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Why I became a doctor: reflections on a calling

Physician

June 24, 2021

The landscape of medical practice has changed dramatically over the many decades I have been in practice. Most of these changes are intensely discouraging and depressing and are negatively affecting the physicians of today. The government, hospitals, networks, even our own professional organizations are working to establish and enforce new regulations — new hoops for doctors to jump through, mainly in the furtherance of their profit and their power over …

The emotional impact of menopause on women

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Conditions

June 24, 2021

You’ve heard of the emotional impact of menopause on women, but did you know that it can also cause anxiety and depression? Mental health is a topic that many people don’t want to discuss due to concerns of stigma, fear, and perceived repercussions of the diagnosis. However, if this topic is raised with compassion and understanding, the patient will likely become more comfortable and open to the conversation. I found …

Physicians and the midlife dip [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 23, 2021

“We all go through our early lives in the S-curve of our medical education–college, medical school, residency, early practice. As you reach the mastery phase, I would posit that there is a downward dip as we realize that we are no longer in that exciting hypergrowth phase. The search for a new …

Mansplaining in medicine and how to solve it

Steve Adelman, MD

Physician

June 23, 2021

My friend (I’ll call him Dr. Mensch) reached out to me because he fears that a gender war is unfolding in his division. He is worried that current cultural concerns about gender equity are degrading the previously harmonious relations between male and female professionals on his team and that the mounting tension could have a negative impact on patient care.

Mensch told me that several female physicians, including residents and fellows, …

Bracing for change: the escalating importance of USMLE Step 2

Karolina Woroniecka, MD, PhD

Education

June 23, 2021

It’s a well-known fact that medical school has grown increasingly competitive over the past decade. While this is true that getting into medical school has become somewhat harder, what is more concerning is that for many students, admission to, and paying for, medical school does not guarantee a career as a physician. A critical part of becoming a physician is graduate medical education, or residency. It is well-known that there …

Malpractice claims from the COVID-19 pandemic [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 22, 2021

“We won’t know until 2022 or later whether there will be an increase in claims related to the pandemic. When a medical error occurs, it’s not like an automobile accident. Everybody nearby knows when there’s been an automobile accident because they hear screeching tires, a loud crash, and then sirens. But when …

Please don’t ask about my test scores, Mom

Casey P. Schukow, DO

Education

June 22, 2021

Being a medical student in a family that does not have any doctors, honestly, has many perks. Although I may not have all the experience a tenured physician has in diagnostics and clinical management, I recognize the importance my current exposures in medicine give me in addressing the concerns of my family members. While answers may not always come to me immediately when I’m asked things like, …

Surgeons: Check your ego

Diana Londoño, MD

Physician

June 22, 2021

How is your ego serving you?

Medicine is a hierarchical entity. More so in surgery.

There is a linear line of command from the chief to the junior to the intern to the med student to the aspiring med student.

“Shit rolls downhill,” we said as interns while we powered through the 29th-hour on-call or the seven pending discharge summaries we had to finish, while a nurse was yelling or paging us 12 …

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Surgeons: Check your ego

Love is the strongest medicine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 21, 2021

“We know this is true in our hearts and minds, but we also know it to be true in documentable terms. Studies have proven that strong, empathic engagement between doctors and their patients increases patients’ willingness to report symptoms and concerns. That in turn improves diagnostic accuracy. Empathy increases patient engagement …

Why doctors are such bad investors and how real estate can help [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 20, 2021

“How do we combat all these beliefs that can make doctors into bad investors? I have a few thoughts.

First of all, don’t panic. Most of us are indeed starting behind the eight-ball when it comes to wealth accumulation. But even with a shorter runway, physicians make enough money to make up for …

Happy Father’s Day in heaven

Mildred Perea-Bonet, MD

Physician

June 20, 2021

It sounds like a long time, but it really wasn’t. It was actually a very short period of time. My perspective of time changed with this number. I was close to my 9th birthday when my dad passed. He was only 48, and he had been diagnosed with lymphoma only a few years earlier. He passed after losing his battle to cancer. I remember saying my goodbyes in the hospital …

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Happy Father’s Day in heaven

Our niche world demands a new approach to health

Vikram Bakhru, MD, MBA and Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA

Physician

June 20, 2021

When Elvis Presley rolled up his sleeve and received the polio vaccine backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, most Americans knew about it. At the time, the only stars hotter than rock ‘n’ roll itself were Presley, the genre’s de facto king, and Sullivan, the host who brought its biggest headliners to the American people.

By 1957, polio incidence dropped by 85 to 90 percent because …

Health care leaders’ roles in pandemic recovery: Caring for caregivers [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 19, 2021

“These are extraordinary times. Leaders have the opportunity to seize the day, to lean into this turning point in health care delivery, to drive organizational transformation, and to emerge from the devastation of the pandemic with an organization in which patients and clinicians thrive.

You simply have to ask yourself, are you willing …

America’s path to reopening: an emergency physician’s perspective

Owais Durrani, MD

Physician

June 19, 2021

High pitched alarms, low pitched beeps, the rhythmic inhale and exhale of the ventilator – those were the sounds in my emergency department one year ago. There were no kids running down the hall, no friends making light of their 50-something-year-old friend whose LeBron James delusions resulted in an ER visit and sutures, and no, not even worried family members.

Texas, like much of the country, was headed for …

Physicians need growth days [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 18, 2021

“We can move from being a reactor to creator. Creators think of the future and make it start happening today. Reactors are just dealing with the crisis at hand, not progressing, feeling stuck, feeling like life is unfair. Reactors are people-pleasing, reacting to everything said, constantly worrying about how to win …

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Physicians need growth days [PODCAST]

Why physician-owned businesses need our attention and support

Michael Woo-Ming, MD

Physician

June 18, 2021

Like most, our family decided that we had outgrown our current home a few years ago and wanted to move into a larger house that offered more square footage and land. It had been nearly twenty years since living in the house we have owned since the end of the residency, and the house-hunting effort seemed more bewildering and confusing than two decades ago. At the time, I was too …

It’s not every day the head nurse on a medical floor accompanies a physician on a consultation

John Bishop, MD

Physician

June 18, 2021

Beatrice Adams

Monday, May 15, 2000

“Morning, Mrs. Adams. I’m Dr. Brady.”

There was no response from the patient in Room 823 of University Hospital. She was crouched on the bed, in position to leap toward the end of the bed in the direction of …

Our extraordinary lungs’ power and fragility [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 17, 2021

“With the obvious accounted for, we turned to the obscure, the area of medicine where judgment and experience come into play. Fortunately, we received sound advice and guidance from the infectious disease physicians. Stick to the basics, they stressed, only do them better. We continued our patient on the first-line anti-TB drugs …

My pet taught me how to be a better physician

Marcelo Balancin, MD, PhD

Physician

June 17, 2021

In the last year, amidst COVID-19 news, animals have gained their place: cats harboring the virus, pet abandonment and, paradoxically, rising adoptions. Cats and dogs are now in the spotlight. I’m a physician, and my personal animal-related COVID-19 story changed the way I practice medicine.

During lockdown in 2020, we decided to adopt a kitten. As both animal abandonment and adoption were on the rise, we brought home a three-month-old orange …

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