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What’s in a woman physician’s last name? A lot.

Physician

December 13, 2017

A recent post about a physician using her maiden name professionally generated major controversy on a physicians’ group. Hundreds of comments later, it became evident that female physicians who chose to use their maiden names are subjected to negative judgment.

I am a physician married to a supportive man who understands my choice to keep my last name. I am not unique in my circle. Most of my female physician friends …

Insurance and the destruction of our health care system

Peggy A. Rothbaum, PhD

Policy

December 11, 2017

When interviewing for my book, I asked about insurance, but the topic came up even when I didn’t specifically ask about it. It was never positive in relation to practice.

A doctor said, “I expected to be around tough and hard cases. I expected it to be hard. I did not expect to have to think if the insurance company will not pay for it.”Another one said, “This completely changes the …

The moment I became a passionate doctor

Jo Ann Gates, MD

Physician

December 9, 2017

I was nearing the end of my pediatrics rotation as a third-year medical student when the senior resident asked me to admit a patient to the general pediatrics floor. The only information I had as I headed down to the intensive care unit was that she was a ten-year-old girl who had survived an extensive resuscitation at home.

By this point in my education, I was certain that I wanted to …

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The moment I became a passionate doctor

Here’s how to be a good mom and good doctor

Foreign BornMD

Physician

December 8, 2017

Go to college, go to medical school, start and finish residency and fellowship, get married, settle down and have children …

There is a certain expectation of what a “successful life” would look like for a physician mom. Some may even choose to stop work and become a full-time stay-at-home mom.

Even when my spouse, who works part-time for most of our marriage, took a year off work to be the stay …

An eye-opening rotation at the Indian Health Service

Eric Schmidt

Education

December 8, 2017

For the month of September, I embarked on the experience of a lifetime, living and working on the largest Native American reservation in the United States. Sprawled across the four corners region of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, the Navajo Reservation in Chinle, Arizona, encompasses an area as large as the entire state of West Virginia. Its population, however, is only about 300,000, making it extremely rural. To leave …

4 reasons why patients don’t take their medications

Linda Girgis, MD

Physician

December 7, 2017

I often see patients for follow-up and learn they are not taking the medications either I or another health care provider prescribed. Sometimes the reason is obvious, and other times the patient is reluctant to give up the information. Patients have the right to take or not take medication that was prescribed. But, sometimes by not doing so, they are putting their health at risk.

As a doctor, I want my …

A patient called me the N-word

B. Cameron Webb, MD, JD

Physician

December 7, 2017

Editor’s note: This article contains a racial slur crucial to the writer’s story.

It took only 57 hours of working as a new attending physician in Charlottesville, Virginia for a patient to call me the N-word.

Fifty-seven hours. In fact, a racial slur found me before I found the shortcut to the hospital cafeteria. So, when torch-bearing White supremacists gathered downtown earlier this year, I saw more confirmation of my conclusion that …

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A patient called me the N-word

Leonardo Da Vinci and health care: a matter of perspective

Neil Baum, MD

Physician

December 6, 2017

Recently, a Leonardo Da Vinci painting, Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World), was sold for $450 million, making it the largest fee for a painting ever sold. Was it a good investment? The painting was sold by Leonardo’s heir to King Francis I of France for 4000 gold ducats in 1519, which according to the American Numismatic Society would be equivalent to $575,000 at today’s price of gold at $1277 …

5 challenges of working in a county hospital

Pranav Sharma, MD

Policy

December 6, 2017

As a trainee at a large private health system (residency) followed by a NCI-designed comprehensive cancer (fellowship) in two large metropolitan areas in the United States, I was not prepared to face the challenges of working at a university setting affiliated with a county (public) hospital in more rural west-Texas. After one and a half years of experience as a practicing urologic oncologist, these are the five challenges I have …

10 surprising things you need to know about the emergency department

Irene Tien, MD

Physician

December 5, 2017

Despite the fact that most people will have had the misfortune of visiting the emergency department (ED) at some point in their life, I find that many folks do not really understand what happens in the ED.

1. Emergency medicine is a specialty. Yes, we actually did residency training to learn how to work in the ED. This training lasted three to four years after medical school and is sometimes followed …

Is MRI contrast a dangerous threat?

