KevinMD.com

June 15, 2017Jun 15, 2017

Why can’t doctors be depressed? They encounter challenging and emotional situations every day, and they are robbed of the emotional intelligence training necessary to handle them properly. The 32-year-old single mother of two who was recently diagnosed with metastatic breast…

Why can’t doctors be depressed? They encounter challenging and emotional situations every day, and they are robbed of the emotional intelligence training necessary to handle them properly.

The 32-year-old single mother of two who was recently diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and given a prognosis of four months to live. The 13-year-old daughter who suffered her first seizure while swimming alone in her home pool and now lies paralyzed in the …

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Why can’t doctors be depressed?

Physician

Burned out? Just say no and teach others to as well

N. Bande Virgil, MD

June 15, 2017Jun 15, 2017

Without question, the interconnectivity created by social media is a plus when it comes to talking about physician burnout, suicide and policies affecting our practice of medicine. We are no longer in independent silos with the surgeons suffering in one corner and pediatricians elsewhere. Physicians are no longer isolated contemplating if what they are experiencing is just unique to them. We are developing collective voices. It is incredible to believe …

Physician

3 points on dialysis John Oliver forgot to make

Katherine Kwon, MD

June 15, 2017Jun 15, 2017

Dear John Oliver, First of all, thank you for your recent segment on dialysis. Kidney disease deserves much more attention and discussion than it currently receives. Thank you also for your full-throated support of transplantation and the need for more…

Dear John Oliver,

First of all, thank you for your recent segment on dialysis. Kidney disease deserves much more attention and discussion than it currently receives. Thank you also for your full-throated support of transplantation and the need for more kidney donors. As a practicing nephrologist, there is nothing better than hearing that one of my patients has been given a transplant. Finally, thank you for pointing out that end-stage renal …

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Physician

Even if you can’t see sexism immediately, it’s still there

Shannon Tapia, MD

June 15, 2017Jun 15, 2017

For the most part, the sexism in medicine is not subliminal at all — it’s quite overt. Unless you’re a female physician, you probably are unaware that it’s still an ever-present reality for us. I want to note that there are very good men out there who are trying their best to be advocates for equality in our field even though they cannot fully appreciate the female physician plight. My …

Medical Education

Observing Ramadan as a medical student

Eman Sahloul

June 14, 2017Jun 14, 2017

3 a.m. The alarm blares. Get up, make food, study. Maximize caffeine intake, maximize studying efficiency. 4:12 am. Take the last sip of water, pray. Maximize studying with residual caffeine power. 7 a.m. Get dressed, go to work. Stay awake,…

3 a.m. The alarm blares. Get up, make food, study. Maximize caffeine intake, maximize studying efficiency.

4:12 am. Take the last sip of water, pray. Maximize studying with residual caffeine power.

7 a.m. Get dressed, go to work. Stay awake, stay alert, see patients, present well, regurgitate answers, retain information. Produce saliva, clear dry throat. Study during lunch break. Stay awake, stay alert, see patients, present well, regurgitate answers, retain information.

6 p.m. …

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Observing Ramadan as a medical student

Health Policy

Why Medicaid block grants won’t work

Megan Douglas, JD

June 14, 2017Jun 14, 2017

Medicaid is the largest single health insurance program in the nation, spending more than $500 billion to serve the most vulnerable people with some of the highest need, including children, pregnant mothers, people with disabilities, the poor and the elderly living in nursing homes. Recent proposals to repeal and replace Obamacare – such as the American Health Care Act (AHCA) – would fundamentally change the Medicaid program. …

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Why Medicaid block grants won’t work

Medical Education

Physicians are not fundamentally different from their patients

Colleen Farrell, MD

June 14, 2017Jun 14, 2017

Delivered at the Harvard Medical School Class Day Ceremony, May 25, 2017. Distinguished faculty, dedicated staff, and most importantly, loving parents and family members: Thank you for all you’ve done to support us and transform us into doctors. Harvard Medical…

Delivered at the Harvard Medical School Class Day Ceremony, May 25, 2017.

Distinguished faculty, dedicated staff, and most importantly, loving parents and family members:

Thank you for all you’ve done to support us and transform us into doctors. Harvard Medical School Class of 2017, congratulations. It is an enormous honor to address you all today.

When I was a third-year medical student, I scrubbed in on the surgery of a woman …

Health Policy

The golden era of medicine is never coming back

Matthew Hahn, MD

June 14, 2017Jun 14, 2017

An excerpt from Distracted: How Regulations Are Destroying the Practice of Medicine and Preventing True Health-Care Reform. If you want to learn what is wrong with the American health care system, just follow any doctor for just a short time.…

An excerpt from Distracted: How Regulations Are Destroying the Practice of Medicine and Preventing True Health-Care Reform.

If you want to learn what is wrong with the American health care system, just follow any doctor for just a short time. It will soon become obvious. The following common scenario should make things clear.

The …

Physician

The last patient of the day gets the least care

Anonymous

June 13, 2017Jun 13, 2017

He entered the hospital on Monday morning with a list of patients running through his mind. From the time he received a sign out of 22 patients from his colleague on Sunday evening, he was planning his workday. It was a ritual of his to pray and sleep early on Sunday night to prepare him for what lie ahead. What lied ahead was a busy week of inpatient medicine — …

Physician

Caring for employees is the right thing to do

Tracy Asamoah, MD

June 13, 2017Jun 13, 2017

I am not an employee. Maybe I should have said this four years ago when I was an employee. When I opened my private practice in 2014, I was running away from something as much as I was running to…

I am not an employee. Maybe I should have said this four years ago when I was an employee. When I opened my private practice in 2014, I was running away from something as much as I was running to something new. I’ve been out of training for over a decade. Early in my career, I envisioned myself as an employee of either a non-profit organization working with underserved communities …

Medical Education

Medical school is miserable. Here’s the secret to surviving it.

