An excerpt from NERVE: Surviving Medical Madness.
“There are moments which mark your life. Moments when you realize nothing will ever be the same and time is divided into two parts, before this and after this.”
— N. Kazan
It was a peaceful, uneventful drive—until it wasn’t. My husband and I flipped to the local news radio station and heard them discussing an extreme weather event just as we looked straight ahead …
In 2017, amidst the routine of caregiving for my elderly father, I experienced a sudden and unexpected turn of events that brought me face to face with an undeniable truth: the importance of knowing and listening to our bodies. I slipped on a carpet and broke my ankle while pushing my father forward in his wheelchair. It was a moment that not only challenged my preconceptions but also illuminated a …
As a physician and digital health practitioner, I have seen firsthand the challenges of ineffective patient education and the immense potential for technology to revolutionize how we inform, engage, and empower patients in their health journeys. Imagine a future where every patient, regardless of their language, cultural background, or health literacy level, can receive tailored, engaging, and easily understandable video content that empowers them to manage their health effectively. This …
We had been meeting for a number of months when she posed the question. We met in person one time, but other than that single appointment, all of our meetings were virtual. She had metastatic cancer. She didn’t actually want to know that her cancer had returned. The metastatic disease had been found when they couldn’t complete her colonoscopy and ordered a scan to see why. She helped me understand …
I read in a dusty novel that a famous pirate said there are no legacies in this life. Our lives, he said, float atop a fickle sea, and when we die, nothing remains. Many hands work the decks and, in the process, are worn, discarded, and forgotten. The sea gives, and eventually, she flushes the flotsam, leaving no monuments to souls and their adventures.
Well, this is not entirely true. And, …
Health care technology has a long history of getting it wrong. The electronic health record (EHR) boom of the late 2000s was a remarkable transformation — taking our sector from paper charts to computers in a matter of just a few years. Unfortunately, most of the technology that was so feverishly adopted was developed without clinical input and with a focus on medical reimbursement and policy-compliance checklists over medical care. …
A windy, bumpy road led my family into Costa Rica’s remote Nicoya Peninsula, one of the world’s five so-called Blue Zones. Our arrival in 2021 satisfied a wish I had made while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer to visit this fascinating, biodiverse region where people are documented to live healthier, longer lives.
I have taught my students in the lifestyle medicine program at Metropolitan State University in Denver about the literature …
As a behavioral neurologist and professor in the departments of neurology, psychiatry, and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania, my research focuses on using noninvasive brain stimulation technologies to help people with cognitive problems due to neurological disorders. I also study human cognition with the goal of better understanding how different parts of the brain work in order to help people preserve their brain health and cognition …
Shortly after publishing a book, I received what seemed like a promising film adaptation offer from a reputable-sounding company. Despite initial excitement, I discovered it was a sophisticated scam. This experience taught me to stay vigilant and verify unsolicited offers—not only book and movie deals but any business promise that appeals to your ego and seems like a get-rich-quick scheme.
Many accounts similar to mine have been reported on the internet. …
The evolving health care landscape presents a growing demand for skilled providers. To meet this challenge, health care leaders must prioritize innovation and explore solutions that leverage existing resources to deliver the high-quality care that patients deserve.
The U.S. health care system faces a looming crisis: a critical shortage of clinicians. The Health Resources and Service Administration predicts a shortfall of nearly 140,000 physicians by 2036. Compounding this issue, a …
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It is time to consider a blend of paper and electronic records. Paper records will not remain relevant forever, nor will electronic records remain infallible. The purpose of any record is to ensure that the past is preserved. If the past is lost, the present feels weakened. However, this sense of weakness arises only when the present constantly relies on the past. What if there were no past to refer …
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We dive into the evolving landscape of health care entrepreneurship with our guest, Tod Stillson, a family physician and entrepreneur. Tod shares his journey from traditional employment to establishing his own single-member professional …
I think the greatest quality in humans that makes them far superior to other creatures is the ability to think and act on their own free will. But there is another ability that makes us unique: the gift of feeling emotions and the capacity to love.
Unconditional love makes you a kid. I feel as if it deprives you of your cognitive ability to judge someone. It clouds your vision to …
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We have a big problem in this country. A recent poll found that half of U.S. physicians are still burned out. When Medscape surveyed 9,000 physicians across 29 specialties this year, they found that 49% of physicians report being burned out, and 20% report they are depressed. Physicians in front-line specialties who deliver primary care continue to be the most often affected.
A higher prevalence of female doctors (56%) report …
In my personal life and my training as a physician, the burden of “trying to never be wrong” was a mantle I was accustomed to carrying. In retrospect, it was probably a fusion of people-pleasing and perfectionist tendencies. Part of this character trait is having a fix-it mentality. Everything that was not working according to my plan should be fixed. If my patient is sick, I need to find out …
U.S. allopathic medical school applications have skyrocketed, with over 60,000 applications in 2021, a nearly 100 percent increase in applicants over the past decade. Despite modest increases in the number of medical schools and class sizes, the result has been an ever-declining acceptance rate, with less than 38 percent of applicants accepted in 2021. Hopeful pre-med students pour over the grievously limited data available through the AAMC (Association of American …
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