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Unconscious bias in the operating room

Physician

October 24, 2020

Our obstetric anesthesia team sat down to debrief after a particularly harrowing case. We had just replaced our patient’s blood volume twice over after she went into labor with a placenta previa accompanied by a placenta accreta. The operating room had been the usual controlled chaotic scene of multiple teams intensely focused on their responsibilities. It was noisy. Too noisy. I had to remind everyone to restrict themselves to essential …

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Unconscious bias in the operating room

A terminal diagnosis for my baby [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 23, 2020

“Eventually, this thankfully passed. Now, almost three years later, I know that this loss will always be with us. Miriam was beautiful, she was our only girl, she was perfect for our family, and she’s always missing.

Still, my memories of being in the hospital are incredibly sad but also peaceful. In part, this is due to the incredible support and love …

Will reading Tolstoy make you a better doctor?

Charlotte Botz

Education

October 23, 2020

In an increasingly technology-oriented world, genuine human connection is becoming rarer. Physicians are taught to emotionally disassociate from their patients for mental self-protection. This detachment can result in a loss of human connection between a doctor and patient, which may interfere with patient health outcomes. Studying great literature, such as Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, allows health care professionals to adopt the patient perspective and gain insight into how …

A DO’s take on the FIGS faux pas

Kristina Scanlan, DO

Physician

October 23, 2020

Most health care providers are aware of the FIGS scrubs advertisement that depicted a female physician with a DO badge holding a Medical Terminology for Dummies book upside down. In one fell swoop, FIGS enraged the entire medical community causing backlash towards their company. This ad mocking female osteopathic physicians sparked outrage. Many in health care have vowed not to purchase FIGS, prompting the #boycottFIGS response posted as a result …

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A DO’s take on the FIGS faux pas

A physician experiences unprofessional behavior. What happened next? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 22, 2020

“Setting: An impersonal, windowless conference room within a hospital

Characters: A nurse in charge (NIC), a department chair (DC) and me (ME)

NIC: Thank you for joining us to discuss the report you made of unprofessional behavior in the operating room. We’d like to start by letting you know that in this institution, we have a culture of informality. When I first got here, …

Telehealth is the future but it is obscured by a dismal present [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 21, 2020

“Will the unfavorable regulatory environment permit telehealth to flourish? Perforce we’re beginning to see a relaxation of restrictions that have hitherto obstructed progress. Recently, federal officials approved interstate licensing, thereby prompting greater telehealth conversion, utilization, and expansion. Medicare’s 1135 Waiver is also encouraging, and, in as much as it serves the same ends, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s leave to prescribe via …

Why we’ll never eradicate malignancy in medical training

Anonymous

Physician

October 21, 2020

For a bunch of folks striving to stomp out malignant processes in our patients, we sure tolerate a fair amount of destructive behavior among training programs.

I’ll be the first to say I’m not the most delicate flower in the garden. Before pursuing medicine, I was a college athlete. I’m no stranger to long hours, harsh coaches, or repeated failures.

Medical students get their first bitter taste of malignant …

The issue of tie-downs in the emergency department

Elizabeth L. Mitchell, MD

Physician

October 21, 2020

During a typically busy Saturday evening shift in the emergency department (ED), I am summoned to the trauma room for a “tie-down,” an agitated patient needing restraints. I find the entrance choked with police officers and push my way through to see the patient. Once there, I see a large, young appearing Black man lying on his back, his hands cuffed tightly together on his stomach, a netted hood over …

Can what you eat worsen your ADHD? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 20, 2020

“Suzy was a bright and hardworking student. However, even though she was conscientious and generally cheery, her grades began to fall during her senior year, and she started to feel depressed. She also constantly had an upset stomach, which she had just accepted as a way of life. She’d had an ADHD diagnosis since she was younger, but while Ritalin had …

“You’re fired”: 2 words this doctor never expected to hear

Brian Rifkin, MD

Physician

October 20, 2020

It took me 47 years to hear those two devastating words, “You’re fired.”

