Primary Care

When embarrassment is a teacher in medicine

Physician

September 10, 2025

When I arrived in the U.S. as a young physician in the early first week, I didn’t know what “passed out” meant. Or “threw up.” My English was polished—British-style, courtesy of Indian schooling—but I wasn’t prepared for American slang, accents, or sports metaphors. So there I was in a Philadelphia hospital, fumbling through a patient history. I was embarrassed—by my accent, my vocabulary, my uncertainty. But I wasn’t humiliated. That …

How community and buses saved my retirement

Raymond Abbott

Conditions

September 9, 2025

It is Saturday, late in July and hot as blazes in Louisville, Kentucky where I live. I’ve been here for many years.

I sit in a McDonald’s restaurant close to my home. The place is just about empty. I am here after a short walk from my house, about half a mile. I am happy to be here—happy, that is, that I can manage to walk this far, even in the …

Why your clinic waiting room may affect patient outcomes

Ziya Altug, PT, DPT and Shirish Sachdeva, PT, DPT

Conditions

September 8, 2025

A busy waiting room with buzzing lights, cramped-up chairs, and rushed medical staff on the clock can make you feel more anxious about the care you are going to get. Clinic waiting rooms are often the first point of contact between patients and health care providers.

The psychology of waiting

While traditionally considered functional spaces, a growing body of evidence suggests that the design and ambiance of these environments significantly influence patients’ …

The backbone of health care is breaking

Grace Yu, MD

Physician

September 6, 2025

A few weeks ago, I delivered a baby in the morning and sat with a grandmother near the end of life that afternoon. I adjusted insulin for a patient I first helped quit smoking ten years ago. I counseled a teenager about to leave home for college. This is the joy of family medicine: walking with people through every stage of life. But too often, that joy is overshadowed by …

Read more…

The backbone of health care is breaking

Why doctors must ask for help before burnout escalates

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

Physician

September 6, 2025

“If you are reluctant to ask the way, you will be lost.”
– Malay proverb

When I was struggling with burnout during training, I did not seek help.

Even when called into the office of the revered, stately, totally intimidating chair of the department, because he had “heard I was having trouble coping.”

Nope. I saw that as a sign that I needed to do a better job of hiding my lack of coping.

When …

Will longevity medicine put doctors out of work?

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Physician

September 5, 2025

Whenever I bring up longevity medicine among some fellow physicians, I can almost hear the unspoken objections before anyone says a word. There is a pause, a sideways look, maybe even a faint smirk. If I could translate those silent expressions into captions, they would say:

“If people stop getting sick, will not we all be out of business?”

Let us stop right there. That is like saying restaurants would all go …

Why the doctor-patient relationship needs a redesign

Alexandra Novitsky, MD

Physician

September 5, 2025

The landscape of medicine is evolving—and so are the roles of those who practice it. Today, more people are searching “how are doctors changing?”, “Why doesn’t my doctor have time to listen?”, or “Can doctors coach me instead of just treating symptoms?” These questions aren’t just valid—they’re vital.

For many of us in medicine, the traditional doctor-patient relationship no longer fits the needs of modern life. We’re not just being asked …

How functional medicine fills the gaps left by conventional care

Sally Daganzo, MD

Physician

September 4, 2025

As an internist with a background in physics, I was taught to think in systems—to seek root causes, avoid assumptions, and apply data with precision. Early in my career, I practiced medicine exactly as I had been trained: Identify the diagnosis, follow the algorithm, apply evidence-based treatment. And in many cases, that worked.

But increasingly, I found myself caring for patients who didn’t fit cleanly into diagnostic boxes. Fatigue, brain fog, …

Apprenticeship reshapes medical training for confident clinicians

Claude E. Lett III, PA-C

Conditions

September 1, 2025

I’ve worn many hats in my medical career—lab technician, Physician Assistant, Army Captain, and teacher. But no matter where I’ve served, one truth has followed me like a shadow: The most effective medical learning doesn’t happen in a classroom. It happens beside a patient, with blood pressure cuff in hand, chart under arm, and a mentor who knows when to step back and let you try.

The most powerful educational model …

Unity in primary care: Why I believe physicians and NPs/PAs must work together toward the same goal

Jerina Gani, MD, MPH

Physician

August 31, 2025

In today’s health care system, primary care is stretched thin. Patients face longer wait times, providers are burned out, and practices are under constant pressure to do more with less time in their hands. In the middle of this strain, I have noticed a troubling trend, divisions between physicians (MDs, DOs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) or physician assistants (PAs).

