It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
You often hear this analogy about the medical training process, but, having run a few marathons myself, I think it’s particularly apt. I’m working my way through my fourth and final year of residency now, and I can attest that running marathons was one of the better things that prepared me mentally for the challenges of med school and beyond.
26.2 miles is no trivial …
I recently reported on Stephanie Waggel, the doctor fired by a prestigious U.S. hospital for getting cancer (story also the Washington Post). In a transcription of her whistleblower video, Stephanie describes how she nearly died due to obstruction of medical care:
It started during my intern year of residency. Which, bizarrely, was the happiest year of my life. And all my friends are …
My brother-in-law, Ron, was a curmudgeon; grumpy, sullen, even downright mean at times.
By blood, he and my husband Bill were cousins. In the 1950s, when Bill was just a child, his mother died unexpectedly, and Ron’s mother took Bill in to live with her and her four children. They were an African-American family living in the midst of a middle-class, predominantly white Connecticut township. Their home, located on a wealthy …
“CODE BLUE, 7 SOUTH. CODE BLUE, 7 SOUTH.” I’m up and out of my call room bed before fully regaining consciousness from my light sleep. It’s 4 AM. I should feel ready: I’ve trained with simulations labs, mock codes, and test questions. I passed my CPR and ACLS courses. I’ve done chest compressions as an intern. But this is different. I’m the resident on call, and if I get there first, I’ll be running the …
Dear patients,
We are happy to have you in our lives. We came into medicine to take care of you. Some of us because we wanted to help you to win the fight against cancer. Others of us because we love delivering your babies. Others because we wanted to have the skill to make sure you survive that heart attack or that terrible accident. Others because we wanted to do our …
It’s almost 7 p.m., and I’m handed the chart of a man in his sixties. “Can you see this one first,” the nurse says, “he needs an ultrasound.” I skim the triage note, which is often like reading the blurb at the back of the DVD. If it says “pain all over for eight months,” it’s not likely to be a hot new rental.
Frank Martin (name changed) has been sent from a walk-in …
Thirteen years ago, I received a call from the mother of a college freshman who was concerned because her son had been diagnosed with mononucleosis during finals week. She felt something was not quite right and asked me for advice.
“Trust your instinct, go get him, and bring him home.”
She brought him to my clinic the following day. He looked mildly ill. His vitals were stable; he was fatigued, slightly dehydrated, …
Every medical couple knows that the lifestyle and career choice brings with it adjustments and sacrifices. Physician spouses and partners often take on more housework and childcare to accommodate long working hours. Physicians may work unusual hours that lead to late-night arrivals, missed bedtime tuck-ins, and less face-to-face time. This can lead many couples to blame medicine for their struggling relationship.
Take the example of a resident who has been working …
It was 1 a.m. on a Sunday night on call, and we were waiting patiently for admissions in the resident workroom. We were four near-perfect strangers, yet we had one thing in common: our challenges we faced in maintaining relationships. Was it truly because of our shared profession of medicine or because of our similar personalities that led us into the field? We realized we struggled preserving our current relationships …
Dear future colleague,
What a tremendous thing it is to know you are becoming a physician! You are devoting your life and talents to the betterment of the health of your future patients, your local community, and our entire society. You have responded to the call to serve in a profession that is hundreds of years old, steeped in tradition but vehemently progressive, always changing, and vowing to remain abreast of …
One of the most common questions that I receive from patients diagnosed with celiac disease is if they should take a probiotic. The only available treatment for celiac disease, an autoimmune disease characterized by destruction of the absorptive surface of the small intestine which develops in genetically compatible individuals, is a gluten free diet. However, patients and providers often question whether supplementation with probiotics may hasten the healing process.
Probiotics are …
The day I got into medical school, my uncle said to me, “You are going to be a doctor! We finally have a doctor in the family. You are going to take care of your uncle in his old age.” Other family members echoed the same sentiment. First doctor in the family. Now, we will all have free medical advice.
As I progressed through medical school, then internship and residency, then …
If you Google “misophonia” you might be shocked to find numerous articles discussing the tragic suicide of 52-year-old Russian-born scholar, Dr. Michelle Lamarche Marrese. Journalist Joyce Cohen was the first to report Marrese’s suicide in the New York Post piece “She could hear everything and it cost her her life.” Cohen explains that she and Marrese had been corresponding about Marrese’s struggles with misophonia for over 14 months, and that …
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In the year it has taken for me to finish my medical residency as a junior doctor, two of my colleagues have killed themselves. I’ve read articles that refer to suicide amongst doctors as the profession’s “grubby little secret,” but I’d rather call it exactly how it is: the profession’s shameful and disgusting open secret.
Medical training has long had its culture rooted in ideals of suffering. Not so much for …
Last week I was in a session with one of my coaching clients, a successful black female physician who is the owner of her own practice. As we were concluding she made a statement to me “I feel like medicine has just sucked the feminine right out of me.” Immediately I related.
As women in the professional world, we are always in competition with men whether we are aware of it, …
“Afternoon,” the doctor says. “What brings you here today?”
A cough? A cold? A belly ache? Some feelings of dismay?
Well, tell me just what ails you, and I’ll try to do my best,
To sort through all your problems and put your fears to rest.
But give me just a moment — my computer must get started.
Without attention to its needs, your visit goes uncharted.
You say your chest is hurting? And you’re really …
Coughing is one of the most common reasons parents bring their children to see me. And I can understand why. Coughing is noisy and uncomfortable and gets kids dirty looks in schools and subways. Even worse, coughing keeps kids and their parents awake. We’ve all been there, and no one likes to cough.
But coughing is there, usually, for a reason. Almost all coughs are from upper respiratory infections (that’s fancy …
From the first year of medical school, we are trained in probing into the most personal aspects of patients’ lives; but when it comes to spirituality, we shy away. In a survey of the U.S. general public, the 2008 Gallup Report demonstrated that 78 percent of people believed in God and an additional 15 percent believed in a higher power. Other studies have shown that religious beliefs and …
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
It’s a common question we ask our youth, and I remember as young child sharing my aspirations with family members. When I answered “I want to be a doctor when I grow up”, I received positive feedback and praise. As an innocent little girl, I had no idea that there were people in the world who wouldn’t be as supportive of a woman in medicine.
Later …
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 24-year-old woman undergoes routine evaluation. She is pregnant at 12 weeks’ gestation. Medical history is notable for homozygous sickle cell anemia (Hb SS). She has had multiple uncomplicated painful crises treated at home with hydration, nonopioid analgesia, and incentive spirometry. She requires hospital management for these episodes approximately twice per year. She has declined …
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