Jeffrey Gladd is a family physician.

From burnout to breakthrough: Why treating yourself like a patient could save your medical career

Physician
December 15, 2024

I started my career in medicine with the same noble intentions that many physicians share—to help and care for people. But like so many of my colleagues, I quickly found myself consumed by a broken system.

Three years into my medical career, I was an overwhelmed family doctor in a small town, juggling urgent care, inpatient care, and seeing 40 patients a day—spending the typical average of just seven minutes with …

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From burnout to breakthrough: Why treating yourself like a patient could save your medical career

Keep your kids off the obesity chart

Conditions
January 22, 2012

The chart below shows the unheralded rise in pediatric obesity (not overweight, just obesity) over the last 40 years. Outrageous, and downright scary. Kids today are flocking to multi-billion dollar pediatric centers for adult-onset diabetes, heart disease, joint replacement and bariatric surgery. This too little (but definitely not too cheap), too late approach is literally killing us. The generations behind us are not only impacting the expense of healthcare, but …

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Keep your kids off the obesity chart

Find a physician, not a general

Physician
December 6, 2011

“Superior doctors prevent the disease.
Mediocre doctors treat the disease before evident.
Inferior doctors treat the full-blown disease.”
-Huang Dee Nai-Chan 2600 BC; 1st Chinese Medical Text.

Not only does my work in integrative medicine have me on the front lines of big pharma-created “syndromes”, like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel (these are real for patients, but are not formal syndromes), but I get to see the worst of our sickcare system. I …

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Find a physician, not a general

Sugar matters when reading food labels

Conditions
October 23, 2011

I was thinking about food labels recently as I scanned yet another new food product at the grocery store. It’s become something of a hobby. “Oh, second ingredient evaporated cane juice (AKA sugar) and then at the end ‘natural’ (my quotation marks) flavors.” The verdict: processed food. I don’t need to know any more than that. Don’t care about calories or fat grams or the other things we have been …

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Sugar matters when reading food labels

The empowered patient is a relief for physician practice

Patient
September 30, 2011

Patients may soon be universally able to view their lab results thanks to a new rule proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services. This means patients may access without permission or release by their providers. This is a victory toward patient empowerment and a step in the right direction.

Classically patients do not see their lab results. The busy primary doctors are often left with nothing more than …

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The empowered patient is a relief for physician practice