Pediatricians and the clinicians who care for children writing on KevinMD about child health: childhood illness, development, vaccines and the parents who refuse them, breastfeeding and the pressure around it, childhood obesity, prevention, and the realities of caring for young patients and their families. Most contributors are pediatricians. For a maintained record of what pediatricians have said about children's health since 2004, from fever and sleep through obesity, abuse, teenagers, and Medicaid, see Children's health: what pediatricians say, in their own words. For what physicians have said about vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, from the autism claim through measles, exemptions, and federal policy, see Vaccines: what physicians say, in their own words. For what child psychiatrists and pediatricians have said about children's and teens' mental health, see Mental health: what psychiatrists and physicians say, in their own words. For what pediatricians have said about breastfeeding and postpartum care, see Women's health: what physicians say, in their own words.
May 25th, 2021, marked the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. George Floyd was a victim of racial injustice. Tragically, he is not the only Black person to die at the hands of U.S. police officers over these past few years.
George Floyd’s death has brought renewed protests supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, first established back in 2013, after George Zimmerman’s acquittal, who shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed …
The 2020-2021 residency application cycle was profoundly altered as a result of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States which led to a completely virtual season for nearly all specialties. At the time of this publication, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and ophthalmology have announced virtual interviews for the upcoming 2021-2022 cycle. Using lessons from the inaugural “virtual” cycle, many residency …
My husband and I ordered a special celebratory dinner the night my first book was published. It was an important professional milestone for me, and I was proud of all the hard work it took to get to that moment.
Balding, pale as a ghost, thin and frail, a protruding swollen abdomen. She walks in slowly and unsteady, with her family in tow, and is shown to her exam room. I am the medical student working that day with a surgical oncology attendant, a behemoth in his field. They have come here specifically, from states away, for the world-renowned cancer surgeries and treatments offered here … and for a third …
Did you ever wonder why babies quickly develop a social smile and look you in the eyes? Is it surprising to learn that the muscles in your ears are set within the range of women’s voices at birth or that babies prefer looking at women’s faces …
We stood at the bedside. Our eyes met through plastic goggles and face shields. Wordlessly, we acknowledged a palpable shift. We three pediatric emergency physicians staffed our New York City ER that late fall day, caring for the third teen in a row echoing the same sentiments: I feel exhausted, hopeless, alone.
COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the lives of children and teens in ways we are just now starting to comprehend.
“Everyday, there is a theme to our rounds, and I will ask for your thoughts at the end.”
This was the warning our attending physician gave before we went to see our patients on the hospital inpatient floor. As third-year medical students on our first clinical rotation in pediatrics, we were eager to face any challenges that would come our way. After months of isolation studying for our first board exams, …
“Why do they book your well-child checks for 15 minutes?” my medical student asked me yesterday. I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Gut reaction – like when you laugh instead of cry. I explained that all of our appointments are 15 minutes – well-checks (regardless of age), to colds, to suicidality or chest pain. I work for a large hospital system, and that is how patients are booked. I the …
When the pediatrician woke me at midnight to get a blood test from my three-month-old son, I knew things were serious.
I should have known this already. Four weeks prior, my four-year-old daughter passed along a respiratory virus to my husband, me, and her brother. Her brother’s low oxygen level and inability to keep down milk brought him to the emergency room, where an oxygen mask was promptly fastened around his mouth, …
Part of your job as a parent is to teach your children, and there’s no way for a child to learn anything without making a few mistakes. Actually, a lot of mistakes. Sometimes these mistakes can be infuriating. They might be self-destructive mistakes. They might be mistakes that can cause harm to their siblings or classmates. They might be mistakes that happen over and over again. They might …
I fear that I’m not doing the right thing. You’re trusting me with your life. I hear you telling me that you don’t want me to do what I am about to do. I see it in your eyes, the resentment as you look toward your family. And hatred for me, your physician.
You trust me to care for you as you enter the unit. I tell you I will. You …
Ten years ago, I was professionally and personally burned out. I was disinterested in the revolving door of primary care pediatrics and exhausted from the merry-go-round of home and work.
I had lived most of my adult life with chronic pain and chronic fatigue syndrome. My personal relationships were draining me.
One day, while clearing out my spam folder, I noticed an email …
During a casual scroll through social media, I often hear the voice of my friend and fellow pediatrician warning, “Do not engage!”
Generally speaking, this is almost always the correct advice. The rise of various social media platforms, the ability to rapidly share information and disinformation, the growing culture of doing one’s own “research,” and the apparent difficulty in separating reputable from non-reputable sources online has created the perfect storm. In …
I had very difficult experiences breastfeeding both of my children. I had constant pain, recurrent plugged ducts, and a lot of latch problems. There were many times when I considered quitting, but I persevered because it meant a lot to me, and I would have felt like I was failing had I stopped. Does this sound familiar?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. There has been a huge pushback …
We have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, and its disruptions to our lives, for a year. And all the news reports, the dire warnings, and the messages of doom and gloom reinforce a feeling of despair as we face yet another week of virtual school, along with time away from the activities and the people we love. We have hit a collective pandemic wall of hopelessness. It is easy to …
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
– George Orwell
The “difficult” family
At 2 a.m., on my first night shift as a pediatric resident, a patient, Casey, transferred from another hospital. She had a rare, progressive chronic illness, was medically complex, and was currently receiving treatment for an acute systemic infection. Shortly after she arrived, she became difficult to arouse. When I asked her mother questions, I was …
“Your child should always sleep on the back, by themselves, in their crib, bassinet, or pack and play with no stuffed toys or loose blankets.”
These words are ringing in my ears as I put my newborn baby in the bassinet for the millionth time, only to get a shrill cry in return. She screams and screams as tears roll down my exhausted face, just hoping to get an hour of …
Our clinic is a place rich in diversity and culture. Many of our patients are recent immigrants, coming from over 50 different countries. While they bring a zest for opportunities living within the United States, they often face many barriers in seizing them. Most notably, the language barrier is very present and one that has been exacerbated during the COVID pandemic.
COVID has changed many things, and one most visible to …
I have been a general pediatrician for over a decade. I chose pediatrics because I saw the children as our future. The only way to make the future bigger and brighter is to give them the best. So with all of my academic accolades through high school, college and medical school, I knowingly chose the lowest paying field in medicine. I love my patients, but a pandemic has …
