KevinMD.com

June 30, 2026Jun 30, 2026

I used to hide my smile in photographs. Not because I was shy. Not because I was having a bad day. But because I had convinced myself that my teeth were too big, too much, too visible. I watched people…

I used to hide my smile in photographs.

Not because I was shy. Not because I was having a bad day. But because I had convinced myself that my teeth were too big, too much, too visible. I watched people with smaller, neater teeth and quietly wished mine were different. I kept my lips together in every picture for years.

I am a dental surgery assistant. And for a long time, I …

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Dental fear is not really about pain

Conditions and diseases

What a code blue feels like when CPR fails

Matthew Russell, MD

June 30, 2026Jun 30, 2026

An excerpt from House of Perdition. Ten minutes into the code, and I could already feel the difference. I could feel her broken ribs grind against each other with every compression. The first set of compressions had been stiff, like…

An excerpt from House of Perdition.

Ten minutes into the code, and I could already feel the difference. I could feel her broken ribs grind against each other with every compression. The first set of compressions had been stiff, like trying to force a thick textbook to bend in half, the sternum protecting the heart and lungs. Each compression was unforgiving, and the chest recoiled with a force equivalent to …

Conditions and diseases

The closed door: HIV stigma in clinical training

Max Jared Bajer, RN

June 30, 2026Jun 30, 2026

Her door was always closed. Every other mother on that maternity ward had hers open. You could hear them from the hallway: the soft sounds of newborns, the low voices of partners and grandmothers, the particular exhausted joy of those first hours. Nurses moved in and out freely. Students stopped to peek, to congratulate, to practice the small rituals of care that we were there to learn. The ward had …

Real physician voices, twice a week

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The Podcast by KevinMD

Why physician is not the same as provider [PODCAST]

American College of Physicians & The Podcast by KevinMD

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

Calling a doctor a provider sounds harmless. The American College of Physicians says it isn't. Janet Jokela, former treasurer of the American College of Physicians, professor, and medical educator, discusses the KevinMD article "Physician vs. provider is an ethics issue,…

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Calling a doctor a provider sounds harmless. The American College of Physicians says it isn’t. Janet Jokela, former treasurer of the American College of Physicians, professor, and medical educator, discusses the KevinMD article “Physician vs. provider is an ethics issue, not just style.” She walks through how the word “provider” entered medicine through Medicare in 1965 and ended up …

Conditions and diseases

Moral injury in medicine: the cost of endless accommodation

Eddie Saliba, APRN, FNP-C

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 20262

When the pattern became impossible to ignore A patient came into the office after two or three days of cough, congestion, body aches, and fatigue. Fairly typical upper respiratory symptoms. I offered to test him for COVID. He scoffed and…

When the pattern became impossible to ignore

A patient came into the office after two or three days of cough, congestion, body aches, and fatigue. Fairly typical upper respiratory symptoms. I offered to test him for COVID. He scoffed and dismissively declined any viral testing.

Apparently he already “knew” what this was. According to him, it was “turning into bronchitis,” and what he “needed” was a Z-pack. I explained that after only …

Physician finance

Private equity in direct primary care is winning

Dana Y. Lujan, MBA

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

The independent medicine community celebrated when the numbers dropped. Eighty-three percent growth in practice sites. Seventy-eight percent more clinicians. Conference decks updated overnight. Nobody asked who owns them now. The Health Affairs data is real. The growth is real. What…

The Health Affairs data is real. The growth is real. What the numbers do not show is ownership. And ownership is where the story changes.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Charlesbank Capital Partners, Blue Sea Capital, Shore Capital Partners, and Revelstoke Capital Partners …

Physician voices

What medical regulation can learn from restorative justice

Kayvan Haddadan, MD

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

Medical regulatory agencies play a foundational role in protecting patients and maintaining high professional standards. When rules are applied clearly, consistently, and supportively, they create space for physicians to deliver excellent care while sustaining their own well-being. Yet administrative burdens and process complexities often contribute to stress. A promising solution lies in blending traditional oversight with restorative justice principles and a holistic health lens, approaches that address the whole person …

