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5 health care lessons from the mid-term elections

Bob Doherty

Health Policy

November 26, 2018

This seems to be the big take-home message from voters the mid-term elections, which bodes well for preserving gains from the Affordable Care Act and expanding coverage. Health care was the number 1 issue for voters according to several exit polls, beating out immigration, the economy, and gun violence, among others, with voters strongly favoring Democrats as the party more likely to protect patients with …

5 reasons why this male physician went part-time

James Turner, MD

Physician

November 26, 2018

Recently, Crispy Doc ran an interview with Vagabond MD that highlighted his road to part-time work. This struck a chord with me as I’ve considered doing the same despite being in my second year as an attending physician. In fact, Crispy Doc and I had a conversation about achieving work-life balance through part-time work in Orlando at FinCon.

When I came home after the conference, I ran into one of …

How sickle cell anemia influences a medical school journey

Bianca Bowden

Medical Education

November 25, 2018

“Where there is no struggle, there is no compassion.”
-Frederick Douglass

Growing up with sickle cell anemia exposed me to the field of medicine. As I go through the pain and complications, it humbles me to the point that motivates me to work harder to be the doctor I want for myself. I want to be a physician-scientist that conducts clinical research targeted toward patients like me. I believe that as a …

Doctors need to learn more about nutrition

Eric Madrid, MD

Conditions and Diseases

November 25, 2018

I was misinformed about medical school. Growing up, I wanted to help people become healthy. After four years at the Ohio State University Medical School and three years of a family medicine residency, I still did not know enough to accomplish my goal. My training allowed me to become a disease-care expert, not a health care specialist. I was taught little to nothing about nutrition and true disease prevention. Despite …

Stop dehumanizing physicians. Lives depend on it.

Hannah Dee, MD

Physician

November 25, 2018

I want to talk about dehumanization in medicine. And, yes, part of this discussion is about our patients. But another part — just as important — is about the dehumanization of us, the doctors.

Most of us have had that moment in the third year of medical school when we are sitting in a mandatory reflection session, and someone brings up the erasure of our patients’ identities. This is true, and …

Don’t wait to take action on gun control

Jennifer R. Marin, MD

Health Policy

November 25, 2018

“Active Shooter in Squirrel Hill.” This was the subject line of an email I received on the morning of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. It was from my children’s school, which is located less than a mile from the scene of the shooting. “I am working … to put in place a plan for helping our students understand this situation in age-appropriate ways,” the school’s principal went on to …

Call obesity what it is: a disease

Albert Do, MD, MPH

Conditions and Diseases

November 24, 2018

In 2013, the American Medical Association (AMA) announced its decision to classify obesity as a disease, moving against the recommendation at the time of a group studying obesity. Yet there are still those who believe that obesity is not a disease but rather a “condition,” and this has downstream ramifications for health policy, health care provider reimbursement, and, ultimately, societal health and well-being. But this is …

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Call obesity what it is: a disease

Medicine: noble profession or big business?

David A. Guss, MD

Health Policy

November 24, 2018

In 1976 I graduated from medical school and proudly joined the medical profession. Thirty-seven years later, I retired as an employee of the biggest business in the country. In 2016 the medical industry was responsible for 3.3 trillion dollars of expenditure, comprising 18 percent of the United States GDP. For perspective, there are only four countries with a GDP more than the amount spent on health care in the United …

Make peace with stress in the ER

Health eCareers

Physician

November 24, 2018

This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.

Working in the emergency department or emergency room is not for health care practitioners who want to just chill. Although television’s portrayal of the ER on dramas like “ER” or “Chicago Med” is admittedly high on drama, life and work in the ER really are high pressure.

In 2016, the Read more…

Make peace with stress in the ER

MKSAP: 82-year-old woman with a 1-week history of urinary incontinence

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

November 24, 2018

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

An 82-year-old woman is evaluated for a 1-week history of urinary incontinence with lower abdominal discomfort. She reports no dysuria, fever, or back pain. Medical history is significant for hypertension and allergic reaction to sulfa drugs, which cause a generalized rash. Her only medication is amlodipine.

