KevinMD.com

July 16, 2021Jul 16, 2021

You are finger. No, I have fingers. You are leg. No, I have legs. You are pancreas. No, I have a pancreas. You are fat. Hmm … Now let’s try this with disease processes: You are diabetes. No, I have…

You are finger.
No, I have fingers.

You are leg.
No, I have legs.

You are pancreas.
No, I have a pancreas.

You are fat.
Hmm …

Now let’s try this with disease processes:

You are diabetes.
No, I have diabetes.

You are cancer.
No, I have cancer.

You are anorexia.
No, I have anorexia.

You are obese.
Hmm …

It is a fact that most people feel shame about “having” fat. It is uncommon to hear people with other disease processes saying things like, “I am …

Physician

A morning code blue for a COVID patient

Ammura Hernandez, MD

July 16, 2021Jul 16, 2021

An excerpt from An Eschatological Isolation. At 12:11 p.m., the overhead speaker announced: “Code Blue, Three West.” She repeated, “Code Blue, Three West.” Shit. I started my stopwatch and saved the patient note I was writing in the back office…

An excerpt from An Eschatological Isolation.

At 12:11 p.m., the overhead speaker announced: “Code Blue, Three West.” She repeated, “Code Blue, Three West.”

Shit. I started my stopwatch and saved the patient note I was writing in the back office of Three West, the intensive care unit of a community hospital in Tampa Bay. Already wearing a sealed N95 mask, …

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A morning code blue for a COVID patient

Medications

America’s prescription epidemic: Breaking an ancient promise

Jesse Seilern und Aspang, MD, Riana Patel, MD and Mara Schenker, MD

July 16, 2021Jul 16, 2021

I never thought I’d ever consider disregarding my oath. She is a strong, charismatic, caring, successful, disciplined, and reflected woman. As her significant other, I am subjected to a degree of observer bias; nevertheless, her life’s accomplishments and her friends…

I never thought I’d ever consider disregarding my oath.

She is a strong, charismatic, caring, successful, disciplined, and reflected woman. As her significant other, I am subjected to a degree of observer bias; nevertheless, her life’s accomplishments and her friends and acquaintances would validate these characteristics all the same.

She looks nothing like a typical pill-seeking patient in clinic, if you were ever to imagine one – or do I even know …

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Podcast

A message to medical doctors who are unhappy with their careers [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

July 15, 2021Jul 15, 2021

"This is a message to any medical doctor who is unhappy with their career. The individual reasons for this dissatisfaction will vary. Whatever the issue, it is important to ask, 'Is the problem correctable?' If yes, then you must act…

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“This is a message to any medical doctor who is unhappy with their career. The individual reasons for this dissatisfaction will vary. Whatever the issue, it is important to ask, ‘Is the problem correctable?’ If yes, then you must act and secure your happiness. If no, you must consider other options. One …

Conditions and Diseases

Tips to help you overcome your pandemic bad habits

Miles J. Varn, MD

July 15, 2021Jul 15, 2021

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S., and states issued stay-at-home orders, many people vowed to use their time at home positively, learning new skills, virtually volunteering, and getting into shape. Now, more than a year into the pandemic, many of those plans to better ourselves have fallen by the wayside, and people have developed less healthy habits in response to sustained stress and uncertainty.

These pandemic bad habits are …

Physician

So, are you committed to medicine — or your baby?

Eunice Stallman, MD

July 15, 2021Jul 15, 2021

I had just received a call that I had been accepted to medical school, and I had immediately pulled up a Google search: "best time to have children in medical training?" I was certain that this was not how most…

I had just received a call that I had been accepted to medical school, and I had immediately pulled up a Google search: “best time to have children in medical training?” I was certain that this was not how most people celebrated news of their acceptance to medical school, but this was a priority for me. A quick scan of the results of my Google search was clear, “Don’t do …

Physician

The psychological repercussions of patient complaints

Gina Ambrose, DO

July 15, 2021Jul 15, 2021

In any industry, there will always be unhappy customers. Having a formalized method of dealing with complaints is absolutely necessary to protect consumers and patients. What isn’t discussed enough is the severity of these complaints' psychological repercussions on physicians and…

Most providers spend years of their lives in school, sacrificing family plans, social events, and sometimes their own well-being, all on a mission to care for others. Despite …

Physician

A holistic approach to health and wellness requires openness and vulnerability

Tomi Mitchell, MD

July 15, 2021Jul 15, 2021

The health care crisis is a difficult one to face. Health care budgets have skyrocketed, and rates of chronic illnesses have increased much faster than before. As physician leaders, what if we each took personal responsibility for the crisis? Perhaps it all boils down to how many people trained in health care know what is necessary for living healthy lifestyles. Yet, that knowledge often doesn’t materialize in excellent health outcomes. …

Podcast

Is health care a right or privilege? The economic consequences of that answer. [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

July 14, 2021Jul 14, 2021

"American medicine is facing an identity crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to socioeconomic health disparities and turned up the heat on the question of whether health care is a right or a privilege. The financial strain on hospitals…

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“American medicine is facing an identity crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to socioeconomic health disparities and turned up the heat on the question of whether health care is a right or a privilege. The financial strain on hospitals resulting from the temporary postponement of scheduled surgeries exposed a vulnerability caused …

Medical Education

We’re doctors. We signed the book.

Jonathan Peters, MD

July 14, 2021Jul 14, 2021

As another medical school class graduates in the continued aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, I look back on my own ceremony. I remember the half-empty auditorium, the rows of parents snapping photos on their phones, and the many bored participants…

Luckily, the speeches were short, and the pomp and circumstance were not as pompous as …

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We’re doctors. We signed the book.

