What I learned from Kobe Bryant as a parent, coach, and doctor

Physician
March 2, 2020

I’m still coming to terms with the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and the seven others killed in the helicopter crash.

Kobe was not just a superstar on the court. He was a dedicated father and community leader whose compassion, patience, and heart of service shone in every action.

To honor this amazing man, I want to share the lessons I learned from his Mamba Mentality that I …

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What I learned from Kobe Bryant as a parent, coach, and doctor

Our seniors deserve better. It’s time we all paid more attention.

Conditions and Diseases
March 2, 2020

Most Canadians are familiar with nursing homes or long-term care facilities that provide 24-hour care to seniors who are no longer able to care for themselves independently – but we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about them. Given our rapidly aging population, and the likelihood that someone we love, or maybe even ourselves, will be living there one day, maybe we should.

What might surprise …

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Our seniors deserve better. It’s time we all paid more attention.

What it’s like to take a MPH gap year

Medical Education
March 2, 2020

It has been nearly seven months since I made the decision to take a year off from medical school to pursue a master’s of public health (MPH) degree in Baltimore and nearly eleven months since I last saw a patient. From attending a Public Citizen workshop on access to pharmaceuticals to competing in my first business case competition to meeting several members of Congress to brushing up on my gym …

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What it’s like to take a MPH gap year

What can a doctor do to build confidence?

Physician
March 1, 2020

The journey in medicine is a journey of goal setting. Doctors set goals all the time. We set the goal to become a doctor and then strive to achieve it. Once we decide on the chosen specialty, we set the goal for the residency training program we hope to match into, and we strive to achieve that. Match Day can be a day of great celebration for some, while it’s …

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What can a doctor do to build confidence?

Too many scans is bad medicine

Conditions and Diseases
March 1, 2020

A medical diagnostic company recently posted the following tweet: “The best way to beat cancer is early detection. A full-body scan will provide you with a look inside your body and peace of mind.”

I wanted to type a reply, but I like to tell stories, and Twitter will only allow 280 characters.

***

A young woman sits on the examining table. Texting. As I approach her, she dangles her legs and checks …

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Too many scans is bad medicine

Should nurse practitioners complete medical residencies?

Physician
March 1, 2020

About three months ago, something awful happened. The oncology nurse practitioner (NP) whom I trained for the past two years in my subspecialty decided to seek employment elsewhere in order to have a more flexible work schedule.

My team and I lamented we had a going-away dinner to say thank you for her work. And for the next three months, I trudged through my days in a busy oncology clinic, seeing …

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Should nurse practitioners complete medical residencies?

Being like squid is easy. Don’t be one.

Physician
March 1, 2020

Squid and other cephalopods have the amazing ability to change the color of their skin. In an instant, they can blend into their environment, matching the landscape perfectly to avoid detection. In contrast, they can turn a bright iridescent hue to warn predators or, in some circumstances, to attract a mate.

They do this in a rather complex way. Squid, cuttlefish, and octopus have special cells called Read more…

Being like squid is easy. Don’t be one.

A letter to her daughter: 8 things I learned from being a doctor and a mother

Physician
February 29, 2020

My dearest daughter,

Life is unpredictable. In case I won’t be around one day, here are things I learned from being a doctor and a mother that can guide you always.

1. New level. New devil!

There will never be a time outside of death that life will stand still. Embrace change and know that as soon as you accomplish one goal, you will need new goals and challenges to continue to grow …

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A letter to her daughter: 8 things I learned from being a doctor and a mother

A peek behind that 8-minute $300 doctor visit

Physician
February 29, 2020

If you or a loved one has ever been hospitalized, by day two or three of your hospital stay, you likely remember the doctor visiting you every day but not staying more than seven or eight minutes or 10 to 15 minutes max.

It may have felt like he or she was just “dropping by and laying eyes on you.” A month or two later, you get a bill with the …

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A peek behind that 8-minute $300 doctor visit

When a patient planned to kill a social worker

Conditions and Diseases
February 29, 2020

It all began on Valentine’s Day when I arrived at my office and listened to my messages from the afternoon before. There was only one from a nurse at the state mental hospital. She had just seen, she said, a Mr. Lonnie M. and was calling to alert me (there is a law to this effect) that Lonnie had expressed very hostile feelings toward me, quite specific in nature.

He planned …

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When a patient planned to kill a social worker

COVID-19 will expose EMTALA and the physician shortage

Conditions and Diseases
February 29, 2020

Coronavirus, a.k.a. COVID-19, is lurking on the edges of the United States.  What it will do here has yet to be seen.  I was initially very concerned since I work on the front lines in community emergency medicine.  For the last week or so, I have felt a little better after reading several articles. I suspect it will not have a high lethality among otherwise healthy individuals.  But I’m no …

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COVID-19 will expose EMTALA and the physician shortage

I struggle with my pride in the profession and fear of the health care system

Physician
February 29, 2020

I believe in the practice of medicine and enjoy teaching others this amazing art.  However, after experiencing nine months of interactions through medicine as the daughter of a sick patient, I struggle with my pride in the profession and fear of the health care system.

My mother would proudly tell all her physicians that her daughter was a doctor. I knew she was proud, but I didn’t believe in using my …

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I struggle with my pride in the profession and fear of the health care system

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The most important aspect to a young doctor’s financial plan

Physician Finance
February 28, 2020

In a young physician’s life, financially speaking, the single most important aspect to financial well-being has nothing to do with money; it has nothing to do with investments; it has nothing to do with budgeting and saving. I think financial advisors and financial planners sometimes miss the mark on what’s really important.

What does it take to be a doctor? I started dating my wife exactly one month before she started …

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The most important aspect to a young doctor’s financial plan

Doctor, how do you define your days?

Physician
February 28, 2020

During a particularly long stretch of being on call, of spending my days caring for patients, documenting in the EMR, and sleeping – I was spent. I felt like a horrible doctor.

The blooper reel of my medical misadventures ran through my mind – the patient who decompensated before I got to the room, the emergent decision I made, and later regretted, the moments where my patience and compassion waned amidst …

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Doctor, how do you define your days?

Supporters of Obamacare should consider this Trump proposal

Health Policy
February 28, 2020

Readers of my articles know that no one has been more critical of Obamacare’s flaws––particularly over the impact the program has had on middle-class consumers in the individual health insurance market.

And, readers already know that no one has been more supportive of the Medicaid expansion from the very beginning.

Now, the Trump administration wants to give states the option to abolish the open-ended federal funding of Medicaid via fixed block grants …

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Supporters of Obamacare should consider this Trump proposal

As the coronavirus spreads, should unvaccinated people be allowed to fly?

Conditions and Diseases
February 28, 2020

As the coronavirus spreads, the nation’s leading health official told a Senate committee on Feb. 25 that “we cannot hermetically seal off the United States to a virus.”

The comments from Alex Azar II, head of Health and Human Services, heightened concerns about the effects of the coronavirus in the U.S., which so far has sickened a relatively small number – 57 – of people in the …

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As the coronavirus spreads, should unvaccinated people be allowed to fly?

The problems with testing for novel coronavirus

Conditions and Diseases
February 28, 2020

Just weeks into the federal government’s efforts to contain the novel coronavirus, a new California case has exposed weaknesses in the testing procedures that could be masking more widespread reach of the disease.

A woman in Solano County, California, who hadn’t traveled abroad or had contact with another known patient with the illness was diagnosed with the virus Wednesday, raising concerns that cases are going undetected because of the federal government’s narrow …

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The problems with testing for novel coronavirus

How businesses are handling COVID-19

Conditions and Diseases
February 28, 2020

Chances are, if you work for a large company, you received an email like one sent to Volkswagen employees Monday: Coronavirus concerns mean some limits on business travel, everyone should remember to “wash your hands frequently” and stay home if sick.

As the viral illness, dubbed COVID-19, continues to spread, some employers are canceling conferences and limiting travel, checking supplies, and dusting off their emergency preparedness plans, just as they have …

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How businesses are handling COVID-19

Core values were key to reclaiming my physician identity

Physician
February 28, 2020

My identity crisis attempted its first appearance five years ago. I had decided to leave my job as a psychiatrist in an outpatient, community-based practice. My professional role had become incongruent with the doctor I had envisioned becoming. In my misalignment, I had lost clarity in my identity as a physician. I was frustrated and felt ineffective and disconnected from my work.

I suspected that some of my colleagues were struggling …

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Core values were key to reclaiming my physician identity

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