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A pandemic is not a war. It’s a natural disaster.

Physician

September 26, 2021

The main reason we are seemingly so accepting of lockdowns and vaccine mandates is that we have been conditioned to view a pandemic or an epidemic as a war being waged on our society.

In wartime, we naturally expect civil liberties to be suspended. Likewise, the reasoning goes, during a pandemic we need to act in a unified way under some central command to fight this viral existential threat. Individual rights …

It’s time to redesign anesthesia care delivery

Karen S. Sibert, MD

Physician

September 26, 2021

As we orient our brand-new, fresh-faced CA-1 residents to the operating room each year, I ask this question. Has anyone explained to them that much of what they’ll need to learn in the first couple of months is how to be a nurse?

We watch them struggle to draw up propofol into a syringe without spraying white foam all over themselves. We emphasize the critical difference between a surgeon’s order of …

What do physicians really want in life? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 25, 2021

“It is no wonder that in 2020, a Doximity physician compensation report revealed there were no specialties in medicine in which women earned the same or more than men. We can all agree that many things could account for this, including structural barriers and lack of diversity or mentorship. It …

A physician family’s adoption journey

Anne Jacobson, MD

Physician

September 25, 2021

A few years ago, a Chicago-area fertility clinic ran a series of radio ads at the same early hour each morning. For weeks, I woke to a woman’s energetic voice cutting through the fog of my semiconsciousness, announcing her gratitude to the center’s reproductive specialists. “Without them,” she proclaimed brightly, “my baby wouldn’t have my blue eyes and my husband’s wide smile.”

Ten years earlier, I myself had driven 20 miles …

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A physician family’s adoption journey

3 ways health care leadership can get nurses back at the bedside

Juli Heitman, RN

Policy

September 25, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to push everyone, especially frontline health care workers, well beyond the brink. Nurses have been exposed to the most trying and difficult predicaments related to the coronavirus, and the stress has taken its toll.

During the most recent surge of cases, rural hospitals across the country have resorted to extraordinary lengths to ensure that adequate staffing is available for the patient spikes. This includes …

How to close the leadership challenge and end this COVID chapter

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

September 25, 2021

The reason that the United States hasn’t been able to reach higher vaccination rates is because of leadership failures. It’s really hard for leaders to lead transformational change during stable times. It’s infinitely harder to lead in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)-dynamic world, but not impossible.

It’s the timeless leadership challenge.

How do you help the people you lead get from A to B?

This exchange between Fox …

Our health care system may be failing, but it isn’t broken [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 24, 2021

“The problem with health care isn’t ‘fixing’ the system. The problem is continuing to ensure that profits can be made and millions can be employed while better health care outcomes and experiences are achieved.

We won’t find the solution to that problem by embracing the solutions offered by either the right …

You can’t fix what is already broken

Serene Selli, DO

Physician

September 24, 2021

It’s one of the last weeks in December. If it was any other year, I would have realized that Christmas is around the corner, the air would be filled with a different, radiant, joyful kind of energy, and most of us would be focused on all the lessons this year has taught us. Unfortunately, this year is not like any other year. The air feels dense and heavy. You can’t …

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You can’t fix what is already broken

Laocoön and His Sons: suffering of those who care for those who suffer

Joseph Gascho, MD

Physician

September 24, 2021

Arguably one of the most famous statues of Western civilization is of the Laocoon group, made between the second century B.C. and the first century A.D, and discovered and excavated in Rome in 1506. Michelangelo himself was supposedly one of the first to view the newly discovered statue, and it is said that it …

Primary care: the variety and the intimacy of the problems I see [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 23, 2021

“Fifteen minutes for a checkup or urgent problem, thirty minutes for a physical. In the tiny gasps of time in between: Refilling scripts, checking labs, and signing medical supply orders and insurance authorization requests. Maybe lunch. Maybe a chance to get to the restroom if I am lucky. Clicking, always …

I see you, COVID

Lizbeth Hingst, DO

Physician

September 23, 2021

I see you, COVID. I see you in the hospitals each day. I don on my surgical cap, scrubs, goggles, N95 mask, and gown. Are you there?

