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Why are mental health questions still allowed on physician job applications?

Physician

February 24, 2016

DearPamela

Dear Pamela,

Question for you in regards to disclosure about mental illness. In every job that I have applied for, as part of the credentialing process, there are questions about felonies, treatment for drug/alcohol abuse and mental illness. Why are mental health questions still allowed to be on there? I have had postpartum anxiety/depression three times now, and I feel like it is …

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Why are mental health questions still allowed on physician job applications?

Helpful tips for your first day at a new hospital

Elizabeth Lumpkin, MD

Physician

February 24, 2016

An excerpt from Road Warrior Physician: Locum Tenens a How-to Guide.

There are few things that are more frustrating than to be delayed while en route to your assignment. It happens, so be prepared for it. Keep all travel emergency contact numbers handy. This is one of my prime Evernote …

Should you have a precolonoscopy visit? The answers may surprise you.

Frederick Gandolfo, MD

Conditions

February 23, 2016

Your primary care doctor has been nagging you for years. Your wife and brother seem to be in on the scheme too. Every once and a while one of your coworkers even says (with a chuckle) “C’mon Bob, you’re fifty-seven, you really need to get it done!”

“OK, enough,” you finally say, “I’ll go for a colonoscopy!” So at your next visit you ask your primary doctor how to set it …

Why daughters need their fathers

Meg Meeker, MD

Physician

February 23, 2016

Men, we need you.

We — mothers, daughters, and sisters — need your help in raising healthy young women. We need every ounce of masculine courage and wit you own because a father, more than anyone else, sets the course for a daughter’s life.

After more than 20 years of listening to daughters — and doling out antibiotics, antidepressants, and stimulants to girls who have gone without a father’s love — I …

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Why daughters need their fathers

Tips to rank your match list. Here’s how this medical student did it.

Jennifer Adaeze Anyaegbunam

Education

February 22, 2016

As an early third year medical student, I had a few attending physicians tell me that MD stands for “make decisions.” I find myself subject to these sorts of pep talks when I answer their clinical questions with a response influenced by a high pitched vocal inflection that suggests that I’m uncertain.

For example, while being pimped on the next step in managing a patient, I might have responded with a …

A physician aces his USMLE and ABIM board exams. Here are his tips for success.

Farokh Jamalyaria, MD

Education

February 21, 2016

In this article, I’ll discuss a medicine-specific strategy that many of my physician colleagues and I have used over the years to learn dense, complicated information quickly and effectively, and to do well on board exams.

These are the two most important tenets of studying for a medical board examination:

1. Find the highest-yield information and memorize it cold. With active methods such as mnemonics, teaching others, lecturing “to the wall,” writing notes …

The questionable competency of today’s medical and surgical residents

Gary B. Nackman, MD

Education

February 21, 2016

What does it mean to be competent at something? Competency may be defined as the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. When it comes to determining if a physician is competent in his profession, no one, board, no organization, no government, no residency training program or hospital actually will state that an individual is competent. There are significant legal ramifications to declaring someone as competent to practice medicine, and …

Who is responsible for OR delays? And what can we do about them?

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

Physician

February 17, 2016

Every two or three years, someone, usually a hospital administrator, decides that delays in operating room turnover time need to be looked into. A committee of 20 or 30 stakeholders (love that term) is appointed and assigns someone the job of measuring the time between cases and identifying reasons for delays. In years when turnover time is not being studied, first case starting delays are on the agenda.

In my nearly …

This is what I’m wearing instead of a white coat

Kristin Prentiss Ott, MD

Physician

February 16, 2016

Hospitals are places of long-standing hierarchies where some people are made to feel important and others … not so much. A long time ago, I was told nurses used to stand when a white coat walked into a room. (Imagine that now. Laugh. Snort. Choke. Cough.) In those days, in the patient care setting, white coats were synonymous with importance.

These days, non-clinical hospital administrators, various technicians, and Clinique make-up counter …

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a hero. Here’s why.

John Schumann, MD

Physician

February 16, 2016

I have a new hero. Her name is Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH.

Dr. Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician in Flint, Michigan. She grew up in a suburb of Detroit. She graduated from the University of Michigan before attending medical school at Michigan State University. During her clinical years (the 3rd and 4th years of medical school), she spent many months at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, which serves as a clinical training site …

We want access to safe and effective Avastin. Here’s a solution.

