5 things physicians can do to protect themselves

Physician
October 1, 2017

As someone who talks to many physicians about burnout and life in medicine, I find myself having a lot of discussions about the circumstances of people’s jobs. Almost inevitably, there comes a point in the conversation where someone expresses dissatisfaction about an aspect of their contract or an additional responsibility that was placed on them.

As physicians, we’re groomed to take care of patients. During training, we don’t talk about compensation, …

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It’s time for teamwork in dermatology

Physician
September 30, 2017

RRegardless of specialty, no physician can truly provide patients with the care they deserve if they practice in isolation. In recent years, the health care system has acknowledged this reality by embracing greater collaboration and team-based care. With an aging population increasing the prevalence of chronic disease and life-threatening conditions, the timing couldn’t be better.

For the field of dermatology, the American Academy of Dermatology’s recent Burden …

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10 things a doctor’s spouse wants you to know

Physician
September 29, 2017

1. This is a calling. Physicians do not typically start out undeclared, drink through a couple of semesters and randomly apply to med school. For many, they started dreaming in grade school. They started pushing themselves for straight A’s in third grade, fought for valedictorian, turned down frat party invites to study, and then essentially gave up four years of their lives to med school incurring an average debt of …

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Here’s what happens when the doctor becomes the patient

Physician
September 29, 2017

What is a doctor? Technically speaking, a doctor is a person that dedicates his or her knowledge and skills to the prevention and treatment of diseases, while maintaining and even enhancing human health.

The majority of physicians enter into the profession of medicine because they are committed to helping others. It is this mission-driven spirit and dedication that makes us grateful for the opportunity each to care for others during a …

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Want to stay in shape during residency? Here’s how.

Physician
September 28, 2017

How many times have you heard resident physicians say that they do not have time to exercise and get in shape? When looking at the numbers, it’s hard to blame them. An 80-hour work week is enough to make anyone realize that time is a precious commodity.

Take away six-to-eight hours for sleep each day, plus a couple of hours for eating, showering and studying, and you are left with approximately …

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Physicians and magicians are not as different as you think

Physician
September 27, 2017

We all know what, in 1888, Rudyard Kipling pronounced to be the world’s oldest profession. But what’s the world’s second oldest? Hunter-gatherer? Nah, everybody did that. Primitive politician? That’s a tautology. Neolithic attorney? Nope. Too similar to the oldest.

I strongly suspect that the second oldest profession was healer/magician. Fire up Mr. Peabody’s Wayback time machine, and you’d probably find that the first healers were regarded as magicians, and the first …

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Before you say “I’m sorry,” I challenge you to think

Physician
September 26, 2017

We as women have to stop saying “I’m sorry” for things out of our control. When we apologize for things we are not responsible for, we take a step backwards in the advancement of women in the workplace.

I am a cardiac anesthesiologist, which means I care for patients who are undergoing open-heart surgery. I work in an academic medical center and train doctors to become anesthesiologists. The operating room (OR) can …

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It’s time to ban productivity from medicine

Policy
September 25, 2017

According to Wikipedia, “Productivity describes various measures of the efficiency of production. A productivity measure is expressed as the ratio of output to inputs used in a production process, i.e., output per unit of input. Productivity is a crucial factor in production performance of firms and nations.”

Please tell me how this relates to being a physician or a patient.  We do not produce anything.  Rather we work with individuals to …

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A surgical resident is held back a year. Finding out who’s right will be difficult.

