Gun and health care workplace violence: Dr. Lindley Dodson’s tragic death

Policy
February 10, 2021

As a pediatric emergency physician in Chicago, I am no stranger to the effects of gun violence in our patient population and society.  But what do we do when gun violence is turned on our own community as physicians?

Recently a beloved pediatrician in Austin, Texas, Dr. Lindley Dodson, was held hostage and killed in a murder-suicide carried out by another pediatrician with whom she had no relationship. This senseless tragedy has …

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What the PlayStation 5 can teach the vaccine rollout

Conditions
February 10, 2021

It’s no surprise that the PlayStation 5 (PS5) has been extremely popular since its launch in November, with over four million consoles sold since launch. However, what is surprising is that the PS5 has broken all launch month gaming hardware sales records ever, despite its steep prices at $500 for the full console and $400 for the digital edition, not to mention its launch in the …

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Nephrology and kidney care during the pandemic [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 9, 2021
YouTube video

“COVID-19 wreaks havoc on multiple areas of the body, and myself and my fellow frontline workers across the globe have been forced to quickly identify what tools work best in our quest to keep our patients alive.

While we’re working to identify which technologies can improve our patients’ outcomes, it’s encouraging that …

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After a stroke, a physician experiences true vulnerability

Physician
February 9, 2021

“I think I’m having a stroke.”

The words struggled to leave my mouth as I spoke to the 9-1-1 operator. Emotionally in disbelief, the words seemed so unusual to say in the first person. Ten minutes earlier, overwhelming nausea and drenching sweats woke me abruptly from sleep. Thinking it was something I ate, I immediately regretted the preceding meal that must have been responsible. My attempt to get to the bathroom …

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Nursing home workers at catastrophic levels of burnout and trauma

Conditions
February 9, 2021

It’s been almost a year since nursing home workers began fighting on the front lines of COVID-19. They’ve witnessed and experienced extreme trauma. They’ve seen seniors they care for suffer in fear and loneliness during prolonged and repeated lockdowns.  They’ve seen residents fall catastrophically ill and too many of them die.

More than 17,000 seniors are dead from COVID-19 in Canada; Read more…

Reforming the peer review process [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 8, 2021
YouTube video

“The peer-review process is fallible, slow, and biased, and it takes advantage of the scientific community’s altruism. We need to keep pushing the conversation forward about making publishing more equitable, timely, accessible, and fair. An obvious and easy way to begin is to pay the experts who perform the peer reviews. …

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The case for physician peer coaching

Physician
February 8, 2021

I love metaphors. I think they can be so powerful and can convey so much, sometimes with just a few words.

One metaphor we use in coaching to describe the coach’s role in a session with their client is that of a swimming pool. The client is in the swimming pool, and as the coach we have the job of not jumping in the pool with them.

Imagine you …

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How physicians can engage on social media

Physician
February 8, 2021

During a casual scroll through social media, I often hear the voice of my friend and fellow pediatrician warning, “Do not engage!”

Generally speaking, this is almost always the correct advice. The rise of various social media platforms, the ability to rapidly share information and disinformation, the growing culture of doing one’s own “research,” and the apparent difficulty in separating reputable from non-reputable sources online has created the perfect storm. In …

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Why health care fails to deliver better value in patient care

Policy
February 8, 2021

There is a strong push for health care to move towards greater value-based care (VBC) arrangements. The prospect of VBC holds the opportunity to re-create partnerships designed to increase health care sustainability by strategically improving processes, care delivery, and patient outcomes to achieve higher quality output at a decreased cost. Furthermore, the held potential will not be optimized until providers, payers, patients, and communities are connected in this common goal …

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Stop the us vs. them mentality in medicine

Physician
February 8, 2021

As a foreign medical graduate and a multiple-time career changer — from being a doctor to a hospital process improvement and leadership coach to a business professor to a transformational career coach for female physicians — I have closely examined the U.S. health care industry from various lenses.

The one thing that stands out for me is the us vs. them attitude. Us being physicians and them being administrators.

I have seen …

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Doctors are killing themselves, and who is taking notice? [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 7, 2021
YouTube video

“I can do better. We can do better. Please partner with me and advocate for the ability for doctors and residents in our profession to receive medical and psychiatric care without fear of losing our licenses or having to face stigma and judgment. It can save lives. Please, we are more …

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Why the preservation of the Affordable Care Act should matter to you [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 6, 2021
YouTube video

“Is the ACA perfect? Not by a long shot. In Kentucky, where I live, there are only 2 insurers selling individual policies on the exchange. A Silver plan for my husband and myself costs $1,800 per month in premiums, with a $13,600 deductible and an out-of-pocket maximum of $14,600.  Therefore, the total …

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A physician’s mid-career and mid-life success

Physician
February 6, 2021

A mid-life crisis, re-assessment, re-envision. Hollywood’s cliché version epitomized by Chevy Chase driving the “family truckster” while flirting with Christie Brinkley and later trying to skinny-dip with her. Of course, it is more than that.

Researcher, Brene Brown, calls it the unraveling. It is a pause. Turning off auto-pilot. A re-evaluation of goals. Clinically, it is called a mid-life transition or stage of adult development. It can be midlife or mid-career …

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In the midst of our COVID crisis, we must learn to take care of ourselves. And each other.

Physician
February 6, 2021

Applause every evening, volunteers sewing masks, personal phone calls, and check-ins – these are a few examples of the support that helped us get through the initial, brutal onslaught of COVID in New York City last spring.

A year later, many hospitals across the country are full to bursting, the staff is exhausted, and medical science is still unable to save thousands of patients from dying in isolation. And we know …

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Being a neonatologist and a mother [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 5, 2021
YouTube video

“Being a neonatologist and a mother is living with the knowledge that the question ‘What would you do?’ could so easily become real, not hypothetical.  And so what would I do? I don’t know, heartbroken mama. Because I feel too much, but I don’t feel enough. Because I know too well, but …

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Overcoming PPE barriers to compassionate communication 

Physician
February 5, 2021

In the COVID-19 environment, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) is the norm for clinicians. Monthly, U.S. health care workers use 89 million masks. While these masks help prevent the spread of disease, PPE creates barriers to effective communication that is requiring clinicians to learn new techniques for interacting with patients. Learning new verbal and non-verbal techniques to overcome PPE communication barriers is especially important for conveying …

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Thank you pediatric medical professionals [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 4, 2021
YouTube video

“As the mother of a child born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, besides going through four open-heart surgeries and coding, my son has also had eight abdominal surgeries, including a Ladd’s procedure and resection of his colon. William also functions without his appendix, spleen, and gall bladder. In addition to every …

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Maybe life is happening: the power of language in patient hand-offs

Physician
February 4, 2021

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
– George Orwell

The “difficult” family

At 2 a.m., on my first night shift as a pediatric resident, a patient, Casey, transferred from another hospital. She had a rare, progressive chronic illness, was medically complex, and was currently receiving treatment for an acute systemic infection. Shortly after she arrived, she became difficult to arouse. When I asked her mother questions, I was …

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