These articles are written by anonymous clinicians. They have been selected and edited by Kevin Pho, MD.
My department had a problem that harmed patients on at least a weekly basis. It was well-known, but it seemed there was no viable solution.
My supervising attending was in his seventies and highly regarded at my hospital, having held powerful administrative positions for decades. About ten or so years ago, he stepped down from running the hospital, and …
I’ve wanted to be a physician for as long as I can remember. As a teen, the choice to become a doctor seemed to perfectly meld my affinity for science, academics and helping others. Better yet, pediatrics offered the ability to work with families and children of all ages and developmental abilities.
For fifteen years, I lived, breathed, and worked toward my …
I thought more highly of business folks until I started working for them. I thought CEOs and boards of directors of companies had a vision, whether to maximize shareholder profit, or to produce a stellar product or provide a singular service, etc. Once the vision was elucidated, everyone worked together like a team to make it happen.
Then I became employed by …
As an employed physician specialist working in an underserved community, I am thrilled with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I was initially a skeptic of the program because of the cost to taxpayers, but I have since witnessed first hand the tremendous benefits. People with limited resources and real problems can now get help without suffering financial harm. Those with chronic …
There is a saying in the world of education, “You have to care to teach.” Why is it then in health care, a profession of and about caring, we do such a poor job of teaching our patients? Is it because we are too busy or too rushed when we are sending our patient’s out the door of our hospitals, clinics or offices? After all, we have treated the patient …
It was 4:30 a.m., and I was on the side of the road, drenched in sweat and tears. I had finally slowed my breathing to normal. I was going to be late for rounds. No time to obsess over possible questions. No time to memorize lab values, or practice regurgitating them.
I thought of home. My family and friend, who I hadn’t …
I’m a second-year medical student, and quite recently, a lecture left me with serious doubts about the state of social awareness in the medical field and schools. The dermatologist lecturing described a patient with secondary syphilis, stating he felt the case was odd since, “He [the patient] didn’t look gay or anything,” as if only homosexual men could contract that disease.
I was hurt. I not only belong to a racial …
Dr. Robert’s office felt right to me, with a musical birdsong soundtrack, soft lighting and fresh green tea, and I had my best friend in tow: piece of cake. In this serene atmosphere, I was sure that I’d find out what to do next to finish treating my endometrial cancer.
“It’s probably gone now, since my hysterectomy two weeks back,” I thought. “But let’s play it safe; he’s the gynecological-cancer guru.”
Like …
He was my first patient — ever. I had seen only a few patients before at my school’s student-run clinics, but never had I conducted a full visit. He was my first patient since starting the second semester of my first year, which meant more independence on my part (theoretically), and that, for the first time, I would be holding the office visit from beginning to end. Without guidance. Of …
Before the 1980s, drug testing was uncommon. It was widely viewed as an invasion of privacy and an infringement on fourth amendment rights. Today, a medical student is likely to be drug tested before entering medical school, before clinical rotations, and/or before residency. If preventing drug use among medical students is the goal of these tests, they have failed miserably. Urinalysis drug tests are ineffective. But more importantly, they are …
An excerpt from Hope For Addiction: Help and Hope for Families of Those Struggling with Addiction.
The law states that no one can be forced into treatment against their will unless they are at risk of harming themselves or others (this varies by state, but the laws are very similar …
As an income-less medical student, I would be one of the now 7.1 million people who have signed up for Obamacare for this year. Except I live in Texas, one of nearly half of all states that elected to not expand Medicaid. At the same time, I don’t have enough of an income to qualify for federal subsidies, making insurance from the Marketplace unaffordable.
As such, the individual mandate — the …
I stood right beside them as they slowly slid your head into a plastic bag, looped the coarse twine about your neck and tied it tightly. Like the amateurs they were, they double-knotted it to make sure nothing came loose or dripped out. Then they casually walked away, chatting about what would come next.
Within minutes the bag fogged up, and a clear red liquid pooled at the bottom.
That was just …
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As a medical scribe working with a large, well-known scribe company, unnamed to protect my job, it makes me proud reading all the articles published about how much having a scribe benefits a physician, especially in the emergency department. I enjoy my job immensely and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and engage in patient care. However, as a …
It’s 11:00 a.m. when we finish listening to a somewhat pointless series of talks from various medical school administrators on interview day — one on financial aid, one on the medical curriculum, another on the school’s student organizations. It’s time for the medical school tour. All the applicants rise from their seats in unison, button their suit jackets, pat down any newly …
I have been actively engaged in the clinical practice of radiation oncology for the last 40 years, and over the last 10 years have been asked to participate as a radiation oncology expert witness in a variety of medical malpractice cases. Radiation therapy, together with surgery and chemotherapy, is one of the major cancer treatment methods. It is estimated that 50-60% of all cancer patients seen in the USA receive treatment with …
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Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, a New Jersey-based family practitioner and a National Physician’s Alliance board member, has written an interesting editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine in which she states she is no longer surprised when laboratories charge her patients $1000 or more for a Pap smear.
According to Dr. Bettigole, the reason for the exorbitant charges are not the actual Pap smear itself (although she does mention the fact liquid-based preps …
As a nursing student, I have always enjoyed the opportunity to see firsthand new procedures, treatments, wounds, and wound care on patients. Many of the patients were older and resided in the nursing homes where we conducted our clinical rotations. It was not unusual for several of us to gather around a patient while the wound care nurse or doctor cleaned, debrided, and dressed a pressure ulcer. For us students, …
Lung cancer screening CT took its most important step toward widespread implementation last week when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released a draft of its forthcoming recommendation that the 9 million U.S. people meet entry criteria for the National Lung Screening Trial (age 55-79, with 30+ pack-years smoking history and quit < 15 years) should undergo yearly low-dose lung cancer screening CT.
The recommendation earned a Grade B in …
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As a physician in a rural health clinic, I frequently see patients who complain of anxiety. The majority of these patients are in their 20s to 40s. Some have never been evaluated by a mental health professional, and many of these patients take benzodiazepines on a chronic basis. After current review, I wonder if we as primary care physicians are good at treating anxiety, or are we contributing to drug …
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