KevinMD.com

July 29, 2017Jul 29, 2017

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 34-year-old man is evaluated for episodic palpitations of 8 months' duration. The palpitations last 5 to 10 minutes and then resolve spontaneously. They…

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

A 34-year-old man is evaluated for episodic palpitations of 8 months’ duration. The palpitations last 5 to 10 minutes and then resolve spontaneously. They are usually associated with sweating and anxiety. Medical history is significant for thyroidectomy for medullary thyroid carcinoma diagnosed at 12 years of age. His father has also undergone thyroidectomy …

Physician

Cancer patients can’t afford care

Syed M. Ahmed, MD, PhD

July 28, 2017Jul 28, 2017

Lost in the debate on “Trumpcare” versus “Obamacare” is the proper consideration of the factors driving increasing health care costs. In cancer, the pharmaceutical industry plays a major role setting drug prices that exceed reasonable returns on research and development. The economics of treatment were again apparent during the plenary session of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in June, aka the cancer community’s Super Bowl. Two years …

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Cancer patients can’t afford care

Medical Education

Waiting on a significant other to finish medical school? Here are some tips.

Lauren Checketts-Warne

July 28, 2017Jul 28, 2017

My husband and I met during my graduate studies and while he was earning his bachelor’s degree. Two years after getting married, we packed our belongings and moved to a new state where he began medical school. We started our own little family a year later and welcomed an amazing daughter into our lives. After she was born, I made the personal decision to leave my job and stay at …

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Physician

Lost in America: Reflections on homelessness and societal marginalization

David Zacharias, MD, MPH

July 28, 2017Jul 28, 2017

Humanity often exists as a bell curve which cuts off and marginalizes its own tail. We judge individuals at the end of a spectrum rather than recognizing them as products of deeply rooted systemic failures within a society. In all cultures, both ancient and modern, humans have created scapegoats — individuals designated to “take on the sins” of a people, to represent and be held responsible for the shortcomings of …

Physician

Why are doctors leaving private practice?

Linda Girgis, MD

July 28, 2017Jul 28, 2017

In the U.S., approximately 30 percent of physicians work in practices that they own. This number has been dwindling down over recent years. Perhaps more surprising, the number of women doctors who are self-employed are a mere 18 percent. Many…

Many hospitals and other corporate entities are actively looking to purchase the remaining practices. It is not just to make money from that practice; it’s to make money from services that are …

Physician

Being Latina, a physician, a mother and a runner: by the numbers

Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD

July 28, 2017Jul 28, 2017

To a runner, numbers are everything. It’s data. It’s workouts. It’s goals. It’s pace. It’s winning or losing. To a physician, numbers are everything as well. Before you get into medical school, numbers are your schedule, your GPA and your MCAT. In medical school, numbers are your grades, your board scores and your rank in the class. It goes on and on. …

Physician

We need to talk about mental illness in the medical field

Lisa Jacobs, MD, MBA

July 28, 2017Jul 28, 2017

It wasn’t until I was six months into my second depressive episode that I discovered depression existed. I didn’t know it was a real disease. I didn’t know that my grandmother got electroconvulsive “shock” therapy in the 1950s. I only knew something was terribly wrong when I sat crying for 20 minutes in front of a pile of laundry one morning because the thought of choosing clothes and going through …

Medications

The oral contraceptive’s PR problem

Shikha Jain, MD

July 27, 2017Jul 27, 2017

Recently in Missouri, a bill was proposed that would ban women on oral contraceptives (OCP) from working. In the world of politics, the use of contraceptives has been discussed ad nauseam, often without medical consideration. As physicians, in order to continue to uphold our Hippocratic Oath: “First do no harm,” it is imperative that we continue to challenge any law that goes against scientific evidence, and our voices must be …

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The oral contraceptive’s PR problem

Conditions and Diseases

Who is alive: man or machine?

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

July 27, 2017Jul 27, 2017

He had cardiomyopathy and CHF for over 20 years. At the time, doctors told him he could die at any time. That was 20 years ago. His EF was 10 percent — barely livable. Two decades later, this admit kept…

He had cardiomyopathy and CHF for over 20 years. At the time, doctors told him he could die at any time. That was 20 years ago. His EF was 10 percent — barely livable.

Two decades later, this admit kept him on a see-saw with respiratory distress, a bad heart, bad lungs, atrial fibrillation with RVR and heart rate in the 140s all day long. He progressed from nasal cannula to …

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Who is alive: man or machine?

