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Why this medical student joined the National Health Service Corps

Asaad Traina

Education

April 5, 2017

Like many of my peers, I started medical school with idealistic dreams of providing compassionate care for poor patients. I thought being a physician was a noble profession and even discussing money, much less changing my career choices based on it seemed antithetical to that. A visit to the financial aid office quickly cured me of my naiveté. I was facing over $300,000 in debt and would be forgoing millions of …

Think we evolved to eat meat? Think again.

Shivam Joshi, MD

Physician

April 4, 2017

Eating meat has been linked to cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia and many other diseases. Nearly every modern lifestyle disease has been associated with meat. With so much emerging evidence against meat, it begs the question: Did we …

8 things doctors secretly want to tell their patients

Brian C. Joondeph, MD

Physician

April 4, 2017

As the repeal of Obamacare is debated in the halls of Congress and on cable TV, one common theme is: “What will happen to patients?” Questions loom about what might change with coverage, about cost, about whether you’ll still be able to keep your doctor, and if medications will still be covered

But what about doctors? What about how they’re doing?

There are things doctors want to tell their patients, not only about …

Do dog walkers make more money than doctors?

Pamela Wible, MD

Physician

April 3, 2017

I recently reported on a doctor-turned-dog-walker who says with her career switch she’ll enjoy more happiness — and income! In her own words:

Dear Pamela, Today I realized that if I become a dog walker and charge $25/hour and walk five dogs per day, I would make my equivalent salary with fewer hassles. I’m seriously considering this as a career move. I could …

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Do dog walkers make more money than doctors?

Why we need more doctors opting for academic medicine

Angira Patel, MD and Kelly Michelson, MD

Physician

April 3, 2017

Match Day results were announced recently and a record high 35,969 medical students learned the location and specialty of their first job. As these newly indoctrinated physicians chart their next steps, the majority will opt out of academia, creating a potential crisis in medicine and healthcare innovation.

Although 45 percent of graduating medical students aspire to work in an academic setting, only about 16 percent will do so. Of those who do …

The little-known ACGME guideline change every resident should know

Christopher Gable

Education

April 2, 2017

On July 1st, 2017, the updated Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Common Program Requirements will take effect. The increase in the maximum continuous work hour shift from 16 to 24 hours has surely received the most attention, and will likely continue to do so.

However, the ACGME did make some significant improvements in this latest guideline update worth noting. Among them was a slight conjunctional switch from an “and/or” …

The problem with too many health insurance options

Tenessa MacKenzie, MD

Policy

April 2, 2017

Medical school didn’t teach me about the intricacies of health insurance. My family medicine residency program took pride in caring for all patients regardless of insurance status. When I worked in New Zealand and Canada it was a relief to not worry about which diabetic test strips were on formulary or whether a patient’s insurance would cover their birth control.

In my current position as a primary care physician at an …

MKSAP: 52-year-old man with sudden onset of erectile dysfunction

mksap

Conditions

April 1, 2017

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 52-year-old man is evaluated for the sudden onset of erectile dysfunction that has persisted for 6 months. He reports having erections that are inadequate for vaginal penetration. He feels guilty about not being able to satisfy his wife’s requests for sexual intercourse, although he still has sexual desires. He has been sleeping poorly …

A physician was the victim of malpractice. Here’s her story.

Dana Corriel, MD

Physician

March 31, 2017

I’m not here to tattle. No siree, Bob. I’ll save that for my kids. But what I am here to do is spell out a story in which I ended up down in the dumps.

A medical mistake happened. To me. On me.

I’ll never forget it. I can’t because I carry it with me forever.

Here’s the short of the long:

My obstetrician messed up. She took care of my pregnancy during one of the most …

The physicians who are not called “doctor”

Sharonne N. Hayes, MD, Anita P. Mayer, MD, and Julia A. Files, MD

Physician

March 31, 2017

You graduate from medical school and get your MD degree. At first, when someone calls you “doctor,” you look around and wonder who they’re talking to, but after years of hard work and sleepless nights, you realize you really are a card-carrying “doctor.”

