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How this medical student adjusted her study schedule for better self-care

Aveena Pelia

Education

March 10, 2021

Sometimes I ask myself why I chose medicine when things get tiring, and we do the same thing repeatedly with a career with such high demands. I think about how we are missing out on our 20s or 30s, and it’s been making me question life, especially when I feel more like a robot rather than a human. During such times, I often reflect on how I felt during the …

High-tech holistic medicine is the future of whole-person care [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 9, 2021

“When we think about holistic medicine, many assume that it requires human-to-human touch points and, therefore, doesn’t lend itself well to technology and innovations such as artificial intelligence. In fact, holistic medicine and whole-person care advocates often view technology as manufactured or impersonal and therefore dismiss its utility for health care. This …

Sexual harassment in medicine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 8, 2021

“I would encourage you to see amazing women on social media for who they are in the future. Maybe figure out where they have been and what they are working toward. Maybe even figure out how ways to help each other solve the problems this country faces. Instead of looking at someone’s appearance, listen to their story. You got unlucky with me; you can’t intimidate someone who has …

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Sexual harassment in medicine [PODCAST]

You completed your rank order list. Celebrate the moment.

Alexis Holmes

Education

March 8, 2021

I certified my rank order list (ROL), but …

What if I messed up?

What if I don’t match?

What if my list doesn’t get processed?

What if I should have ranked programs in a different order?

What if, what if, what if …

These thoughts, and their associated feelings, are 100 percent normal. Please re-read that last sentence.

You are no longer in control of one of the biggest decisions of your life and your human …

A medical student learns to listen with her hands

Simone Phillips

Education

March 8, 2021

In my first quarter of medical school, we learned the pulmonary exam. We were told to watch the patient’s breathing, feel for any asymmetries, use our hands to gauge resonance and listen to all lung fields with our stethoscopes. It didn’t seem too difficult. Our instructor demonstrated the exam on one of my classmates, and we were set loose with a checklist to practice on one another.

I repeated the steps …

I’m so effing tired: How to finally boost your energy

Amy Shah, MD

Physician

March 7, 2021

An excerpt from I’m So Effing Tired: A Proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life.

Did you know that a recent Harris Poll survey revealed that while about the same percentage of women and men reported feeling burned out in their work life, 35 percent of women told the Harris Poll they felt burned …

Patients are deserving of our best effort and most compassionate care. Every time.

Andy Lamb, MD

Physician

March 7, 2021

She began telling me the same “sob story,” but this time, I looked at her and coldly said, “Mrs. _____, you are going home. I don’t care what you have to say; you are leaving today. I need the bed for someone else.” She began crying. I walked out without saying another word and wrote the discharge order. The Intern with me said the words that I will always remember, …

Captions on the COVID vaccine selfie matter as much as the picture [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 6, 2021

“For a vaccination campaign to be highly effective, we need to be open to having difficult conversations with people who disagree with our perspective. If we don’t, the result will be a polarization of philosophical ideas and not an unbiased and unemotional assessment of the data where maybe we can meet …

A physician questions the COVID vaccine data from Israel

Daniel Hopkins, MD

Conditions

March 6, 2021

Bloodletting may be the best-known example of a once widely used, faulty medical treatment, but there are many more. Hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women, famously touted by experts, turned out to be complicated and sometimes harmful.

The list of medical reversals is long, and one cause is common. When observational studies compare people in the community who receive treatment with those who don’t, the treatment …

An argument against time management

Laura Suttin, MD, MBA

Physician

March 6, 2021

As I write this, I’m struggling with the fact that I haven’t “finished my work for the day.” My inbox has unread emails. My task list is bursting. I have unfinished laundry/ chores/ dishes. I told myself, “I don’t have time to sit and write an article!”

And yet – the seed had been planted. I could no longer ignore the whisper that said, “You have a story to tell. And …

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An argument against time management

Do politics have a place in medicine? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 5, 2021

“In addition to being a pediatrician, I am Jewish and the granddaughter of a sole Holocaust survivor. My grandfather’s family perished in Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Poland. My grandfather alone escaped, skiing through the night, to his safety and ultimate survival.

The request from my hospital, the presidential debate, and the …

Hope: One of the strongest “medicines” we have to treat both our patients and ourselves

Philip A. Masters, MD

Physician

March 5, 2021

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

By any measure, the past year has been difficult for everyone.

The ongoing pandemic with its widespread personal, social, and economic disruptions, as well as civil and political unrest throughout the country has clearly stretched the fabric of our society and had remarkably negative …

Lessons on effective knowledge networks to support pandemic response

Pierre Barker, MD, Joe McCannon, and Pedro Delgado

Policy

March 5, 2021

From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have observed remarkable, global cooperation as health care providers scramble to address new challenges. Leaping to one another’s aid, clinicians have deepened relationships and formed new connections, in the process solving thorny problems with extraordinary speed. From Belfast to New York, Madrid to Bergamo, Hong Kong to Cape Town, health care providers have …

An introduction to medical-legal consulting [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 4, 2021

“There is a unique non-clinical consulting opportunity any physician can learn to do full-time, as part of your existing practice, or in lieu of retiring. I’m Dr. Armin Feldman, and I’m a full-time medical-legal consultant in legal cases. A little over 13 years ago, I started and now, through the years, have …

Inside the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans

Robert Laszewski

Policy

March 4, 2021

Contained inside the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans.

Included in the bill’s long list of stimulus spending is a provision that delivers on President Biden’s promise to strengthen the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

Obamacare’s big failure has been what it did not do to help––and actually hurt––middle-class buyers of individual health insurance. Since the health law’s inception, consumers, who are eligible for little …

Perfectionism is your nemesis, not your superpower

Kara Pepper, MD

Physician

March 4, 2021

Ballet dancers and doctors are essentially the same people. Long before I entered medicine, ballet taught me the skills that made me successful in my clinical practice. I was a life-long learner. I improved my skills with daily practice. I was creative with limited resources. I strived for excellence and was rewarded for these efforts. The skills I learned as a professional ballet dancer prepared me well for medicine.

There was …

Improving end of life care from the start of training

Kaci McCleary, MD

Physician

March 4, 2021

Physicians have gone toe-to-toe with death since the earliest days of the profession, even knowing that our efforts would often be futile. Over the past century, dramatic technological advances have nearly doubled the average American lifespan, and modern practitioners have a level of control over mortality previous generations could scarcely have imagined. But medicine has by no means conquered death. This puts health care providers in …

Health care from the trenches: Change must come from us [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 3, 2021

“We, as a profession, must accept some blame for many of the developing problems in health care delivery. No, I am not suggesting that we caused the problem. I am stating that we have had ample opportunities to manage the debacle and even to reverse some of the disturbing trends, yet …

We need to work together to help schools reopen [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 3, 2021

“Children cannot afford to wait, especially our youngest learners who have difficulty engaging on a screen. We need to all work together to help schools reopen, especially in low-income communities that are disproportionately suffering and may lack the resources. I stand with the AAP, CDC, European CDC, WHO, and UNICEF to support …

What I learned from stepping away from medicine for a year

Jennifer Lycette, MD

Physician

March 3, 2021

Before COVID-19, I left the practice of medicine for what would turn out to become an entire year. While away, I found a new way of seeing our hearts and bodies as humans in the medical profession, allowing me to return.

Here are five lessons I learned in the hope they might help others.

1. Perfectionism doesn’t make you perfect

If perfectionism isn’t an unwritten rule in our profession, it’s, at minimum, a …