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Physician, heal thyself: How to thrive in your medical career

Physician

May 23, 2018

One of the things that can help a physician live a balanced life is finding ways to thrive in the workplace. This is currently a work in progress for me, but I am excited to share what I have learned so far. For some context, I was previously practicing as a nephrologist; and I transitioned to being a hospitalist on an as-needed basis to create flexibility in my schedule. This …

What does curiosity have to do with patient safety?

Elizabeth Lerner Papautsky, PhD

Patient

May 23, 2018

Why do we say “curiosity killed the cat?”

Isn’t curiosity what drives people to ask insightful questions? To keep an open mind? And to continue learning at age 6 or 60, alike?

Curiosity is what sets apart people who are fixed in their opinions and beliefs and those who adjust in light of new information. Recently, I read an article in The New Yorker that suggested that Donald Trump doesn’t read books …

Medical education in the era of climate change

Tyler Greenway and William Hancock-Cerutti

Health Policy

May 23, 2018

In the days after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico, four Yale physicians began an ambitious effort to send thousands of pounds of medical supplies to the storm-ravaged island. Despite having had no prior experience with disaster response, these doctors worked with contacts in Puerto Rico to generate a detailed needs-assessment, determining exactly which medical supplies were needed on the island. Using social media, traditional media, and professional connections, …

My spouse is your doctor. And there’s no one else I’d rather share him with.

Jessica Ford

Physician

May 23, 2018

Speeding through town, I had just dropped off a kid at football practice. I raced back to the church to drop off another kid, then drove quickly to a soccer practice for a third. At about 7:00, I start to lose my cool. I’m used to my husband being late. But tonight I was frustrated. I sat in the parking lot with two babies, strapped in their seatbelts, fidgeting and …

5 things that confuse me about health care today

Praveen Suthrum

Health Technology

May 23, 2018

Say we met ten years ago. And you asked me: Would health care delivery be more complicated in the future?

I would’ve said, “No, it would be simpler!”

Pointing you to technology trends, I would’ve told you that health care transactions will indeed become more automated, much simpler. Repeatable administrative tasks would be tech-enabled and algorithm-driven.

My company started life in billing claims for doctors. Back then I was quite sure billing would …

To change the culture, start with clinical education

Anonymous

Medical Education

May 22, 2018

The hardest thing about medical school isn’t learning medicine. It isn’t the hours. It isn’t the tests. It’s that you sign away control over years of your adult life.

When I started my clerkship year in January, I felt like I was stepping onto a conveyor belt and would not be allowed off for twelve long months. For the entirety of 2018, my days are planned for me, my hours are …

It’s time for hospitals to publicly disclose physician satisfaction, burnout, and suicide rates

Joshua Sonkiss, MD

Physician

May 22, 2018

We are in the midst of an epidemic of physician burnout, depression and suicide. Although the causes are debatable, there can be little doubt that increasing demands for financial performance and patient satisfaction, decreasing autonomy, and physicians’ individual liability for systemic risk management decisions in a majority of practice settings are significant contributors to these adverse outcomes.

At the same time physician burnout, depression, and suicide rates have been rising; tremendous …

Why the battle against being called a provider is probably lost

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

May 22, 2018

I recently needed to transfer my patient to a larger medical center for some urgent care. As I sat there in my relatively small hospital working out where they would be best served, a famous academic medical center that was not too far away, came to mind. I placed a call to the facility’s bed facilitator, who took the patient’s details from me, and was told to await a callback …

The best medical specialty you’ve never heard of

Jennifer Chevinsky, MD

Physician

May 22, 2018

The most common response when I introduce myself as a preventive medicine resident is an interjection, “You mean family medicine?” I have come to realize that the majority of the healthcare field has never heard of preventive medicine as a unique medical specialty. It’s a shame, because preventive medicine is truly the best medical specialty you’ve never heard of.

Preventive medicine practices at the intersection of public health and clinical medicine …

A Hippocratic Oath for technology

Joshua Landy, MD

Health Technology

May 22, 2018

Modern technology needs to do better. This is the message delivered by every CEO after every Silicon Valley scandal in recent memory. This time, they should really do it. Medicine can show them how.

