Women’s health

869 articles · Since 2011

Articles, page 41

When a medical student sees you, consider it your lucky day

November 14, 2012Nov 14, 201240

Medical students rotate through the clinic I work at. I love it. It brings me back to those days. Sure, it reminds me how old I am, but also reminds me of the incredible impact patients have in directing the…

We all have those memories. Our first delivery. Our first code. The first time we had to …

Physician voices

I am so glad that you have chosen me to be your guide

Amy Tuteur, MD

November 9, 2012Nov 9, 20128

Hi! My name is Ima Frawde and I am so glad that you have chosen me to be your guide during your climb of Everest. The fact that you have chosen me indicates that you are well on your way…

Hi! My name is Ima Frawde and I am so glad that you have chosen me to be your guide during your climb of Everest.

The fact that you have chosen me indicates that you are well on your way to mastering the most important skill in climbing the mountain: Trust Everest.

And why shouldn’t you trust Everest? The mountain is totally natural; climbing is totally natural; reduced oxygen concentration at higher …

Physician voices

The overzealous push to get all moms to breastfeed

Melissa Arca, MD

November 1, 2012Nov 1, 201210

Mommy wars aside, I think you’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard the enormous and real benefits of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is awesome on so many levels. Health of baby and mom alike. Both physical and…

But, what if it doesn’t work? What if you’re a mom (like me) who couldn’t produce enough milk? Hardly any in my case.

What if you’re an adoptive parent or your baby …

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Physician voices

The only religion that my patients see me practice is medicine

Jennifer Gunter, MD

November 1, 2012Nov 1, 2012102

When I was the director of undergraduate medical education for OB/GYN at a Midwestern university (a state school), it came to my attention that a medical student was refusing to have anything to do with contraception as it was against…

So I spoke with her. I explained that over the course of her career she would undoubtedly see people from …

Patient voices

Let’s help patients with the tradeoffs in medicine

Holly Witteman, PhD

October 27, 2012Oct 27, 20126

My first week at my new job at a French-speaking university in a city of 95% francophones, I learned a useful new expression: vouloir le beurre, et l’argent du beurre. This translates literally as, ‘to want the butter, and the…

My first week at my new job at a French-speaking university in a city of 95% francophones, I learned a useful new expression: vouloir le beurre, et l’argent du beurre. This translates literally as, ‘to want the butter, and the butter money.’ It’s the equivalent of wanting to have your cake, and eat it, too, but with a more explicit focus on dairy fat. (It is a French expression, after …

Physician voices

Did you do your Pap prayer?

Pamela Wible, MD

October 18, 2012Oct 18, 20123

An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears. Joy is a vibrant twenty-six-year-old woman who comes in for a physical. On her exam, she shows me a worrisome mole on her left shoulder. I recommend she return for removal. After…

An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.

Joy is a vibrant twenty-six-year-old woman who comes in for a physical. On her exam, she shows me a worrisome mole on her left shoulder. I recommend she return for removal. After the excision, I call her back to my office for results.

“You have a melanoma. We got it just in time, but I’m sending you to a dermatologist who …

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Did you do your Pap prayer?

Medical education

Are pregnancy and residency compatible?

Linda Brodsky, MD

October 16, 2012Oct 16, 201213

Viewpoint #1. Training programs might say: we are headed for a major league collision in the training of women physicians. Soon 50% of all trainees will be women, and in some specialties, such as OB/GYN, they will be 80-90% of…

Viewpoint #1. Training programs might say: we are headed for a major league collision in the training of women physicians. Soon 50% of all trainees will be women, and in some specialties, such as OB/GYN, they will be 80-90% of the residents in any particular program. Training years coincide with prime child bearing years. Imagine if even only half the residents in a program were pregnant at once. What would happen …

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Are pregnancy and residency compatible?

Physician voices

Why Marissa Mayer deserves our respect

Wendy Sue Swanson, MD

October 12, 2012Oct 12, 2012

I recently saw a number of tweets from parents and fellow pediatricians on Twitter criticizing Marissa Mayer for announcing that she’d return to work within 1-2 weeks of the delivery of her first child. First off, I’ll start with my…

First off, I’ll start with my assumptions:

I’m authoring this post in the belief that Ms Mayer has access to quality health care–that is, she has the ear of a board-certified obstetrician, a board-certified pediatrician, and access to a …

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Why Marissa Mayer deserves our respect

Physician voices

Viagra for women: Prescribe 50 Shades of Grey to your female patients

Sara Stein, MD

October 11, 2012Oct 11, 201228

Could “mommy porn” have value in the doctor’s office? Unless you live in a cave (and we physicians sometimes do), you have heard of British author E.L. James’ modern erotic 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, 30-plus million copies sold, overwhelmingly to women. The trilogy is an erotic love story about a naïve college graduate who rescues an abused billionaire – a …

Physician voices

Undermining Planned Parenthood in Texas

Elizabeth Breuer, MD

September 20, 2012Sep 20, 20124

Last year, Texas legislature attempted to pass a bill that would halt all funding for the Women’s Health Program, a Medicaid associated program that provides annual exams and contraception for all reproductive age women that qualify, simply because Planned Parenthood participated in the Women’s Health Program. This puts programs such as where I work in a bind. The funding is in serious jeopardy of being eliminated completely.

According to the Texas …

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Undermining Planned Parenthood in Texas

Conditions and diseases

Can I still have a bladder infection with a negative urine culture?