Physician voices

Physician caregiver burnout and the care tax women carry

Amber K. Brooks, MD

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

I am the first physician in my family. Serving others as a physician and physician researcher is not just my profession, it is my calling. But with that calling comes an unseen responsibility: the weight of caring for those closest…

When my grandmother was dying, I found myself stepping into the role of physician at moments when all I wanted was the space to grieve as …

Conditions and diseases

Why your leaky gut tests aren’t fixing your symptoms

Shiv K. Goel, MD

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

Irene came in for migraines. Thirty-six years old. Elementary school teacher. Already diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. Already scoped twice, endoscopy and colonoscopy both showing diffuse inflammation, gastritis, GERD. Already told she couldn't tolerate GLP-1 medications because of her IBS.…

Irene came in for migraines.

Thirty-six years old. Elementary school teacher. Already diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. Already scoped twice, endoscopy and colonoscopy both showing diffuse inflammation, gastritis, GERD. Already told she couldn’t tolerate GLP-1 medications because of her IBS. She had done her research online and found me.

She seemed, on the surface, like a patient with a well-documented GI history and a headache problem. I almost missed what was actually …

Conditions and diseases

The hidden liability inside continuous patient monitoring

Chinmeri Nwuba

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

Over time, the medical environment has witnessed several happenings that point to an interesting shift in the way patients are monitored. Of late, patients now wear smartwatches that quietly track heart rate variability and oxygen saturation throughout the day. Others rely on a continuous glucose monitor that sends metabolic data to a smartphone in real time. Someone else sleeps with a ring that records temperature, respiratory rate, and patterns …

Health technology

What an EHR migration actually costs in year one

GetPracticeHelp

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

Most physician owners consider switching EHR systems when frustration peaks. Support hold times have crossed an hour. Productivity has dropped enough that two providers are working late three nights a week. The system has felt wrong for at least eighteen months. The decision then forms around the frustration. A new vendor is researched, a demo is scheduled, and a migration is planned for the slow season. What rarely happens is …

Physician voices

Why the physician community is not an insurance product

Esther Yu Smith, MD

June 29, 2026Jun 29, 2026

I recently heard an insurance CEO say at a meeting of our state medical association that "the physician community is our product." What struck me almost as much as the phrase itself was that no one in the room appeared…

I recently heard an insurance CEO say at a meeting of our state medical association that “the physician community is our product.” What struck me almost as much as the phrase itself was that no one in the room appeared to challenge it.

Perhaps the phrase was intended as corporate shorthand for network strength, partnership, or market value. But language matters, especially when it comes from institutions that increasingly control payment, …

Medical education

Why don’t we teach health literacy like driver’s ed?

Shaan R. Mody

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

At some point, you will sit in a waiting room and not know what to say. You will be handed a form asking about your symptoms and realize you cannot describe them precisely enough to feel useful. A physician will ask how long this has been going on, and you will wish you had written it down. You will leave with instructions you mostly understood, a follow-up you are not …

Conditions and diseases

A poem on the doctor-patient relationship and facing fear

Michele Luckenbaugh

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

I sit within four silent walls, Waiting for answers That may never come. The clock moves, The sun rises and falls, Yet the questions remain. Uninvited companions occupying Every corner of the room. What is happening within me? Why does…

I sit within four silent walls,
Waiting for answers
That may never come.
The clock moves,
The sun rises and falls,
Yet the questions remain.
Uninvited companions occupying
Every corner of the room.

What is happening within me?
Why does this pain cling so tightly,
Wrapping itself around muscle, bone,
Thought and spirit?

I try to escape it.
I call upon memories of laughter,
Of loved ones gathered around a table,
Of morning birdsong
And summer breezes moving through trees.

