Anonymous

These articles are written by anonymous clinicians. They have been selected and edited by Kevin Pho, MD.

The reasons our future doctors are choosing medicine have changed

Anonymous

Education

June 8, 2012

Why would anyone want to become a doctor? Seriously. Think about it, because this is a very important question for the future of healthcare in our country.

The future of medicine is somewhat unclear in this age of healthcare reform, but we do know a few things. Physician compensation is currently falling while lawsuits and malpractice premiums are rising. Doctors must see many more patients in a day to maintain their …

Listening is what a patient needs most

Anonymous

Education

May 29, 2012

Hard time is here
And ev’rywhere you go
Hard times is harder
Than th’ever been befo’

The opening lines of a century-old Delta blues song rings out among the stars and the dark of a rural Virginia night. I sit tenuously awake atop an old wooden stump in front of a farmhouse, where four minds sleep peacefully inside. It is 3:00 am. From the window, I hear the sound of the needle dragging …

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Listening is what a patient needs most

Medical residents are abused more than Chinese factory workers

Anonymous

Physician

April 23, 2012

Medical residents have fewer labor protections than Chinese factory workers. While labor abuses at Apple’s factories make headlines, few people are as concerned about the lack of protections for doctors and medical students here in the United States. As a resident, I was subject to some of the worst abuses – intentionally misreported time sheets and gender-based discrimination – and after I complained, I was fired, so I sued the …

Use social media for MCAT help and to get into medical school

Anonymous

Education

April 11, 2012

How many students enter college and immediately proclaim that they are “pre-med?” Often this declaration is accompanied with an already well thought-out choice for his or her future specialty. This incredible ability to see into the future must be hereditary, as I have had 3 or 4 different parents tell me about how their kids are going to have to choose between medical school A and B, and/or how Johnny …

Why full code should not be the default status for patients

Anonymous

Physician

March 30, 2012

Full code is the universal default status for patients who haven’t chosen otherwise, but I suspect most physicians believe this policy is wrong. We know in our hearts we’re doing harm when we perform CPR on poor souls at the natural end of their lives, whose bodies can do nothing more than suffer.

Appropriately timed end-of-life discussions are the supposed answer, but for doctors, they are emotionally draining, interpersonally complex, and …

Physicians should rise up against mandated transvaginal ultrasounds

Anonymous

Physician

March 29, 2012

Where is the physician outrage?

Right. Here.

I’m speaking, of course, about the required-transvaginal-ultrasound thing that seems to be the flavor-of-the-month in politics.

I do not care what your personal politics are. I think we can all agree that my right to swing my fist ends where your face begins.

I do not feel that it is reactionary or even inaccurate to describe an unwanted, non-indicated transvaginal ultrasound as “rape.” If I insert any …

Bias and error are rampant in medical literature

Anonymous

Physician

March 18, 2012

A heretic essay in JAMA by Vinay Prasad (Northwestern of Chicago), Adam Cifu (U. of Chicago) and John Ioannidis (Stanford) should be required reading for every medical student and resident and to pass any board certification exam in any specialty … in my humble opinion.

John Ioannidis became one of my personal heroes with the publication of his great paper in PLoS Medicine, “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False,” and its …

What medical education can learn from homeschooling

Anonymous

Education

March 10, 2012

My wife and I met in medical school. Both of us went “straight through” from high school to college to med school. So, like most of you, we are as educated as it gets.

But when our daughter reached “school age,” we decided to homeschool her. My son, who is two years younger, followed in his big sister’s footsteps, so we are now homeschooling both of our children.

Unlike our traditional paths …

Doctors need to stop being so complacent

Anonymous

Physician

February 24, 2012

Four brutally honest declarations:

1. I can perfectly decide what is best for myself, my family, my patients, and my practice. I don’t need outside guidance telling me how to lead.

2. I decide what works best on my terms to practice the best medicine.

3. I will succeed and lead because I am focused on my goals just as much (if not more) than my patient’s goals.

4. My goal is to make …

Why physicians may not buy into ACOs

Anonymous

Policy

February 6, 2012

I’m sure Ezekiel Emanuel hates being referred to as Rahm Emanuel’s brother, so I won’t describe him as such. After working as one of Obama’s main health care advisors, he’s now at U-Penn in a job spanning medicine, economics, and ethics. He’s also been writing engaging essays in JAMA about health care reform and economic change that give us an augur into where health care reform might lead us.

