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How I share my creativity with others in medicine

Physician

May 3, 2019

The creative platform Lyrical Mezzanine (@LyricalMezz) aims to nurture resilience or resiliency in clinicians, caregivers, patients, chaplains, family members, friends, scientists, teachers, and others — and to combat burnout simultaneously. I created the platform out of a need to profoundly process responses to experiences in medicine and science and to share the essence of those complex thought processes with others.

A mezzanine is usually considered a …

How to spot a narcissistic doctor

Leanne Rowe, MD

Physician

May 3, 2019

How is it possible that endemic bullying persists in medicine despite myriad initiatives to improve awareness, mutual respect and medical culture?

In some cases, we can blame health systems issues, such as medical workforce shortages, lack of funding and unsafe hours. But in other cases, we must take collective responsibility for failing to hold individual doctors to account for their damaging behaviors.

Most doctors readily change after being counseled about poor social …

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How to spot a narcissistic doctor

A patient’s frustrating prior authorization journey

Leslie G. Bank, PT

Patient

May 2, 2019

My experience trying to obtain the drug prescribed by my rheumatologist is a cautionary tale. This is not about whether the doctor ordered it, or how the specialty pharmacy (CVS) must wait for approval from the insurer before filling the prescription, but the fact the patient who resides and waits at the end of the line, me, is treated not as a person in need, but an expense. In my …

Stop the anti-doctor media bias

Rebekah Bernard, MD

Physician

May 2, 2019

The April 18, 2019 CNN headline was a prime example of clickbait: “Feds charge doctors in 8 states in opioid bust, including ‘Rock Doc’ accused of trading pills for sex.”

The only problem with this headline? Of the 60 individuals charged, half were not physicians. More importantly, Jeffrey Young, the so-called “Rock Doc” who prescribed nearly 1.5 million pills of opioids and benzos often in exchange for …

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Stop the anti-doctor media bias

We need a Hippocratic Oath for administrators

Mark Borden, MD

Health Policy

May 2, 2019

The biggest change in medical practice that has occurred during my 25 years as a physician is the open acceptance of physician employment. Compared to this change, the ACA, EMRs, “Gorillacillins,” and the latest sepsis protocol, combined, aren’t even worth mentioning.

Physician employment was, and is, obviously an intrinsically flawed structure that was considered absolutely unacceptable for obvious reasons for the entire history of medical practice! Now, suddenly physician employment is …

When physicians are cyberbullied: an interview with ZDoggMD

Monique Tello, MD

Social Media in Medicine

May 2, 2019

Pseudoscience hate groups of all kinds are targeting physicians who openly advocate for public health issues. This is a favorite intimidation tactic used by anti-vaccine activists: When pediatrician colleague Jen Trachtenberg posted a video for National Immunization Awareness Month 2018, she was blasted with thousands of horrible comments and fake online reviews. I wrote a blog post in her defense, and immediately, I was similarly targeted, …

New medical students: Here are 10 tips for success

Erica Feldman

Medical Education

May 2, 2019

1. Stop comparing yourself to others. You got into medical school, that is an extraordinary achievement. Whatever you have done so far has worked, you already have proven your intelligence and study habits. You need to trust that you are capable of succeeding in medical school. Every student has different study habits, and different things work for everyone. Just because your classmate is pulling an all-nighter before an exam doesn’t …

“I earned it. I’m proud of it. I am a doctor.”

Laura Beaty, MD

Physician

May 2, 2019

I follow a Facebook group of physician moms. We share and offer feedback on everything from a clinical puzzle to a frustrating patient encounter, and we offer our tricks for how to find balance in a crazy medical life. I’ve seen several recent posts about women being called Mrs. even when it is known they are a physician. Most recently there was a long post where a female physician at …

AI in medicine: Separate hype from reality

Kathryn Peper, MD

Health Technology

May 1, 2019

As a physician trying to keep up with all the new information about artificial intelligence, I want to know how machine learning and deep learning are impacting medicine now and to separate the hype from reality. Here’s a look at some ways AI is being used successfully in health care and some ways it is not.

AI has been validated for use in interpreting medical scans, pathology slides, and reading electrocardiograms. …

A physician’s path leads her to a struggle in the NICU

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

May 1, 2019

Medicine was my path. I’d decided that early in life before I knew what a career in medicine really looked like. I believed as a doctor, I could help people and have a positive impact on their lives. After all, what does a teenager know about being a doctor?

