I used to have a patient who was an undertaker. We had many conversations about philosophy and practicality, and it didn’t take long to realize the profound insights one must learn when engaged in such a unique business. As I was often fond of saying, when the undertaker speaks, you should really listen. This belief that our experiences can lead to new and different perspectives has pushed me to analyze not …
A hospice doctor gives investing advice
Those who follow my blog know I write about science and medicine and their complexities and challenges. Sometimes, I write about anesthesiology and what it’s like to be in the operating room. I write about gender issues and things I’ve noticed as a woman leader in medicine. I write about my children, being a mother, and all that it takes to have the best job in the world and feel …
A physician battles Frozen Car Disease
When we go to the deli, we expect to take a number and wait in line. Accomplishing any task at the department of motor vehicles can be an ordeal of waiting and then being herded out the door. This is part of life in American society. However, it should not be part of your health care.
Patients need personalized attention and they need a health care team that listens to them, …
5 ways assembly line medicine harms patients
I am a frequent traveler and spend a lot of time in a number of different cities. The one I’ve currently been spending the most time in is a place, quite frankly, I’m crazy about: New York City! Anyone who writes a lot is usually also by default, a keen observer of people, and there’s no place better to do this than a busy, crowded city.
There’s an interesting habit that …
How this physician curbs his smartphone addiction
Being intentional about everything in your life is one of the major pillars to having a balanced life. It all begins with organizing your priorities; and once you have set your priorities, you can develop a schedule that reflects them. In my case, my top priority is having a career that will allow me to live life on my own terms. Personally, living life on my own terms means having …
Physician heal thyself: Practice medicine on your own terms
Today one of my favorite families came for a visit. The kids were behind on their check-ups, but this wasn’t too surprising. Their young mom was recently diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and was working her way through surgeries and chemo. The length of time since our last visit made me worry that mom’s health kept the kids from their routine visits, but upon entering the room she looked well. …
The story of a physician who fought back against MOC
My wife is a urogynecologist lucky enough to get through her seven years of residency plus fellowship with “only” $124,000 of student debt. When we discussed how we were going to get rid of this debt, she had always assumed that it was going to take a couple decades to pay off.
With our combined income, we certainly could’ve lived like paupers and extinguished her loans rapidly. However, I knew a …
3 ways to cut years off your medical school loan repayment period
Spoiler alert! I recently started watching Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale after continuing to hear rave reviews about the show. It is based on the dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood. I just started watching this weekend and am now caught up to season 2; it’s that good. It portrays a world in which fertility and birth rates have declined so drastically, that fertile women have been forced to serve as handmaids …
The Handmaid’s Tale and the state of medicine
A few years ago my son expressed interest in racing bicycles. I thought that would be a great way to spend time with him, and if I was going to be at all the races, I might as well race too. It would also help me take a few unwanted pounds off and get me into better shape.
We started racing part way through the year and learned the nuances of …
5 financial lessons this doctor learned from racing bicycles
Like many millennials I know, I was at first skeptical of podcasts. I couldn’t imagine keeping my attention on audio alone for at least 30 minutes and expect to retain any information whatsoever. I felt like I would get bored listening to people talking and would tune out within a minute with the eventual feeling of having wasted my time. Audio was meant for music that changed regularly. My headphones …
How podcasts help me in medicine
“The worst enemy of a doctor is another doctor,” said one of my professors during rounds when I was doing my internal medicine clerkship as a third-year medical student.
I remained skeptical. That did not match the idea of becoming a doctor nor did it support what Dr. Pellegrini said: “Medicine is the most humane of the sciences.”
Nonetheless, my old professor explained that when it comes to patient care planning and …
The worst enemy of a doctor should never be another doctor
The trap had been set. I arranged my baseball cards in the three boxes that I had arranged in a circle around my bedroom floor. I checked again to make sure that anything of value had already been packed away in the dresser drawer in the closet. Bill’s mom would be dropping him off in a few minutes. I salivated as I thought about the bundles of cards he …
A physician’s first lesson in business
Health care has undergone innumerable changes over the last decade, and the pace of change only appears to be accelerating. At the crux of most of the changes we’ve seen is the central problem that the cost of our health care system is unsustainable, and we as a nation need to put the brakes on it. The costs to individual patients are also unacceptably high.
Unfortunately, the prevailing philosophy has been …
A fight for the heart and soul of health care
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It seems like every other day, there’s a new discussion or debate which emerges about the unique challenges that minorities face in America. This is, of course, a sensitive topic, because minorities in any arena will always have their personal story. Whether it’s because of your color, or anything else that makes you feel like you face extra hurdles — there are indeed lots of ways in which society still …
How this physician deals with race-based comments
It seems like everywhere I look these days people are talking about passive income streams: why you should start them, which ones you could start, how they can change your life, and how much money you can make from them.
Doctors commonly look for ways to create passive income as a way of being able to work less while still maintaining the lifestyle they want or honestly to quit …
5 reasons why you can’t start passive income streams
Actual conversation heard in the hallway outside an exam room earlier this week:
Doctor: “So, we’re going try this medicine for your blood pressure; you keep checking it at home as we discussed. If the numbers remain high, we can increase the dose or add another medicine.”
Patient: “Well, what do we do if the pressure stays high; if this medicine doesn’t work?”
My partner told me later that she had explained the …
A better way to follow-up your office visit is needed
It’s that time of year again. Over 30,000 medical residents are about to finish their training and start their first job. Many of them will make some big financial mistakes during their first year that will haunt them for years to come.
One of the biggest errors many doctors make is to buy a house right after they leave residency. Society gives us a big push to own a house, after …
New doctors shouldn’t buy houses
I made the decision to get an MD/MBA when I was still in high school. I had an interest in medicine but hated the idea of being yet another Indian doctor. How unoriginal. So when my dad introduced me to someone who had done this dual degree, it was my “aha!” moment. As far as I knew, this was something different. It could set me apart, and no one else …
Why this physician has an MD and an MBA
According to Bloomberg, Americans spend more on prescription drugs per year than any other country in the world at around $1,100 per person.
Additionally, the CDC reports that four out of five new heroin users started their addiction by using prescription opioid painkillers like hydrocodone or oxycodone.
And we know from the Partnership for a Drug-free America that students and young adults oftentimes …
Want to dispose of drugs properly? Here’s how.
I return there sometimes in my dreams. Plodding down the streets of my childhood, I turn sharply to the right and push through the door as the bell clangs announcing my presence. A middle-aged man is bent over rummaging; he peers past the display case and calls to me in acknowledgment. The air is warm and humid inviting me to peel off my jacket, hat, and gloves. I throw them …
I saw first hand the ravages of cancer and bankruptcy
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