Drug advertising has helped created victim politics

Medications
June 6, 2021

“How dare you suggest I/my son is not sick?” “Stop invalidating the lived experiences of millions of people!” “Able-bodied people like you have no right to report this.” “How dare you suggest my medication has risks?” “You’re not taking my drugs!”

The tweets above are just some of the vehement responses I have received as a health reporter over the years for daring to report that some drugs have a downside …

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Drug advertising has helped created victim politics

Why people diagnosed with cancer should get a second opinion

Physician
June 6, 2021

Although people think of medicine as a science—the facts reveal the diagnosis, the diagnosis dictates the treatment—most physicians acknowledge that medicine is as much an art as a science. It’s not like a simple math equation with one undeniably right answer. Even when the diagnosis is clear, there may still be multiple appropriate treatment paths that deliver similar outcomes. And there are many cases where the diagnosis is not definitive, …

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Why people diagnosed with cancer should get a second opinion

The sense of powerlessness and being a cog in a wheel is now at an all-time high

Physician
June 6, 2021

Toward the end of my clinical career, I didn’t feel like I had control over much at all. The patient safety issues loomed large. We used ridiculous workarounds for broken processes. The constant vigilance to provide excellent care in a suboptimal environment was exhausting. I didn’t see anything I could change. Based on my work with physicians as a coach, I think that the sense of powerlessness and being a …

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The sense of powerlessness and being a cog in a wheel is now at an all-time high

Blockchain in health care and in your portfolio [PODCAST]

Podcast
June 5, 2021
YouTube video

“The future of health care will be focused on prevention rather than focused on performing excessive medical treatments, diagnostic tests, and procedures. Many centralized processes, services, products, and entities will become unbundled, including insurance, hospitalization, inpatient and outpatient coding, medical billing, payments, patient care, medical education, licensure, and certification. Physicians, including Leah …

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Blockchain in health care and in your portfolio [PODCAST]

Here’s how we can rebuild health care post-pandemic

Physician
June 5, 2021

More than 36,000 aspiring physicians recently matched into residencies across the United States.

More than 7,500 earned their degrees at international medical schools. These newly minted doctors, many of whom are U.S. citizens who chose to study abroad, will play an outsized role in treating the underserved communities hit hardest by the pandemic.

It’s well known that the United States faces a massive — and worsening — shortage of doctors. The country …

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Here’s how we can rebuild health care post-pandemic

The future of residency interviews

Physician
June 5, 2021

Programs and applicants displayed incredible adaptations during the 2020-2021 virtual residency interview season despite the adversity they faced due to COVID-19.

Moving forward, virtual features may be integrated with traditional methods for a more equitable and favorable experience. We present here a discussion on the pros and cons of the 2020-2021 “virtual” residency interview season — and ways of hybridizing virtual and in-person practices that reimagine modern interviewing and improve applicant …

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The future of residency interviews

How a doctor fell in love with a drug addict

Physician
June 5, 2021

“Something’s wrong with Eddie.”

In four words, my entire wedding day collapsed around me.  I’d just arrived at a beautiful Gothic chapel in a rented 1950 Rolls Royce, mom and dad on either side of me, prepared for a picture-perfect first look with my groom.  As his mother’s words echoed in my ear, I immediately thought of all the scenarios that could be easily remedied so we could move forward with …

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How a doctor fell in love with a drug addict

How photography made me a better doctor

Physician
June 5, 2021

In my first year as an attending hospitalist, I personally discovered what Hippocrates realized millennia before, “Life is short and the art long.” Clinical reasoning is an intellectual labyrinth that can only be mastered with deliberate practice, introspection, and perseverance.

However, I soon found that spending hours poring through manuscripts and cases was not only cumbersome, but often counterproductive.  It dawned on me then that athletes faced a similar predicament, one …

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How photography made me a better doctor

Patient satisfaction through a hospitalist lens [PODCAST]

Podcast
June 4, 2021
YouTube video

“In addition to leaking private information to an unauthorized individual who just happened to ask for Ms. Mann by name, Larry commanded Nigel to worsen this HIPAA violation. Given the tone of his command, Larry must have felt right proud of his informing an aggressive, unconfirmed querent. If so, perhaps he should …

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Patient satisfaction through a hospitalist lens [PODCAST]

Lessons from COVID-19 about the obesity epidemic

Conditions and Diseases
June 4, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted our ineffective approach to the obesity epidemic in the United States.

