In the COVID-19 era, point of care ultrasound has proven invaluable

Conditions and Diseases
August 13, 2020

Amidst the crushing human and economic carnage inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, one innocent bystander has been cowering in the dark corner of medicine’s past, clinging to its final breaths of iconicity: the beloved stethoscope.

For over two centuries, there has been no better physician archetype than the quintessential rubber tube donned confidently over a crisp white coat. This recognizable image has been with us in part since 1816, …

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In the COVID-19 era, point of care ultrasound has proven invaluable

Accountability partnership: a secret ingredient for entrepreneurial success

Physician
August 13, 2020

Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely road.  Everyone dreams of life after a successful round of funds being raised, staff being hired, and plunging headfirst into the making and shipping of widgets.  But there are many days which no one talks about, where a budding entrepreneur must find a way to get ideas from their brain to a whiteboard to a minimum viable product.  In those times, progress can seem elusive, and …

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Accountability partnership: a secret ingredient for entrepreneurial success

Without cadavers in school, will doctors be the same?

Medical Education
August 13, 2020

The Kaiser Permanente’s Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine opened this summer, and its students will not learn anatomy by dissecting a cadaver. Instead, they will don virtual reality headsets and dissect virtual bodies. The school does have a collection of pre-dissected, “plastinated” cadavers, but according to the chair of biomedical sciences students will spend the majority of their time studying electronic …

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Without cadavers in school, will doctors be the same?

The benefits of taking more time away from work far outweigh the consequences

Physician Finance
August 13, 2020

Around 50 percent of physicians are burned out, and many feel trapped in their job. Yet, I have heard it countless times from doctors who were able to cut back to part-time work that when they had more time away from work, they fell back in love with medicine.  Moderation in all things seems to be key here, and I’ve experienced some of that lately myself after a really hard …

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The benefits of taking more time away from work far outweigh the consequences

Coronavirus exposes income-driven health inequality [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 12, 2020
YouTube video

“It’s maddening to see the differences in health outcomes between the rich and the poor. Even more unsettling is reflecting upon the psychological pain accumulated when living in a fad-obsessed materialistic comparison-creating society, the postponed dreams, and the day to day compromise that those with less have to endure – thoughts that may be far removed from the ruminations of the …

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Coronavirus exposes income-driven health inequality [PODCAST]

The success of a COVID-19 vaccine depends on effective scientific communication

Conditions and Diseases
August 12, 2020

One commonality amongst all reporting associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: “unprecedented.” Unprecedented circumstances, unprecedented symptomatology, unprecedented prevalence, and now, unprecedented velocity. “300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021”—the project: Operation Warp Speed.

On January 20, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States; fast forward to July 2020 and the National Institutes of Health …

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The success of a COVID-19 vaccine depends on effective scientific communication

We need rapid tests for a fast virus

Conditions and Diseases
August 12, 2020

Imagine a future where you wake up, go to the bathroom, pick up a small strip of paper, and put it in a tube with your saliva and saline.  By the time you are done with part of your morning routine, within 15 minutes or so, the paper will tell you if that morning, you are positive for the novel coronavirus or not.

And you can do that randomly on any occasion.  …

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We need rapid tests for a fast virus

Lifelong learning through skillful self-reflection

Physician
August 12, 2020

The dictionary definition of learning is “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.” For leaders, the most crucial and common way of learning happens through experience, and as we often say, leadership is flying the plane while building it. Moreover, the onus of making the process of learning an active one is on the leader, and self-reflection is the key to it.

So, what’s self-reflection? …

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Lifelong learning through skillful self-reflection

Doctors show up. Until they won’t anymore.

Physician
August 12, 2020

There are many jobs where people work long and hard. But I will assert that none train as long and hard, and at so much expense, as doctors/surgeons that manage the emergencies for their specialties and take night call, on top of managing a full-time practice.

The key point I am trying to make is that doctors, as a profession, basically agree to “show up.” That is what sets us apart …

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Doctors show up. Until they won’t anymore.

Sleep and the medical profession have an uneasy relationship

Medical Education
August 12, 2020

I have found that sleep and the medical profession have an uneasy relationship.