Tristan Brooks

June 13, 2017Jun 13, 2017

Dear future medical student: It’s graduation week. I’m running into people I haven’t seen in a long time. There are a few things on my mind currently, and in four years, you’ll have the same conversations. “Did you have so…

Dear future medical student:

It’s graduation week. I’m running into people I haven’t seen in a long time. There are a few things on my mind currently, and in four years, you’ll have the same conversations.

“Did you have so much fun in med school? Did you love it?”

“No.”

“Wow! Those four just FLEW by, didn’t they?”

“No. They absolutely did not.”

“Well just WAIT ‘til you get to residency. THAT was hard. What you …

Physician

The slow death of private practices

Emily Dalton, MD

June 13, 2017Jun 13, 2017

Doctors have been bemoaning changes in the practice of medicine for years and with good reason. It’s harder and harder to make a go of it in private practice. In recent years our area has lost several small practices — Hal Grotke’s Redwood Family Practice closed, Dr. Garcia retired, Teresa Marshall’s solo office shut its doors, Eureka Internal Medicine transitioned to Humboldt Medical Specialists (which then became St. Joseph Hospital …

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The slow death of private practices

Physician

Stop asking doctors for free advice

Anonymous

June 12, 2017Jun 12, 2017

My husband is a doctor. Similar to any other career, this is what he spends most of his time doing. It’s also our family’s livelihood — how we pay our mortgage, our bills and send our daughter to preschool. He…

He went to through seven years of training after college, often working all night or even 24-plus hour calls. He’s had to miss family dinners, birthday parties, nights of putting our daughter …

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Stop asking doctors for free advice

Physician

Doctors: You have a PR problem

Kaci Durbin, MD

June 12, 2017Jun 12, 2017

Over the last few decades, public perception of physicians has been on the decline. Many issues are to blame, but a largely overlooked contributing factor is the media. Physicians are often portrayed negatively, with stories of narcotic abuse, greed and medical mistakes dominating the news. Rather than fight back, physician organizations have stood silently and allowed their reputations to be tarnished. On the other hand, nursing organizations have been busy …

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Doctors: You have a PR problem

Medical Education

Medical school didn’t teach me how to fix a patient’s broken heart

Nicholas Koen

June 12, 2017Jun 12, 2017

It was the first warm day of spring as I walked into the assisted-living facility for what would be the last time. I was on my way to Larry's room, the resident of the facility that I had been paired…

It was the first warm day of spring as I walked into the assisted-living facility for what would be the last time. I was on my way to Larry’s room, the resident of the facility that I had been paired with, when I was stopped by my group leader. “I have some terrible news,” he said. “Larry’s wife was moved to another facility — her dementia has worsened since our …

Physician

Better care: Private practice or academic center?

Dads Dollars Debts, MD

June 12, 2017Jun 12, 2017

Throughout training, I had an idea. And that idea was — I would be a great academic physician. I had the right training. I had done research from college through fellowship. I had received research grants from medical school through…

Academia — here I come!

Then attending-hood arrived. I looked for positions in academic centers. I was limited by …

Physician

There’s something wrong with emergency care. Here’s what it is.

Jeffrey McWilliams, MD

June 11, 2017Jun 11, 2017

I am an emergency physician, forever grateful of the responsibilities entrusted by my patients. This is a relationship I hold dear. As such, I’m an active participant in the war of life and death for our patients. I’m in the trenches with the best nurses, techs and EMS personnel holding the line as the battle continues. We have our victories and share our defeats, all in the name of what …

Physician

A conscious bias against the Confederate flag

Jarret Patton, MD

June 11, 2017Jun 11, 2017

America seems to have a more divisive tone now compared to recent years. New Orleans has seen protests spark over the removal of Confederate monuments. Images are all around us with one that seems to have people quite divided —…

I often have a sense of curiosity when I see this flag flown on people’s front porch, flag pole or on their car. I wonder if the person …

Medications

How a one-time bridging prescription became an every time refill

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

June 11, 2017Jun 11, 2017

At what point, we have to ask ourselves, does a medical error that we do over and over again cease to be an error, and simply become business as usual? At one of the patient safety conferences this week, where…

At what point, we have to ask ourselves, does a medical error that we do over and over again cease to be an error, and simply become business as usual?

At one of the patient safety conferences this week, where we reviewed sentinel events that occurred in the hospital and in the outpatient setting, one of the cases was about a patient who developed an abnormal cardiac rhythm as a result …

Physician

This story of 5 doctors is being seen around the country

Jordan Grumet, MD

June 11, 2017Jun 11, 2017

Many years ago, three doctors formed an internal medicine practice and were proud of the thousands of patients they accumulated. They were fine physicians and very dedicated to the masses who walked through their clinic doors. They saw patients in…

Many years ago, three doctors formed an internal medicine practice and were proud of the thousands of patients they accumulated.

They were fine physicians and very dedicated to the masses who walked through their clinic doors. They saw patients in the office, rounded at two hospitals, and visited a number of nursing homes. This was truly a full-service practice.

Around 2005, Dr. A was starting to fatigue. He was well into his …

Real physician voices, twice a week

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