Medicine loves a martyr.
From the first white coat ceremony to the last day of residency, we are told a story: That good doctors are tireless, self-sacrificing, endlessly available. That the more you give up—sleep, family, hobbies, sometimes even health—the more worthy you are to wear the title. The message is rarely said aloud, but it’s everywhere: the ones who leave early to pick up their kids are “lucky to be …
An excerpt from A Return to Healing.
Patients often ask me to do whatever tests are necessary to make sure they don’t have cancer or any other really bad diseases. It’s called screening: Look for diseases before patients exhibit symptoms, then fix the problems before they can rear their ugly head. Many of my patients believe that they have had their lives saved this way, always by a caring and …
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Surgeon Suhaib J. S. Ahmad discusses his article, “Why even the best employees are silently quitting health care.” Suhaib explores the phenomenon of highly competent and once-passionate health care professionals disengaging and …
“I look at my baby and I don’t feel a thing,” the patient whispers as she cradles her 3-week-old baby. “I feel so much guilt … sometimes I don’t want to be here at all.” And yet, she is not alone. Her words echo the silent yet growing public health crisis of perinatal mental health.
Approximately 1 in 5 women is affected by mental health conditions during the perinatal period. …
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a physician.
My journey to medicine is not unique. My motivations ring familiar to all health care workers. Many medical students are cut from the same cloth in this regard. We want to help people, to use science to alleviate human suffering, and to push the envelope of medical research. But we also want to earn a living and have …
Many of the physicians we work with are highly disciplined, generous with their time, and deeply committed to their profession. They spend years in training, work demanding hours, and carry an enormous sense of responsibility. Yet even with strong incomes and responsible habits, many still feel uncertain about their long-term financial picture.
The problem is not how much they earn. It is that income alone is not a strategy.
Physicians face unique …
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Medical students Vineeth Amba and Archita Goyal discuss their article, “What’s driving medical students away from primary care?” They share the widespread discouragement medical students encounter regarding primary care careers, despite initial …
Recently, while reading The History of Medicine by William Bynum, I was struck by a line that quietly reframed a great deal of what we claim to believe about our profession. Reflecting on how medicine has evolved, Bynum writes: “When in doubt, remember the Hippocratic injunction that health is most likely to be found in the middle way.”
That notion, nuanced, modest, and deeply clinical, feels worlds apart from …
Why doctors should care
Five core concepts, clinical parallels
When artificial intelligence developers gather to build tools that will reshape health care, one critical voice is often missing: public health.
Despite AI’s potential to improve outcomes and streamline operations, it is being developed with limited regard for public health priorities. The absence of this input is not just a technical oversight. It is an equity issue with far-reaching consequences.
From algorithmic bias to the exclusion of community-level data, equity shortcomings are …
This story is fiction but inspired by the real and worsening challenges faced by international medical graduates navigating U.S. immigration policy.
The acceptance letter sat printed on top of Nabeel Khan’s passport, still warm from the old inkjet printer in his family’s living room in Lahore. The words glowed like prophecy: “Congratulations! We are thrilled to welcome you to our Internal Medicine Residency Program at St. Julian’s Hospital, Topeka, Kansas, …
What would a world without vaccines even look like?
Well, it turns out that we do not have to wonder since accurate historical records allow us to distinctly see and learn for ourselves. This is in keeping with our Secretary of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recent guidance to Do Your Own Research.
What we actually need, individually and as a nation, is clear and consistent science-based advice when it comes …
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Family physician and certified executive leadership coach Lisa Herbert discusses her article, “From burnout to breakthrough: How a coaching culture transforms health care.” Lisa shares her personal journey with physician burnout, a …
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It is said that 57 percent of U.S. doctors receive drugmaker/industry funding and 66 percent of U.S. adults are now on prescription drugs. Any correlation?
Drug ads now cast such a wide “symptom net,” comedian Chris Rock said he expected to hear, “Do you fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning? You might be suffering from ….”
Here are six ways drugmakers hijack U.S. medicine
Diagnosing. Once upon a time …
It was 7:45 a.m., and I stood frozen in the middle of a sidewalk on campus, barely awake undergrads shuffling past me on their way to morning classes. My daily walk to work cut through a part of the university where the college of medicine sits beside student dorms. It is a path I’d tread as a wide-eyed student, a determined trainee, and now, a weary attending. That morning, I …
When people think of electronic health records (EHRs), they assume these digital systems for storing patient information were designed for clinicians. But that is a fallacy. EHRs initially were designed for billing and compliance—and it shows.
Given the original purpose of EHRs, it’s not surprising that clinical workflows are disjointed. The limitations of traditional EHRs have made it more difficult for clinicians to quickly access relevant patient information at the point …
As artificial intelligence gains ground in every aspect of health care, from diagnostics to documentation, an urgent question arises: Are we gaining efficiency at the cost of empathy?
Drawing inspiration from Simon Sinek’s perspective on AI and humanity, this piece explores how health care can embrace innovation without compromising the very heart of medicine.
1. Humanity first, technology second
“I’m not in the AI business. I’m in the humanity business.” – Simon Sinek
AI …
When reviewing poor maternal health outcomes in the U.S., it is clear we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect to make pregnancy safe and healthy for all. A new approach is needed that harnesses the power of molecular advances to bring precision medicine to pregnancy health. Preeclampsia, one of the most dangerous complications in pregnancy, is a disorder of high blood pressure that has eluded the ability to …
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Physician coach and marriage and family therapy graduate student Jillian Rigert discusses her article, “Fear of other people’s opinions nearly killed me. Here’s what freed me.” Jillian shares her harrowing journey through …
Imagine yourself being miserable at work and you have been thinking about quitting for a long time now, but you are just really good at what you do. Your colleagues approached you when they needed advice and even your patients praised and thanked you all the time. Imagine leaving all of this and walking away from years’ worth of hard work.
Initially, you might have felt guilty and isolated for feeling …
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