Education
September 24, 2017

A surgical resident is suing St. Louis University, its surgical residency program director, and its trauma service chief for what she claims is an unjustified decision requiring her to repeat her fourth year of training.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch article about this has a link to a 42-page PDF describing the details of the suit. Because I suspect you won’t read that PDF and maybe not even the article, I …

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6 tips for medical students to get the perfect match

Education
September 21, 2017

It’s that time of year again, the dreaded, yet exciting, residency application season. Year after year, we have learned that securing a residency position extends beyond competitive scores. It involves planning, networking and putting your best foot forward to prove you are the perfect “match” for a program. To avoid having shock and stress of an unexpected scramble, we wanted to share five tips, which extend beyond some of the …

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The story of how a hospital is being sacrificed for money

Policy
September 20, 2017

There is a 4,300-strong grassroots movement known as “Save Our Hospital” gaining notoriety in Albert Lea, Minnesota. This story is symptomatic of the fact that hospital consolidation has slowly become a national pastime. With declining revenue under the Affordable Care Act, mergers increased by 70 percent, leaving small communities scrambling for health care access. The latest casualty in the “hospital-consolidation-for-sport” trend is Albert Lea, a small …

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This doctor spends more time at a computer than with patients

Physician
September 19, 2017

I find myself spending close to an hour on the computer each morning at the hospital. I spend this time dutifully looking up vital signs, labs, recent radiology or pathology results as well as many other valuable pieces of information about each of my patients. I watch as my colleagues frantically record values, while making sure to point out important trends and gross abnormalities.

When we round, there is always a …

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It’s time to stop it with the “routine” labs

Physician
September 18, 2017

“So, I’m getting routine labs on her.”

Wait, what?

Statements like these often make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. One of our residents was seeing a healthy young woman for her “annual physical,” seen just a few days after a routine postpartum visit with her OB/GYN after the uneventful birth of her third child two months ago.

The resident was coming for his afternoon continuity clinic from an …

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How to find joy in practicing medicine

Physician
September 18, 2017

My intern gazed blankly at her notes from the day.

“You OK?” I asked.

Her face was quivering with restrained tears as she turned to me, “I don’t think I helped anyone today.” This was not the first time, nor would it be the last time, that I had heard those words from a resident physician.

Medical training is no joy ride. How could it be? First, there is the intellectual challenge of …

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For women physicians, is there a connection between productivity and burnout?

Physician
September 16, 2017

Is the practice of medicine a different experience for male and female physicians? Two recent studies from athenahealth suggest that it is — in ways that should make us rethink what we value in health care.

The first study found that male physicians are more productive than their female counterparts. In an analysis of 47 million visits on the athenahealth network in 2016, male physicians generated 30 to 40 percent more …

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How anti-vaccine parents are finding doctors willing to exempt their kids

Conditions
September 16, 2017

Dr. Tara Zandvliet was inundated with calls and emails from parents last year, after California passed a law nixing personal beliefs as an exemption from school vaccinations. Suddenly, many parents sought exemptions for medical reasons.

Someone even faked two medical exemption forms purportedly written by the San Diego pediatrician, copying a legitimate document she’d provided for a patient and writing in the names of students she’d never treated, she said. She …

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The surprising sleeping arrangements of an emergency physician

Physician
September 15, 2017

I used to practice locums medicine; which for the lay person means traveling to different jobs, sometimes several states at a time.   During that time I stayed in a lot of hotels.  But, occasionally, I had more unique accomodations.  Obviously, if you travel enough, you’ll sleep in an airport here and there. No big deal.  I actually like sleeping in airports occasionally.  When you’re stuck, you’re stuck.  Weather or …

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What does it mean to be a progressive doctor?

Policy
September 15, 2017

A curious post popped up on my Facebook feed recently: “Another doctor running for office!” A picture of an attractive family was nestled below that exclamation, asking to show your support (in the form of dollars) for this doctor running as a Democrat for the House of Representatives. It had that sense of enthusiasm that implied I was obligated to be excited, but instead came off more like Jeb Bush’s …

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This South Pacific island will change how you think about health care

Physician
September 15, 2017

For the last several weeks, I have been working as a medical volunteer on a remote island off the coast of Fiji called Batiki. Home to 234 natives, Batiki has no running water, and no electricity (other than solar generated power). The inhabitants are subsistence fishermen and farmers. They are filled with joy and a real sense of community. While on the island, I found extremely high rates of high …

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