Pamela Wible pioneered the community-designed ideal medical clinic and blogs at Ideal Medical Care. She is the author of Physician Suicide Letters — Answered and Pet Goats and Pap Smears. Watch her TEDx talk, How to Get Naked with Your Doctor. She hosts the physician retreat, Live Your Dream, to help her colleagues heal from grief and reclaim their lives and careers.
An investigation is underway after a Chicago-area doctor is found dead — a suicide according to the medical examiner. What demands investigation is the callousness with which the this doctor’s death was reported by the media — and received by neighbors, many health care professionals themselves.
I’m alerted to the death initially by a Facebook friend: “Pamela, check this out!” Headline: Read more…
The following is Dr. Pamela Wible’s testimony in support of medical student mental health to the Missouri State Legislature for House Bill 867.
I’m Dr. Pamela Wible, a family physician in Oregon. I’ve submitted my CV, witness form, and transcript of my testimony to Chairman Frederick. My schedule prevents me from traveling to Missouri for today’s hearing; however, I thank Vice Chairman Morris and the Committee for allowing me to …
I’m in a room full of doctors at my mom’s 50th medical school reunion when I announce, “It’s almost March 30th!” I pause. “Doesn’t anyone know what March 30th is?” Nobody has a clue.
March 30th is National Doctors’ Day! Who knew? I never heard of it — until a friend told me last week.
Veterans know about Veterans Day. Mothers know about …
Outside of a Southern California hospital, an ER doctor is crouched down against a concrete wall grieving the loss of his 19-year-old patient. A paramedic snaps a photo of the tender scene. His coworker, a close friend of the doctor, posts the photo (with permission) online. Minutes after the photograph, the doctor returns to work “holding his head high.”
Thousands of people have …
Standing on the edge of his hotel balcony, a doctor describes the rolling hills. He tells me, “It’s a beautiful place to die.” Ten minutes later, he agrees not to injure himself — for now.
I’m not running a physician suicide hotline. But doctors keep calling me.
It’s midnight, and I’m speaking to a psychiatry intern. Bullied by residents and her attending, she …
A physician in Texas posts this photo on Facebook. Caption: “My schedule one morning in January 2014. Never again …”
Yay! Another physician breaks free from assembly-line medicine.
High-overhead, high-volume offices sacrifice the sacred physicians-patient relationship and perpetuate a disease-billing management system. This is not health care. It’s abuse.
Patients: Avoid clinics with 10-minute slots. Go for docs who offer 30 to 60-minute appointments. Physicians: …
Ever wonder what patients really want from doctors?
Is it the fancy buildings with marble fountains?
Is it the board certifications and diplomas on the wall?
Is it the expert medical jargon and starched white coats?
Nope. None of the above.
Listen up, docs: Patients just want the real you. Ya know — you. The competent and caring you who really listens with compassion. The real you …
Sick of phone trees, endless refill requests, packed waiting rooms, out-of-control bills, and other medical misadventures?
Follow these seven simple steps to get your doctor to do what you want.
1. Get organized. Be clear about what you need from your appointment. Make a comprehensive list of all the issues you want to discuss — and your ideal outcomes for each. Patients who are …
Loyal patients are the lifeblood of a medical clinic. And devoted patients are worth their weight in gold. It’s a lot easier to care for an established patient that lots of one-timers who never return. Beyond ease of workflow, the economic benefits are fabulous. A loyal patient panel will stay with you (and pay you) through sickness and in health …
A friend just got back from a big medical conference at a fancy hotel. The cleaning ladies actually pulled her aside to ask, “What’s with all the grim faces and sad eyes?”
Do doctors realize medical conferences look like funerals? That’s what the cleaning ladies think. I bet they’re not the only ones.
Why do medical conferences feel like funerals? Maybe because doctors …
A letter received by Pamela Wible, MD.
Dear Pamela:
I can’t tell if I’m burned out or just don’t like being a doctor. My own medical school experience was so abusive. I wonder how other students like me fare when they enter abusive residency programs. I supposedly work at a place that values patients above all else, but it feels like everyone is …
This courageous physician blows a whistle on the human rights abuse in hospitals. Doctors forced to work 8 consecutive days. No sleep. No access to food. Doctor forced to work in ICU after having seizure. Is this the care you want in American hospitals?
Full transcript:
The hospital administration and the national hospitalist company that I worked for made this agreement that the shifts would be 24 hours. And they would …
This article adapted from a lecture presented by Pamela Wible, MD, at the 2014 American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Assembly in Washington DC.
Why did you go to medical school?
I’m a family physician born into a family of physicians. My parents warned me not to pursue medicine. So I went to medical school. Ten years later, I’m unhappy with the direction …
I believe we choose our parents before we are born. I hit the jackpot.
I picked an unlikely pair — a radical feminist and a guy named Ted Krouse. Mom wasn’t home much (she was finishing up her psychiatry residency) so I became head of the household. Dad always kowtowed to the strongest woman in the room. I was two at the …
An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.
Life changes in a heartbeat.
In the “Events of the Cardiac Cycle” lab, four students are assigned to each dog. Instructions: Inject the live dog with epinephrine and study the EKG. Sever cardiac nerves. Carve open the chest and shock the heart. As the dog’s blood pressure drops, remove the heart. Now, stab …
Health insurance is complex. Eating out is easy — unless you were to involve your health insurance company.
If you hired a third party to pay your restaurant bill, you’d pay twice as much, wait 2 weeks for a table, and have 7 minutes to eat.
I shared my restaurant analogy on a LinkedIn …
Attention all doctors: The first three are mine. The rest are from miserable colleagues. All true. And common. If you’re a doctor and you recognize anything on this list, please quit your job.
10. You feel nauseated when you see your clinic logo; you alter your commute to avoid streets with your clinic’s billboard.
9. Discouraged by the general despair among staff, you …
If you’re a doctor, I bet you speak doctorly. You act doctorly. And dress doctorly. And spend your days in clinic with other doctorly doctors.
But life is what happens while you’re busy staring at computerized flow sheets, algorithms, and billing codes.
Real life happens outside of man-made medical institutions. Patients live in the real world. And I always wanted be a real …
I love caring for patients — young and old. And though I may not accept your insurance, I will always accept you. I’m still happy to care for Medicare patients even though I opted out of Medicare in 2006. Why don’t I accept Medicare? Let me fill you in.
I do not accept Medicare because:
Medicare treats physicians as criminals — guilty …
Just for the record: I am happy to see you — irrespective of your insurance.
I accept most insurance plans. And if I don’t accept your insurance, I have a very good reason.
I will not sign a contract with a health insurer that:
Abuses and bullies me and/or my patients.
Denies all my first claims.
Reimburses me so little that I may go out of …
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