A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
Because I work for a medical specialty society, I’m frequently asked by non-members why I believe they should belong to a medical professional society. This is a particularly relevant question these days given the rapidly changing landscape of medicine and with physicians becoming …
Why should you belong to a medical professional society?
As we’ve seen, the lives of those working in the health care system has become overwhelmingly challenging, burdened by all of the excess nonmedical stuff that has been added into our lives as we try to take care of patients.
From prior authorizations, to clicking in the electronic medical record, to endless streams of regulatory requirements, to the continuous onslaught created by …
How can we address retention in the era of physician burnout?
What is coaching? It’s a conscious effort to notice and evaluate how our thinking impacts our experiences, how perspective shows up in the results of our life.
Coaching has been integral to fields other than medicine for many years. Yet, many physicians don’t know much about it — much less anything about its potential to radically transform the culture of medical training and our experiences in health care.
It’s time we caught …
Physician coaching: the new normal?
An interesting article in the journal Pediatrics is both intriguing and sobering. It is intriguing because it lays bare something we don’t talk much about or teach our students about; it is sobering because it describes the potential harm that can come from it, harm I have personally witnessed. The issue is overdiagnosis, and it’s related to our relentless quest to explain everything.
Overdiagnosis is the term the authors use to describe …
The problem of overdiagnosis: What can patients do?
Earlier this year, I asked a group of nurses what gifts doctors could give that would help them know they are appreciated. There were hundreds of comments that included many I expected: Food (pizza, chocolate, cake, tacos, bourbon, Starbucks, healthy snacks), pens, cash, and/or gift cards for all shifts.
There were some interesting “high end” ideas: Massages or a massage chair. Trips. Cars. Stethoscopes.
Some still make me shake my head and …
A thank you from doctors to nurses
Ever feel like you are always on the go, not feeling comfortable slowing down? All through school, college, medical school, residency, and then practicing medicine, the one thing that I got really good at was staying busy. Planning projects, test-taking, solving cases, treating patients, emails, meetings, joining boards, organizations, getting more certifications, a world of task lists, and checkboxes. What was often sacrificed was being a mom, wife, domestic duties, …
Is overachieving a sign of past trauma?
Susanna Harris was sitting in her lab class for her graduate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she received an email that told her she had failed what she describes as “the most important exam in grad school,” the doctoral qualifying exam. She took the rest of the day off, went home, and baked cookies.
Harris continued with her regular schedule: lab, work, home, repeat. Everything …
Sharing mental health issues on social media
Interleveling strategy
Want to crush USMLE Step 1? Here are some evidence-based study tips.
For what seemed like an hour, I stood staring at the flat lines scrolling endlessly across my monitor in the OR. The once pulsatile waves, rendered useless and flat due to the absence of a beating heart. After a frenzied six hours of pouring blood into the patient while it poured back out of her just as fast, the surgeons drowning in blood in their attempt to sew the new …
If a doctor has a bad day, someone dies. Remember that.
Actor Peter Fonda, son of Henry Fonda and younger brother of Jane Fonda, passed away August 16 at his Los Angeles home. Fonda, who was 79, is probably best known for his role as Wyatt in Easy Rider, a movie he co-wrote, produced, and starred in. Fonda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for that film as …
Explaining Peter Fonda’s lung cancer
I am a cardiac anesthesiologist. I want to explain what anesthesiologists do, who we are, and why it is important for the public to know.
Anesthesiologists are physicians.
Anesthesiologists are the guardians of the operating room.
Anesthesiologists are leaders.
If you get in a car accident, we are there.
If you develop an infection and can’t breathe, we are there.
If you are having a heart attack, we are there.
If you need a new knee or …
We are anesthesiologists. We got you.
The definition of pimping in the medical field is different than the colloquial usage by artists like Jay-Z, Snoop, and Kendrick Lamar. Although most people are aware of pimping in the vernacular language (which will not be discussed further, I would suggest avoiding most rappers terminology if you desire to research), the medical use of the word is a little more nuanced and opinions on the practice are split.
Pimping in …
In defense of pimping in medical education
The first two years of medical school are geared towards learning enough so you can pass your first round of boards. All the sleepless nights and the tears can be overwhelming, but to finally get to the finish line is an incredible achievement. It reinforces that these first two years were worth it and that you learned some things along the way.
However, some students don’t receive the same good news. …
An interview with a medical student who failed the boards
Dear hospital,
The last three years, I have had the pleasure of working in our state’s renowned emergency department and level-1 trauma center. My departure closes out a decade of my nursing career as an emergency room and flight nurse. This department — the staff, in particular — will forever hold a very special place in my heart. I leave with a great amount of respect and thanks for this exceptional …
A nurse’s powerful ER exit letter
It has been a savage few months for reproductive rights, with 12 states passing 26 bills to ban abortion, including measures that ban abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy, as well as attempting to outlaw safe methods of abortion. In the face of this extreme, unprecedented wave of attacks, several states pursued an alternative route, passing laws that expand the scope of abortion providers …
How nurse practitioners can expand abortion access
I was an intern, doing a rotation in the coronary care unit (CCU) of a large urban hospital. It was very challenging: The patients had complex medical issues, and my fellow residents and I were given lots of responsibility for their care. Still, I felt I was finally getting the hang of residency.
One of the first patients I saw was Mrs. Smith, a middle-aged woman who had come to the …
Do physicians feel guilt and embarrassment more often than they admit?
An article in the New York Times touting medicine as a family-friendly profession has stirred up critics who say it denies the reality of career sacrifice and gaps in leadership and pay that female physicians face.
Writer Claire Cain Miller profiled female doctors whose specialties afford them flexible work hours that make it easier to balance their professional and caregiving responsibilities. Britni …
Is medicine really a model family-friendly profession?
One of my coworkers who grew up in India told me that their teachers in grade school would post everyone’s scores in the hallway after every exam. This comparison of grades and objective testing further extended to cities and even regions in the country. There are people going through the hierarchical ranks with “gold medals” in science or engineering. Throughout this process, it was relatively transparent who the smartest or …
Should hospital systems post physician salaries?
At the end of a long table covered with hors d’oeuvres and a birthday cake, I struck up a conversation with three primary care physicians.
I was hungry for their opinions.
Inside the crowded apartment, we spoke for some 20 minutes about the systemic and cultural causes of burnout in primary care—a conversation that informed the first article in this series.
As I was about to leave, I …
Will separating obstetrics from gynecology help specialist burnout?
Touch is a sensitive thing. No pun is intended here, but whether and how we touch our patients deserves our careful thought and deliberation.
So much interpersonal contact these days is virtual, with emojis, abbreviations and whole words thrown around as substitutes for human contact. Think XOXO and, “hugs and kisses.” And when people do touch in our health care environment, it is often with gloves, even for simple fingerstick blood …
The sensitive topic of physical contact during exams
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