I struggle with my pride in the profession and fear of the health care system

Physician
February 29, 2020

I believe in the practice of medicine and enjoy teaching others this amazing art.  However, after experiencing nine months of interactions through medicine as the daughter of a sick patient, I struggle with my pride in the profession and fear of the health care system.

My mother would proudly tell all her physicians that her daughter was a doctor. I knew she was proud, but I didn’t believe in using my …

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I struggle with my pride in the profession and fear of the health care system

Everyone needs rudimentary statistical training

Physician
February 27, 2020

Every day we get bombarded in the news with health statistics. Coffee causes cancer! Coffee cures cancer! And so on. Many of these are meant to grab headlines (and, these days, web page clicks), and the articles they accompany are often very poor at telling the reader what they mean. They often have statistics, and health statistics can be complicated. Sad to say, even many physicians are pretty poor and …

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Everyone needs rudimentary statistical training

How to find your squad in residency

Physician
February 26, 2020

At nearly every stage in our education and training, we find “our people.”  Maybe it’s your table-mate in kindergarten, or the kid with the really cool light-up sneakers in preschool who becomes your best friend.  Maybe it’s your next-door neighbor who you play with after school or a coworker from your first job in high school.  These people become part of our squad — even if their membership is only …

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How to find your squad in residency

Here’s why you should get a chaplain for your patient

Education
February 26, 2020

It was my first week of internal medicine rotation. A newly-minted third-year, I was rotating on the wards back in the spring, when I met a 90-something-year-old gentleman. He had come in for confusion after a fall.

There were no relatives or friends in the waiting room.

I was assigned to follow him. During his stay, his words were few; it was often difficult to engage him in conversation. Whenever I pre-rounded, …

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Here’s why you should get a chaplain for your patient

What do hospital discounts really mean?

Policy
February 16, 2020

Our local newspaper recently ran an article on the top of its front page, stating that our monopoly health system is now “expanding health care cost discounts.”  The article was actually a press release – free advertising on the front page. As a primary care physician who refers patients to this health system, I wanted to know what these discounts really meant.

So, I asked the newspaper in an editorial, “what …

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What do hospital discounts really mean?

USMLE Step 1 pass/fail winners and losers

Education
February 13, 2020

On February 12, 2020, the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) announced that the USMLE Step 1 will transition to a pass/fail exam in January 2022 at the earliest. This move comes amidst increasing pressure on the NBME regarding its financial conflicts of interest, as well as the tangible sense among medical school deans that students were neglecting …

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USMLE Step 1 pass/fail winners and losers

As I become a better baker, I hope that I will continue to become a better doctor

Education
February 12, 2020

Growing up in a Korean household meant that I had very little experience with the type of baking that most Americans are used to; My grandma made rice cakes, not birthday cakes.

But during my third year of medical school, an intern recommended a show called The Great British Bake Off. After watching a few episodes and seeing what devoted home bakers could do, I was smitten and resolved to bake a …

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As I become a better baker, I hope that I will continue to become a better doctor

Medical residents need parental leave

Physician
February 10, 2020

My wife and I had a baby a few months ago. Or, more accurately, she birthed a child while I sat in the corner, contemplating the miracle of reproductive physiology in a vasovagal fugue. In the months leading up to and following that wondrous moment, we found ourselves navigating the labyrinthine complexity of parental leave in graduate medical education.

To start with the positive, we are both residents in the same …

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Medical residents need parental leave

Health care is like lions for lambs

Physician
February 9, 2020

I just watched the movie 1917 at the theatre. Shot in a unique way giving an immersive experience, showing the frontline reality of war through an unforgettable human story, it has to be one of the greatest war movies ever made. I’d encourage everyone to go watch it. I learned a fair bit about the First World while I was in high school in the United Kingdom. Its stories are …

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Health care is like lions for lambs

A medical student’s advice for clinical rotations

Education
February 2, 2020

As a rising fourth-year med student, these are my words of wisdom for all students who are on their clinical rotations.

Your mental health is paramount; do not neglect how you are feeling!