I’m not a teenager anymore. Here I am at 3 a.m. in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the bedside of …

Health care professionals who fast and celebrate the month of Ramadan

Nasir Malim, MD, MPH

Medical Education

May 1, 2019

Although I’m still relatively early in my journey through medicine, it is still notable when a more mundane task becomes a moment I cannot forget. After seeing dozens of colonoscopies for a couple of weeks, I remember one particular patient, who after completing his procedure very joyfully told me while eating crackers and drinking juice that this was the moment he had been looking forward to the most.

Over the past …

Digital health and artificial intelligence provide solutions to the global crisis in surgical care

Anonymous

Health Technology

May 1, 2019

In many countries around the world, women giving birth still face substantial risks to their own lives and that of their baby. Women travel for days to reach facilities that are understaffed, unsafe, and unequipped to provide life-saving surgical care. They are pushed into financial catastrophe as a result of paying for surgical care, if they are able to afford it all, and they return home with little support in …

Don’t blame Chasidim, or anyone, for not vaccinating. Understand their reasons.

Zackary Berger, MD, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

May 1, 2019

“Let’s ask Ben Shapiro to come speak,” the nurse practitioner said. “He’s popular.” “Or we can mention the ten plagues, since Passover is coming up,” offered a pediatrician. They were talking about countering anti-vaccine propaganda among ultra-Orthodox Jews, and they were brainstorming with a hint of desperation.

Trying not to obstruct women in strollers and men on the way from morning prayer, I had made it to this conference room in …

America’s broken health care system is killing our doctors

Gary Price, MD

Physician

May 1, 2019

In today’s health care system, we as physicians find ourselves frustrated by inefficient EHRs, heavy patient workloads and complex regulatory burdens. Our cumbersome health care system has led to high rates of dissatisfaction among our fellow physicians, and more dire, high rates of suicide.

The physician suicide epidemic has many grasping for solutions. Even more so, the debate has arisen, are we suffering from “moral injury” or “burnout?” The debate revolves …

Teenage suicide: trouble in a virtual paradise

Michael Brant-Zawadzki, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 30, 2019

It’s not just someone obsessed by Columbine. Last year, a seemingly normal teen was found dead from suicide in a Corona del Mar park. Just a few weeks ago, a young man walked into a local South County fast food joint, then into the restroom, where he was found hung. Another was found dead on the grounds of an Aliso Viejo school. A few days later, the school parent open …

Telehealth education: What do we actually need for our clinical practice?

Aditi U. Joshi, MD

Health Technology

April 30, 2019

As we go through our careers, we are given the responsibility of educating the next generation of students and residents to become proficient and competent in medicine. In telehealth, which also requires training my colleagues, is it necessary? If so, what should be part of it? Part of the equivocation with this question of creating telehealth education is at the core of the practice: since I strongly stress that telehealth …

Move quickly because Parkinson’s builds slowly

Sandeep Thakkar, DO

Conditions and Diseases

April 30, 2019

When a patient comes to me long after he or she suspects that something is amiss, I tell them, “I understand.” I know why they had ignored their tremors for too long. I understand why they had dismissed their balance issues as insignificant.

Depictions of Parkinson’s disease in popular culture are grim, and nobody wants to be told that they have a disorder that is associated with loss of motor skills …

A nurse willing to forgive others. And to forgive herself.

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Patient

April 30, 2019

I was 5 years old on a busy New York City street with my mom, dad, and two sisters. A large man in shabby clothes holding a garbage bag in his hand stood on the corner waiting for the light to change.

My dad reached into his wallet and handed the stranger a $20 bill, patted him on the shoulder, and said, “Have a good day, my man.”

Dad knew everybody — …

The problem with these specific words in health care

John Corsino, DPT

Health Policy

April 30, 2019

Words are powerful. So few symbols can evoke such deep feelings and rouse incredible emotion: “I have a dream.” Language is the achievement that makes us who we are. But while you, I and everyone else employ the same words to communicate shared ideas, what those words mean precisely to each of us — among the many views and opinions that make us unique individuals — can be very different.

I …

Be mindful of the language we use in medicine

Shannon Casey, PA-C

Health Policy

April 30, 2019

At LGBTQ health conferences, I am always impressed by how much care and consideration is given to providing a safer space for all who are present. For example, the check-in process typically involves a volunteer asking the attendee whether or not they are OK with having their photo taken. Furthermore, a quiet room is usually available if anyone needs to decompress, and attendees are asked to refrain from wearing perfume …

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