The prevalence of burnout among physicians is estimated to be more than 50 percent and has grown in recent years. This alarming trend is largely due to changing patient demographics, increasing cost constraints, new federal and state regulations, and other external factors that have reshaped the daily work experience of physicians. Too often today, physicians spend more time on data entry than in direct …
Fix the system to address physician burnout
I walked into the ICU amidst a chaos of harried residents, chirping alarms, and the whir of the portable X-ray machine. Aromas ranging from old coffee down to vomit and stool mixed together in the usual fashion. In other words, it was a typical morning. I watched as my team gathered into a semicircle around me outside the first patient’s room and I got into my morning rounds stance: leaned …
Resist! The invasion of computers in health care
Brooklyn, New York, Spring of 1992. As I looked out of the New York City taxi window on Avenue T, I saw the building. It had always appeared to me as the most magnificent building I had ever seen that housed people in need of rehabilitative care. I was happy; I was ready, I was in great spirit. “Let’s do this!,” I thought to myself as I stepped out of …
This patient didn’t want my care because of how I looked
It’s no secret that the United States is in the midst of an opiate epidemic. Almost 60,000 people died last year from overdoses, and overdose deaths are now the most common killer of Americans under the age of 50. Physicians and our patients have finally started the difficult conversation about what it will take to stop the suffering. But what’s been missing from this conversation is that this is not …
The opioid epidemic: What we can learn from history
“Aren’t you cute,” he said as he smiled and squeezed her cheeks. On the start of a new rotation, a medical student walked into clinic and introduced herself to the attending physician.
With all of the news surrounding the Weinstein debacle, Alyssa Milano has urged women to share their stories of sexual harassment or abuse using the words “me too.” What has transpired is that a whole community of women from …
Women doctors: Speak up, because #MeToo
When I became a caregiver to my dad, I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to keep all of his medical information in my head. My smartphone became my second brain. It helped me to track his symptoms, keep up with the dates for his appointments, document recommendations, and share this information with my sisters in a timely and coherent manner. Here, I share five ways …
5 ways to use your smartphone to improve doctor visits
It’s something that’s not taught anywhere near enough as it should be in medical school, but every practicing physician quickly realizes that communication is everything in health care. It’s the foundation of the doctor-patient relationship, and what patients will judge you on. Sure, doctors are among the busiest professionals out there. We do an incredibly hectic job. But it’s so imperative to remember the importance of that interaction with your …
10 golden communication tips for doctors. And 3 things they shouldn’t do.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about 9.8 million adults (or 4 percent of all adults) over the age of 18 years suffered a serious mental illness in 2015. A serious mental illness is one that affects a patient’s daily functioning. Considering all mental illness in adults in the same time period, 43.4 million adults (or 17.9 percent) who met the criteria for a …
How is mental health care failing American patients?
They say laughter is the best medicine. I really hope that’s true, because I tend to use a lot of it at work. There are two ways it can go: One, it can open up the appointment, setting the patient and physician more at ease and facilitating open and honest dialogue. It makes the visit enjoyable, maybe even fun, and can boost satisfaction. Or, it can seem like the doctor …
There’s a place for humor in medicine
My dad died on May 11, 2003. It was Mother’s Day. I was 18 years old. Those are the easy facts. The more difficult ones are those detailing the events that led to his death. My dad was so many things — a brilliant geologist, a loving father, an inventor, a pilot, and a Vietnam veteran — to name a few. He survived three tours on the front lines in …
The smallest human acts can have a lifetime of impact
A few years ago, as numbers of burnout, depression, and suicide among physicians continued to rise, the notion of “joy in medicine” was conceived. From conferences and books, to support groups and consultants, another health care-related industry popped up around improving provider satisfaction and fostering workplace wellness. It was well-intentioned, as these things often are, but like the familiar adage about roads and good intentions, joy in medicine seems poised …
We don’t need more joy in medicine. We need more vocal discontentment.
Within doctors’ examination rooms, operating rooms and waiting rooms, clinicians and other staff know the importance of empathy. Caring for patients and loved ones extends beyond one’s medical skills. It also requires a good heart.
As sign-up time for 2018 medical insurance approaches, patients look for a meaningful differentiator in health care providers when deciding whether to stick with their health plan, their primary care provider, and other doctors. On the …
Caring for patients all the way (bills included)
For patients who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, a medical visit can be unexpectedly stressful. LGBTQIA+ people have to keep track of who they’re out to and how out they are, especially if they fit more than one letter of the acronym; some people might know they’re gay, fewer people might know they’re transgender, while some people probably don’t know anything about their private life at all.
Why does this …
Establishing trust with LGBTQIA+ patients
ADVERTISEMENT
Drug overdose deaths, once rare, are now the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., surpassing peak annual deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents, guns and HIV infection.
As a former public health official, clinician, and researcher, I’ve been engaged in efforts to control the opioid addiction epidemic for the past 15 years.
The data show that the situation is dire and getting worse. Until opioids are prescribed …
The opioid epidemic in 6 charts
The ability to access health information via the Internet is creating a generation of empowered, informed patients. While this is almost always beneficial to both patients and the patient-physician relationship, it does call for changes to traditional counseling methods. Widespread access to myriad health information sources has divided patients into two subsets: those who prefer traditional counseling and those who become “personal health researchers” or PHRs.
While some patients will continue …
How to care for patients who are personal health researchers
A couple of weeks ago I visited Canada. It was my first visit in a very long time. We were in Ontario, spending most of the time in the Toronto area, and also getting to visit the majestic Niagara Falls for the day. I’ve heard so much over the years about the differences between neighbors USA and Canada, and in even just a few days there, agreed that there are …
An interview with an American doctor working in Canada
One of Max’s friends taught him an easy way to buy shady drugs. What he learned almost killed him, and it opened my eyes to a hiding-in-plain-sight source of dangerous drugs that is amplifying the opioid epidemic.
When Max (not his real name) developed pancreatitis a decade ago, his physicians prescribed opioids to ease his extreme …
Beware of online retailers selling designer benzodiazepines
“A condition counts as a disease independently of whether there is safe and effective treatment.”
– Journal of Medicine & Philosophy, August 2017
What is a disease anyway? Mrs. Jones is 90 years old and frequently experiences episodes of chest pain. She has numerous partially blocked coronary arteries, and her physician has told her to come to the emergency room because she might be having a “heart attack.” …
Are we medicalizing everything?
I learned a good lesson in doctoring from Paul McCartney. Sir Paul, if we want to get formal about it. My wife and I went to one of his shows, and aside from re-living the soundtrack of our lives, we also were struck by how fresh and personal the concert felt. If you consider how many times he’s played those songs and that there were eighteen thousand people in the …
Lessons in doctoring from Paul McCartney
I’ve finally found my groove with our EMR. Maybe I’m even starting to like it.
A few weeks ago I got a new iPad, this time a Mini, which lets me type with two thumbs the way some people text on a smartphone, and the voice transcription is good enough as long as you avoid fancy jargon and unusual generic drug names. Yesterday as I sat next to a patient and …
See what happens when you give a doctor a user-friendly EMR?
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
