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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 …

Thank you pediatric medical professionals [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

February 4, 2021

“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 …

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

Aleks Olszewski, MD

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 …

How could a patient die from anesthesia for a colonoscopy?

Karen S. Sibert, MD

Physician

February 4, 2021

Every death related to anesthesia is a tragedy; even more so when a minor procedure such as a colonoscopy leads to a completely unexpected death. Everyone knows that open heart surgery carries a mortality risk, but few of us walk into the hospital for a colonoscopy thinking that death is a plausible outcome.

We know so few facts at this point about what happened on January 21 at Beaumont Royal Oak …

Prison medicine during the pandemic [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

February 3, 2021

“Rumor has it that the SARS-CoV 2 virus was brought into prison via inmates who were on a work-release program. Allegedly, they boarded a city bus with a driver who was ill. From there, it crept beyond the work-release camp and wafted over to the general prison population. The pandemic had …

The destructive health consequences of political polarization

Philip A. Masters, MD

Physician

February 3, 2021

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.

Political divisiveness has always been part of the fabric of America. Even as our Founders laid the groundwork for the United States, they understood the challenges of seeking to assemble a unified and functional country from such a wide geographic and culturally diverse …

COVID-19 vaccines are safe for people with severe allergies

Charles Feng, MD

Conditions

February 3, 2021

The intensive care unit nurse was worried the COVID-19 vaccine would kill her.

In the past, just minutes after getting the influenza vaccine, she had hives, wheezing, and throat swelling. Her life-threatening reaction only resolved after an epinephrine injection and monitoring in the emergency room. She vowed never to get another vaccine.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine, she reconsidered her stance. Now she was in my clinic, …

Stuck between a virus and a cold place: A choice for homeless Americans [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

February 2, 2021

“What form the incoming winter will take depends on the location and status of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each city must find a method that will provide the most relief and assistance for their homeless population. Analyzing the results of the measures already taken by shelters in the country will prove vital to …

How divorce helped this physician

Trina E. Dorrah, MD

Physician

February 2, 2021

I got married the day after I graduated from medical school to someone I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with. Seven years later, we were divorced.

Even though a high percentage of marriages end in divorce, there is still a stigma that many of us who divorce feel. I had already completed residency and was an attending by the time I got divorced, and I remember feeling so …

Read more…

How divorce helped this physician

Yes, your doctor was a sorority girl

Erika Visser Aragona, DO

Physician

February 2, 2021

Patients often comment on my attire other than my white coat, particularly my impractical footwear, until I finally broke down and purchased Danskos to avoid being called out for my truthful impracticality. It is amazing how patients care more about my orthotics than remembering the reason they scheduled a visit with me, and God bless them for that.

I am in family medicine, and I thrive on personal and genuine relationships where …

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Yes, your doctor was a sorority girl

The impact of current work hour restrictions and OSHA misclassification on house staff health

Arielle Gerard, MD, MPH

Education

February 2, 2021

Over 100,000 medical and surgical resident physicians and fellows (combined, “house staff”) are the first-line physicians for most patients in the nation’s 1,100+ teaching hospitals. Maximum weekly work hours regulated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) are colloquially cited to be 80 per week. Notably, however, they are 80 hours averaged over 4 weeks (88 with “sound educational rationale”), without maximum weekly hour …

Nisha Mehta, MD on why physicians should consider side gigs [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

February 1, 2021

“At first, it may seem strange that ‘physician’ and ‘side gig’ are even used in the same sentence. After all, the average physician in the United States is already working more than a 40 hour work week and struggling with issues related to work-life balance. As someone who talks about physician …

2021: 10 health care trends to watch in the New Year

Davin R. Lundquist, MD

Instead of comparing, let’s nurture the next generation of physicians

Anonymous

Education

February 1, 2021

Years and years ago, everyone always walked up a mountain of snow and ice barefoot while dragging a carriage behind them to get to school, and their stethoscopes were made of bamboo. They were hard, hard times, and it was a time-honored tradition to hear the talk from our attendings about how hard training used to be and always elicited an internal groan. The follow up refrain frequently heard in …

The power sexuality has over our happiness

Moshe Kedan, MD

Conditions

February 1, 2021

An excerpt from Breaking the Silence: Why Opening Up About Your Sex Life Is the Best Medicine for Your Health, Relationships, and Overall Happiness.

I have been practicing medicine for forty-five years, and it has become clear to me that many of the mental and physical problems …

Death is personal for this physician [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 31, 2021

“In Wooster, Ohio, where I practiced, a small not-for-profit hospice agency relied on local physicians, clergy, and many other volunteers to supplement the skills and dedication of their employed staff. It was through this work with Hospice of Wayne County, in making home visits when needed, that I learned the immeasurable value …

Human elements: How Primo Levi brought science to life

David B. Ney

Education

January 31, 2021

He studied at Turin, worked as a chemist until the age of 24, and in 1943 he resisted Nazi occupation of Italy with a group of countrymen. Italian fascists arrested him, turned him over to the Germans, and sent him to Auschwitz in 1944. He arrived on a train packed with six hundred and fifty people. He was imprisoned in the concentration camp for a year. Later Read more…

Human elements: How Primo Levi brought science to life

How doctors are losing money every time a patient pays a bill [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 30, 2021

“A practicing anesthesiologist for the past 14 years, when COVID hit, and the ORs came to an abrupt halt, I needed to occupy my mind. An opportunity to learn about the business behind running a practice came to me via a good friend who is a founding member of an award-winning Fintech …

It’s time to curb rising C-section rates in Canada

Margaret Morris, MD and George Carson, MD

Conditions

January 30, 2021

Even during the pandemic, labor and delivery are the most frequent reasons for hospitalization in Canada, with over 350,000 births per year. That’s happy news. But of these births, nearly one third are by Caesarian section (C-sections). That rate is far too high – and rising.

C-section is the surgical procedure to deliver a baby that involves an incision in the mother’s …

Health care’s tech renaissance during the pandemic [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 29, 2021

“Just as the pandemic has forced massive technology adoption in the delivery of care, we will see the rapid, widespread implementation of innovative solutions that medical education has desperately needed for years. Technologies like computer-based training, adaptive learning using artificial intelligence, video game-based learning, and extended reality such as virtual reality and …

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