While enjoying good incomes, physicians and other health care providers chronically suffer from a lack of time. Between scheduled clinical work and being on call, it is not uncommon to have only one full day off in seven. Not surprisingly, it is far too easy to spend that entire day just trying to keep your life afloat, catching up on mundane tasks for yourself and your family that fell by …
Doctors can buy happiness by buying time
If patient-centered care is the current winning game plan for health care, then shared decision making (SDM) is the secret weapon. But we physicians need a new way to approach it.
SDM, as defined by the Society for Medical Decision Making, is “a collaborative process that allows patients and their providers to make health care decisions together, taking into account the best scientific evidence available, as well as the patients values …
A new approach to shared decision making
While doing my doctoral dissertation research at a clinic for kids with diabetes, I observed the attachment that some of them had to the physician faculty member who directed the clinic. I particularly remember one teenager who complained that this doctor “did not care” about her, as he sent “fake doctors” (residents) to take care of her, not coming himself. She was refusing to cooperate. When I suggested to the …
The doctor-patient relationship is everything
Let’s conduct an experiment. Ask a baby boomer, say someone over the age of 60, about the landing on the moon in 1969. You can count on an emphatic response with people recounting the memorable moment when the moment was televised. The reverence, admiration and utmost respect for the NASA’s scientists and astronauts is practically palpable. NASA, considered the pinnacle of scientific innovation at the time, practically glowed with a …
Who will inspire millennials in health care?
Do you know we have record rates of physician burnout, dissatisfaction, and suicide? Ongoing shortages in primary care, without improvement in sight? Physicians exiting medicine earlier than in the past?
What about burnout? Do you know it affects patients as well as their doctors? Affects physicians’ families and friends? Increases mistakes and malpractice risk? Affects patient adherence and outcomes? Is costly to the entire system?
How do we start to fix this? …
Physician wellness at the personal, institutional, and cultural levels
In the movie Malice, Alec Baldwin plays Dr. Jed Hill, a surgeon who gives a famous speech during a deposition in a medical malpractice case. “”If you’re looking for God, he was in operating room #2 on November 17th, and he doesn’t like to be second-guessed … I am God.”
No one wants a doctor like that. And yet, maybe we do. We yearn for someone capable of healing all of our …
It’s time for medicine to share its power
More than two years ago, I wrote about some of the obstacles — as well as the opportunities — that introverted medical students face during training. Now that I have many rotations under my belt, it’s time for an update about my experiences on rotations, along with some helpful advice to newcomers.
The challenges
First, the challenges: Medical school rotations are very fast-paced, and our team members (co-workers and superiors) …
The challenges and rewards of being an introvert in medicine
The practice of medicine is a lot like the practice of parenting. It is full of highs and lows, moments of pure joy and those of devastating heartache.
When I talk to my friends who are parents, they agree with me. Some of the most difficult times as a parent is watching your kids fail. When your child is hurting, it hurts far worse than if you had experienced it first …
The practice of medicine is a lot like parenting
I have no business background: zero, zilch, nada. Growing up, I was the kid who bought the lemonade, not the one who set up shop on the busy street corner. My parents bought the cookie dough, coupon book and every other school fundraiser from the kid next door instead of their own child. Job interviews? Never had them. All the jobs I’ve ever had I got because I knew the …
Physicians: Want to overcome burnout? Start studying business.
“How did you know what to say to her?” asked the resident, “We have been trying to figure her out all morning and have gotten nowhere.” An expression of mixed curiosity and frustration crossed her face.
“I try not to focus on how she is acting, as much as I try to talk to the part of her Jesus would love,” I found myself answering. This catchphrase would find its way …
Want to make meaningful connections with patients? Here’s how.
After about the first week of anesthesia residency, I was told, “Don’t get pregnant, you are going to ruin the call schedule.” Initially, I took it as a joke because I was getting married that year and I wasn’t thinking of having children yet, but I did think, “what if it happened accidentally?”
After it’s told to you over and over again by your male co-residents and even some of my …
Physicians: Be nice to your pregnant colleagues
As a male medical student, I have developed a growing interest in and enthusiasm for recent efforts to raise awareness about workforce gender disparities in medicine. Though women comprise over 45 percent of resident physicians and 50 percent of medical students in the United States, research reveals deficits in key surrogate measures of successful integration. There are pay and promotion gaps, and women are much less …
Lifting up women physicians makes us all better
Let’s get one thing straight: You already have kick ass skills as a physician, skills that are valuable outside of clinical care settings. So whenever my physician friends turn to me for advice on making a transition in their career, I have to remind them: It’s not about learning new skills, it’s about translating your existing skill set to new business applications. Think digital health startup CEO, chief medical officer, …
3 skills that make physicians excellent in business
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Recently, I took a few minutes to fill out a survey on physician burnout. A slew of studies offer estimates of physician burnout of up to 50 percent. In my field of primary care, the documentation and regulatory burdens may cause the number to soar even higher.
I am rounding out my fifth year in a busy suburban private practice and I am not burned out. These questions moved me to …
This doctor isn’t burned out. Here’s her advice.
The key to staying on time in a busy clinic and to finish the day unscathed is to be in battle mode from the get go. The ten rules outlined below will help you to achieve that goal.
1. Make sure your bladder is empty, and that you are well hydrated. This goes without saying. You don’t want to finish the day with …
10 rules to keep physicians on time
Since the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires an annual checkup, and getting a yearly physical is generally a smart way to take care of one’s health, it’s a wonder why many truck drivers tend to avoid their yearly exams. Are they tired of the long waits, which may seem like more time spent away from home and family? Do they fear that the stress of their jobs, and perhaps …
Some patients are hesitant to see the doctor. Here’s how we can fix that.
“Doctor, how would you like your schedule template?”
As a hematology/oncology physician in a non-profit hospital group, I am reimbursed by wRVU. This is the standard mechanism of reimbursement for large multispecialty groups and academic centers. In this scenario, the more wRVUs you make, the more you get paid. However, there are only so many hours in the day. One of the first decisions each doctor makes when joining a group …
How you design your schedule has far-reaching consequences
Let me post a question that neither I nor readers can answer: How much of what I do during the course of a day directly benefits patients?
Perhaps, I don’t want to really know as I would be dismayed at how much of my effort benefits no one. Ask a nurse who works on a hospital ward, how much of his or her effort is directly applied to patient care. I would …
Most of the documentation physicians perform don’t help patients
Have you ever wondered why your computer often shows you ads that seem tailor-made for your interests? The answer is big data. By combing through extremely large datasets, analysts can reveal patterns in your behavior.
A particularly sensitive type of big data is medical big data. Medical big data can consist of electronic health records, insurance claims, information entered by patients into websites such as PatientsLikeMe and more. …
Our laws don’t do enough to protect our health data
So stated one of our children in their autobiography assignment for school. I kept reading, curious what would come next.
“My dad usually stays home and cleans up, and takes care of the pets.”
I thought for a moment. “That’s very good, honey, but do you think you could write something else about Dad?” I suggested. “He does other stuff too, add some more nice things.”
“OK, how about … ‘And he takes …
“My mom is a doctor; my dad is a dad.”
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