“F—- you! I won’t do what you tell me!” the lyrics blare into my teenage ears, as I lip-synch to the rock band Rage Against the Machine’s song Killing In the Name. It’s 1992, and my Walkman is attached to the waistband of my Seattle Blues. It would take at least a decade to fully understand the meaning of those lyrics. Nearly thirty years later, this line …
Rage Against the Machine: This song is mine, and it’s how I heal
I am a board-certified pediatrician, wife, mother of four, and host of a podcast. I have been interested in nutrition and feeding practices for as long as I can remember. In my practice as a pediatrician, I was constantly bombarded with parent concerns about children’s eating habits. Commonly parents worried that their children were not eating enough, were eating too …
The surprising power of family meals
“I implore you — even if it’s difficult — if you don’t like your doctor, take the time and find a new one!
How do you do that? Check your insurance for who they cover, and then ask your friends who they see and like. Google the physician. Google the practice. …
You deserve a doctor who’s a good fit for you [PODCAST]
Ask any physician how they are doing today, and you’ll probably hear some version of frustrated, tired, and sad. It’s not the lump-in-your-throat type sadness. It’s that my-mind-and-soul-are-tired sadness. The feeling you have when all you can see is the conflict and the angst that seems to fill the world right now. The feeling that the world is burning and we are powerless to stop it.
I am a physician who …
From advocate to adversary: How COVID-19 has changed the doctor-patient relationship
“We focus on ensuring our solution works equally well for English speakers with any accent. We regularly hear from doctors how much of a difference this makes in their ability to deliver high-quality patient care. It’s our hope that more health tech vendors will take a good look at what …
Structural racism in health tech [PODCAST]
“You’re superficial,” the dean of the curriculum explained to me as we sat in an empty lecture hall. I had just finished a lecture when he pulled me aside to share his assessment of my progress as a student. By this point in my second year of medical school, I had become more focused on the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer [LGBTQ] persons and communities, …
Professional gay: Charting a career in LGBTQ health
Fun fact: The first recorded use of electric stimulation to ease pain was in … get ready … CE 46! That’s right, nearly 2,000 years ago, ancient Roman writer Scribonius Largus described the use of torpedo fish, aquatic animals capable of electrical discharge, to heal. This system is still as common in health care settings as a conventional TENS Unit (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation). Similarly, many health care IT innovations …
From electric fish to smart device EHRs: the mind-blowing evolution of health care technology
“I bring this to your attention because, in 1971, I took an oath to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to all indentured pupils who have taken the Healer’s Oath. Having done so, if it strikes you that, during the aforementioned trial, an opportunity was missed, only to be rectified by …
A physician takes action against an expert witness [PODCAST]
It is said that everything that moves has a breaking point. Engineers understand this concept, and they have developed intricate methods to understand when metals will reach their breaking point if they sustain repeated back and forth stress.
It becomes crucial to understand that when metals break, the consequences have substantial implications as many industries rely on machines to be efficient and safe. If a machine shuts down due to the …
Physicians are hurting. This is what makes them human.
“Children don’t get as sick with COVID-19” and “only children with comorbidities get very sick from COVID-19” are two statements that have concerned me during the pandemic. They have been used as statements to support loosening COVID-19 prevention measures for children, like wearing masks, and rationalizing arguments opposing vaccinating children against COVID-19. It is true that children, for the most part, do not get as sick from COVID-19. Nevertheless, while …
A perspective on comorbidities and severity of illness in children with COVID-19
For married physicians looking into estate planning strategies, one thing to keep in mind is how to make best use of spousal benefits in reducing taxes or providing for a surviving spouse or other beneficiaries. For wealthy physicians, a spousal lifetime access trust, or SLAT, may provide a viable vehicle for avoiding estate taxes for both spouses and protecting assets from creditors while at the same time providing distributions that …
SLAT: An important estate planning strategy for physicians to lower President Biden’s estate tax
“The first step to hospital recovery is the collection and analysis of data. Organizations that effectively leverage data to optimize surgery can see rapid, quantifiable, and sustained improvements in metrics that directly link to operational efficiency and associated financial benefits. The current situation presents a unique opportunity for hospitals …
A data-first strategy to recovering surgical volumes [PODCAST]
I used to think, “I had COVID. I don’t need a vaccine… not for now at least, and maybe not ever.”
November 2020: I was a few hours into my 12-hour shift in the emergency department. I had been treating COVID at every shift for about 10 months at that point, and I knew what I was feeling now was more than just fatigue. I took a swab and went into …
If I already had COVID, do I need the vaccine?
I go to the hospital cafeteria to unwind from this night — another unpredictable one with irrational patients that randomly attempt to assault the staff.
This time, they missed. Behavioral health. Land of the psychotics and schizophrenics. But an incredible staff to work with.
This song blares out. “Easy Like Sunday Morning.” And I know that nothing is “easy” anymore.
I’ve heard it all about COVID vaccinations:
“It’s my body.”
“It’s not FDA-approved.”
“I have natural …
I’ve always had a strong sense of justice. I think that’s what attracted me most to superheroes as a child. Growing up, my favorite by far was Spider-Man.
Many people think it’s because of his superpowers, but for me, it was always about Peter Parker, the man behind the mask. Peter Parker is a nerdy guy who loves science and makes inappropriate jokes all the time. He has this immense personal …
You don’t belong here. You’re not good enough. You’re no superhero.
“The dramatic uptick in mental distress, trauma, and substance use since last year has driven a corresponding rise in the use of virtual mental health therapy and psychiatric care, helping us, as a society, more effectively grapple with the fallout from the pandemic. According to one study, more than …
Behavioral health opportunities during the pandemic [PODCAST]
You were finally starting to understand Bitcoin when talk about alternative cryptocurrencies or “altcoins” started springing up everywhere. Elon Musk is tweeting about Dogecoin. Mark Cuban is talking about Ethereum. The Motley Fool is posting about Chainlink.
What are altcoins, and should you be investing in them?
I cannot speak to whether investing in altcoins is appropriate for you. Altcoins are a highly volatile and risky asset class that offers the potential …
Alternative cryptocurrencies: 5 tips for physicians
I recently unearthed all my pay stubs from residency, including the first one — all $89.14 of it.
When I received that check, I had just moved across the country after a grueling internship in Philadelphia, which left me physically and emotionally exhausted.
I was staying in a motel, which I paid for with a credit card because I used my last paycheck from internship to pay for moving across the country. …
How medical training teaches doctors to be financially unhealthy
I went to replace four hanging plants at a nursery this past weekend because they all died once the Texas heat made its appearance, despite being watered, placed in the shade, and talked to by my daughter and me.
While I was looking for plants that will hopefully survive the Texas summer, I was chatting with my husband, who cheekily said, “Those plants weren’t resilient.”
He, of course, knows my disdain for …
“When I teach medical students who rotate with me at my clinic, I ask them to write about the single most negative and single most positive emotional experiences they have had in their 3 to 4 years of training thus far. Commonly, I see fear as a negative emotion …
Can doctors have personalities? [PODCAST]
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