It’s not like I didn’t have a slew of jobs before becoming a physician. I cut lawns and raked leaves as an early teen; I worked in a fast-food restaurant when I was 14 using my older brother’s ID, I worked in a carwash one summer, I even worked for a national department store. I was always polite, …

Sexual offender treatment during COVID-19 [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 19, 2020

“Let’s not suffer more hardship then already incurred by COVID-19. Recognizing that both the psychosocial stressors arising from COVID-19 and the withdrawal of effective sexual offender treatment increase the risk of sexual violence, public safety demands that offenders have access to treatment. Without sexual offender treatment during COVID-19, we exchange one public health crisis for another.”

Renée Sorrentino is …

The burden of the badge: an MD student’s response to the FIGS controversy

Palak Patel

Education

October 19, 2020

Recently, FIGS – a design-driven medical apparel company – published its latest video advertisement: a young woman in bubblegum pink scrubs struts into view, shaking her FIGS-clad hips for the camera while holding a Medical Terminology for Dummies textbook upside-down. Forget practicing medicine; this woman isn’t fit to drive. The camera pans, emphatically, towards her badge, which reads DO – short for doctor of osteopathic medicine. Ahhh, the viewer is …

Be an upstander and not a bystander [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 18, 2020

“The incident bothered me all day and the following many days. I couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was and brushed it aside and stopped thinking about it. In the wake of recent events, it dawned upon me that it wasn’t the patient’s comments that bothered me. It was the fact that no one standing in the room witnessing …

Medical aid in dying is not assisted suicide

Roger Kligler, MD

Physician

October 18, 2020

In the KevinMD article, “Assisted suicide: a change of heart,” the author contends that there is salvation in suffering, but not everyone believes that is true. While I support the author’s ability to decide how she wants to die, I do not believe that her personal beliefs should dictate how I die.

I retired as an internist a few years ago because of declining health. I …

Medical school in the age of Zoom

Zachariah Tman

Education

October 18, 2020

What has medical school been like in the age of Zoom? Before I was a student doctor, I was an undergraduate student pining after the halls of medicine and the truthfully looking forwards to the rigors of medical school. Upon acceptance to medical school at the University of California, San Diego, I celebrated via Zoom with family. Orientation week was a hybrid model of Zoom and on-campus socially distanced activities. …

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Medical school in the age of Zoom

This physician is tired, and he’s not alone

Edwin Leap, MD

Physician

October 18, 2020

I have a lot of energy. I have been going and going and going for so long.

And today, it hit me.

I’m tired.

I began this pursuit of medicine in 1983 when I decided to be a zoology major. I worked and went to medical school. And I went to medical school and worked. Then I worked and went to three years of emergency medicine residency and worked hard for those three …

What it’s like to write about COVID-19 while it’s killing your mom [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 17, 2020

“My mom was beyond vulnerable to the virus. May of 2020 marked two years since she’d become a nursing home resident—receiving care for several chronic illnesses. She died of failure to thrive due to Coronavirus 2019 on June 1, 2020, at the age of 75.

As her oldest child, her health care proxy, and a health care writer for more than 15 years, I knew that a positive result …

Doctors in tech cities are losing the rat race

Smart Money, MD

Finance

October 17, 2020

Populous cities are populous, well, because people want to live there. Whether the appeal comes from greater career opportunities or simply being closer to family, these places have continuously grown over the last few decades.

The growth is seemingly self-sustaining — certain industries and businesses exist because there is a population that desires these services. In return, these businesses require workers, so they attract people to the region. Add nice weather …

What does a physician’s ideal life look like? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 16, 2020

“You are a physician. You have put in years of hard work and sacrifice getting here. Now what?

Does your life look and feel exactly how you imagined it would? If not, what does your ideal life look like?

Certainly, answers to this question are deeply personal, and will vary depending on the individual. As physicians, we need to engage in a process …

A medical student volunteers with the medical corps [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 15, 2020

“An email arrived inviting med students to join the State of Georgia’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). The MRC is an organization of doctors, nurses, PAs, EMTs, and med students who are the first medical boots on the ground for disasters in Georgia. They establish mobile hospitals and provide medical care. With extra time in isolation, I signed up and shortly received …

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