Conditions and Diseases

A resignation letter to my patients: How do I leave you well?

Anonymous

July 14, 2021Jul 14, 2021

Before I walk into clinic, I already know their response if I submitted my resignation letter today. I hear it monthly from multiple patients who have no reason to believe I'm leaving: "You aren't going to leave too, are you?"…

Before I walk into clinic, I already know their response if I submitted my resignation letter today.

I hear it monthly from multiple patients who have no reason to believe I’m leaving: “You aren’t going to leave too, are you?” “It took us years to get here after the last doctor left.” “Please promise me if you move on, you will let me know where you go.”

They have baseline trauma from …

Conditions and Diseases

Pay attention to the mental health of medical trainees during COVID-19

Sudhakar Nuti, MD and Victor Agbafe

July 14, 2021Jul 14, 2021

In recent years, the medical community has recognized that burnout — a sense of exhaustion, loss of motivation, and growing cynicism — is prevalent among physicians and other medical providers. We've also learned that stress and burnout are experienced by…

In recent years, the medical community has recognized that burnout — a sense of exhaustion, loss of motivation, and growing cynicism — is prevalent among physicians and other medical providers.

We’ve also learned that stress and burnout are experienced by medical trainees: the students, residents, and fellows who are learning the ropes of medicine and specializing in their fields of interest. For the physicians of tomorrow, student loans, expansive work demands, …

Podcast

What clinicians need to know about clinical trials [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

July 13, 2021Jul 13, 2021

"Before COVID-19, clinical research was a little-known part of health care. Despite this process being responsible for determining the safety and efficacy of all the drugs, medical devices, vaccines, and other medical therapies available, less than 5 percent of the…

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“Before COVID-19, clinical research was a little-known part of health care. Despite this process being responsible for determining the safety and efficacy of all the drugs, medical devices, vaccines, and other medical therapies available, less than 5 percent of the U.S. population actually participates in clinical research.

One reason why clinical research …

Physician

Stop blaming others. You need to own your actions.

Diana Londoño, MD

July 13, 2021Jul 13, 2021

Own it. People sometimes say, "Own it." Own your mistake. We use it less frequently to say own reactions or actions instead of blaming others and external forces for our actions. Life coaches call it being in a state of…

Own it.

People sometimes say, “Own it.” Own your mistake. We use it less frequently to say own reactions or actions instead of blaming others and external forces for our actions. Life coaches call it being in a state of “emotional childhood.” It means that instead of saying you are responsible for your thoughts, feelings, and actions, you blame others for these.

“The situation is bad.”

“I am angry because it is not …

Physician

The profound experience of being naked with other doctors

Robyn Alley-Hay, MD

July 13, 2021Jul 13, 2021

I am sitting in hot springs deep in the dark and crisp air woods – naked. It has been a day of lectures and workshops at a retreat with my fellow physicians. We are all naked in the effervescent, warm bubbles of the springs. In the dark, I can recognize who people are by the fluorescent necklace each wears. You know, the kind that you crunch and shake to activate …

Podcast

Medical facilities: Please keep your immune-deficient patients safe [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

July 12, 2021Jul 12, 2021

"I have a form of genetic primary immunodeficiency and several heart issues, among other things. I know that I need to be far more vigilant than someone with a fully armed and operational immune system, so I try to take…

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“I have a form of genetic primary immunodeficiency and several heart issues, among other things. I know that I need to be far more vigilant than someone with a fully armed and operational immune system, so I try to take as much responsibility for that as I can.

First tactic: Not going …

Health Policy

We’ve had a single-payer health system all along

Naveen Reddy, MD

July 12, 2021Jul 12, 2021

It’s one of the largest integrated health care systems in the United States. It takes care of over nine million patients in 170 hospitals within nearly every state. Its patients are on average, older, sicker, and more disadvantaged than the rest of the American population. If you had to guess which hospital system I’m describing, would you think HCA? Sutter? Kaiser? Nope, it’s the Veteran Health Administration, …

Medical Education

10 ways to help PGY-1 spouses and partners new to your medical program

Elizabeth Landry

July 12, 2021Jul 12, 2021

As medical programs across the country welcome new residents and celebrate the beginning of the medical new year, they cannot ignore the influence of the family’s adjustment to the success of a physician’s new role in residency. Between leaving behind…

Between leaving behind family and friends for a new community they know little about, with partners training over 80 hours per week, medspouses and partners are oftentimes left feeling alone and unsupported during the …

Physician

The unfair blame on primary care physicians

Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD

July 12, 2021Jul 12, 2021

When plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Pearl published his Los Angeles Times op-ed, “How Doctor Culture Sinks U.S. Healthcare,” a polemic essay critical of primary care physicians like me, he set off a firestorm. While he made some valid points, Dr. Pearl also blamed many of the preventative health failures in the U.S. squarely on the shoulders of primary care physicians without acknowledging that our health care …

Physician

Telemedicine in Nepal during COVID-19

Dr. Astha Prasai

July 12, 2021Jul 12, 2021

My phone rings. “Namaskar! My cough is really bothering me. What should I do?” says a middle-aged man. “Namaskar! I am Astha Prasai. I am here to help you. Please bear with me while I ask you your problem in…

My phone rings.

“Namaskar! My cough is really bothering me. What should I do?” says a middle-aged man.

“Namaskar! I am Astha Prasai. I am here to help you. Please bear with me while I ask you your problem in detail,” I answer.

Mr. Kafle from Kathmandu is worried about this nagging cough he has, and it has been a month since he has tested positive for COVID- 19. After talking to him …

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Telemedicine in Nepal during COVID-19

Real physician voices, twice a week

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