For treatment, please call Dr. Congressman
Recent regulatory changes create a national staffing level for nursing facilities. Despite the much-needed rule change and the well-known stench of understaffed nursing homes that many Americans dread going to, most of the news cycle has portrayed this as a negative development. This is but one example where our patients are being manipulated into beliefs and actions that are contrary to their best health care interests. Recently, the same lies …
A modern tale of thyroid cancer: AI, haikus, and healing
AI Ally
Hangs up. Phone drops. Thud.
She blinks back, tears, and looks up.
Thyroid cancer, huh …
Typing, click clack … thud.
She sighs in relief.
Texts friends, invites family
over for comfort.
The next day, she calls
her doctor ready to talk,
ready to listen.
Behind the poem: not your typical haiku
A lesson in generosity: How one woman helped a stranger afford insulin
I waited in line at the pharmacy, a familiar chain store. The man in front of me waited patiently for the technician to ring up his meds. I overheard her say to him, “$125.00. That includes your insulin.”
The man bowed his head and smiled politely, showing many missing teeth. He was dressed modestly. I did not know his name. I did not know him. I had never met him before. …
A story of liver cancer and diabetes [PODCAST]
Health care’s breaking point: patients and physicians abandoned
I know you are wounded, as I am also injured.
It is as if we have been battered and bruised and kicked to the side of the road, left there alone to suffer. An ignored problem will soon be forgotten; at least, that is their contention.
We have screamed out our maladies and concerns to those in closed, cold rooms, those with mechanical minds that churn out debits and credits but cannot …
Why charm and competence are essential for career survival
Charm and competence among providers should ideally be concordant, but they can sometimes be discordant, which should be evaluated and corrected if possible. This discordance isn’t limited to health care; it can also be observed in politics, during litigation, and within families. Charming politicians can sway followers, charming litigators can sway juries, and charming family members can influence their families. Whether or not their competence, or lack thereof, gets overlooked …
Balancing expectations and reality in modern obstetrics
“I want everything to be natural.”
Well, we are in a building with electricity and high-speed internet, neither of which are gifts from Mother Earth.
Yes, that’s really how I responded to a patient. We laughed, but her comment allowed me to reflect. I interpret this statement to be the patient’s wish to minimize intervention or achieve a vaginal delivery. I understand this position. However, it may stem from the cultural mythology …
How contemplative medicine revived a doctor’s passion [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!
Join Koshin Paley Ellison, a psychotherapist and author of Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity Courage and Compassion. Explore the transformative power of contemplative medicine as we delve into topics such as …
13 reasons why women should not be doctors?
This article is satire.
In recent years, health care has made significant strides toward gender equality. But are these changes for the better? Let’s use facts to address the misconceptions and finally close the topic of women in medicine.
1. Female doctors make less money than men. As everyone knows, quality of care is directly proportional to revenue.
2. Female doctors cannot handle multiple patients. They are, after all, the undisputed queens of …
Is your portal making you too available? Give your patients an option that works for everyone.
Recently, a physician wrote about how access to a patient portal has turned his primary care practice into a reluctant concierge medicine practice, with patients asking questions and expecting quick responses day or night. I could relate. Modern technology is bringing a host of new, unexpected challenges to today’s physicians.
Patient portals may provide a level of ease and efficiency, but, as the physician rightly pointed out, they also create confusion, …
Ensure your physicians always have crisis support: 5-step awareness program
Physician leaders: Are you committed to doing everything you possibly can to prevent physician suicide?
This CHAP is how you answer that question.
This document contains two steps that will ensure you do everything possible to be there for your people when they need you the most.
