These articles are written by anonymous clinicians. They have been selected and edited by Kevin Pho, MD.
Over the last three decades, surgery has slowly but steadily evolved towards a minimally invasive technique. The standard of care for appendicitis now involves creating three half-inch incisions and using a laparoscopic technique to remove the appendix. This technique uses a camera to see inside the body via a large screen. Instruments that are over a foot long are used. Sufficient research has shown that this minimally invasive technique leads …
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A debate highlighting gender discrimination in medicine currently rages within the pediatric hospitalist medicine community.
The debate centers on the board certification process for “grandfathering” for the new pediatric hospitalist subspecialty which effectively excludes women on the basis of motherhood.
For those not familiar with “grandfathering in,” this is the process by which a new subspecialty may grant board certification to physicians who have been practicing in the specialty. The alternative option …
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I’m sorry you are sick. I’m sorry you had to wait a long time in the waiting room. I’m sorry you haven’t gotten your pain medications. I’m sorry I don’t have an answer. I’m sorry the department is busy. I’m sorry it’s loud. I’m sorry I don’t know why it smells in here. I’m sorry your neighbor is screaming. I’m sorry you are in pain. I’m sorry you are uncomfortable. …
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At the moment, I should be studying for my first round of boards, but there is something I can’t get off my mind: sacrifice.
If you ask a medical student what they have had to sacrifice to study medicine, the list could go on for days. It could be small things like watching their favorite teams play or being caught up on current events. But more than likely we will list …
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I am at a conference that is encouraging physicians to engage in social media. This is something I was always a proponent of. I felt strongly that as physicians, we help set the tone of accurate medical information. Especially now in this age of disinformation and “alternative facts,” our voices are crucial.
I used to be an active Twitter user. I had 21,000 followers and was verified — with a blue …
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On October 23, 2018, the Mega Millions lottery jackpot was 1.6 billion dollars, making it one of the largest lottery jackpots in history.
The hospital was abuzz with chatter in the week leading up to the drawing. Discussions about the possibility of becoming an instant billionaire were just too good to resist.
During that week, I found myself sitting at the nurse’s station in one of the ICUs at midnight. A nurse …
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The eulogy of a profession should be a relatively uncommon undertaking. And yet, the death of the physician appears to be such a fait accompli that one feels late to the wake. It has been a long and lingering death, like the proverbial frog in the pot, and but there are moments, increasing in frequency in my day-to-day clinical practice when it seems so sudden, unexpected and even surreal. This …
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Physician compensation in most employed positions is based on how much a physician “produces.” I work as a psychiatrist, and this amounts to how many patients you see per hour. The more patients you see, the more “productive” you are, the more money you generate, the more valued you are by your organization and the more RVUs you churn out for a larger paycheck. But, in human terms, what exactly …
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“I don’t know what happened” is probably one of the most common phrases any parent hears. Last weekend, while wrapping my son’s bleeding head in gauze from our first aid kit, this was the best explanation my daughter could muster as to why her two-year-old brother was screaming, holding tightly to a blood-covered plastic ice cream cone. In the end, it was a complete accident (he hit his head on …
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In many countries around the world, women giving birth still face substantial risks to their own lives and that of their baby. Women travel for days to reach facilities that are understaffed, unsafe, and unequipped to provide life-saving surgical care. They are pushed into financial catastrophe as a result of paying for surgical care, if they are able to afford it all, and they return home with little support in …
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President Donald Trump held a rally near my medical school last week.
While sitting in a small conference room during a lecture the morning of the event, my professor chuckled while clutching his phone. He looked up and around at all of us, remarking that his friend had texted him about the Trump supporters waiting outside for the rally to start; the message read, “Jesus, the maggots are already here!” My …
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As an elder millennial physician, I’ve been straddling two worlds, that of the “old-school” mentality of training and this newer one of “wellness.” I’ve become disheartened with new physicians being increasingly unable to tolerate any criticism by teaching faculty, even when patient harm is at risk. However, it wasn’t until I was accused of bullying and bullying exclusionary by a group of colleagues — not trainees — that I grew …
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“Why did you wait to schedule this meeting until September, why not July or August?” Candidly, I replied, “I have a family and being on nights, spending those 90 minutes with them a day is very important to me.” It was then, behind closed doors, in an office where he held all of the power that he said: “You know, I don’t think women with families make as good of …
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Rural hospitals are closing their obstetric wards and stopping all obstetric services — at least those hospitals that manage to remain open at all. The tertiary care centers don’t seem to mind.Always wary of those rural hospital disasters in the middle of the night. Accepting transfers from a place where they must not have the latest technology, clearly, your little hospital must be behind the times, only subspecialty care is …
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In my first year of medical school, I attended a lecture on health disparities that focused on the difference in patient outcomes based on race and socioeconomic status. The lecture cited multiple peer-reviewed studies that extensively demonstrated these disparities and how health care professionals, not solely social determinants of health, contribute to them. The lecture concluded with an appeal to improve our cultural awareness and acknowledge our conscious and unconscious …
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At some point in my career, I had the crazy idea that if I could scale the patient-centric work I was doing in my community at a small rural hospital — then I could make more of an impact. This is why, when a technology company came calling, dangling a carrot in front of my nose to “disrupt” health care, it seemed like a no brainer to make the leap …
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I remember September 27, 2018 like it was yesterday. When Ashley* picked me up from my apartment Thursday morning, I thought it would be like the 138 past Lyft rides I’ve taken since 2017. I was wrong.
After I waived to Ashley from the curb, I got settled into the right back seat. The doors locked, and she asked me the usual question.
“You from here?”
“Yes, I’m a local.”
“That’s great! I’m from …
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I was a resident. He was a physician in a position of power. He took things too far, and I spoke up. Here are some of the actual comments I received.
“He’s just a flirt.”
“You must have misunderstood him.”
“What were you wearing?”
“Somebody must have hated him, to do that to him.”
“Perhaps, he just really, really liked you.”
“Maybe you had a crush on him too and encouraged him.”
I had started a new …
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When I was a third-year resident, I was invited to join a practice owned by a doctor who had once been my chief resident. This was considered by all of my fellow residents to be the plum job in town, and I was thrilled. The doctor, whom I shall call “John,” was smart and funny and had a huge practice that he had purchased from a retiring physician. We figured …
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I have spent the greater portion of my 20s enduring a premature quarter-life crisis. Patterns of self-doubt and debilitating anxiety became my new normal.
I was rejected from medical school — again.
After taking time to process the reality that I would have to wait another year to re-apply, I fervently journeyed through a messy jungle of introspection that led me to these six lessons. Although I learned more than I could …
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