Miriam A. Knoll, MD

Obstruction of medical justice: How health care fails patients with cancer

Policy

January 22, 2018

Isn’t getting cancer bad enough?

That’s the frustrated thought that goes through my mind when I see patients with cancer suffering — not from their cancer, but from the failure of the health care system.

Take Nancy,* a 60-year-old woman with hormone-positive breast cancer. When she came to the emergency room with a fungating breast mass, we knew …

Stop being surprised: I’m a physician and a mother

Miriam A. Knoll, MD

Physician

January 9, 2017

“So, what’s your story?”

I knew right away what the medical oncologist was really asking. She and I were meeting for the first time while caring for a mutual patient. While getting to know each other, she asked me if I had children; when I answered in the affirmative, she asked me, “So, what’s your story?”

The question meant many things …

A physician-mother’s call to action at a medical meeting

Miriam A. Knoll, MD

Physician

November 29, 2016

As a physician and mom, I hate the work culture that generates the glass ceiling for women.

Like many professional environments, Medicine is a hierarchical culture dominated by men. The leadership positions are mostly filled by men- including the hospital CEOs, department chairpersons, and medical school deans. This reality begs the question: if nearly half of medical school graduates are women, why don’t we see more female …

Let’s learn from our nurses and make medicine great again

Miriam A. Knoll, MD

Physician

August 12, 2016

Sometimes, I wish I was a nurse.

As a nurse, my work-life balance would greatly improve because my three 12-hour shifts would constitute a rewarding and flexible full-time medical career. I would care for all kinds of patients, not just stick to one medical specialty. Maybe I’d go for an advanced nursing degree; I would enroll in school full-time and also maintain a paid full-time job. Like many nurses, my hospital …

Medical trainees cannot live on grit alone

Miriam A. Knoll, MD

Education

June 1, 2016

A recent AMA Wire article highlighted the resident depression endemic and identified some strategies for improvement. The upshot: Too many trainees are unhappy with their jobs.

The most important tool used to gauge trainees’ satisfaction with their training programs is the ACGME survey. Since the ACGME is the organization that formally accredits training programs, …

Why we don’t usually give emergent radiation therapy

Miriam A. Knoll, MD

Conditions

July 29, 2014

The first lecture in a radiation oncology residency program is “Radiation Oncology Emergencies,” to educate the new residents how to manage inpatient consultations and emergencies. While preparing my lecture this year, it occurred to me how useful this basic information would be to the physicians calling for the consultation. Sharing our thought process in triaging patient explains why we don’t rush to utilize radiation, even in cases of a cord …

Miriam A. Knoll, MD

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