Aseem Desai is a cardiac electrophysiologist and author of Restart Your Heart.

Shifting gears: Navigating identity and role changes throughout a physician’s career

Physician
May 15, 2024

Physicians dedicate their lives to healing others, often at the expense of their own well-being. This intense focus on professional success can, over time, become a kind of addiction. As physicians progress through different stages of their careers, it becomes crucial to adapt and redefine their professional identity beyond the confines of clinical practice.

The evolving roles of physicians

The concept of a physician’s role is dynamic and ever-evolving. Early career stages …

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Shifting gears: Navigating identity and role changes throughout a physician’s career

Extreme athleticism and the risk of atrial fibrillation

Conditions
January 23, 2021

Consider the following sports icons:  tennis legend Billie Jean King, basketball veteran Larry Bird, triathlete Karsten Madsen, baseball pitcher Kenley Jansen, and cyclist champion Haimar Zubeldia.

What do all of these well-known professional athlete heroes have in common? They are athletes with atrial fibrillation, also called AFib. AFib is the most common heart rhythm disorder worldwide, accounting for 750,000 hospitalizations per year in the US alone. It is estimated that 6 …

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Extreme athleticism and the risk of atrial fibrillation

Pandemic challenges for patients with heart disease

Conditions
January 17, 2021

It is stressful enough to live with heart disease. Now, with a global pandemic, access to health care providers has shifted from in-office to telemedicine in many instances. There are challenges for patients with heart disease in this context:

  1. Patients are often older and are not familiar with using technology for videoconferencing (Zoom, Doximity, FaceTime, Skype).
  2. The electrocardiogram and physical exam still remain the primary ways we assess the heart …

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Pandemic challenges for patients with heart disease

The connection between atrial fibrillation and burnout

Conditions
July 30, 2020

One of the greatest health challenges in our lives is the phenomenon of burnout. It occurs when there is enough negative stress that persists over time. As many of us know, stress is an integral part of being human. It can be positive (an upcoming wedding or birth of a child) or negative (job loss or physical injury). At its core, stress is any physical, mental, or emotional factor, external or …

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The connection between atrial fibrillation and burnout

During this terrible pandemic, let’s make compassion go viral

Physician
June 6, 2020

Right now, we are facing a living nightmare. Thousands of people across the globe, perhaps even people we know, are dying from COVID-19. This pandemic has left death and disability in its wake. The main way we are being asked to help is by staying at home in order to lower the chances of the virus spreading from person to person. This is especially important since it has been shown …

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During this terrible pandemic, let’s make compassion go viral