Many people look at their 401(k) like it is a piggy bank. Since they often don’t have any other savings, when they need a lump sum of money for a large purchase, the only account they have with a decent balance is their retirement account.
Since most people are not saving outside of their retirement plan, many people end up with an empty checking account, an empty savings account, no emergency …
Your 401(k) is not a piggy bank
There are only three valid reasons to file an extension on your taxes, which changes your required filing date from April 15th to October 15th. Unfortunately, I see many people who have filed an extension incorrectly or for the wrong reason that end up getting billed by the IRS for interest and penalties. There is no reason anyone should have to pay penalties for late tax filing since correctly filing for …
These are the only 3 reasons to file a tax extension
Can someone please tell me the exact moment when fleece pajama bottoms became the fashion sensibility of America?
I can’t pinpoint the moment exactly, but several years ago I began to notice that many of our ER patients were presenting for treatment wearing nice fluffy fleece bottoms. Men. Women. Old. Young. These fleece bottoms seemed to be enjoyed by a variety of the population. Most of these earlier bottoms for the …
Fleece pajama bottoms in the ER
Health products are increasingly moving from the realm of the medical professional to the consumer. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) versions of teeth alignment kits, genetic tests, hearing aids, heart-rhythm monitors, neurostimulation devices, and mental health tools are already on the market, causing professional organizations of dentists, geneticists, audiologists, cardiologists, neurologists, and Read more…
5 ways to address the issues of direct-to-consumer health products
One day while on shift in the emergency department, I looked out into the waiting room at the dozens of people waiting to be seen. Many had been waiting for hours. Some looked bored. Others appeared agitated by the long wait time. One thing that nearly all of them had in common, though, was the presence of a smartphone within arms reach. I wondered, rather than spending their time mindlessly …
Could patients be their own scribes?
There is still a lot we don’t know about cancer. A diagnosis or even the thought of a future diagnosis can be scary. And what about your cancer risk? Many patients ask me “If a close family member has cancer, does that mean I will too?”
Through hereditary cancer assessments, we are now able to give patients insight into their potential cancer risk and help ease their worries by offering preventative …
5 things you may not know about cancer risk
If you’re like me, or one of the millions of med students with student loan debt, you need a plan on how to repay it. Learning about the different loan servicers, repayment plans, and complex financial terms can be a bit daunting. As a graduating med student, I understand your plight. Here are some simple steps to help you tackle your student loan debt:
Step 1: Figure out how much student loan …
6 steps to tackle student loan debt in residency
Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer don’t die of the disease. Between 2011 and 2015, 112.6 per 100,000 men per year were diagnosed with prostate cancer in the U.S., but only 19.5 per 100,000 men per year died of the disease over that same period of time. That is still far too many deaths. But the huge disparity between deaths and diagnoses arises in large part from overdiagnosis of prostate …
Screening elderly men for prostate cancer: More harm than good?
We do most of our colonoscopies in our ambulatory surgery center (ASC), which is attached to our office. We are proud of the work that we and our staff do every day and are grateful for the outstanding feedback that we consistently receive from our patients.
Some insurance companies will not cover procedures in our ASC so these patients must get “scoped” at the hospital instead. For many of them, this …
Health insurance company denials make no sense
A physician, like anyone, can be a poor explainer of things for several reasons, but foremost among these is the tendency to use medical jargon. This is not a problem unique to doctors. When I take my car in for repairs, I often must ask the mechanic to explain what is wrong in a way I can understand. I have a rudimentary understanding of what the various parts of the …
When doctors are poor explainers
To reach my current position as a general cardiologist, I have taken nine board exams. I have also been teaching medical students for over ten years with several colleagues who write questions for the USMLE Step 1 exam. Through this experience, I have observed a number of themes about what works and does not work for board preparation. I share these with you now in the hopes they may help …
How to study smarter for USMLE Step 1: 5 tips for success
Like many pediatric intensivists, I care from time to time for victims of child abuse in the form of what is often called “shaken baby syndrome.” This syndrome is a characteristic constellation of finds that happen when a strong person grasps a child around the chest and aggressively shakes the infant. It was first described by Caffey, a pediatric radiologist, fifty years ago. The baby may have …
Important new information in the tragic cases of child abuse
There was a recent news brief stating that the average internist generates about $2.4 million annually for the hospitals that they work for. While it’s no surprise that doctors help others make money, seeing a figure to your worth hammers home how much we sustain the health care system, often at our own expense.
This means that a hospitalist making $240,000 …
It’s important to understand the money trail in medicine
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Almost a couple of years ago, I decided that I would act out on a desire that I’d had for some time: to learn to swing dance (specifically, Lindy Hop). Going back to when I was in high school in England, I’ve always had an interest in 1920s America, that started during our history classes. I find it a fascinating time of enormous progress (and for so many a big roaring …
5 lessons this physician learned from swing dancing
I am an obstetrician-gynecologist, and my favorite show is Grey’s Anatomy. I dare say I have not missed an episode since I started watching in 2006 (as a busy obstetrician, multiple shows are watched on DVR).
I fell in love with the show when, at random, I ended up watching the final episode of the second season when Izzie (a physician character from the earlier seasons) fell in love with Denny, …
How Grey’s Anatomy made this physician into a better doctor
Work-life balance is hard, and that’s true for so many career options both in and out of the medical field. The topic is something that you consider as you choose a career path. It’s something that you struggle to achieve and maintain as you train for your job, and as I have found out over the past eight months, something that you have to invest energy into after finishing training …
Work-life balance is hard. Here’s how this physician does it.
The New York Times is interested in fecal transplants. This is the euphemistic term for taking feces, poop, crap, sh*t, bowel contents from one person and putting it into another person. There are various procedures for doing this, from drying it and putting it into capsules to making it liquid and introducing it by enema, nasogastric tube or colonoscopy. It is a remarkably effective treatment for a wide range of …
The politics and commercialization of fecal transplants
Every day, as we care for our patients, we are placed in a unique position, where we are armed with the world of literature, randomized controlled trials, society recommendations, national screening and practice guidelines, and more, working to prompt us to try and do what’s best for each patient in a vast array of clinical situations.
And patients come to us armed …
What do we do when guidelines come crashing into the real world?
Health care organizations are moving to address clinician burnout with a real sense of urgency. It is now commonly accepted that burnout is widespread among health care professionals and has serious repercussions for patient safety and the quality of care. A report released by several major Massachusetts health care organizations labeled the situation “a public health crisis” and warned about the adverse impact “on the health and well-being …
Innovative approaches to solve physician burnout
When it comes to plastic surgery, I have found that many people — doctors included — expect post-surgical pain, so they plan for that assumption. This means preparing for days, weeks, or months of narcotics use. This mode of thinking begins long before any incisions are made, virtually guaranteeing a patient will be taking opioids.
Instead, I advocate for pain prevention. This approach requires strategizing ahead of any procedure, making use …
Narcotics are not necessary for recovery after plastic surgery
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