It’s the first day of fellowship, and everyone’s getting to know each other.
“Oh, you won’t have time to work out here.”
I’m not the small, scrawny kid I was back in high school anymore, even if that’s the person I still see in the mirror. I’ve added roughly 50 pounds since college, and it shows with the things people say. Being told I won’t have time to work out has been …
The culture of medicine forces us to ignore our health
One of the greatest health challenges in our lives is the phenomenon of burnout. It occurs when there is enough negative stress that persists over time. As many of us know, stress is an integral part of being human. It can be positive (an upcoming wedding or birth of a child) or negative (job loss or physical injury). At its core, stress is any physical, mental, or emotional factor, external or …
The connection between atrial fibrillation and burnout
As a nurse practitioner, I have the privilege of helping people achieve their health care goals. But in light of recent events surrounding social justice, I find that I am increasingly challenged in new ways. Ways that my training and likely other nursing or medical schools did not address. I have that uncomfortable feeling of being ill-prepared to address the ramifications of social justice on the health of my patients. …
Why clinicians should consider the power of prayer
In a small community not far from my hometown, Paul sat peacefully in his self-built abode on a July day like just about any other. Happy to experience the peace of his bucolic life far from the hustle and bustle of the city, he rarely visited a doctor despite a festering back ailment that limited his ability to work. He had no retirement savings and no plan for life after …
Public health, not medicine, is what will save us
The warm rays of the sun serenade me as I drive to work eager to begin another shift. I find a parking spot on the first floor of the garage don my N95 mask and walk towards the hospital. First, I must stop by at the neighboring building and have my temperature checked. Today it is 97.3. I am awarded the sticker for the day; my boarding pass into the …
A few intense hours with a cardiothoracic surgeon
On the morning of George Floyd’s funeral less than ten miles from our medical center in Houston, I was avoiding the word “Black.” Despite wholehearted pride in the strong Black presence in our community health center’s physicians, staff, and patients, I felt a loss of words that Tuesday morning. There was simply too much pain, grief, and rage in our community.
I was thankful …
Don’t be afraid to say “Black” when asking about someone’s culture
Yeah.
I said it.
As an anesthesiologist, especially as a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist, there are few things I am more interested in than how well or how poorly your heart functions and why. And a cardiologist can help me obtain a lot of vital information in that regard. But there several things a cardiologist cannot, and I argue, should not do, when it comes to the perioperative care of patients.
First, a cardiologist’s assessment …
I don’t care what your cardiologist says
He did a double-take as we passed on our small town sidewalk the other day.
“Hey Doc, I didn’t recognize you dressed like that, without your …”, he gestured to where my tie or stethoscope would have been. I was wearing a cafe-au-lait colored T-shirt and faded Levis.
“Did you hear about the appointment with the cardiologist yet,” I asked.
“It’s in two weeks,” he answered. “Tell me, Doc, how serious is this …
When a diagnosis leads to sadness instead of triumph
A couple of months ago, I had a lecture on the “Principles of Epidemiology and Public Health.” I remember looking at the graphs taken from the American Heart Association and noting that the incidence of developing coronary heart disease or myocardial infarction was higher in black men compared to their white counterparts. I thought to myself, “So this means that race is a risk factor in …
Dissecting systemic racism in health care
When I left Wall Street to pursue a career in medicine, I had some understanding of the long and winding path ahead of me, but I never anticipated our current strange reality leveled by the destructive force of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We now face surreal uncertainties, including the shutdown of large swaths of our health system, hospitals running out of protective medical equipment, and frontline health care workers succumbing to …
How the journey in medicine made me a better father
Right now, we are facing a living nightmare. Thousands of people across the globe, perhaps even people we know, are dying from COVID-19. This pandemic has left death and disability in its wake. The main way we are being asked to help is by staying at home in order to lower the chances of the virus spreading from person to person. This is especially important since it has been shown …
During this terrible pandemic, let’s make compassion go viral
I am writing this as I lay in bed, feverish, sweaty, and persistent dry cough. I have been sick with presumed COVID-19 for the past ten days. I have quarantined myself from my wife and two sons, unable to hug or reassure them that everything will be okay. Additionally, my wife is 39 weeks pregnant. Therefore, I will be unable to accompany her in the delivery room and may not …
I will be a cardiologist with a subspecialty in resilience
“Obama!” Mr. J grumbled, shaking his head and wrinkling his nose. “Obama, Obama, Obama!” Mr. J was known in the hospital as a frequent flier for his heroin abuse. Now, though, his use of dirty needles had landed him in my ICU with a life-threatening bacterial infection in his bloodstream. As his fever raged, he became so delirious that he could not tell me where he was, the year, or even his own name. …
Remedy for a sick nation: Curbing hyperpartisanship after the pandemic
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I remember Jake Mattolli as a pioneer in heart surgery. He certainly didn’t wish to be one. I believe he had a valve replacement, and it was done in the early ’60s. I remember the Boston surgeon termed the operation a success, but as Jake’s lungs gave out on the table, he, the patient, died.
That sort of success most of us wish to avoid.
The thing I remember about Jake, aside …
A social worker remembers a fire chief
A number of people have asked my take on Plandemic and a viral interview of a couple of docs in Bakersfield who challenge conventional wisdom on COVID. Part of me feels like I shouldn’t amplify the chatter. But maybe I can type something slightly antiviral. As usual, I land in a boring, neutral, barely worth a “like” position.
For starters, I’ll admit to being a fairly agnostic conspiracy curious skeptic for …
Please avoid getting sucked into polarized binary thought
“Our current guidelines from the hospital and our national societies are if the patient is not at risk for a major cardiac event in the next week we should defer surgery.” The words hang in the now virtual air of the hospital’s weekly multidisciplinary endocarditis conference. The young woman whose case we are discussing has bacteremia with two different organisms and a very large infectious mass on one of her …
It is OK to be scared, but it is not OK to let our own anxieties harm our patients
As a cardiology fellow in a busy New York City hospital, my life has snowballed into chaos. Just last week, I was a pregnant doctor completing her second trimester, waddling down the halls of the hospital with an echocardiogram machine in tow, taking care of sick cardiac patients. Now a viral pandemic has invaded all remnants of this prior life.
Patients pour into intensive care units with coronavirus. Colleagues serve on …
Being a pregnant medical trainee just got more complicated in the COVID-19 era
During times of stress, true colors show. The United States is a global leader and literally a dream for millions around the world. During the pandemic pandemonium, we should want to be proud to be American. What does that mean right now, though?
After the government’s expansive recent transformations in their role with emergency programs becoming available in light of the CARES Act being approved, I cannot help but think about …
COVID-19 and America’s true colors
Just another day as you work into the depths of the night. Medicine engulfs your life as your focus is centered on your responsibilities for tomorrow. You may or may not have time to sit down and enjoy a meal in silence. You may or may not have the opportunity to say good-bye or hello to a loved one. I hope we all had the foresight to realize what we …
What does sacrifice in medicine really mean?
It’s 8 p.m., and I stumble into my apartment and fall into bed. Somehow, I avoided nodding off in the car driving home. I just finished a 36-hour shift, something I thought was an inhumane task.
Somehow, I survived on two hours of sleep, incessant phone calls, pages, and a granola bar.
This morning I saw a cat in my apartment, except I don’t have a cat.
I fumbled through patient care all …
Medicine will make you sick if you don’t sleep
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