The burden of the badge: an MD student’s response to the FIGS controversy

Education
October 19, 2020

Recently, FIGS – a design-driven medical apparel company – published its latest video advertisement: a young woman in bubblegum pink scrubs struts into view, shaking her FIGS-clad hips for the camera while holding a Medical Terminology for Dummies textbook upside-down. Forget practicing medicine; this woman isn’t fit to drive. The camera pans, emphatically, towards her badge, which reads DO – short for doctor of osteopathic medicine. Ahhh, the viewer is …

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Be an upstander and not a bystander [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 18, 2020
YouTube video

“The incident bothered me all day and the following many days. I couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was and brushed it aside and stopped thinking about it. In the wake of recent events, it dawned upon me that it wasn’t the patient’s comments that bothered me. It was the fact that no one standing in the room witnessing …

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Medical school in the age of Zoom

Education
October 18, 2020

What has medical school been like in the age of Zoom? Before I was a student doctor, I was an undergraduate student pining after the halls of medicine and the truthfully looking forwards to the rigors of medical school. Upon acceptance to medical school at the University of California, San Diego, I celebrated via Zoom with family. Orientation week was a hybrid model of Zoom and on-campus socially distanced activities. …

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This physician is tired, and he’s not alone

Physician
October 18, 2020

I have a lot of energy. I have been going and going and going for so long.

And today, it hit me.

I’m tired.

I began this pursuit of medicine in 1983 when I decided to be a zoology major. I worked and went to medical school. And I went to medical school and worked. Then I worked and went to three years of emergency medicine residency and worked hard for those three …

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What it’s like to write about COVID-19 while it’s killing your mom [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 17, 2020
YouTube video

“My mom was beyond vulnerable to the virus. May of 2020 marked two years since she’d become a nursing home resident—receiving care for several chronic illnesses. She died of failure to thrive due to Coronavirus 2019 on June 1, 2020, at the age of 75.

As her oldest child, her health care proxy, and a health care writer for more than 15 years, I knew that a positive result …

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Doctors in tech cities are losing the rat race

Finance
October 17, 2020

Populous cities are populous, well, because people want to live there. Whether the appeal comes from greater career opportunities or simply being closer to family, these places have continuously grown over the last few decades.

The growth is seemingly self-sustaining — certain industries and businesses exist because there is a population that desires these services. In return, these businesses require workers, so they attract people to the region. Add nice weather …

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What does a physician’s ideal life look like? [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 16, 2020
YouTube video

“You are a physician. You have put in years of hard work and sacrifice getting here. Now what?

Does your life look and feel exactly how you imagined it would? If not, what does your ideal life look like?

Certainly, answers to this question are deeply personal, and will vary depending on the individual. As physicians, we need to engage in a process …

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A medical student volunteers with the medical corps [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 15, 2020
YouTube video

“An email arrived inviting med students to join the State of Georgia’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). The MRC is an organization of doctors, nurses, PAs, EMTs, and med students who are the first medical boots on the ground for disasters in Georgia. They establish mobile hospitals and provide medical care. With extra time in isolation, I signed up and shortly received …

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What are the limitations of COVID-19 testing?

Conditions
October 15, 2020

COVID-19, first identified in December 2019 and declared a global pandemic in March 2020, has taken a toll on everyone around the world. After months of varying levels of lockdown and quarantine, people are developing pandemic fatigue, and craving human contact and normalcy again. This, coupled with the reopening of the nation, businesses reopening, and schools back in session, many people are relying on COVID-19 testing to say they are …

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Attacks on osteopathic medicine are attacks on all physicians

Physician
October 15, 2020

It was distressing to hear and read recent and ongoing disparaging comments about osteopathic medicine, attacking one of our own, from remarks by Rachel Maddow to tweets by Cher and a derogatory video, since removed, portraying a female DO by Figs Scrubs.

Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley, DO, serves as the Physician to the President. This emergency medicine-trained combat veteran graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is well-qualified …

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Unconventional residency interview tips

Physician
October 15, 2020

I’ve done a lot of interviews on my road to becoming a cardiology fellow. Here are a few topics that people don’t talk about enough.

Speed dating

I think of interviews like speed dating. Everyone puts on their “first date.” Everyone behaves their best; therefore, you can’t trust everything people say. Your job is to really listen to what people are saying, how they’re saying it, when they pause, when they fish …

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Free speech, cancel culture, and taking down statues [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 14, 2020
YouTube video

“History cannot be changed and should not be erased. The First Amendment was placed first for a reason. It is the bedrock of our nation’s ability to overcome despots like Hitler and to abolish slavery. However, it comes at a price. You may hear things you don’t like or make you uncomfortable. You may see statues or places like the Old …

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The million-dollar ski boat mistake

Finance
October 14, 2020

Forums and Facebook groups abound with a frequently asked question that sounds something like this: “Should we sell our positive cash flow rental to buy (insert fun new toy), so we don’t have to attain a loan?”

When someone wants to buy a new car, boat or motorhome — but they have learned that buying toys with borrowed money is a bad idea — they start thinking about how they can …

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A physician receives a derogatory email. Here’s what she did next. [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 13, 2020
YouTube video

“The disparity of women physicians in research is a systemic issue that should be mitigated appropriately.  Women, especially minorities and immigrants, need institutional support to succeed as clinician-investigators. Medical institutions should actively participate in increasing funding mechanisms available solely for the development and promotion of female clinician investigators. Funding for research projects, in terms of time effort and supplies such as …

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The rise of telehealth: How to overcome provider burnout while making a quick shift in health care delivery

Sponsored
October 13, 2020

The Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX)This article is sponsored by The Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX).

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered seismic shifts in health care delivery. Never before has the health care system mobilized to handle a massive surge in one type of illness while bringing so many other services to an abrupt standstill. Elective …

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The role of residents in teaching and creating a positive clinical learning environment

Education
October 13, 2020

The hallways were dark, and the door had a passcode that I didn’t know. What I knew was that I was nervous about entering the team room on my first day of internal medicine, my first rotation of the third year of medical school. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to realize that my main teachers, those I would spend the most time with, would be the residents, who were fun …

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Doctors already are actors, whether they want to be ones or not

Physician
October 13, 2020

The era of the empowered patient and patient-centered health care has been upon us for some time. Only a generation ago, there was a much more paternalistic approach to medicine. This has changed for the better across the western world. As somebody who teaches and coaches physicians on how to improve their communication skills, I would say that the newer generation of doctors is much more receptive than many of …

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How physicians can be activists [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 12, 2020
YouTube video

“We dealt with the death, uncertainty, and fear of COVID-19 with a stiff upper lip. But our hearts broke when George Floyd was murdered by the police on May 25. George is a symbol of an immense problem. A study reported that one in every thousand Black men can expect to be killed by the police. One in every thousand! Racially …

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It’s time we stop saying “black cloud” and “black weekend”

Physician
October 12, 2020

Racism is a pandemic that has long existed before COVID-19.

As a fourth-year medical student, I have been rotating in the hospitals and recently finished my sub-internship. Whether on the wards or in outpatient clinics, a recurring phrase would hover from one provider to the next, depending on how busy their week was: “black cloud” and “white cloud.”

In the medical world, the former has often been used to describe trainees or …

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