city. After all, don’t you …

Leadership lessons from Dr. Fauci [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 24, 2021

“Dr. Fauci navigated the delicate balance between his obligation to the American people as one of our most respected physician-scientists and holding on to his job in a federal government whose leader doesn’t take kindly to independent thought that potentially upstages his own. Dr. Fauci not only survived multiple appearances on …

A nurse shares her story of sexual assault [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 23, 2021

“I am a nurse who has worked at a rural hospital. My husband is a board-certified family medicine doctor. In the fall of 2020, I was raped by my massage therapist. I know that everyone has an opinion of what they would do in that situation, and I was probably one of those …

How to stop the anti-science charlatans

Sara Bajuyo, MD

Physician

April 23, 2021

A couple of weeks ago, I received a text from my aunt that included a link to a physician-created YouTube video about the COVID vaccine. The creator has built her fame and fortune as an anti-vaccination proponent. Knowing that her videos are rubbish, I ignored the text.

A couple of days ago, I received the same text message, this time with my aunt imploring me to “PLEASE READ!” I went back …

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How to stop the anti-science charlatans