Here, …

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Why physicians may not buy into ACOs

Identical twins with different ideas about health care

Anonymous

Policy

February 3, 2012

Jack and John are identical twins but have varying interests in life. One day Jack, 43 years old, decides he has had enough of these headaches and calls his family doctor and asks what he should do. He is told that his doctor can see him in 4 days and to take some over-the-counter ibuprofen. And to go to the ER if the headaches worsen.

John, who has also been having …

Doctors are forced to choose between really small or super big

Anonymous

Policy

January 14, 2012

I am a little fish in a big sea. And so are most of us. Or we are used to be. For better or worse, the era of private practice, outpatient medicine as we know it, is ending.

And faster than we thought. The choice now: downsize or supersize. No longer can a doctor operate a private practice as a solo practitioner or in a small group practice. We are getting …

What does your personal image of medicine look like?

Anonymous

Physician

October 22, 2011

“I don’t need no doctor ’cause I know what’s ailing me.
He gave me a medicated lotion
But it didn’t soothe my emotion.”
-John Mayer

If someone asked you to draw your image of medicine, what would you sketch? Would it be a person wearing a long white coat with a stethoscope? Would your picture be set in a hospital room, the ER, or the office setting? Would there be any patients in your …

Time to put a little bit of Disney into medicine

Anonymous

Physician

October 8, 2011

Why is a trip to the doctor’s office more like going to the DMV than to Disney World? Both the DMV and Disney World involve waiting in long lines, but Disney has made the entire experience fun and exciting, while the DMV has made it cold and frustrating.

“But medicine is different,” you may say. After all, seeing the doctor was never meant to be a fun or exciting experience. When …

Why medicine is not health

Anonymous

Meds

September 26, 2011

Being a physician certainly biases how I view the world around me. I can’t help but think in terms of problem-solving and healing. But have you noticed how medicalized our society has become? The other night watching television, we watched at least four drug commercials and one health insurance commercial — during a half-hour show! I believe we are in the middle of the medicalization of America, and I don’t …

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Why medicine is not health

Why I left a top children’s hospital for a private office

Anonymous

Physician

September 25, 2011

All medical students and residents, those with any sense of introspection anyway, wonder if we (they) should be on the front lines. We wonder if we should be meeting, examining, trying to diagnose and treat families and children when we know that an experienced clinician just around the corner or in the next room could see the patient, perform the procedure faster and with more panache than our feeble …

The impact of hiding medication costs from patients

Anonymous

Meds

September 24, 2011

Always covered by an employer health plan, I had never given a thought to prescription costs – my medications had been covered by moderate copays. This changed when I retired and enrolled in Medicare (and a Medicare Part D plan).

Just prior to retirement, my eyes suddenly began tear and swell so much that it impacted my vision. The eye doctor diagnosed an allergic reaction and prescribed prednisone drops to …

To connect with patients is key

Anonymous

Patient

September 14, 2011

con·nect (from dictionary.com)

verb (used with object)

1. to join, link, or fasten together; unite or bind: to connect the two cities by a bridge; Communication satellites connect the local stations into a network.

2. to establish communication between; put in communication: Operator, will you please connect me with Mr. Jones?

To connect with your patients is truly the key solution.

Connect takes on two meanings:

Establish a relationship; develop, dig, pursue
Maintain via all available tools: email, …
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To connect with patients is key

A note to doctors from a patient labelled as idiopathic

Anonymous

Patient

August 19, 2011

I am an enigma. I always have been. Some doctors think of me as a challenge while others make it clear they dislike dealing with my case. I’ve had gastroparesis since I was born. Idiopathic gastroparesis. I’ve had debilitating migraines since I was 3. Idiopathic migraines. I’ve had several-month bouts of low grade fevers for years. Idiopathic fevers. Over the past 6 months I’ve started going into anaphylaxis. Idiopathic anaphylaxis.

Every …

Anonymous

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