Pediatrics

How the internet broke the doctor-parent trust

Conditions

September 14, 2025

I have been a pediatrician for over two decades. I have seen trends come and go: juice boxes demonized, co-sleeping debated, and screen time limits revised. But nothing has reshaped the pediatrician-parent relationship more profoundly than one thing: the internet.

These days, I do not just answer questions; I navigate a misinformation minefield.

It is common now for parents to walk into my exam room not seeking guidance, but ready for a …

Locum tenens: Reclaiming purpose, autonomy, and financial freedom in medicine

Trevor Cabrera, MD

Physician

September 11, 2025

Although locum tenens in medicine has a rich history dating back to the 1970s, many misconceptions and questions continue to foster apprehension in those considering this alternative form of practice. While some view locum tenens providers as unstable wanderers who may have difficulty holding traditional permanent employment, many, such as myself, have taken this intentional path in search of independence and freedom.

From a busy metropolitan hospital in California to a …

Food is a universal language in medicine

Diego R. Hijano, MD

Physician

September 8, 2025

“What is your favorite homemade food?” I ask each patient. Almost always, there is a smile, and the conversation takes off from there. Moms light up describing their special dishes. Patients giggle when I suggest, “Should we have your mom make some for us to share?” Younger kids look at their moms with wide eyes, wondering if it could really happen. Those moments, those faces, are priceless; and they carry …

A new telehealth model for adolescent obesity [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 22, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Pediatrician and certified life and weight coach Karla Lester discusses her article, “An effective treatment using an effective care delivery model: Using telehealth to treat adolescents with obesity with GLP-1 medications.” She …

What a Nicaraguan village taught a U.S. doctor about true care

Prasanthi Reddy, MD

Physician

August 15, 2025

Each year, I leave behind the electronic health record, performance metrics, malpractice fears, and the ever-present hum of burnout—and lead a medical mission trip—this year to Nicaragua. Along with a team of fellow volunteers, I carry only what we can pack: a few stethoscopes, essential supplies, and the will to serve.

We set up clinics in makeshift church halls with tin roofs in …

How motherhood made me a better scientist [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 14, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Physician coach and medical school professor Kathleen Muldoon discusses her article, “How motherhood reshaped my identity as a scientist and teacher.” She explores what it means to be a “mother scholar” in …

The hidden cost of racism in sickle cell disease treatment

Gustavo Rosas Alvarado, MD and Gail M. Bloom, OTD

Conditions

August 11, 2025

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is frequently referred to as an invisible disease and is often overlooked due to a lack of research and overall resource shortages resulting in substandard clinical care. Part of the problem is difficulty objectively identifying SCD characteristics due to lack of laboratory markers and poor objective pain indicators. This disease mainly affects African American populations. Systemic marginalization of stigmatized populations results in less funding; and therefore, …

How humor builds trust in pediatric oncology

Diego R. Hijano, MD

Physician

August 10, 2025

“Dr. Who?” the child asked.

“Dr. Hijano,” I said. “But you can call me Dr. Diego. Like Go Diego Go! Dora the Explorer’s cousin, the one with the baby jaguar who saves the rainforest.”

A pause. A smile. And just like that, the ice broke. In pediatric oncology, that is no small thing.

I work in a pediatric cancer center, most often in the bone marrow transplant unit. When people hear this, they …

The silent burnout epidemic among parents and doctors

Wendy Schofer, MD

Physician

August 10, 2025

For years, I didn’t realize the name for what I was experiencing as a primary care pediatrician was burnout. I just thought I wasn’t enough—not good enough, not hardworking enough, not experienced enough. That self-doubt didn’t stay confined to my role as a doctor; it crept into how I felt as a parent, a spouse, a community member.

Nothing ever felt like enough. So I did what I was trained to …

Why new obesity medications for teens could be a game changer

V. Sushma Chamarthi, MD

Conditions

August 7, 2025

When I first saw the CDC’s MMWR latest report on obesity medication prescribing for adolescents, my initial reaction was probably the same as yours: less than 1 percent of teens with obesity got these medications in 2023? That seems pretty dismal.

But then I took a step back and looked at what this data is telling us. And honestly? We’re missing the real story here.

We’re witnessing something historic.

