Barbara Lazio, MD

Barbara Lazio is a neurosurgeon.

Neurosurgeons fail to fix a wayward night owl

Physician

November 25, 2023

My tribe consists of competitive overachievers. We used to call them “gunners” in medical school, and Gunners tend to be morning people, or “larks.” Let’s be honest; people are impressed by those who are up at 4 a.m., training for their next ultramarathon before heading to their noble jobs. A typical conversation among neurosurgeons at a morning conference might go something like this:

Ned: “How are you this morning, Rena?”

Rena: “Great, …

The patient I cannot help and a gun

Barbara Lazio, MD

Physician

August 3, 2022

“You’re my last hope.”

The words come from a patient I have no prayer of helping. He has had decades of back pain. He has had several surgeries, injections, hardware in, hardware out, but nothing has helped. He is unable to work. His struggle with back pain has ruined relationships, ruined his financial stability, ruined his mental health. His goals and mine are aligned. We both want to make his life …

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The patient I cannot help and a gun

Never let a bad job or bad people convince you to quit medicine

Barbara Lazio, MD

Physician

May 2, 2022

If you asked the third-grade version of most doctors what they wanted to be when they grew up, I bet most would have said, “I want to be a doctor!” I doubt many would have said “hospital administrator” or “life coach.” Yet, according to a recent Medscape survey, nearly one-quarter of physicians are considering a shift to non-clinical careers. They are burned out and want to work …

A neurosurgeon and patient satisfaction scores

Barbara Lazio, MD

Physician

March 23, 2022

Over coffee each morning, I quickly skim the headlines on my laptop before heading to work. It is Washington winter, it is dark outside, and the headlines in health care news are grim. Health care workers are burned out. Doctors are working hard all day and coming home to find scathing reviews on online rating sites. Some have their compensation tied to the results of patient surveys. Patients are trusting …

A neurosurgeon finds another reason to stay in clinical practice

Barbara Lazio, MD

Physician

February 27, 2022

Each day I am inundated with reminders of why doctors are leaving clinical practice. My peers are exhausted by pandemic patients and pandemic controversies. They feel unappreciated and overworked doing what was originally their passion. Many feel they are part of an industrial machine, turning out widgets in the form of patient visits or procedures. They want to leave. Should I? Wouldn’t it be easier to be a dog-walker, park …

I am not leaving medicine because I like the clinical practice part of my job

Barbara Lazio, MD

Physician

February 12, 2022

The headlines read “Why Healthcare Workers are Quitting in Droves,” “Docs are Leaving Practice,” and “Physician burnout declared a public health crisis.” The side-gig, financial independence retire early (FIRE), and non-clinical career posts pop up in my daily professional media feeds. Believing in the power of suggestion, I wonder if I should start looking for career number two.

Start. That’s a joke. …

Men in power seem to have a serious zipper malfunction problem

Barbara Lazio, MD

Physician

December 30, 2021

My respected neurosurgery colleague just ended his career inauspiciously — having had an affair with a resident.

While I don’t know the details, I do know that many a male leader, like my friend, has fallen from his perch due to “zipper malfunction.” Had they stronger zippers, maybe they would have kept their sensitive parts in their proper homes and carried on to fulfill their important jobs.

Disappointed, but not terribly surprised, …

Testing gravity during Ladder Season

Barbara Lazio, MD

Conditions and Diseases

November 27, 2021

The transition from pumpkin spice to gingerbread lattes may conjure warm, cozy holiday feelings for some, but for those of us who treat trauma patients, it signals the beginning of Ladder Season. There is something in the crisp late Autumn air that is driving people to dust off their rickety ladders and climb onto the roof. Later they will line our ER hallways, a spinal fracture here, a pelvic fracture …

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Testing gravity during Ladder Season

My Dragon versus my fingers: A weak dictator’s struggles in communication

Barbara Lazio, MD

Physician

January 19, 2021

“The nipples are equal and reactive” is a phrase I came across in the physical exam section of a note that I had dictated, courtesy of my Dragon. I have a Dragon. Not a cool Game of Thrones dragon, heroically swooping in at a critical moment, but a program that recognizes my voice and transcribes it into comically broken English in my patient’s medical record. At times, my Dragon has …

The coronavirus football double standard

Barbara Lazio, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 2, 2020

It is Thanksgiving and, while many are counting their blessings, others are mourning the loss of family time, routine, turkey, big family gatherings, and football. The Baltimore Ravens had to cancel their game today because of too many positive COVID-19 tests. My logical question as a surgeon was, “So I guess they reschedule for 14 days when they all come off quarantine and isolation?” My daughter, a college student, is …

Barbara Lazio, MD

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