I see you in the scared eyes of my patients, in their tears, and in their regrets.

I see you in their cough, gasps for air, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and muscle aches.

I see you when they cannot smell or taste.

I see you when they have …

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I see you, COVID

Don’t pay off your student loans early

Khaled A. Dajani, MD

Finance

September 23, 2021

In 2010, a landmark study from Princeton was published “proving” that money just doesn’t buy happiness. Study participants were asked to compare their emotional well-being from yesterday to today, and it appeared that making more than $75,000 a year didn’t lead to concurrent increases in well-being. Since then, Americans have been flooded with the psychological opium of mindfulness, yoga, and leaning out, urging contentment instead with the …

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Don’t pay off your student loans early

The role of empathy in improving patient care and decreasing medical liability

Helen Riess, MD

Physician

September 23, 2021

Studies reveal that more than half of all practicing physicians demonstrate signs of burnout. Contemporary physicians face tremendous pressures due to a confluence of factors, including balancing heavy patient loads within constrained schedules, the increasing complexity of patient health problems, and increasingly burdensome COVID-related documentation requirements.

These circumstances—and more—challenge physician empathy, and even to some extent dampen it even further. Multiple research studies document a decline in empathy that appears to …

Try this new technique when talking to vaccine skeptics [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 22, 2021

“When we hear skepticism, our first instinct may be to end the conversation. After all, why spend our time trying to convince someone who has made up their mind? Our second instinct may be to counter the person’s position without pausing to hear more about their perspective. Unfortunately, trying to …

Is passive income a lie?

Smart Money, MD

Finance

September 22, 2021

As a child, I remember watching superstar athletes like Wayne Gretzky glide so effortlessly on the ice and dreaming about how easy life would be to be blessed with innate talent. “Talent would make my life so easy,” so I thought. I had no clue how much work had to be invested to make talent look seamless. A little later in life, I remember hearing the quip coined by Thomas …

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Is passive income a lie?

A Christian physician’s message to Christian vaccine skeptics

Earl Stewart, Jr., MD

Physician

September 22, 2021

I think it is remarkably irresponsible to have a balm and refuse to use it.

I think it is remarkably irresponsible to have a salve and refuse to apply it.

I think it is remarkably irresponsible to have a cure and refuse to accept it.

And you’d think that at some point, reasonably intelligent people would get it. You’ve been somewhere in the sanctuary all your life. You grew up in the church. …

Digital health equity is an emerging gap in health [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 21, 2021

“The pandemic has demonstrated the value of online platforms, especially in health care – but equitable access has not matched this growth. Sadly, many Americans cannot reap the benefits of connectivity. State and federal funding sources are required to enable digital health equity. Moreover, there should be a focus on …

If businesses can mandate vaccines, they should mandate affordable health care, too

Robert Pearl, MD

Policy

September 21, 2021

Earlier this year, Houston Methodist gave its 26,000 hospital employees an ultimatum: Get vaccinated or get a new job. It was one of the nation’s first vaccine mandates. And it was a big, multilayered risk: with legal, financial and ethical consequences all hanging in the balance.

In the end, …

The unvaccinated and a history of cynicism

David Galinsky, MD

Physician

September 21, 2021

The vitriol that characterizes discussions about vaccines, masking, and school policies has been deeply disturbing. I am a physician who is concerned about COVID. At first, I thought that everyone would want to be vaccinated. I thought that the pandemic would cause everyone to isolate and socially distance to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. Now we know it did not turn out that way. As I reflect on …

Self-harm and eating disorders in teens

Richard Capriola, MBA

Conditions

September 20, 2021

An excerpt from The Addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse.

How do you know if your teen has a substance problem? The inability to control substance use despite negative consequences is a classic definition of a severe substance use disorder. But substances aren’t the only thing afflicting adolescents. Another dangerous behavior is invading the adolescent population: process disorders. …

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Self-harm and eating disorders in teens

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