“Had I understood the nature of my struggles and felt permitted and supported in actively addressing them, I would have been more effective, a better learner, and more fulfilled. After trying out a few clinical settings, a lot of reading, and some much-needed coaching, I found my identity as a healthy, …
Focus medical education on training the whole person [PODCAST]
This article is sponsored by Eyevance Pharmaceuticals, developing innovative and impactful ophthalmic therapies for the ocular surface and anterior segment.
Allergic conjunctivitis (AC) is a common ocular condition. Worldwide, 15% to 20% of the population is affected by some form of allergic disease with ocular symptoms present …
Powerful prescription relief for ocular itch from allergic conjunctivitis
Medicine is very much like driving. As an emergency physician, when you see a patient, you ask the same questions, “What brought you in today? What’s bothering you?” and go through the normal flow of the history and physical. You order the same labs and imaging reflexively. When you’re driving to a location that you’ve been to many times before, when you get into your car again and turn the …
Medicine is very much like driving. But don’t be a passive driver.
Training physicians to serve in rural areas is a vital piece of modern medical education. It’s also frequently overlooked. Most medical education institutions are in cities, because cities allow us to concentrate the learning opportunities: the specialists, the large hospitals, the high patient volumes. This creates an automatic, unintended bias among doctors—the idea that to be a good doctor, they need to practice in a city. After all, don’t you …
Training rural physicians is racial justice
“Dr. Fauci navigated the delicate balance between his obligation to the American people as one of our most respected physician-scientists and holding on to his job in a federal government whose leader doesn’t take kindly to independent thought that potentially upstages his own. Dr. Fauci not only survived multiple appearances on …
Leadership lessons from Dr. Fauci [PODCAST]
“I am a nurse who has worked at a rural hospital. My husband is a board-certified family medicine doctor. In the fall of 2020, I was raped by my massage therapist. I know that everyone has an opinion of what they would do in that situation, and I was probably one of those …
A nurse shares her story of sexual assault [PODCAST]
A couple of weeks ago, I received a text from my aunt that included a link to a physician-created YouTube video about the COVID vaccine. The creator has built her fame and fortune as an anti-vaccination proponent. Knowing that her videos are rubbish, I ignored the text.
A couple of days ago, I received the same text message, this time with my aunt imploring me to “PLEASE READ!” I went back …
How to stop the anti-science charlatans
This beautiful man lost his life to suicide recently. He was an emergency physician and an incredible advocate for LGBTQIA health care. He was funny and bright. He posted almost daily with funny quips, stories from the ER and support for his colleagues. He was a shining star in our specialty, and now he’s gone. I never had the honor of meeting him in person, but I knew him well …
Save the savers: I’m so tired of physician suicide
“When the public was made aware of the risk of transmitting the virus and the far-reaching measures of social distancing, closing schools, and lock-down, most Americans willingly complied. After all, they became aware, for the first time, of the risk of aerosolized viral particles present in theatres, churches, restaurants, and classrooms. But …
Don’t forget about influenza and the lessons learned from COVID [PODCAST]
For years the trend has been a continued critique about physicians and their bedside manner, or lack thereof. It is an important topic as we have moved from a time of paternalistic care to a collaborative model where patients and doctors work together to improve wellness for each individual. This is a patient-centered model, so that autonomy and lived experience is taken into account when making medical decisions. These …
When are we going to start talking about patients’ bedside manner?
The spike in medical school applications during the 2020-2021 cycle surprised most people involved with medical school admissions. COVID-19 erupted full force in the spring of 2020, right in the middle of the admission season for the medical school class of 2024 and the testing season for the medical school class of 2025. Taking a look at the timeline for typical medical school admissions can help …
Applying to medical school in the post-COVID-19 era: What has changed?
“Now the room is silent as if nothing at all occurred. I stand watching the red stain forming on the pristine white sheet, mocking me in my failure. I trained at excellent institutions, survived residency, and served in combat. Now, here at a Level 1 trauma center, I could not save this …
Expressing grief through the power of story [PODCAST]
Fear is something that most of us have felt at one time or another. That feeling of being threatened, when you feel as though your current state is in jeopardy. It’s an instinctive reflex to flee or fight the threat. This instinct has been with us since our earliest moments on earth. Fear can be seen as a driver, too: that force that pushes us into making changes and responding …
The psychology of fear: How to use it to your advantage
“I really shouldn’t complain. I haven’t lost my housing or job. I have plenty of food and toilet paper, and so far, no close friend or family have died from COVID. That said, this pandemic is hard. In fact, it is exhausting.
During the spring and summer, I gave positive COVID results …
How essential workers cope with COVID [PODCAST]
Most of the world knows by now that on the afternoon of April 11th, a 20-year-old Black man named Daunte Wright was killed by a police officer in an inner-ring suburb of the city I call home: Minneapolis.
Most of the world is watching Minneapolis as Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck, is tried on charges of manslaughter and homicide. Several hours before I typed …
Daunte Wright’s death: intersectionality, racism, and ableism
A few weeks back, Match Day welcomed smiles and celebratory tears across the nation. This particular match season was fueled by a pandemic and virtual interviewing. I reached out to my friend who got matched to his top internal medicine residency spot in the Lone Star State.
“I’m ready to make some money,” he excitedly mentioned over our phone conversation. “No more filling in the blanks in FAFSA and piling additional …
The price I paid to be in medicine
COVID-19 has changed nearly every aspect of society as we know it, and doctors in hospitals across America are at the forefront of those changes. As a pediatric infectious diseases doctor who also writes curriculum to help the next generation of doctors prepare for their medical exams, I’ve seen firsthand how this current pandemic is changing our roles with patients, shifting what families and communities expect from us, and expediting …
3 lessons I’ve learned as a doctor during the pandemic
“It is dangerously unfortunate that the use of masks has been politicized in many parts of our nation. The Dakotas (or North and South COVID as they were recently called on Saturday Night Live) are far from exempt from this phenomenon. Likely, if Governor Burgum’s decision was less influenced by fear …
Physician morale and the doctor’s voice [PODCAST]
As a fortunate incoming medical student, I would like to congratulate my future physician colleagues on getting accepted into medical school during an unprecedented application cycle. This piece is dedicated to the members of the class of 2025. Like you, I worried about matriculating into the class of 2025 on top of all the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic threw at all of us: worries about our …
Congratulations on getting accepted into medical school during an unprecedented application cycle
In the “before times,” most Americans went about their lives relatively unpreoccupied with death. In fact, one CBS News poll found only 14 percent of Americans spent “a lot of time” thinking about their own mortality.
What a difference a pandemic makes. With every masked trip to the grocery store, every passerby who coughs too close and every “doom scroll” through …
Doctors can’t cope with the anguish of COVID-19 casualties
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