There is not one med student that I know of who hasn’t felt anxiety, paranoia, or depression. Some of your peers may even be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and take medications. And that is OK! As a mentor of …

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A medical student’s advice for clinical rotations

Doctors, a tech revolution is coming

Tech
January 31, 2020

What if I told you just a few years ago that Amazon — a budding e-commerce startup — would come to disrupt the multi-billion dollar retail industry.

I seriously doubt that anyone could have given it a serious thought. At least not in the magnitude that will force a slew of big-box retailers to shut their doors for good.

I am sure the same response would have been elicited about Uber and …

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Doctors, a tech revolution is coming

Nurses are sick of being treated like hotel workers

Conditions
January 31, 2020

“Compassion fatigue” is a phrase thrown around easily when talking about the health care professions. It is often spoken in the same breath as “burnout” and “turnover” while discussing the crisis of a diminishing workforce and increasing demand in health care.

The phrase brings to mind the burnt-out nurse who doesn’t have the emotional energy to care anymore. I can see her: deep frown lines, flat facial expression, dimmed eyes.

The light …

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Nurses are sick of being treated like hotel workers

Making humanism in medicine more humanistic

Physician
January 23, 2020

Kahlil Gibran writes, “In friendship or in love, the two side by side raise hands together to find what one cannot reach alone.” What types of outcomes can physicians and patients achieve in healing, living, and life when Gibran’s message is incorporated into the physician-patient relationship? Can humanism in medicine become even more humanistic?

“Humanism in medicine” is characterized by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation as respectful …

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Making humanism in medicine more humanistic

Setting the facts straight about The Joint Commission’s stance on food and drink

Policy
January 16, 2020

A spirited discussion erupted over The Joint Commission’s role in prohibiting food in patient care areas: “Taking food and drink away from doctors and nurses is just cruel.”

The rumor that The Joint Commission is the enforcer of food and drink policies meant to starve clinicians has been around since I was working as a nurse in direct patient care capacities in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I’ve devoted plenty of time to clarifying my …

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Setting the facts straight about The Joint Commission’s stance on food and drink

Please stop the over-diagnosis of UTIs

Conditions
January 15, 2020

I admitted an elderly woman to the hospital recently.  The previous week, she had presented to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain and shortness of breath.  For some unknown reason, a urinalysis was obtained and was found to be abnormal.  The patient left the hospital with a prescription for cephalexin, in addition to unexplained chest pain and shortness of breath.  The patient presented to the hospital this time with, …

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Please stop the over-diagnosis of UTIs

In the midst of physician burnout, remember the privilege of being a doctor

Physician
January 12, 2020

I read the recent article on KevinMD: “I’m sorry: Why I lost my love for medicine” with great sadness. My heart goes out to the author; many of their concerns echoed deeply within me. I am sorry that we, as physicians, haven’t effectively succeeded in solving the myriad of problems facing health care today. And the author is right: Health care as a system, in the …

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In the midst of physician burnout, remember the privilege of being a doctor

The intern who knows everything

Conditions
January 3, 2020

What seems like a tidal wave of pages washes over you. Drowning in a torrential sea of order clarification, bowel regimens, and vital sign deviations — you struggle to stay afloat. Medical school did not prepare you for this. Patients and nurses are calling you, “doctor,” you wish to return to that minimal responsibility role as a medical student.

Welcome to your first on-call weekend.

These first few days, weeks, and months …

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The intern who knows everything

The difference between shallow and deep work in medicine

Physician
December 31, 2019

“Let me order some labs, and then we’ll discuss where we go from there once I have the results.”

I walk out of the patient’s room and right into one of my nurses. “Zoe, can we start that lady on pressors like we talked about? Her blood pressure is still low after the fluids. I need you to put the order in so the pharmacy can send it up.”

I smile my …

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The difference between shallow and deep work in medicine

The excitement of clinical rotations: Not just learning medicine but doing medicine

Education
December 27, 2019

The first time a woman went into the final stage of labor, I watched from a corner of the room. As a third-year medical student, I was on my six-week clinical rotation in obstetrics and gynecology, and it was day one of the two-week portion on the labor and delivery floor. As a loudspeaker announcement projected over the woman’s screams, and nurses and doctors rushed in response, I instinctively clasped …

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The excitement of clinical rotations: Not just learning medicine but doing medicine

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