Christine J. Ko is a dermatopathologist.
A four-day workweek is being touted as better, especially for jobs that are cognitively oriented. The brain needs more time for rest and relaxation than a five-day workweek allows, so four days of work and three days for everything else will provide a work-life balance.
For more than two decades, particularly after I had my first child 17 years ago, I’ve been trying to achieve that elusive work-life balance. I …
I love America Ferrara’s monologue in Barbie. Similarly, the impossibility of being a woman in medicine, as so clearly stated in Dr. Jennifer Lycette’s recent essay in KevinMD, absolutely resonates with me.
And yet, let’s not forget that in 2021, two of five practicing physicians were women, with certain fields including (my own) dermatology, internal medicine, and pediatrics having a female predominance. Studies support that these female physicians have …
Since December 2022, I have attended over 60 medical appointments, ranging from 15 minutes to as long as 6 hours. Some appointments were as short as 15 minutes, while others required a minimum of 3 hours. Through these numerous health care visits, which collectively amount to more than 60 hours, I have gained valuable insights. Here are my top 10 tips based on my experiences:
Check the location and plan ahead. …
I cry often enough that my kids almost gleefully expect it, checking me for tears during movies or shows, shaking their heads in mock dismay when they see that their prediction is correct. I’ve cried many times at home, watching screens, reading books, talking on the phone, and at work, where I am a doctor who cannot always suppress my emotions. And I’ve cried in front of health care providers …
I recently had a good (albeit unexpected) cry and figured out that I have been in an unremitting fear cycle for about two-plus years. When the COVID pandemic first shut things down across the United States, my family and I had just started a much-anticipated ski vacation. On the way to the resort, we heard that Vail and other Colorado resorts had just shut down. When we checked into our …
Maybe it’s a testament to a hardy relationship that there was no resulting argument. Without thinking, I blurted out, “You are so sexist!” I could immediately tell by my husband’s face, his upper eyelids and eyebrows lifted a bit, his mouth freeze-framed in a small “o” — my exclamation surprised and insulted him. Maybe it was a completely unfair assessment; after all, he was standing at the sink, his hands …
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