KevinMD.com

How mindfulness helped this physician’s primary care journey

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 …

I was accidentally accepted to an Ivy League medical school at 17

Eliza

Medical Education

May 20, 2018

Want to hear a crazy story?

Typical medical school students can relate tales of a college experience that includes summer research or hours spent reviewing for the MCAT. I didn’t even take the MCAT. Read on for the oddest medical school acceptance story you’ve ever heard.

I was driven in high school. I’d heard for years about smart kids going off to the Ivy League, and I wanted that experience — to …

A doctor cries therapeutic tears with her patient

Cindy Winebrenner, MD

Physician

May 19, 2018

He wasn’t particularly likable upon first encounter. He wasn’t apt to answer questions asked. He had a long pause and a long drawl and a tangential, winded story — and backstory — all of which he was bound and determined to tell to its detailed completion. With an irregular heart rate in the 170s and a respiratory rate in the 30s, I tried to steer him in the direction of …

How this physician handles burnout

Randall S. Fong, MD

Physician

May 19, 2018

“Put me out of my misery!” I’ve pleaded to anyone within earshot in the throes of a grueling day, a rant from one feeling burnt out. There are days I want to pull my hair out, even the ones that aren’t gray. One night I caught myself grunting, “I hate my life,” while heading out the door at 12 a.m., after an already exhausting day in the OR. No sane …

Read more…

How this physician handles burnout

Stop shaming those with addiction

Akshay Pendyal, MD

Physician

May 19, 2018

He was younger than I was — still in his twenties — but the patient had already had his chest opened twice. Deadly bloodstream infections contracted from sharing needles had destroyed his heart valves on two separate occasions. And now six months out from his most recent operation, he was back with fever and chills: ominous signs of another infection.

That was years ago. The opioid epidemic hadn’t yet been declared …

Read more…

Stop shaming those with addiction

MKSAP: 28-year-old man with lower-extremity edema

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

May 19, 2018

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

A 28-year-old man is evaluated for a 2-month history of progressive lower-extremity edema, weight loss, and fatigue. Medical history is significant for recreational use of inhaled cocaine; he denies injection drug use. He has no other known medical issues and takes no medications.

On physical examination, temperature is 37.2 °C (99.0 °F), blood pressure …

6 ways to address the opioid epidemic

Nabila El-Bassel, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

May 18, 2018

The devastating opioid epidemic is one of the largest public health problems facing the U.S. Over 2.5 million people in the U.S. suffer from opioid use disorder.

Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers. A 2015 analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found people who are addicted to painkillers are 40 times more likely to be …

Read more…

6 ways to address the opioid epidemic

Personal finance lessons from Shaquille O’Neal

James M. Dahle, MD

Physician Finance

May 18, 2018

I’m always intrigued by those who earn millions of dollars per year or even per month. Some manage to blow all that money and then some. Others, like a select few NFL players, choose to spend wisely and save prodigiously.

Today’s Saturday Selection highlights the habits of one athlete who was among the highest paid NBA stars for many years. The headlines sadly feature athletes with similar …

Physicians are CEOs of their medical floors

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

May 18, 2018

The ability to lead is not something that comes naturally to everyone. There are some people out there who are wired to lead right from when they are very young — but these are few and far between. Most of us have to train ourselves, and acquire the necessary leadership skills based on our own learning curve and experiences. The fact is that we are all leaders in one way …

Too many things need physicians’ signatures

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

Physician

May 18, 2018

Just sign here.

How many times a day are we asked to do this? “Just sign here.” “Just put down your license number.” “We need a stamp with your doctor’s info on it.” “Give us your NPI.” “Initial here, here, and here.”

If we took the time to read all the things we’re signing, we wouldn’t have time to do any doctoring.

The other day I was asked to hand-write the date on …

Physicians must keep a close eye on their financial advisors

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

May 18, 2018

Many doctors don’t want anything to do with investing money. They feel investing is not what they were trained to do and therefore a waste of their valuable time. I think this attitude gets some doctors into trouble.

It is true that our time is best spent in our main area of training, but it’s very important for us to also have an adequate knowledge of investing. Being somewhat familiar with …

There’s no such thing as work-life balance

Katie Fortenberry, PhD

Medical Education

May 17, 2018

I believe there’s no such thing as work-life balance. I think this every morning when I leave for work, watching my two-year-old son press his face against the front window and wave at me as I back down the driveway. It comes up again at work, as I guiltily feel relieved when a patient cancels and I have an unexpected half hour to work on a behavioral science presentation for …

Bias is widespread on both sides of the political spectrum

Edwin Leap, MD

Physician

May 17, 2018

Without doubt, the future of medicine will include mandatory education for physicians on their conscious and unconscious biases. The politically and culturally progressive nature of medical education and graduate medical education almost ensure that this will eventually be a deeply-ingrained part of our training and our continuing certification. I’m sure that as our culture purports to discover ever new and egregious forms of bias, we will be endlessly reminded, in …

A medical student’s reflection on time, the scarcest resource

Natasha Abadilla

Medical Education

May 17, 2018

One of the best bits of wisdom I’ve ever received is that you can tell a lot about someone by looking at how they spend their time. In medical school, time is our scarcest resource. We’re at this strange and exciting point in our lives, during which we’re responsible for learning an enormous amount of information in hopes that someday we’ll be able to quite literally save lives.

Many of my …

When it comes to well-being, one size doesn’t fit all

Linda Girgis, MD

Physician

May 17, 2018

Doing a simple internet search, you can find a plethora of information about well-being and health. Being happy and well is a goal everyone should aim to achieve. However, I find many of the tips out there are simply unattainable. It may be that I am just a fail at true inner peace and that my inner tsunami doesn’t let me rest. Or it may be that the tips just …

The lows don’t mean you are loser

DocG, MD

Physician Finance

May 17, 2018

The lows don’t mean you are loser. To the contrary, they mean something else that is completely antithetical. They mean you are pushing the envelope. You’re learning from past mistakes. The lows mean that you are at an inflection point. The trick is not to see the pit you are currently trapped in as a pit. Think of it more as a privileged vista in which to view the pathway …

Read more…

The lows don’t mean you are loser

How do we keep women physicians in medicine?

Nisha Mehta, MD

Physician

May 16, 2018

Undoubtedly, my favorite part of my non-clinical work is hearing from fellow physicians about their lives in medicine. Every once in a while, I receive an email that puts beautifully into words some of my own struggles.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a colleague outlining her personal journey through her career, which she was hoping other physicians would benefit from as well. I know it spoke to …

A doctor’s life. Ready. Rinse. Repeat.

James Turner, MD

Physician

May 16, 2018

“Hey, man, I’ve been getting destroyed all night running four ORs and haven’t eaten. I am going to eat dinner before I get out of here. If anything emergent comes up, I can help out. Just let me know.”

As I wash my hands right after I hang up the phone, the overhead call comes out: “Attention. Your attention, please. A Level 1 trauma code has been activated in the adult …

Read more…

A doctor’s life. Ready. Rinse. Repeat.

Nurses made this doctor who she is today

Andrea Eisenberg, MD

Physician

May 16, 2018

The nurse grabs me.

“You have to check my patient now! She is screaming and bearing down.”

Without letting go of my hand, she leads me into the labor room. I don’t even consider saying no, I know not to question this nurse. She has been a labor and delivery nurse nearly as long as I have been alive — she knows much more than I about everything.

The room is dark, but …

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts