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Walter J. O’Donnell, MD

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Walter J. O’Donnell, MD

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Walter J. O’Donnell is a pulmonary and critical care physician.

Health care workers get the applause, but our families are essential, too

Walter J. O’Donnell, MD
Physician
March 21, 2021

Leanne, a nurse, sits next to me in the ICU. She says into the phone, “Now, Johnny, you be good for Nana.” We’re only halfway through another 12-hour shift, and she won’t be home until after her 5-year-old son is ready for bed.

Such calls to palliate separation have long been part of the fabric of health care families’ lives. But the pandemic has magnified the frequency and pain of these absences.

Much …

Read more…

Health care workers get the applause, but our families are essential, too

Sharing administrative pain might give us more joy in medicine

Walter J. O’Donnell, MD
Physician
February 28, 2019

I’m still trying to figure out what happened. I don’t want to be put on suicide watch by the wellness office. It definitely began during our weekly noontime mindfulness session. I came in late, furtively signed in (gotta make that metric) and slipped into a back corner seat. I went zero to REM in 10 seconds, thanks to last night’s click-boarding my panel into their patient-centered medical i-homes.

I awoke to …

Read more…

Sharing administrative pain might give us more joy in medicine

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  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Expanding the SOAP framework boosts health outcomes

      Deepak Gupta, MD and Sarwan Kumar, MD | Physician
    • The handwashing standard nobody finished. Until now.

      Bernadette Burroughs, RN | Conditions
    • Your doctor saved your life but won’t return your call [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How corporate medicine is eroding truth and patient dignity

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • Why bipolar II is not just a milder version of bipolar I

      Ethan Evans, MD | Conditions
    • You can’t stent a capillary: Why aging starts in your smallest blood vessels [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • I Googled my own name and a corporate clinic I’ve never worked at appeared [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • 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
    • When shared decision making gives way to medical paternalism

      DeAnna Pollock, MD | Physician
    • How xenotransplantation could finally solve organ shortages

      Rafael S. Garcia-Cortes, MD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • You can’t stent a capillary: Why aging starts in your smallest blood vessels [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Psychiatric polypharmacy is a reassessment failure

      Carrie Friedman, NP | Conditions
    • Doctors with mental illness need our care, not silence

      Michael F. Myers, MD | Physician
    • Primary care access is the real problem, not the system

      Payam Zamani, MD | Physician
    • Physician autonomy and the hidden curriculum of medicine

      Gus W. Krucke, MD | Education
    • A Medicare for All alternative that keeps insurers in

      Ken Terry | Policy

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