If you’re a woman, however, you start to realize that a lot fewer people call you “doctor” than your male colleagues. At first, it’s subtle. And you shrug it …

Physicians are born to do what they do

David O. Barbe, MD

Physician

March 30, 2017

I am always fascinated by my colleagues’ stories about why they became physicians and when they knew medicine was the path for them. Some describe a longing to heal, some a love of science, and others a desire for respect. For me, medicine was a calling that revealed itself in my sophomore year of undergraduate studies and was the perfect culmination …

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Physicians are born to do what they do

Let older people talk about sex

Dr. Leonard A. Sowah

Conditions

March 30, 2017

He was referred to me by a colleague with a large geriatric practice for evaluation and treatment for HIV. He was 76 years old and lived in an assisted living facility. He was, however, very independent and only required limited assistance. When asked what he expected from the visit he responded that he had been sent to me by his PCP. Review of his records suggested that in addition to …

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Let older people talk about sex

Does tough love equate to wellness or destruction?

David Kolker, LICSW, JD

Conditions

March 29, 2017

Heroin abuse in the United States is reaching epidemic proportions. According to SAMHSA, between 2007 and 2012, the number of Heroin users has doubled from an estimated 375,000 to over 665,000. Additionally, in 2010, the number of deaths as a direct result of overdose surpassed auto accident deaths.

It is impossible to avoid the facts about heroin. We are bombarded daily by the national and local media and extensive online resources. …

3 lessons I learned about domestic violence in the ER

Maryam Akbari, DMD, MPH

Physician

March 29, 2017

As a first-year oral and maxillofacial (OMF) surgery intern, I was the first responder to any facial trauma at a hospital in Queens, NY. Therefore in the past 12 months, I was a primary care provider for numerous facial lacerations of women due to domestic violence. And was a 1st assistant in providing care to patients (both men and women) with orbital floor fractures and mandible fractures due to domestic …

The pitfalls of prior authorization for prescription drugs

Yul Ejnes, MD

Meds

March 29, 2017

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

One of the things that I dread the most about January 1 is that it’s the start of “prior authorization (PA) season” for prescription medications. It is time consuming and frustrating, plus it often jeopardizes patient safety and quality of care.

A recent Viewpoint in the …

The emergency department and “access” to care

William F. Paolo, MD

Policy

March 28, 2017

The redefinition of a potentially functioning medical system in which each individual is able to utilize financially non-prohibitive care into a disjointed balkanized realm of income-based insurance tribes is aided by the protean definitions of the political buzzword “access.” Access to medical care does not entail the ability to reliably obtain medical care much as medical insurance reform is not, in point of fact, healthcare reform. Regardless, the conflation of …

This doctor gives his cell number out to patients. He explains why.

James C. Salwitz, MD

Physician

March 27, 2017

Contrary to what my wife and colleagues think, it is not all about me. Well yes, I do get lonely sitting at my desk late at night, when my wife is busy, and the long-ago-moved-away kids are not available, and there is nothing running on NASCAR. Nonetheless, it is not really about my needs. I am talking, of course, about why I give patients my cell phone number.

It is printed …

My cold hands met their match

Andrea Eisenberg, MD

Physician

March 27, 2017

Despite living in Michigan for over 30 years, my cold hands disclose my Southern California origin. As a physician, these cold hands have touched many lives. For my pregnant patients, they usually sigh with relief as I touch their bellies, the coolness of my hands offering them respite from the inferno growing inside them. They smile when I tell them I can feel their baby squirming and how it is …

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My cold hands met their match

Solving the telephone problem in primary care

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

Physician

March 26, 2017

The phones, the phones, the phones.

Every time we look, everywhere we look, getting the phone answered seems to be a problem we just can’t lick, a continual thorn in the side of our practice, something that’s hindering all the other efforts we try to make things better, to get ourselves to the best care environment for our patients, our staff, and our providers.

Without …

Let’s pay doctors like we do athletes

Hans Duvefelt, MD

Physician

March 24, 2017

Think about it; athletes aren’t the ones who document their performance. It’s other people that keep the score. That’s a whole science in itself. People talk for hours after the game or tournament is over about how each athlete did this or that in whatever way they did it, and the numbers are in many cases captured by extremely sophisticated electronic equipment.

Physicians work hard to diagnose and treat their patients, …

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Let’s pay doctors like we do athletes