On physical examination, temperature is 36.8 °C (98.2 …

A smarter EMR will make visits more patient-focused

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

Health Technology

November 23, 2018

What do our patients really want from us?

When a patient calls up to schedule an appointment, or sends us a message through the patient portal, or calls our front desk staff to leave a message, what is it that they’re looking for?

I think, more than anything else, our patients are looking to us as health care providers to be able to be there for them, to address their health needs …

The evolution of residents’ hours

Kevin Tolliver, MD, MBA

Physician

November 23, 2018

It was the 24th hour of my call shift, and I was running on fumes. Despite my weariness, I could see the first rays of morning sunlight coming through the window in my patient’s room. It was then I knew I could make it to hour 30 (quitting time). It was grueling to keep going, but hitting the 30-hour mark only required me to keep my head down and do …

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The evolution of residents’ hours

The increasingly obfuscated medical algorithms for simple problems

James A. Amis, MD

Conditions and Diseases

November 23, 2018

A physical therapist, commenting on my blog, recently shared an excellent point of view with me:

As a therapist myself, I don’t know that I’d want to be betting on that differential diagnosis of tear, rupture, etc. when giving online advice. What is good treatment for one, can be disastrous for the other. Seeing someone in person can make all the difference, especially with the amount of self-diagnosis that the internet …

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The increasingly obfuscated medical algorithms for simple problems

Before you delve into your DNA, be sure to seek out a well-trained genetics team

Jeanne Homer, MA

Conditions and Diseases

November 23, 2018

For $199 and a tube of saliva, I found out that I have straight hair and green eyes. Mirrors have been telling me this my whole life for free. But as a genetics counselor, I wanted to learn more about the recreational home genetics tests that have been captivating people.

What I was left with (aside from the aforementioned physical description and unsurprising heritage data), was the sense that the dangers …

Is your smartphone leading to burnout?

Cory Fawcett, MD

Health Technology

November 22, 2018

Burnout and dealing with its symptoms has become a hot topic in the last decade. It’s a problem that has multiple contributing factors. Some of those factors are thrust upon us and are beyond our control, such as government regulations. Other factors are self-imposed, and thus under our control, such as volunteering for extra call shifts. One self-imposed factor is a little thing we use to improve our lives, our …

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Is your smartphone leading to burnout?

Let’s be more mindful of respecting the time of our patients

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

Physician

November 22, 2018

I recently attended a lunchtime session on the Choosing Wisely initiative. This public and professional awareness endeavor attempts to educate the public and health care providers about procedures that do not benefit patients, and that may ultimately cause harm. It was an interesting educational session and while most of the content was not new to me, one of the statements by …

Being financially secure is different than being financially independent

Dads Dollars Debts, MD

Physician Finance

November 22, 2018

It is official. I have left my day job and have two months off before starting my next day job thanks to being financially secure. As many of you know, the Tubb’s Fire has led to many changes in my life over the past year. We had many decisions to make and now, 13 months out, are putting those plans into effect. The biggest of these decisions was to …

A prayer from an emergency physician

Edwin Leap, MD

Patient

November 22, 2018

Dear Lord Jesus,

I just finished my shift in the ER. Of course, you knew that. But I was thinking about how often I’m ungrateful and irritable. I know that I complain about rules and regulations, about time-stamps and metrics and satisfaction scores and all the rest. I know I’m that guy. I get annoyed by people who are annoying. (I’m glad you don’t.) I get annoyed when I’m tired, and …

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A prayer from an emergency physician

Physicians should never leave the lane of gun violence

Linda Girgis, MD

Health Policy

November 21, 2018

Anyone following the debate around gun regulation knows it is a hotly charged issue. On November 7th, doctors got dragged front and center after the NRA issued the statement: “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves.” …

3 reasons why we should care about the health care experience

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

November 21, 2018

The health care experience is so much more than a buzzword to be talked about in administrative circles. Some physicians I encounter (a minority, but still enough) really scoff when they hear this term. Responses I’ve heard from doctors include: “Hospitals are not hotels!” or “If that means giving our patients as much Dilaudid as they want, then count me out!”

Aside from these sweeping statements being entirely silly, they are …