An excerpt from Cured: A Doctor’s Journey from Panic to Peace.
Dead bodies surrounded me. They lay on their backs, supine in medical terminology. I imagined some staring at the white plastic sheets that covered them completely, others glaring at their closed eyelids. Their smell, a mixture of formaldehyde and …
A panic attack brought on by the stress of medical school
“Something had to give, and it would either be clinical medicine, or my business. I finally had to admit I was no longer fulfilled to the same level doing hospitalist work.
So I made the decision to leave my clinical job.
It was so terrifying that I put off making a decision for …
Letizia Alto, MD on why to become a semi-retired MD [PODCAST]
Every physician has had the experience. The moment you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?”
It could be when you look into the waiting room where there are more patients to be seen and know if you take a break, it will set you back even further.
It could be on the final stretch of the 24-hour shift that redefined the meaning of the word “nonstop.”
It could be the third time …
3 steps for physicians to shift from stuck to unstoppable
This article is sponsored by HERO-TOGETHER, a paid, prospective, observational study of 20,000 adult U.S. health care workers who received a COVID-19 vaccine within the past 60 days.
With over 27 million cases and 470,000 deaths reported to the …
Overcome COVID vaccine hesitancy and boost vaccine confidence: How you can help
Deeply entrenched racism, rooted in the foundation of white supremacy, has had a stronghold in medicine for hundreds of years. Its legacy of harm against Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities, particularly its atrocities against Black Americans, is undeniable. Yet significant change eludes us. For decades, these communities have borne the disproportionate burden of public health short-comings from police brutality, gun violence, infant and maternal mortality, and …
An open letter to the medical community at large regarding the termination of Dr. Princess Dennar
Long ago, in the BC (before COVID) era, I would chat up a local in a foreign country. Their usual response upon learning I was from the U.S. would be to seek clarification on aspects of American culture found most peculiar. There were your usual suspects — the Electoral College, imperial versus metric systems, and why we’re obsessed with the Kardashians — but the most common question was about our …
Maybe we’re not all hanging in there. And that’s OK.
“As the COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the globe, companies are working hard to develop innovative solutions to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Chinese companies such as Alibaba have led the way using artificial intelligence, data science, and technology. Startups are teaming up with clinicians, engineers, and government entities to reduce …
How technology is a weapon in the fight against COVID-19 [PODCAST]
“It is still extremely early in the Bitcoin story. This is due to the same network effect that Facebook, Amazon, and Apple have had as adoption of new technologies rapidly expand and are adopted by society. Bitcoin has passed its ‘tipping point.’ Converting some of your money to Bitcoin now is …
Everything physicians need to know about Bitcoin [PODCAST]
“The memory of these patients, and their families’ utter anguish, stays with me. There was nothing I could have done to save them, nothing I did wrong. I’ve lost sleep, questioned my career choice, and sought mental health counseling to manage the stress of their loss. But the pain of their unexpected …
How the pain of unexpected and tragic deaths lingers with physicians [PODCAST]
“Julie” began the telehealth encounter in her car, greeting me with a cheerful smile. The sun glimmered through the driver-side window, illuminating the water spots to sparkle like diamonds.
“How are you doing with your suboxone dose? Do you feel that you need to go up, or are you happy with your current dose?” I asked.
“Everything is going great,” she said. “I feel no cravings – only some constipation. Otherwise, everything …
Jealousy and missed opportunities in medicine
Loss is incurable, but grief is metamorphic. The end of another human life is a fluid experience for those left behind. For most of us, grief legitimizes the range of human emotion and, at least temporarily, erases the idea of being too sensitive.
There are many ways in which this paradigm is unequal, particularly for individuals who frequently confront death. It seems that when a challenge moves into the …
Health workers in Canada experience endemic levels of burnout directly related to understaffing and work overload. Leaves of absence from work for mental health and stress-related issues are 1.5 times higher among health workers than the rest of the population. Increasingly, health workers are significantly reducing their hours worked to cope or leaving their jobs altogether.
That was before the pandemic. With COVID-19, we are witnessing levels of stress, overload, and burnout …
The pandemic exposes critical gaps in Canada’s health workforce planning
“We are all interrelated.
This is the foundational basis of osteopathic medicine. Whether considering internal relationships of the systems of the body or the external relationships of a person with the world around them, connection is a key principle at the core of osteopathy.
Developed at a time when the baseline medical practice …
Expanding the osteopathic concept for the health of all things [PODCAST]
Changing direction once established is not easy, but it can be rewarding. I recently read the essay on KevinMD (“How this physician escaped the system“) from a physician who shifted gears to her own business after some discouraging experiences in “the system.” During her residency, her attending physician asked her what her purpose was in becoming a physician. To her credit, she said that her goals …
It’s never too late for physicians to change directions and land new jobs
“Checkmate,” she whispered. A silent wave swept across the tournament area. Players turned their heads in our direction, eager to see who had lost 30 seconds into the round. It was me—I had fallen victim to the infamous four-move checkmate.
My opponent, a five-year-old girl who could barely reach the other side of the chessboard, extended her hand to shake. My seven-year-old self was mortified. In the chess world, nothing is …
How chess can make you a better physician
“COVID-19 has propelled the nation into widespread telehealth services to provide consumer-based care, especially for those who access this technology. Equity issues arise when using digital communication because many underserved populations lack access to digital and/or mobile services. Inevitably, this brings up the greater concern of an unintentional exacerbation of disparities because low-income …
Telehealth in underserved populations needs telecommunication expansion [PODCAST]
An excerpt from 50 Years in the OR: True Stories of Life, Loss, and Laughter While Giving Anesthesia.
We were notified one cold winter’s afternoon in February that a farm accident victim with a bad leg injury was coming in from a small town twenty-five miles west …
A story of a gruesome farm accident
One of my most impactful experiences during my third year of medical school was spending time with my patients and getting to know them. I went into medicine because I believed in the special relationship between doctor and patient. As I was shadowing in college, I was amazed by how within minutes, a stranger would reveal physical and psychological details about their life they might not even share with their …
The opportunity to connect with another person on the most human of levels
“At that point, I realized Thanksgiving came early this year, and I missed it. It was a reminder of why many of us go into medicine. I didn’t go into medicine for glory or fame. Nor did I go into medicine for financial reward. Still, I often told the resident physicians I …
A dermatologist reflects on his career [PODCAST]
Before getting dressed for work this morning, I stood in my kitchen, marveling at the ice crystals, or “tree diamonds,” as my mother calls them, from the window above the sink. As I waited for the coffee to brew, I scrolled through the text messages sent to my phone overnight until I saw my friend’s forwarded news link: “Doctors suspect COVID delayed immune response in young surgeon’s death.” I clicked …
COVID tragically took a young orthopedic surgeon
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