Robert Wong, MD

Conditions

February 15, 2016

Recently, two states in India halted all use of Avastin for the treatment of eye disease following the report of 15 patients who underwent emergency surgery for potentially blinding infections at the C.H. Nagri Municipal Eye Hospital in Ahmedabad. Though further investigations are ongoing, there is worry that the cluster of infections centered around a tainted lot of compounded Avastin. This most recent event serves as a reminder of …

Maybe God made teenagers difficult so we can let them go

Claire McCarthy, MD

Physician

February 15, 2016

It happens each time one of my children enters the teenage years (sometimes a little bit before). I go from having a lovely child and feeling like a reasonably pleasant parent to having a moody houseguest and becoming a shrew.

You’d think, having gone through this now four times, that I’d figure out how to avoid it. Or that I’d expect it. Or not let it bother me so much. Nope. …

The games drug companies play can dramatically raise costs for patients

Rob Lamberts, MD

Physician

February 14, 2016

I had a patient last week who was a real pain in the ass. Wait. No. He was actually a really nice guy. He wasn’t a pain in the ass; he had a real pain in the ass. Literally.

I was initially concerned about a pilonidal cyst, given the unfortunate fact that he was previously afflicted with this condition (which I consider to be incontrovertible proof of Satan). But, fortunately to …

A psychiatrist shares her 5 secrets to love

Vanita Braver, MD

Conditions

February 14, 2016

As a mother of three daughters, I frequently find myself singing along to the catchy tunes of Taylor Swift. Singer, songwriter, and overall superstar Taylor Swift is famous for penning undeniably captivating love songs. She is popular not only because she has the voice of an angel, a cutting edge look, and a fierce attitude, but also because she is honest and real. Taylor has an uncanny ability to put …

I left medical school for a startup. Here’s why I went back.

Gina Siddiqui

Education

February 13, 2016

Last May, I reflected on my path from medical school to starting a health tech company in San Francisco. In an environment which fetishizes the “dropout founder,” I always met perplexment when I said I planned on returning to medical school. Now that graduation day is around the corner, I thought I’d shed light on my choice for clinical practice and what I learned on the other side.

Medical …

Can we truly heal another if we can’t heal ourselves?

Dr. Eunice J. Minford

Physician

February 12, 2016

“Liver Transplant Surgeon Addicted to Alcohol” — reads like a headline from a tabloid paper selling sensationalism.

How could it be?

How could a liver transplant surgeon, someone who sees up close and personal the devastating effects of alcohol on the body, be addicted to alcohol? Surely the diseased, fibrosed, hard, shrunken cirrhotic livers with dilated and engorged veins that can rupture and bleed catastrophically; the yellow eyes and skin of the …

Is there any hope for physician-only anesthesia groups?

Karen S. Sibert, MD

Physician

February 12, 2016

Today is a remarkable day for me. I’m officially leaving private practice after almost 18 years, to return to academic medicine with a faculty position in a highly regarded California department of anesthesiology.

Why would I do that?

There are many positive reasons. I believe in the teaching mission of academic medicine: to train the anesthesiologists of the future, and the scientists who will advance medical care. I enjoy teaching. The years …

Vaginal marijuana for menstrual cramps. Does it really work?

Jennifer Gunter, MD

Meds

February 11, 2016

Foria wants you to know they are selling vaginal suppositories of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) called Fiora Relief for menstrual cramps. Each suppository contains 60 mg of THC and 10 mg of CBD.

Foria claims they can treat the pain of menstrual cramps and endometriosis. Is this possible?

THC and cannabidiol (CBD) are compounds found in marijuana. The psychoactive (i.e., high) from marijuana is believed to be due to …

A quantitative analysis of the first year of internal medicine residency

Peggy Bui, MD, MBA

Education

February 11, 2016

In a few weeks, thousands of medical students find out where they have matched for residency. I still remember the excitement and anxiety of peeling back that envelope and hoping I would see my top choice. My medical school had a tradition of putting each 4th year’s name in an old doctor’s bag. One by one, our dean would pull out a name, the student would contribute $1 to the …

Listen to this doctor’s advice to medical students

Susan Hecker, MD

Education

February 9, 2016

It’s been six years since I graduated from internal medicine residency. Enough time to give me some perspective, but short enough to still remember the highs and lows vividly. I recently had the opportunity to talk with a bright and energetic group of medical students. (Really, though, is there any other kind?)

The conversation turned to any advice that I had or maybe I felt obligated to give some as part …