Physicians, of course, recommend that patients get at least seven hours of sleep each night. But despite dispensing that advice to others, I don’t think I personally know a single doctor who actually sleeps that much, given the demands of providing care, documentation, making time for their loved ones and ruminating on illnesses and treatments for patients who …

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Sleep and the medical profession have an uneasy relationship

How to manage pandemic anxiety [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 11, 2020
YouTube video

“Since the coronavirus outbreak, reports of anxiety have increased, especially among physicians. Physicians face numerous stressors, including fears of contracting the coronavirus, concerns about potentially infecting loved ones, PPE shortages, testing delays, and frequently making quick decisions with limited information.

Common symptoms of anxiety are increased worrying about one’s self and/or loved ones, difficulty sleeping, difficulty eating, poor concentration, increased heart rate, …

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How to manage pandemic anxiety [PODCAST]

A message for health care workers: Be kind to yourself

Physician
August 11, 2020

I was reading this article in the New York Times about Dr. Lorna Breen, and it literally took my breath away. This awful pandemic has claimed so many lives, in so many different ways.

Sadly, it made me think of a medical school classmate of mine who took his own life a few years ago. He arranged for this to post to Facebook:

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A message for health care workers: Be kind to yourself

A call for a moratorium on the sale of inhalable products

Conditions and Diseases
August 11, 2020

The work of our lungs is absolutely essential for the health of our bodies. While the whole world is focusing on protecting our lungs from failing us during the COVID-19 pandemic, we urge a moratorium on the sale of all inhalable products, like cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, vape pens, and respectfully request current smokers to try to quit. We are physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, concerned for patients …

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A call for a moratorium on the sale of inhalable products

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Fascia in primary care: When chest pain is not in your chest

Conditions and Diseases
August 11, 2020

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
– Albert Einstein

“Mr. Thomas, are you OK? Sir, are you OK?”  It was a full clinic day, and I had just improvised a treatment on him.

I had met this patient, “Mr. Thomas,” only once before.  After meeting me …

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Fascia in primary care: When chest pain is not in your chest

3 ways the wealthy increase their net worth

Physician Finance
August 11, 2020

While the coronavirus pandemic has created financial strain for a lot of low-income and middle-class Americans, many wealthy people don’t seem to be as affected. The stock market is doing relatively well, and many of the world’s richest people are getting even richer. How is that even possible, you may ask? Here are three main reasons the rich are getting richer.

1. They create their own business. Instead of having a …

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3 ways the wealthy increase their net worth

Doctors: Never pass judgment on the human being in front of you needing help

Physician
August 11, 2020

Oh, how we all learn and change with our experiences. It’s one of the greatest things in life that most of us (hopefully) are not the same person now that we were a few years ago. Looking back to when I first become a physician at the age of 22 (yes, that’s the typical age that most medical students across the world become doctors, because medical school comes straight after …

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Doctors: Never pass judgment on the human being in front of you needing help

Gender inequities and being a physician-mom [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 10, 2020
YouTube video

“As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds day by day at an exponential rate, we as doctors have been called to duty in unprecedented ways. Speak with any physician in the last few weeks, and you will be hard-pressed to find one who didn’t feel an intrinsic obligation- indeed, wish- to rise to the occasion with an all-hands-on-deck attitude, despite the taxing and …

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Gender inequities and being a physician-mom [PODCAST]

Personal development and growth during COVID times

Physician
August 10, 2020

As a physician and proponent of introspection, inner work, and self-awareness as integral components of health, wellness, and spiritual development. I watched with intrigue the dramatic increase in the number of COVID-19 related articles, social media posts, and videos purporting to offer solutions for these troubled times. They professed to teach people how to fight fear, manage anxiety, cope with grief, and/or overcome unpleasant emotions. This onslaught reflected a pervasive …

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Personal development and growth during COVID times

The first day of medical training during a pandemic

Medical Education
August 10, 2020

The faculty and staff welcome us warmly. They know each of our names as we walk through the door, and further conversation reveals that they have also studied the short biographical sketches we sent in last month. We are reassured – we belong here. I scan the atrium for students I might have seen at my interview. This is the first time I have been back here since that day, …

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The first day of medical training during a pandemic

Doctors are fleeing the medical field. Here’s why.

Physician
August 10, 2020

The first day I started work as an attending physician in primary care medicine, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. This was not the heroic, selfless, service-oriented job or the romantic life “as seen on TV” I had imagined.

Riddled with heavy school debt, despite my best efforts to join debt relief programs, I had a frustrating job with nothing but red tape and hurdles to jump over. And …

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Doctors are fleeing the medical field. Here’s why.

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