- A simple audit that will show you how badly you fail to support your struggling doctors. It will take you less than 15 minutes to …
How one patient’s death transformed my approach to mental health care
Prior to working as a nurse practitioner, I worked as a psychiatric registered nurse in an inpatient behavioral health setting, caring for individuals with severe mental illness (SMI). Individuals with SMI die ten to twenty years earlier than the general population due to comorbid medical conditions. I had been aware of this statistic for some time but only understood the devastation after I had an encounter with a patient in …
ADVERTISEMENT
The unseen impact of Miami’s homeless crackdown
17th Street – nestled between Jackson Memorial, a major U.S. safety net hospital, and Camillus House, the largest homeless shelter in South Florida – is empty. There are no bicycles or tents belonging to the individuals who typically inhabit the area. There is no line outside of the Three Sisters where people usually wait for a meal. The street is quiet and desolate.
We visit 17th Street every Saturday morning with …
Mistakes make us better doctors [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!
Join us for an insightful exploration of the complexities of managing mistakes in health care with our guest, Josh Schwarzbaum, an emergency physician. Together, we’ll discuss the importance of embracing errors as opportunities …
Why the U.S. must urgently address maternal health disparities for Black women
It is no secret that the U.S. lags greatly behind other developed nations in maternal health outcomes. When we hear the stories of women like Shalon Irving, who died three weeks after giving birth and whose pleas for help prior to her death were all but ignored, or the story of Kira Johnson, who was left hemorrhaging for ten hours in the hospital after what was supposed to be a …
CRISPR and eEVs in the fight against chronic diseases
In one of my favorite movies, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the original crew of the Enterprise has traveled through time, back to the, to them ancient, city of San Francisco circa the 1980s. It’s all about Earth whales and alien cetaceans being none too pleased that we killed them all … And Klingons, of course. There must be Klingons. But what stuck in my young mind at the …
Why health care organizations must be accountable to local communities
In the not-too-distant past, health care was a local industry. If you saw a doctor, they were likely a solo practitioner. If you went to the hospital, it was probably run by a local religious order or non-profit. Health care leaders and board members shopped at the same stores as their patients did, socialized in the same community groups, and sent their children to the same schools. Today, though, health …
Debunking the top myths about schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness often misunderstood. Stereotypical portrayals in movies and TV perpetuate false narratives, leading to inaccurate conclusions. Here are five common myths about schizophrenia and the truth behind them.
Myth: People living in poverty are more likely to get schizophrenia.
We tend to pair schizophrenia with assumptions of low income or poverty, but that’s not accurate. Sometimes, due to their illness and its effects, patients with schizophrenia may …
AI, the physician shortage, and other health care trends [PODCAST]
Past Week
-
Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives
-
Aging in place: Why home care must replace nursing homes
-
COVID-19 was real: a doctor’s frontline account
-
How federal actions threaten vaccine policy and trust
-
Why smartwatches won’t save American health care
-
When the clinic becomes the battlefield: Defending rural health care in the age of AI-driven attacks
-
Past 6 Months
-
The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school
-
Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit
-
Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters
-
Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years
-
A physician employment agreement term that often tricks physicians
-
Why taxing remittances harms families and global health care
-
Recent Posts
-
Public health under fire: Vaccine battle hits federal court
-
How mindful leadership transforms physician wellness
-
How the quietly efficient physician can turn perception into power
-
Are we repeating the statin playbook with lipoprotein(a)?
-
Why our fear of AI is really a fear of ourselves [PODCAST]
-
Why physicians with ADHD are burning out
-
Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
569
pages
Past Week
-
Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives
-
Aging in place: Why home care must replace nursing homes
-
COVID-19 was real: a doctor’s frontline account
-
How federal actions threaten vaccine policy and trust
-
Why smartwatches won’t save American health care
-
When the clinic becomes the battlefield: Defending rural health care in the age of AI-driven attacks
-
Past 6 Months
-
The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school
-
Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit
-
Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters
-
Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years
-
A physician employment agreement term that often tricks physicians
-
Why taxing remittances harms families and global health care
-
Recent Posts
-
Public health under fire: Vaccine battle hits federal court
-
How mindful leadership transforms physician wellness
-
How the quietly efficient physician can turn perception into power
-
Are we repeating the statin playbook with lipoprotein(a)?
-
Why our fear of AI is really a fear of ourselves [PODCAST]
-
Why physicians with ADHD are burning out
-