Medical Education

5 reasons why medical students drop out

Dr. Daniel

July 27, 2017Jul 27, 2017

I write this blog in order to prepare premedical students for the road ahead. I want you to understand common obstacles facing medical students so you can be better prepared to overcome them. Medical training is akin to a roller coaster pulling you through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. On the one hand, medical school is extremely challenging but rest assured, it is very tough to …

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5 reasons why medical students drop out

Physician

The stupidity epidemic is far more lethal than the opioid epidemic

Jay Joshi, MD

July 27, 2017Jul 27, 2017

Substance abuse and overdose deaths are nothing new. People who use opioids are dying and will keep dying until we learn how to fix our bigger problem: the "stupidity epidemic." We see and hear about the opioid epidemic every single…

Substance abuse and overdose deaths are nothing new. People who use opioids are dying and will keep dying until we learn how to fix our bigger problem: the “stupidity epidemic.” We see and hear about the opioid epidemic every single day in the media, but no one is talking about the epidemic of stupidity, both in the medical and non-medical communities. We have thrown time, money and even tears at …

Physician

2 stories of how physicians dealt with burnout

Mani Saint-Victor, MD and C. Nicole Swiner, MD

July 27, 2017Jul 27, 2017

We’ve been talking to doctors all around the world, and the mood is consistent. Physicians are frustrated and suffering from burn out because the old model of practicing medicine is no longer meeting their needs. From decreased compensation to desire to spend more time with our families to the combination of loss of autonomy and an increasingly impersonal and inefficient system, a career in medicine is not meeting its end …

Physician

Doctors: Don’t lose your humanity

Dr. Sonia Henry

July 27, 2017Jul 27, 2017

There has been much publicity recently surrounding the issue of doctor mental health after a spat of doctor suicides, and sadly not a new thing in the history of medical training. I think the crux of this issue is the idea that doctors are somehow above the concept of humanity. We are held to standards above human abilities, yet we bleed the same blood, cry the same tears and feel …

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Doctors: Don’t lose your humanity

Physician

Goodbye to all that paperwork: An orthopedic surgeon leaves practice

Divya Singh, MD

July 26, 2017Jul 26, 2017

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules…

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. …

Physician

The moral assassination of physicians must stop

Michael Weiss, MD

July 26, 2017Jul 26, 2017

As a physician, all the mounting negative news I read about doctors can’t help but hit me straight in the gut. This is especially true when reading about a tragic murder of a sweet and highly dedicated 32-year-old physician, Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam and the serious injuries to five other physicians on June 30th at NYC’s Bronx Lebanon Hospital. Can you blame me for advocating for my esteemed colleagues? Everybody’s …

Physician

A balanced way to fight physician burnout

Lisa Herbert, MD

July 26, 2017Jul 26, 2017

Burnout amongst physicians is real and at an all-time high. This was even highlighted on an episode of "Grey's Anatomy," where a resident physician surgeon imploded after a series of stressors that happened over time. She experienced the loss of…

Burnout amongst physicians is real and at an all-time high. This was even highlighted on an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” where a resident physician surgeon imploded after a series of stressors that happened over time. She experienced the loss of a patient during surgery and of a loved one that were not addressed. Coupled with the long work hours, the type-A personality and increased demands, this led to her state …

Health Policy

The chargemaster is health care’s most evil component

Dr. Saurabh Jha

July 26, 2017Jul 26, 2017

Any backpacker traveling on a shoestring in Thailand knows not to blow their entire budget on premium whiskey in a premium hotel on the first night in Bangkok. Rather, you need to skip the occasional meal, stay in a cheap dorm with random strangers and drink cheap beer on Khao San Road if you wish to see the country and return home without having to wash dishes in a restaurant …

Physician

10 lessons from Hamilton that made me a better oncologist

Ashley Sumrall, MD

July 26, 2017Jul 26, 2017

Over 30,000 visitors flocked to Chicago in early June to participate in the ASCO annual meeting, the summer mecca for all things oncology. In between plenary sessions and poster presentations, some attendees found their way to one of the Hamilton Chicago performances. Having opened in Chicago about seven months ago, this version of the “hip-hop musical” has packed in audiences, striving to capture some of the success that its New …

Social Media in Medicine

Real grieving after suicide doesn’t occur on social media

David Buxton, MD

July 26, 2017Jul 26, 2017

Recently, I learned that YouTube star Stevie Ryan completed suicide. As she found her fame via social media, her death has also been the focus of the virtual world. Her death spawns a tremendous amount of questions that are left…

In case you missed the details of the story, Stevie completed suicide by hanging. She had tweeted the day before that, “The man …

Health Policy

5 steps to create medical quality without trying

Kjell Benson, MD

July 25, 2017Jul 25, 2017

The need for what we are calling medical “quality” is acute, yet the strategies employed to obtain it are destroying medicine. Patient outcomes are inconsistent, care varies depending on many factors outside of disease state, and the cost of our medical system is not sustainable. But to fix this, most health systems employ non-clinicians to audit charts while checking boxes such as “A1C<8%?” and “DVT prophylaxis ordered within 24 hours?” …

Real physician voices, twice a week

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