But pain is stubborn.
It follows me there,
Casting …

Physician voices

Treating prisoners in the emergency room without losing me

Veronica Bonales, MD

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

Working as an emergency medicine physician, I come into contact with people on the wrong side of the law regularly. We evaluate local inmates for a variety of complaints such as chest pain, sports injuries, falls, seizures, etc. We also get a number of patients from the back of police cars and the city jail holding center. These come in as requiring “medical clearance for incarceration.” Most of the time, …

Health technology

Can AI defeat death? Physicians need evidence first

Hussain Isma'eel, MD, MHCA

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

While the field of artificial intelligence has existed for decades, the release of OpenAI's large language model (LLM) to consumers provided the propelling boost for AI's widespread adoption. This transformation is evident across nearly every aspect of health care. It…

While the field of artificial intelligence has existed for decades, the release of OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) to consumers provided the propelling boost for AI’s widespread adoption. This transformation is evident across nearly every aspect of health care. It can be seen in the surging number of research publications on AI in medicine and is perhaps felt even more in clinical practice, where patients, physicians, and health care providers …

Conditions and diseases

How to build an ADHD treatment plan beyond medication

Carrie Friedman, NP

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

When a child is diagnosed with ADHD, the conversation is often much narrower. Medication. Maybe a school form. Maybe a vague suggestion to "try therapy." Then parents are sent back into the same exhausted home, the same chaotic mornings, the…

When a child is diagnosed with ADHD, the conversation is often much narrower. Medication. Maybe a school form. Maybe a vague suggestion to “try therapy.” Then parents are sent back into the same exhausted home, the same chaotic mornings, the same homework battles, the same social struggles, the same emotional explosions, and the same school system that often does not know what to do with a child who is bright, …

Health technology

The hidden variable in the physician burnout debate

Oren Fass, MD

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

I suppose I have the same split personality most doctors have toward their careers. There are days I love it. I'm a cataract surgeon, I give people back their vision, and it's almost like having a Marvel superpower. I don't…

I suppose I have the same split personality most doctors have toward their careers. There are days I love it. I’m a cataract surgeon, I give people back their vision, and it’s almost like having a Marvel superpower. I don’t shoot LASIK lasers out of my eyes or sprout scalpels from between my knuckles, but give me an operating microscope and good things will happen to your vision. And then …

Physician voices

You cannot mindfulness your way out of understaffing

DeAnna Pollock, MD

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

Every few months, another wellness initiative arrives in medicine. An email reminds us to prioritize self-care. A flyer advertises resilience workshops. A mandatory lecture explains the signs of burnout and encourages us to seek support before we reach a crisis…

Every few months, another wellness initiative arrives in medicine.

An email reminds us to prioritize self-care. A flyer advertises resilience workshops. A mandatory lecture explains the signs of burnout and encourages us to seek support before we reach a crisis point.

During one of these wellness presentations, my phone buzzed repeatedly with clinical messages while a slide on the screen discussed protecting our emotional reserves. Around me, people answered texts, checked emails, …

Conditions and diseases

Racial bias in schizophrenia diagnosis must end

Timothy Lesaca, MD

June 28, 2026Jun 28, 2026

A young Black woman waits in a psychiatric emergency room. She is grieving, traumatized, and depressed. The clinician, however, describes her as "guarded," "hostile," and "paranoid" in the chart. She leaves with a schizophrenia diagnosis, a prescription for a first-generation…

A young Black woman waits in a psychiatric emergency room. She is grieving, traumatized, and depressed. The clinician, however, describes her as “guarded,” “hostile,” and “paranoid” in the chart. She leaves with a schizophrenia diagnosis, a prescription for a first-generation antipsychotic, and a future shaped by a label she should never have received.

This is not a hypothetical situation. The Harvard Review of Psychiatry documented this case in 2023. She was …

Real physician voices, twice a week

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