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?
One of the most important things my mother taught me was to choose my friends intelligently. From a very young age, I remember my mother quoting Proverbs to me and telling me this, “Choose your counsel wisely.” The older I get, the more I believe who I allow to influence me plays an enormous part in the place I find myself in today.
Research has shown you become like the five …
Flu vaccines are available, and so that means that the anti-vaccine brigade is out in force.
The Daily Mail published an anti-vaccine op-ed by a former reality TV contestant named Katie Hopkins. It was followed by a shorter counter argument by a doctor, but when you are given less than half the word count and are at the bottom of the page it is hard to mount an effective response. …
The flu vaccine doesn’t cause the flu. Period.
According to recent Ohio statistics, 1.3 million people have limited or no access to primary care physicians. Based on the 2015 Ohio Primary Care Assessment, 60 of 88 Ohio counties have medically-underserved populations. The Patient Access Expansion Act (HB 273), co-sponsored by Representative Theresa Gavarone (3rd District) and Representative Terry Johnson (90th District), specifically addresses health care access by prohibiting physicians from being required to comply with maintenance of certification …
Feel over-boarded by MOC? Fight back.
Dear patient,
I meet people several like you on a daily basis. It is always a pleasure to meet you since you come much more prepared compared to the average patient. I have seen you with several sheets of paper or even a notebook, a list of questions and an extra sheet of paper on which to write recommendations. You may even have printed research papers and articles off the Internet.
I …
Dos and don’ts for patients who consult Dr. Google
A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
For this column, my 61st for the American College of Physicians (ACP), I thought it would be interesting to look back at the first 60 and review the trends and topics that inspired me to write 800 to 900 words every month. Rather …
Different perspectives but the same goal: providing the best possible care to patients
I really like Van Morrison. If I need to be lifted up on a Friday afternoon I’ll play a greatest hits album and will quickly be smiling. One of my favorite songs is Days Like This. You would expect when someone says “there will be days like this,” they are complaining about days when everything goes wrong and you just have to endure to the end, hoping that “the sun comes up …
The patients this doctor is eternally grateful for
Recently, a video went viral when a woman complained about the lengthy wait time at a clinic. On video, we see the physician asks if the patient still wants to be seen. The patient declines to be seen, yet complains patients should be informed they will not be seen in a timely manner.
The frustrated physician replies, “Then fine … …
Do physicians deserve our mercy? #silentnomore
Like many of my colleagues in medical education, I am a part-time clinician. My time is split, spending less than half in my own clinical practice with the rest devoted to resident education. This is precisely why I love my job. The diversity of each day keeps me engaged, challenged, and excited about the work I do.
Unfortunately, this same thing that makes my job so fulfilling is often also a …
Why telemedicine is here to stay
Physician burnout and physician suicide have been getting more attention in the last several years. Suicide among physicians is horribly tragic, and maybe moreso because of several factors. Suicide is the quintessentially most preventable fatal event. In order to prevent suicide, the person killing him or herself needs only not do it. To anyone who knows the victim/perpetrator, it seems that if only the right words had been spoken, the …
A physician’s experience with burnout, and what she learned about it
Medical care and understanding have changed since separation of physical and mental health made much sense. We know now that mental state and internal physiology influence one another and that social factors affect disease risk more powerfully than genetic ones. Still, as a health care system, we perpetuate a culture of division, and limit our capacity to help people because of our inability to categorize them neatly.
There are so many with unmet mental health …
How can we improve mental health screening?
Gastroenterologists, as specialists, are called upon by other doctors to address digestive issues in their patients. For example, our daily office schedule is filled with patients sent by primary care physicians who want our advice or our technical testing skills to evaluate individuals with abdominal pain, bowel issues, heartburn, rectal bleeding and various other symptoms. The same process occurs when we are called to see hospital patients. If a hospital …
Why are you seeing the gastroenterologist?
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Every morning around 5 a.m., the overnight intern updates me on what happened to the patients on my service. In a hospital where disease knows no hour, the nights can often be just as busy as the days.
“Just letting you know, his wound seemed a little wet to me. Maybe it’s starting to get infected.”
“Good to know. We may have to change the dressing more frequently.”
“And this patient had constant …
People, not computers, make health care work
“Jag ska bli doktor,” a four-year-old boy announced to his family sixty years ago.
Somehow, everything he did after that moment seemed to move him in that direction, even when, on the surface, his path through life seemed to be meandering.
As a student, he was just as interested in literature and philosophy as he was in scientific subjects. He even failed his first quiz in organic chemistry just after receiving the …
Being the doctor he set out to be
November brings fall weather, raking leaves and one of my favorite holidays. No, not Thanksgiving, it is Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day is a day reserved to celebrate members of the U.S. armed forces for their service. Thank you, veterans. Veterans are found in all segments of our society. Some are retired, some have started second careers, and some are struggling with health issues as a result of their service. They …
Why veterans deserve special recognition
The health care AI space is frothy. Billions in venture capital are flowing, nearly every writer on the health care beat has at least an article or two on the topic, and there isn’t a medical conference that doesn’t at least have a panel if not a dedicated day to discuss. The promise and potential is very real.
And yet, we seem to be blowing it.
The latest example is an investigation …
7 ways we are screwing up AI in health care
An excerpt from The Flame Broiled Doctor: From Boyhood to Burnout in Medicine.
“So what did my bloodwork show, Doctor?” asked Liz. Liz was friendly and polite, but a textbook example of the Worried Well … healthy but neurotic patients I didn’t need to see as often as …
A story from a physician’s journey to burnout
It’s a peculiar kind of civil war we are waging in America. 30,000 of us die each year from gun violence, exceeding the number killed annually on all sides in the Syrian civil war. On October 1, we saw more than 58 people slaughtered and hundreds injured in a carefully planned attack. At a concert. In Las Vegas. For no apparent reason.
My professional interest in this problem began during my …
Let’s share our stories about gun violence
As physicians, we are conditioned to put ourselves last. This long-standing tendency likely began way before we hit medical school. But certainly, our training reinforces it. Think about it: the personality type that goes into medicine is typically a caretaker. And while medical school reinforces this personality pitfall, It doesn’t end there. Residency brings a whole other dimension of self-neglect. We think, “If I can just get out of residency …
4 ways doctors put themselves last
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