Think about where …

When anxiety runs the show: How medication can help kids thrive

Mona Potter, MD

Conditions

August 7, 2025

Ten years old and terrified, my patient sat curled in the chair, tears flowing, knees pulled to her chest, refusing to go to school for the third week in a row. Her parents looked exhausted. “We have tried everything. We don’t want to medicate her… but we can’t keep going like this.”

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I’ve had this conversation hundreds of times. Sometimes families walk in asking for …

Why accommodations aren’t special treatment but essential for equity

Sarah Cohen Solomon, MD

Physician

August 6, 2025

“Think of it this way,” the school’s pediatrician said to me, his voice flat in my headphones. “Back in college, would you want a lab partner who needed these accommodations? When I read a letter like this, I picture a student who may not even graduate high school. I have to prepare the family for that reality.”

I took a slow breath, calming myself. This wasn’t how I had hoped the …

When the pediatrician is the parent: a personal reckoning with childhood obesity

Chrissie Ott, MD

Conditions

August 2, 2025

I would never have thought I would be the one writing this piece.

I am a board-certified pediatrician and internist with a background in nutrition, well-versed in integrative medicine. Our family eats its fair share of kale, blueberries, and salmon. We hardly ever have a significant supply of junk food in the house. Fast food is a rarity, and she never even tasted juice in toddlerhood. And still, my child’s BMI …

I knew choosing DPC would exacerbate primary care physician shortages, and I chose it anyway. Here’s why.

Marina Capella, MD

Physician

August 2, 2025

When I made the decision to leave the traditional, insurance-based system and start a direct primary care (DPC) practice, I didn’t do so under any illusions. I knew what the critics would say. In fact, I’d already heard it.

You’re making it harder for patients to find a primary care doctor.
You’re reducing access for the underserved.
You’re selling out.

I’ve read the blog posts, like the one recently published on …

How doctors can build emotional strength through writing

Carolyn Roy-Bornstein, MD

Physician

July 31, 2025

As I travel the country giving talks to various groups of health care professionals about resilience-building and physician burnout, I sometimes come up against some resistance to the idea. The argument goes something like this: If our emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of a sense of personal accomplishment (i.e. burnout) is largely caused by work overload, administrative burdens, and the moral distress of trying to practice medicine humanistically amidst insurance …

How pediatricians can address the health problems raised in the MAHA child health report

Joseph Barrocas, MD

Policy

July 28, 2025

I understand that, in August, we will receive the prescription for the poor results of the recent Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) report focused on children’s health. As a pediatrician, I would like to offer some remedies for the child nutrition shortcomings identified in the report and provide feedback on other health concerns it raises.

Chronic disease rates among children are mentioned first in the report. Authors point to …

What it really means to be lucky: a doctor’s story of survival and resilience

Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO

Physician

July 26, 2025

This past St. Patrick’s Day my daughter and I were listening to John Lennon’s Luck of the Irish. She wondered aloud whether people realized the phrase was meant to be ironic. Lennon certainly did, singing, “If you had the luck of the Irish, you’d be sorry and wish you were dead …” With Irish-born grandparents and Liverpool’s deep Irish roots, he understood the weight of the phrase, eight hundred years …

Why telling kids to eat less and move more fails to address obesity

Callia Georgoulis

Conditions

July 19, 2025

Despite decades of public health messaging urging children to “eat less and move more,” rates of pediatric obesity continue to rise globally. In the U.S. alone, nearly 1 in 5 children and adolescents aged 2–19 years have obesity, with higher rates among those from low-income or minority backgrounds. While caloric balance is a basic principle of weight regulation, the oversimplification of obesity into a matter of willpower neglects the …

Rethinking physician resilience for sustainable well-being

Sarah Webber, MD

Physician

July 19, 2025

Personal resilience is one of the three core components of the Stanford model of physician professional fulfillment, used across institutions to inform provider well-being strategy. Yet, limited data suggest only a minority of physicians view personal resilience initiatives as beneficial to their well-being, and physicians have expressed resistance and frustration toward organization-based individual resilience promotion.

I have led and participated in workplace meditation courses, stress management talks, …

Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO

Conditions

July 11, 2025

In elementary school, my teachers always told us it was important to understand math because “you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket.” That sentiment hasn’t aged well, given that my iPhone and Alexa are always within reach. But no one said, “You better learn this because one day you’ll be teaching your own kids during a plague.” That was where the real value lay. In medical school, I …

Pediatrics

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts