The fight to save Howard University College of Medicine

Education
December 13, 2018

Our country is at risk of losing an iconic institution that has played a pivotal role in the history of medical education. A school, which has produced some of the boldest pioneers in medicine, could lose accreditation upon the opening of a new hospital that will shunt away 40 percent of their current patients. Scores of our brightest potential medical students will be ripped away from the communities that desperately …

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The fight to save Howard University College of Medicine

How social media leads to a loss of creativity

Social media
December 12, 2018

I use social media.  Specifically, I use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  In the beginning, I did so for utilitarian purposes.  As a columnist and aspiring writer of books, these were (and indeed are) useful marketing tools.

I have, in the past, carried around a note-pad to jot down ideas.  I was never without my note-pad.  I always wanted a small legal-pad with a blue or black gel-ink pen.  It was my …

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How social media leads to a loss of creativity

The day when the white coat can be worn with no hesitation at all

Education
December 11, 2018

It was my first day of orientation at medical school. In a hallway stood a coat rack overflowing with white garments. I set down my accumulated papers, reached for a hanger and — for the first time ever — shrugged first one arm and then the other into a white coat.

It was too large, but I had no other options. The unisex coats ran from XXS to XXL, but the …

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The day when the white coat can be worn with no hesitation at all

The Wild West approach to PICU practice

Policy
December 10, 2018

I spent my early and mid-career years working in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at a large academic center. We did almost everything except for a few things esoteric at the time — small bowel transplants, a few kinds of experimental surgery. I’m now in my late career (but have no plans to quit anytime soon!) and work in a smaller PICU. I am frequently confronted with the issue …

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The Wild West approach to PICU practice

Disability can be a devastating outcome to a doctor’s career. Here’s how handle it.

Finance
December 9, 2018

Disability can be a devastating outcome to a doctor’s career and self-image. Think about it: You busted your butt to learn how to do a Whipple procedure, end up getting into a skiing accident that ends your career right there. No worries, because you purchased the appropriate coverage of own-occupation disability insurance, right?

Having disability insurance certainly provides a protective cushion, especially you are the sole breadwinner. This is a no-brainer, …

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Disability can be a devastating outcome to a doctor’s career. Here’s how handle it.

Why mentors are so important in medicine

Physician
December 8, 2018

This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.

After spending a decade in college and medical school, followed by internships and residency, seeking additional guidance at the beginning of your career may seem excessive. You’ve already taken direction from dozens of leaders; isn’t it time to cut your own path?

Yes and no. You’ll make plenty of your …

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Why mentors are so important in medicine

How physicians can get started with passive income

Finance
December 4, 2018

It’s been a little over two years since I started this journey of blogging about passive income, and I’ve learned so much along the way. The term “passive income” has come to mean something very different to me over these years.

I used to think that passive income was simply earning money in a way that isn’t proportional to the time you put in. And while this is …

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How physicians can get started with passive income

There’s no room for ego in health care

Physician
December 4, 2018

I was recently seeing a rather complicated medical patient in the hospital. We were treating both a heart and kidney condition, and things were not going so well. To spare anyone non-medical who is reading this the scientific details of the bodily processes involved, we were essentially balancing hydrating, with the need to get rid of excess fluid. After seeing the patient, I spoke with the nurse, went over the …

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There’s no room for ego in health care

You must make a good first impression with patients

Physician
December 4, 2018

First impressions are critical. We are taught early in our careers that first impressions truly matter. Whether interviewing for medical school or a residency program, our goal is to make a positive first impression in hopes of making the cut at each checkpoint in our early careers.

These processes in our academic lives and careers are exhausting. As residencies and medical schools are becoming more competitive, the importance of first impressions …

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You must make a good first impression with patients

A physician’s letter to his wife

Finance
December 3, 2018

To my wife,

Let’s just start at the beginning.

When we first met, you thought I was arrogant and prideful.  For two and a half years we would rarely talk while we walked past each other in our small college town.  At the time, we never could have imagined that one day we would get married.  In a twist of irony, two weeks before we started dating you still didn’t know as …

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A physician’s letter to his wife

A surgeon mistakes a kidney for a tumor. How can this happen?

Conditions
December 3, 2018

A number of media outlets recently featured a story about a Florida general surgeon who removed a normal kidney from a woman who was undergoing spine surgery. How could this have occurred?

The 51-year-old patient who had been injured in a car crash was scheduled for an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) of the fifth lumbar to the first sacral vertebra. The general surgeon’s role was to provide …

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A surgeon mistakes a kidney for a tumor. How can this happen?

Here’s what the corporatization of medicine is doing

Policy
December 2, 2018

Have you ever been to a doctor’s office and felt that your evaluation was rushed? Have you been seen in the emergency room and felt that you were just a number in a long series of patients? Have you ever seen the same doctor for years and felt like the doctor just met you for the first time each visit?

Chances are we’ve all experienced this as patients. If we’re honest, …

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Here’s what the corporatization of medicine is doing

How to reduce burnout in emergency medicine

Physician
December 1, 2018

This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.

As rewarding as working in emergency medicine can be, it also comes with some significant potential downsides. According to some recent studies, stress and burnout rates in the emergency room are some of the worst in the medical field. But don’t let that dampen your enthusiasm. Managing the proper …

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How to reduce burnout in emergency medicine

Physicians who pursue financial independence and early retirement are not wrong. It may save them.

Finance
November 30, 2018

When Jason Kilar graduated from college he experienced tremendous personal and professional adversity.  Three days after graduation, Kilar’s father ended his own life after battling bipolar disorder.

Kilar also battled professional valleys. In the months after graduation,  the work-life he had long envisioned couldn’t have seemed further from the reality he faced.

After building shelves at a local store and hustling to find a job that he actually loved, this is what …

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Physicians who pursue financial independence and early retirement are not wrong. It may save them.

The problem with mental health funding and prisons

Policy
November 29, 2018

Moving to the Bay Area from the Midwest was a culture shock in many ways. I was amazed by the diversity, the food, the openness of opinions. And I was struck by the traffic, the stark differences driving from one community to another and the homelessness — you could see signs of it everywhere. As time went on, I acclimated to these changes. Working in the hospital, I got used …

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The problem with mental health funding and prisons

Nurses aren’t commodities

Policy
November 28, 2018

Corporate health care mentality set up nurses up to be inhuman while holding us to superhuman expectations. We’re told to be caring — but not allowed to do it. It’s time to demand that we stop being abandoned and dismissed by dysfunctional leadership.

Early in my nursing career, I was assigned to the pediatric area for one shift in a busy emergency department (ED). Our team received notification of an incoming …

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Nurses aren’t commodities

Don’t miss this adverse drug reaction when tapering benzodiazepines

Meds
November 27, 2018

“Alice Woods” is dying of metastatic breast cancer, but she cares little for awareness efforts like pink ribbons and catchy hashtags like #stage4needsmore. You see, Alice has akathisia due to an adverse effect from discontinuing Klonopin — a condition that has caused her far more suffering than her terminal cancer. It has also prevented her from receiving adequate cancer treatment and is, therefore, ending her …

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Don’t miss this adverse drug reaction when tapering benzodiazepines

How sickle cell anemia influences a medical school journey

Education
November 25, 2018

“Where there is no struggle, there is no compassion.”
-Frederick Douglass

Growing up with sickle cell anemia exposed me to the field of medicine. As I go through the pain and complications, it humbles me to the point that motivates me to work harder to be the doctor I want for myself. I want to be a physician-scientist that conducts clinical research targeted toward patients like me. I believe that as a …

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How sickle cell anemia influences a medical school journey

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