Let’s have the professionals building our future abide by industry-wide standards, just as doctors do. As both a startup founder and a physician, this idea makes intuitive sense to me. Drawing on my experience treating patients and running …

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A Hippocratic Oath for technology

The unscientific lure of antibiotics

David Mokotoff, MD

Physician

May 22, 2018

Although my father did not discover penicillin, he helped do the research showing its effectiveness in curing infective endocarditis. As an internist, he then became enamored with the role antibiotics could play in treating infections. Growing up, my siblings and I can attest to his unbridled enthusiasm, as every time we contracted a cold, we would get a shot of the wonder mold in our butts. The fact that colds …

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The unscientific lure of antibiotics

An aging physician muses on end-of-life care

Samuel Harrington, MD

Physician

May 21, 2018

As a retired physician who has written a book about end-of-life issues for elderly patients, I have placed myself in an awkward position. According to most guidelines, at age 67, I am elderly. How will I approach the end of my life?

Not only do my personal medical concerns career around in the echo chamber of my own mind, but I have the added challenge of trying to follow my own …

How I became the debt free terminator by age 31

Dave Denniston, CFA and Amanda Liu, MD

Physician Finance

May 21, 2018

An excerpt from The Young Physician’s Guide to Money and Life: The Financial Blueprint for the Medical Trainee.

Do you have student loans?

Won’t you love to destroy them and be debt-free?

What would you do with the cash flow you free up once your student loans are paid off?

I (Amanda) invite you to join me in a movement to terminate the deadly burden of student loans.

Under my cover as a …

Dr. Ronny Jackson: A victim of political accusations, or physician burnout?

Shawn C. Jones, MD

Physician

May 21, 2018

It is no secret that President Trump’s former nominee to run the Veterans Administration, Navy Rear Admiral Ronny L. Jackson, has withdrawn his nomination amidst allegations related to his behavior: that he drank on the job, was a bully in the office and improperly gave out prescription medication. He has vehemently denied the allegations and characterized them as false and fabricated.

Dr. Jackson is an Iraq War veteran who …

This physician brought his right brain back from the brink of death

Brian Yount, MD

Physician

May 21, 2018

I checked my right brain at the door when I started medical school in 1995. Writing, performing music, and acting didn’t make it in. How could they? I had very little free time and why would I want to cling to touchy-feely distractions? I was prepared to sacrifice personal interests and passions to clear my mental decks. I wanted to dedicate all my brain power to the promise of learning critical information …

How Barbara Bush’s legacy can help us rediscover the benefits of palliative care and hospice

Shikha Jain, MD

Physician

May 21, 2018

The recent passing of former first lady Barbara Bush, an American icon, also brought a commonly debated discussion to light, palliative, and end of life care. Many articles were published regarding her last days, mentioning she was “foregoing further medical care” or “no longer pursuing medical treatment.” These types of statements are not only inaccurate, they also minimize the incredible medical care provided by palliative care and hospice teams.

To realize …

Everyone needs someone to be a safe harbor

Loice Swisher, MD

Physician

May 21, 2018

I met David on the internet. It was to become on of the closest, most intense relationships of my life. For you see, a few months before he crossed my path his daughter finished the same protocol for the same type of brain tumor that my daughter just had started. They had successfully traversed the waters that to me were completely unknown — and frankly terrifying. On the pediatric brain tumor listserv, …

Medical residents and academic due process: Know your rights

Todd Rice, MD, MBA

Medical Education

May 20, 2018

I recently received a call from a physician resident in the Northeast U.S. who had been notified that she would be terminated from her residency program for a “weak knowledge base.” There would be no contract offered to her for the coming academic year. She reports that her scores are no worse than several of her colleagues and that her accredited program has a history of arbitrarily dismissing residents. She …

Why all physicians need mentors

Joannie Yeh, MD

Physician

May 20, 2018

Having a mentor leads to a more successful and satisfying career for doctors. So how does one go about finding a mentor mid-training or after training? Many medical schools and residency programs have mentorship requirements for trainees. But those mentorship needs may change if a student or resident (like myself!) changes their mind about what they want to be when they grow up. I have been …

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Why all physicians need mentors

How mindfulness helped this physician’s primary care journey

Heather Finlay-Morreale, MD

Physician

May 20, 2018

“Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally.” That’s how Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, describes mindfulness. In the book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, another thought leader in mindfulness, Shunryu Suzuki, says that, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” In my experience, I’ve found that cultivating a beginner’s mind opens doors and improves clinical diagnosis.

Medical training has …

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