I strongly believe that …

Doctors reclaiming their humanity in a broken system [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 29, 2025

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

Physician advocates Alae Kawam, Kim Downey, and Nicole Solomos discuss their article “True stories of doctors reclaiming their humanity in a system that challenges it,” sharing firsthand accounts of the cultural rift …

When life makes you depend on Depends

Francisco M. Torres, MD

Physician

August 29, 2025

At any given time, about five percent of men and nine percent of women, just like you and me, suffer from incontinence. This means that they cannot hold their urine or feces until they reach a bathroom. In other words, that affects one in twenty men and one in ten women. Incontinence in adults can be caused by old age, injury, neuromuscular disorders, and cancer, to name some of …

Read more…

When life makes you depend on Depends

From Civil War tales to iPhones: a family history in contrast

Richard A. Lawhern, PhD

Conditions

August 29, 2025

We are informed by the Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, and poet George Santayana, that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

That has never been my problem.

I grew up immersed in family stories from both parents — some of them true, and some not so accurately remembered. Starting at about age three with Little Golden Books that my mom bought for a nickel each at local thrift stores, …

Implementing value-based telehealth pain management and substance misuse therapy service

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD

Physician

August 28, 2025

The overlapping challenges of chronic pain and substance misuse overwhelm health care systems. Many people live with persistent pain, while others struggle with substance misuse, and some face both conditions simultaneously. This complex public health crisis is marked by rising opioid-related deaths, widespread under-treatment, and significant barriers to accessing care. Implementing a telehealth-based pain and substance misuse service represents a transformative response, bringing evidence-based, patient-centered treatment directly to individuals wherever …

How an insider advocate can save a loved one

Chrissie Ott, MD

Physician

August 28, 2025

Today I helped a family friend in a medical crisis. My friend’s elderly mom had been admitted to the hospital after a series of falls. In hospital medicine, this is a tale as old as time. Falls often herald the beginning of a downhill trajectory.

Experienced docs know to look for urinary tract infections, electrolyte abnormalities, dehydration, constipation, over-medication and more. We know that delirium (an alteration in mental status that …

A powerful story of addiction, strength, and redemption

Ryan McCarthy, MD

Physician

August 28, 2025

Tough and tender at the same time, Linda is a woman with a broad smile, the kind who likes to “fish all weekend at the lake, a place where I don’t think about anything. Or, anyone.” I often smelled cigarette smoke on her, and she has the raspy voice that comes from a lifetime of stepping outside on the porch to light up. She embodies the physical strength that comes …

How physicians can reclaim resilience through better sleep, nutrition, and exercise

Kim Downey, PT & Ziya Altug, PT, DPT and Shirish Sachdeva, PT, DPT

Conditions

August 27, 2025

Imagine a family physician who works 12-hour days packed with complex cases and endless paperwork. They may skip meals, miss their child’s recital, and stay late to finish charting. Patient care feels rushed, and the physician begins to feel emotionally numb and irritable. Driving home exhausted, the doctor wonders if medicine was the right career choice! A physician’s role is considered a calling, and when it starts to feel like …

This isn’t burnout, it’s moral injury [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 26, 2025

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

Family physician Jonathan Bushman discusses his article, “The hidden moral injury behind value-based health care.” He shares the story of a young physician who was told to remove her most complex patients …

Why heart and brain must work together for love

Felicia Cummings, MD

Physician

August 26, 2025

Come sit down and I will start
To tell a tale of Harvy heart,
And how his feud with Brian brain
Flushed their friendship down the drain.

Brian brain and Harvy heart
Were never very far apart.
Harvy fast and Brian slow,
They worked together, don’t you know?

Then one day they had a spat
Over whom to point their loving at.
Harvy thought that he should lead
Since hearts are much like trusty steeds!

Brian brain thought he was best
Since loving …

How AI helped a veteran feel seen in the U.S. health care system

David Bittleman, MD

Physician

August 24, 2025

A veteran came into my clinic with quiet frustration in his eyes. He was 100 percent service-connected and medically retired, struggling to survive in San Diego. He handed me a DMV disability form—something that could save him hundreds of dollars in car registration fees. But another VA doctor had already refused to sign it.

The form asked whether his disability caused “an impaired gait.” It was vague. He had chronic back …