It’s time to stop prejudging your patients

Physician
November 27, 2017

Recently I had an interaction online with a physician regarding his thoughts on ADHD treatment. (Let’s call him Dr. Stigma). This post is not about doctor-bashing but more to point out the prevalence of stigma against those with a psychiatric diagnosis even from within the medical community. Stigma, unfortunately, is so indoctrinated into our culture that sometimes people don’t recognize the pure ugliness of their words.

Dr. Stigma’s comments:

Many patients use …

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Physicians must embrace the business side of medicine

Physician
November 26, 2017

“Does physician leadership matter?” asks cardiologist and author Dr. Sandeep Jauhar in his New York Times opinion piece “Shouldn’t Doctors Control Hospital Care?” He opens his piece with the termination of the elected leaders of the medical staff office at the Tulare Regional Medical Center due to poor performance. He answers his rhetorical question with the obvious and simple response that doctors should control hospital …

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Picking up the pieces of a broken medical dream

Education
November 25, 2017

I was in the midst of my family medicine clinical rotation when my world came crashing down. I had failed my Step 1 boards. I would never be a doctor. It was a nightmare that unfolded over three failed attempts, from which I awoke in a new reality where I was no longer a medical student — and there was absolutely nothing I could do to change that.

I poured everything …

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The lessons of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Physician
November 24, 2017

Harry understood at last that he was not supposed to survive. His job was to walk calmly into Death’s welcoming arms … All those times he had thought that it was about to happen and escaped, he had never really thought of the thing itself: His will to live had always been so much stronger than his fear of death … It was over, he knew it, and all that …

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The worst-case scenario question you must ask patients: even healthy ones

Physician
November 24, 2017

The last few passengers filter in and buckle themselves up before takeoff. The emergency exit row is occupied by an elderly couple, and I am seated behind them. The flight attendant asks whether they are comfortable in those seats, given that they’d have to respond in the case of an emergency.

“Not that I expect anything bad to happen,” the flight attendant adds with a smile.

I, too, am familiar with discussing …

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4 problems with the Joint Commission

Physician
November 24, 2017

I’m passionate about patient safety. In no small part because I was raised to be. My mom has a lot of letters behind her name (RN, BSN, MSN), and she’s dedicated her career to the field.

Before I was accepted into medical school, I knew about “six sigma,” the “Swiss cheese model” and root-cause analysis. I’d been taught about creating a culture of safety and the example of the airline industry. …

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I’ll never forget the eyes of a 6-year-old sexual assault victim

Conditions
November 23, 2017

Patsy loved playing bingo every Wednesday night. Her boyfriend of three years loved watching her daughter Jenna who was a tiny and pretty six-year-old her momma called “princess.”

Even though they weren’t related, Jenna called Patsy’s boyfriend “Uncle Billy” at her mother’s behest.

And Uncle Billy made Jenna shyer and quieter than she usually was. He’d walk in on those Wednesday nights and demand a big hug and kiss on the cheek …

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The doctor-patient relationship is everything

Physician
November 22, 2017

While doing my doctoral dissertation research at a clinic for kids with diabetes, I observed the attachment that some of them had to the physician faculty member who directed the clinic. I particularly remember one teenager who complained that this doctor “did not care” about her, as he sent “fake doctors” (residents) to take care of her, not coming himself. She was refusing to cooperate. When I suggested to the …

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The case of a fish hook in the eye

Conditions
November 22, 2017

Triage Note: Fish hook in eye. No bleeding. Tetanus up to date.

It’s a sunny weekend during cottage season. A young woman is rushed into the ER as she cups both hands over her left eye. She’s in shorts, and flip-flops, and she’s hyperventilating. Her friends follow, hands similarly cupped over their mouths. I read the triage note. I’ve never seen this before. I’ve removed dozens of fish hooks — it’s …

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Why do doctors who hate being doctors still practice?

Education
November 20, 2017

How important is it for a doctor to want to be a doctor?

At first glance, that question is ludicrous. The path to becoming a practicing physician is so long and tortuous that no one would do it if they didn’t want to. Right? First, there’s the four years of undergraduate education, then four years of medical school, then at least three years of residency. No one has ever suggested that …

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What I learned as a corrections physician

Physician
November 18, 2017

As a corrections physician I frequently heard the question, “How can you take care of those people?” I understood what they were asking, after all, I was caring for people convicted of such crimes as murder, rape and child abuse.

And yet I had very little difficulty providing the same care to inmates that I provided to everyone else. In fact, the corrections environment was generally easier to work in and …

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Physician wellness programs are lipstick on a pig

Physician
November 17, 2017

Here it comes — another email about “physician wellness,” advertising mindfulness training, an ice cream social, or a volunteer day. As a psychiatrist, I can attest to the importance of tending to one’s own mental and physical health in order to strive for wellness. However, the trend of implementing physician wellness programs throughout the U.S. is nothing more than putting proverbial lipstick on a pig. Or, stated differently, this may …

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Here’s why we don’t care about our health

Physician
November 17, 2017

A little ways back, I was at a gathering of friends and family and was in the kitchen setting out a dish of black bean and quinoa dip. Suddenly, I heard someone from behind me exclaim: “What is that? If that’s something healthy, I am not eating it.”

Although somewhat intended as a joke, there was no doubt a truthfulness to what was said, just as exists in similar comments which …

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Giving birth is like running a marathon

Physician
November 16, 2017

Giving birth and running a marathon. They are two seemingly different entities but have many similarities. The inevitable pain, the highs, the lows, the feeling that you may falter or can’t survive the pain and, in the midst of it all, that you will never do it again … but then you do.

Marathons take months to train for by growing your strength and endurance as you increase your training miles. …

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A modest proposal in response to eliminating the individual mandate

Policy
November 15, 2017

In 1729, a prescient Jonathan Swift wrote an essay that has a place in the health care debates of 2017. “A modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people from being a burthen to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick” reads almost like the title of a modern academic manuscript. Then, as now, it was important to look past the title before re-tweeting, …

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The triangle of blame for the opioid epidemic

Policy
November 14, 2017

Prescription opioid abuse is one of the United States’ greatest public health challenges. Approximately 97.5 million Americans consume opioids annually, and around 90 people die every day from opioid overuse. The last time in recent history a health care crisis garnered this much public attention was following the release of the 1964 “Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health” correlating smoking to heart disease and …

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Paging the surgeon general: America needs you

Policy
November 14, 2017

The Office of the Surgeon General existed since 1871 when Dr. John Woodworth was appointed the first supervising surgeon of the national hospital system. In the previous year, the Marine Hospital was reorganized into the national hospital system. On January 4, 1889, Congress formally recognized the new personnel system as the Commissioned Corps. The Corps was established along military lines and initially consisted of only physicians. They …

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Want to make meaningful connections with patients? Here’s how.

Physician
November 14, 2017

“How did you know what to say to her?” asked the resident, “We have been trying to figure her out all morning and have gotten nowhere.” An expression of mixed curiosity and frustration crossed her face.

“I try not to focus on how she is acting, as much as I try to talk to the part of her Jesus would love,” I found myself answering. This catchphrase would find its way …

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Physicians: Be nice to your pregnant colleagues

Physician
November 14, 2017

After about the first week of anesthesia residency, I was told, “Don’t get pregnant, you are going to ruin the call schedule.”  Initially, I took it as a joke because I was getting married that year and I wasn’t thinking of having children yet, but I did think, “what if it happened accidentally?”

After it’s told to you over and over again by your male co-residents and even some of my …

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