Jennifer Gunter, MD

September 16, 2012Sep 16, 2012

In a word, yes. And this is a difficult concept for many doctors to get because we have long been taught that the gold standard is culture. Let’s back up a little. These are the symptoms of a bladder infection:…

In a word, yes.

And this is a difficult concept for many doctors to get because we have long been taught that the gold standard is culture.

Let’s back up a little. These are the symptoms of a bladder infection: needing to empty your bladder a lot (urinary frequency), when you gotta go, you gotta go (urgency), pain just over the pubic bone, blood in the urine, burning when you empty your …

Physician voices

What breastfeeding and sex have in common

Amy Tuteur, MD

September 13, 2012Sep 13, 20127

Breastfeeding and sex share something in common and it isn’t just breasts. It’s the apparently irresistible urge of some people to force their personal beliefs on other people. The stated desire of lactivists, like those promoting the Latch On NYC…

Breastfeeding and sex share something in common and it isn’t just breasts. It’s the apparently irresistible urge of some people to force their personal beliefs on other people.

The stated desire of lactivists, like those promoting the Latch On NYC breastfeeding program, to “protect” breastfeeding bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the stated desire of religious fundamentalists to “protect” virginity from the “dangers” of premarital sex, or to “protect” marriage from the …

Physician voices

The ethics of conducting a pelvic exam on an anesthetized woman

Peter Ubel, MD

September 12, 2012Sep 12, 201215

I felt a woman’s uterus without her permission. How this happened, and why I thought I had done the right thing at the time, tells us something important about medical education and shows us why doctor/patient interactions often play out…

To understand my inappropriate actions, you need to know something about the physical exams that we physicians conduct on our patients. More specifically, about the …

Physician voices

The well woman visit: An easy way to obtain preventive services

Leana Wen, MD

September 12, 2012Sep 12, 20122

As an emergency physician, I tend to work on the other side of preventive care services. I see what happens when women don’t know about safer sex and birth control, and end up with complications from sexually transmitted infections. I…

As an emergency physician, I tend to work on the other side of preventive care services. I see what happens when women don’t know about safer sex and birth control, and end up with complications from sexually transmitted infections. I see what happens when women do not get routine screening for cervical cancer and struggle with life-threatening cancer. I see what happens with out-of-control hypertension and diabetes, and the heart attacks and strokes that …

Physician voices

Mandatory breast density notification violates physicians’ free speech

Margaret Polaneczky, MD

September 5, 2012Sep 5, 20124

Once again, legislators are meddling into healthcare. This time, it’s in my own home state, where Governor Cuomo has just signed a bill requiring radiologists to notify women when their normal mammogram also shows that they have dense breasts. In…

“Your mammogram shows that your breast tissue is dense. Dense breast tissue is very …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 29-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)

mksap

September 2, 2012Sep 2, 2012

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 29-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is evaluated in the office after obtaining positive results on a home pregnancy test. She has…

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 29-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is evaluated in the office after obtaining positive results on a home pregnancy test. She has a 1-month history of nausea but is otherwise asymptomatic. Her last menstrual period was 2 months ago. This is her first pregnancy. Her SLE is well controlled with hydroxychloroquine, and …

Physician voices

When politicians decide a woman’s fate

Jennifer Gunter, MD

August 27, 2012Aug 27, 20126

“I have a 20-year-old with what I can only describe as a poorly repaired heart defect and, uh, suboptimal follow-up,” the cardiologist’s voice was rushed. “That’s no good,” I said. “Yeah, well, it gets worse. She had baby two years…

“I have a 20-year-old with what I can only describe as a poorly repaired heart defect and, uh, suboptimal follow-up,” the cardiologist’s voice was rushed.

“That’s no good,” I said.

“Yeah, well, it gets worse. She had baby two years ago. Went into heart failure around 36 weeks. I’ve got the records. I have no idea how she made it home.” And then he added, “She had a c-section, but no one …

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When politicians decide a woman’s fate

Physician voices

You’re seeing the wrong gynecologist: 6 red flags

Jennifer Gunter, MD

August 9, 2012Aug 9, 201225

As a doctor, I appreciate that I am at an advantage when I seek medical care. Knowing terminology and basic medical principles helps a lot. In addition, when you’ve been practicing medicine for a while you get a feeling from how a doctor discusses options if the care seems valid or if a second opinion is in order. Other things I look for are board certification and a doctor …

Health policy

Moral professionalism should include advocacy and duty

Vivian E. von Gruenigen, MD

August 6, 2012Aug 6, 20123

Across the nation, the medical calendar starts in July, not January. Every July 1, hospitals are infused with new, eager interns who have just graduated from medical school. To get off to a good July start, I give a talk to the obstetrical and gynecology interns and residents about medical professionalism. It is mandated (and rightly so) by the ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) that we teach, mentor …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 37-year-old woman undergoes preoperative evaluation

mksap

August 5, 2012Aug 5, 2012

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 37-year-old woman undergoes preoperative evaluation prior to a hysterectomy for worsening menstrual bleeding of several years' duration caused by uterine fibroids. She has…

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 37-year-old woman undergoes preoperative evaluation prior to a hysterectomy for worsening menstrual bleeding of several years’ duration caused by uterine fibroids. She has a recent history of recurrent epistaxis and bleeding after recent dental work but denies thromboembolism and a family history of unusual bleeding. The patient is otherwise healthy. Her only medication …

Women’s health

Articles, page 41

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