“We know the ER’s revolving door will continue to spin for so many children and adolescents who seek help in the heat of their personal crisis. Some will need to stay in the hospital – to heal their bodies and minds and even fight for their lives. Some – the lucky ones …
Dying of loneliness: the COVID-19 epidemic in children and adolescents [PODCAST]
Many drug ads in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s would offend today.
In an ad for Valium, we are told that the woman pictured (“Jan”) is “psychoneurotic” because she is unmarried at age 35. “You probably see many such Jans in your practice,” says the ad—“The unmarrieds with low self-esteem. Jan never found a man to measure up to her father.”
Valium was …
These journal ads could not run today
The orders from the state seemed to come suddenly, although we all knew we would have to adjust our methods of treating our clients, the news wasn’t good, and seeing anyone in person was treacherous since many still thought it was a hoax and they didn’t believe they needed to be cautious. Some would wear a hazmat suit if they could get their hands on one. As a psychiatric nurse …
Nothing prepared me for telehealth’s nightmare
Listen to psychiatrist Emily Watters’ work with the homeless population and how she got her start writing cartoons, educating patients using out-of-the-box communication strategies.
Emily Watters is a psychiatrist and can be reached at The Cartoon Shrink.
She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD articles, “Blood …
Meet the physician who educates patients with cartoons [PODCAST]
Burnout among doctors is not something new. In fact, way before the pandemic, 69% of physicians reported they were somewhat or incredibly happy in 2020, before the pandemic started.
This number drastically fell to 49% when COVID-19 stepped in. This is a statistic that we need to be aware of.
For many of us, we embarked on our journey in medicine with naïve optimism. We stepped into medical school thinking about the …
The dark truth of physician burnout
“For the folks who are either physicians or becoming care providers, I hope you choose to familiarize yourself with this odd yet common form of loss. I encourage you to respect a woman’s right to decide at what point and to what degree her fetus and its life or loss has …
Let’s talk about vanishing twin syndrome [PODCAST]
July 1st is here, which means it’s the start of a new residency year. For interns, things can be nerve-wracking and scary. You may wonder if you remember enough information from medical school and hope you arrive at the right place at the right time this week. For the senior residents like me, we are elated to be almost done with training, but we are also starting to focus on …
5 financial truths every resident needs to know
“I often think about how I can make you see these things about yourself that others see. I think about the ways I can tell you that things will get better even though the darkest of days is upon you right now.
But I know I can’t make you see these things; no …
To the patient who wants to die: a psychologist’s perspective [PODCAST]
First off, congratulations to the Class of 2025 for getting into medical school. With the pandemic restrictions lifting, enjoy the next few months doing the things you love because medical school will take an emotional and financial toll on you. According to AAMC, the median debt for medical students in 2019 was $200,000. Unfortunately, fundraising for scholarships was difficult for many organizations due to the pandemic despite more students seeking …
8 scholarship tips for medical school
“As a species, we have been an abject failure in dealing with a worldwide crisis. We politicize things for money, political reasons and some kind of weird power, even when it kills us in the process. We already have a World Health Organization (WHO). Would it be so difficult to staff it …
COVID vaccines’ tragic dance [PODCAST]
Have you ever been to one of those areas in the hospital called “the library” or “the educational/academic center”? No, I’m not talking about the athenaeum at the universities. The library we are talking about is the one at the teaching hospital specifically dedicated to the education of the trainee residents and fellows. Usually found on the first floor, it is a place where anyone can walk in and use …
Redefining what a hospital library should be
How sad when a PCP calls, saying, “My chief warned me that if I don’t dramatically improve my productivity, I’m going to be terminated.” Such doctors are often patient-centered listeners who cannot bear to shift from healer mode to assembly line mode.
Some of these docs learn how to better balance healing with task completion; others make a beeline for concierge or direct primary care practices; still others …
The joylessness of harried medical leaders
“From a charting standpoint, the sins of commission easily outnumber the sins of omission. Our group’s progress note template begins with a summary that eventually becomes the narrative for the discharge summary. Most of the time, most of the important stuff is in there. It’s just obscured by what data scientists technically …
Bloated notes are a huge problem and a time suck [PODCAST]
The current era of health care delivery has been aptly compared with going to war against an invisible enemy that can attack anywhere, at any time and with novel means.
This invisible enemy was attacking the civilians as well as the “front line” with vigor.
We have attempted to learn on the fly and use our intelligence to develop a defensive strategy against the enemy’s ever-changing tactics and learn from prior battlefronts.
This …
You need a break from the front lines of health care
“No offense to you, Doc, but I hate coming to the doctor.”
I hear these words at least once a week when I walk into a patient’s room.
In 15 years of practice, that means about a thousand times.
And that does not include my training years.
There will be variations of the theme, of course:
“I really don’t like coming to the doctor.”
I get anxious in the doctor’s office. That is why my blood …
Why do patients hate going to the doctor?
“We believe optimal postoperative pain management should provide adequate pain relief, minimize adverse effects, and reduce chances of drug misuse. While we cannot undertreat pain, we also cannot go back to the practice of over-prescribing or unnecessarily prescribing opioids for minor operations. There needs to be a carefully nuanced balance in treating …
Pediatric patients need appropriate pain management after surgery [PODCAST]
An installation to explore the impact of medications in daily life
Bob is a typical patient at the pharmacy with a chronic illness. Bob, along with 30 other random patients whom I followed in the year 2017, had been picked up to explore the number of medications they consumed in an average year. Bob took 4,280 prescription pills (no data on OTC consumption) …
4280: the number of pills Bob took last year
“The symptoms of EDS aren’t limited to the musculoskeletal system and commonly affect everything from hearing and vision to integumentary issues such as prolonged wound healing and easy bruising. It also became apparent that the specialists I had seen had contributed valuable information to the overall puzzle but were simply not able …
What you need to know about Ehlers-Danlos syndrome patients [PODCAST]
“We need to stop weight shaming people & not make them fearful of seeing a Dr., but we also need to find a supportive way to talk about obesity.”
– TikTok commenter
“You’ve got to get on TikTok,” everyone kept saying. Launching a web-based life and weight coaching platform for teens, I begrudgingly decided it was time to jump in. I felt like I was putting on an ill-fitting scuba mask and snorkel …
Medical gaslighting due to weight stigma and bias is harmful: a viral TikTok study
“The impact of the pandemic on the lives of Americans will be felt for years, if not generations, to come. This includes its alarming effect on health behaviors that contribute to the already formidable challenge of obesity in this country. Now, more than ever, we must look for creative solutions within …
Weight gain during the pandemic: An obesity medicine specialist explains [PODCAST]
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