Karen Tran-Harding, MD

Conditions

December 5, 2017

In early November, Chuck Norris filed a lawsuit against medical device manufacturers involving gadolinium-based contrast media, a chemical used in MRI imaging scans. The lawsuit stated that the gadolinium that doctors injected into his wife Gena to improve the clarity of her MRIs have left her “weak and tired and with debilitating bouts of pain and a burning sensation.”

As with any adverse effects involving medical procedures in the news, it …

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Is MRI contrast a dangerous threat?

Can universal health care and capitalism coexist? Yes, here’s how.

Catherine Cheng, MD

Policy

December 4, 2017

Eat what you kill.

Sounds like a mantra from a survival reality show, right? Akin to “eat or be eaten,” “kill or be killed.” It’s also a common reference to the prevailing business model in our American scarcity-minded, competition-driven, fee-for-service health care culture. How ironic, the application of these words to this profession. It was explained to me essentially as: “Every man for himself, and you’re a minion. You are expected …

Is there ever a right time for a doctor to have a baby?

Gillian Mueller Goddard, MD

Physician

December 4, 2017

When is the right time to have a baby? This question plagues professional women across industries. It takes on more significant importance for women training as physicians. Medical training is long and coincides with a woman’s late 20s, often stretching into her 30s. Waiting to have children until completing training is not always biologically feasible.

Medical schools and residency training programs still lag behind in developing formal parental leave policies. Outside …

To survive in medicine, compartmentalize your patients

Andrea Eisenberg, MD

Physician

December 4, 2017

“Breathe in slowly, deeply, giving fresh energy to your body.

Breathe out, releasing any tension from your day.

In … 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 …

Out … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …”

I try to follow the yoga instructor, but in my post-call fog, I struggle to let go of the last 24 hours. We begin by sitting poses to stretch our necks. But my neck is so …

How being an immigrant shaped the way I treat patients

Saisai Chen

Education

November 30, 2017

I was born in Shanghai, China. In September 2000, my parents and I left behind our family and friends, a language and culture dear to our hearts and social and financial stability to immigrate to the United States. I was six at the time. Although I don’t claim to have fully understood the weight of their decision to start a new life, I knew that my parents were making a …

Make more than your spouse? Here’s how to save money on taxes.

Foreign BornMD

Finance

November 30, 2017

The only time my husband outearned me was during our first three years of marriage when I was still in residency and working 80-plus hours per week earning less than minimum wage per hour. Since then, despite graduating in a professional degree, we have made relocation moves that primarily help with my career growth, to the detriment of his.

In 2015, an NPR article quoted statistics showing that 38 percent of …

5 shifts to move health care in the right direction

Halee Fischer-Wright, MD

Policy

November 29, 2017

The truth about change in health care was never more perfectly captured than in an episode of Sex and the City, when Carrie Bradshaw lamented that we keep “should-ing all over ourselves.”

In the past decade, those of us on the front lines of health care have seen the passage of nine major pieces of federal legislation that, combined, have profoundly affected how they work. We’ve seen the number of people …

How to inspire medical students to pursue primary care

Natalia Maria Calderón

Education

November 29, 2017

I distinctly remember the excitement I felt during my first year of medical school when exposed to the breadth of general and specialty fields that seemed all so equally rewarding and medically influential. I envisioned myself holistically understanding my patient, seeing the problem in the context of her other medical issues, her personality, her family and her environment — an approach I considered at the heart of the oath we …

The hidden threat of the 80-hour resident workweek

Anonymous

Education

November 27, 2017

In an article published by the Atlantic earlier this year, Ryan Park writes that neither truck drivers nor bankers work the kind of gruelingly long hours that doctors — particularly young doctors in their residency programs — do. It is no secret that residency life is demanding and exhausting. Over the last decade, it has also become controversial. Almost a test in itself, as if gauging doctors’ …

It’s time to stop prejudging your patients

Melissa Welby, MD

Physician

November 27, 2017

Recently I had an interaction online with a physician regarding his thoughts on ADHD treatment. (Let’s call him Dr. Stigma). This post is not about doctor-bashing but more to point out the prevalence of stigma against those with a psychiatric diagnosis even from within the medical community. Stigma, unfortunately, is so indoctrinated into our culture that sometimes people don’t recognize the pure ugliness of their words.

Dr. Stigma’s comments:

Many patients use …

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