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Rena Xu

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NPO and be merry

Rena Xu
Physician
December 12, 2012

It is the holiday season, and all through the hospital, patients are being made “NPO.”  This is the medical term for “no eating or drinking allowed.”

Mr. T, silver-haired and newly unemployed, is NPO on account of his pancreatitis.  “We don’t want to upset your pancreas,” the team tells him when we pass through on morning rounds.  It is nearly breakfast time.  We hover around his bed in a half circle …

Read more…

NPO and be merry

Apple has introduced me to the uncertainty of being doctored

Rena Xu
Physician
November 15, 2012

On a recent Saturday morning, I took my problems to a bar.  The bar was on Boston’s Boylston Street at the end of a row of pubs.  Years ago, during orientation week of medical school, my classmates and I had worked our way methodically down that row.

The bar I headed to on this particular day was the Apple Store Genius Bar.  The “bouncer,” a man with skinny arms and a …

Read more…

Apple has introduced me to the uncertainty of being doctored

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  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • How corporate health care ruined the medical profession

      Edmond Cabbabe, MD | Physician
    • 13.1 reasons running a half marathon beats practicing medicine

      John Wei, MD | Physician
    • The cost of chaos in medical malpractice litigation

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Medicare practice expense cuts will hurt patients

      John Birkmeyer, MD | Policy
    • The hidden dangers of dental sedation and dental anesthesia in kids

      Irim Salik, MD | Conditions
    • Why health care fraud detection requires payment integrity alignment

      Tiffiny Black, DM, MPA, MBA | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why clinicians fail at writing expert reports

      Tracy Liberatore, Esq, PA | Conditions
    • Rethinking the role of family physicians vs. specialists

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • How corporate health care ruined the medical profession

      Edmond Cabbabe, MD | Physician
    • Clinicians are failing at value-based care because no one taught them the system [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why clinical listening skills outpace artificial intelligence

      Ryan Egeland, MD, PhD | Tech
    • Administrative burden is driving severe physician burnout

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • 2026 cholesterol guidelines: LDL goals, Lp(a), and coronary calcium scoring [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast, Sponsored
    • Medical school rankings reshape what they measure

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Education
    • The prostate cancer recovery few men are warned about

      Francisco M. Torres, MD | Physician
    • Physician career choices come down to risk tolerance

      Stanley Liu, MD | Finance
    • Shared responsibility in patient care needs boundaries

      Alan P. Feren, MD | Physician
    • Artificial intelligence in residency education and family medicine

      Jyothi Ranga Patri, MD, MHA | Tech

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