I believe COVID-19 would have claimed fewer lives if we had healthier patients and less obesity. According to the CDC, “obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 infection.” Additionally, they note that obesity can make intubation and ventilation more difficult for severely ill patients. While the attention currently is focused on COVID-19 …

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Lessons from COVID-19 about the obesity epidemic

Why physicians should care about emotional intelligence

Physician
June 4, 2021

Most of us have heard the phrase “success is about who you know,” and that couldn’t be more true. The people we surround ourselves with are a direct reflection of our life and success. One thing that affects this is emotional intelligence, or EQ for short. It’s not just about how smart you are; it also has to do with your ability to understand and manage your own emotions and …

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Why physicians should care about emotional intelligence

The other side of the knife

Physician
June 4, 2021

The surgeon becomes the surgical patient. That was my summary thought after discussing my vision problem with my former partner, an ophthalmologist well versed in treating cataracts. Despite having performed eye surgery on thousands of patients in the course of my own professional career, the “privilege” of being on the other side of the knife was not without some anxiety.

Two factors helped limit my concern. First, I trusted my surgeon …

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The other side of the knife

An update on prostate cancer treatment [PODCAST]

Podcast
June 3, 2021
YouTube video

“Even though prostate cancer patients are anxious to receive treatment, they still want to minimize their exposure to anyone outside their COVID bubble. One procedure that is especially attractive to our patients is focal therapy high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).

Focal therapy HIFU is appropriate for patients whose prostate cancer is diagnosed at …

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An update on prostate cancer treatment [PODCAST]

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A physician’s story of dissociative identity disorder

Conditions and Diseases
June 3, 2021

An excerpt from Brain Storm: A Life in Pieces.

The first time it happened, I sat only a few feet away from Yael in her tiny office, a position that usually made me feel safe, but this time I was about to explode.

“Shelley, what’s going on?”

I couldn’t squelch my intense agitation. “I feel like I’m going to jump out a window!”

“You’re …

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A physician’s story of dissociative identity disorder

Why the pandemic will impact mental health for years, and 3 concerning side effects

Conditions and Diseases
June 3, 2021

Consumer demand for mental and behavioral health services reached a fever pitch in 2020.  From prolonged social distancing and financial strains, to the burnout of extra caretaking, grief over tremendous loss, and the monotony of working from home, the effects of the pandemic drove many people to seek professional help.

Even with the end in sight, many people are struggling to recover from the toll this crisis imposed. …

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Why the pandemic will impact mental health for years, and 3 concerning side effects

Ketamine’s non-anesthetic powers: Please wait for the science

Medications
June 3, 2021

Ketamine (colloquially called “K,” “Special K,” or “Vitamin K”) is a potent, dissociative anesthetic. More specifically, it is a nonselective NMDA antagonist that initiates a wide array of physiological effects, already having ingratiated itself to a wider audience through its potential for abuse. Once used primarily in veterinary medicine, ketamine in recent years, however, has seen its medical applications extend beyond the realm of anesthesia, with clinical options now including …

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Ketamine’s non-anesthetic powers: Please wait for the science

Organizations that nurture physicians’ careers can attract and retain the best doctors

Physician
June 3, 2021

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of assisting more than 2,000 distressed physicians – some with burnout, others with “rough edges,” still others with psychiatric conditions or misuse of drugs and alcohol.  Some of these doctors were still functioning well; others had lost their licenses and their livelihoods, hoping against hope that they would somehow be able to return to medicine.  Linking all these physicians is a shared passion …

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Organizations that nurture physicians’ careers can attract and retain the best doctors

Why do physicians fail to focus on their personal finances? [PODCAST]

Podcast
June 2, 2021
YouTube video

“We need to crawl before we walk and walk before we run. The first step is to establish your why. Why do you want the financial freedom to practice medicine because you want to, the way you want to instead of because you have to? Without a why, even achieving financial …

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Why do physicians fail to focus on their personal finances? [PODCAST]

The Pandora’s box of Step 2 CS reporting

Medical Education
June 2, 2021

Introduction

The USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) exam was implemented to assess medical students/graduates based on 12 standardized clinical encounters. The exam was graded as pass/fail based on three components: integrative clinical encounter (ICE), communication and interpersonal skills (CIS), and spoken English proficiency (SEP). To receive an overall passing grade, an examinee was required to pass all three components.

Over the years, there have been increasing demands to …

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The Pandora’s box of Step 2 CS reporting

Confession from a female doctor: I am sexist

Physician
June 2, 2021

Maybe it’s a testament to a hardy relationship that there was no resulting argument. Without thinking, I blurted out, “You are so sexist!” I could immediately tell by my husband’s face, his upper eyelids and eyebrows lifted a bit, his mouth freeze-framed in a small “o” — my exclamation surprised and insulted him. Maybe it was a completely unfair assessment; after all, he was standing at the sink, his hands …

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Confession from a female doctor: I am sexist

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