Primary Care

How clinical reassurance impacts patient communication

Physician

April 2, 2026

In clinical practice, reassurance is both necessary and responsible. When a clinician says “nothing concerning,” it is rarely casual. It reflects a judgment: no immediate danger, no clear evidence of serious disease, no indication for urgent intervention. It is often the appropriate conclusion at that moment in time. But what happens to that statement after the visit ends is less often considered. Because outside the clinical context in which it …

Lifestyle medicine support: Bridging the gap in patient care

Landen Green, DO

Physician

April 2, 2026

As physicians, we rarely disagree about first principles. Nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress, and behavioral patterns sit at the foundation of nearly every chronic disease conversation. We counsel patients on these topics every day, sometimes passionately, sometimes hurriedly, often within the narrow time constraints of a packed clinic schedule.

Yet an uncomfortable gap persists between what we know drives long-term outcomes and what we are realistically able to deliver in routine …

How your clinical notes impact military veterans’ disability benefits

Robin Hoon, RN

Conditions

April 1, 2026

Your patient stops showing up for follow-ups. They are rationing medications you prescribed. They cannot afford the specialist you referred them to.

You assume it is financial stress or insurance issues, but it could simply be due to what is missing from your chart notes, a pattern that is especially common among military veterans navigating disability benefits.

After more than 20 years in clinical practice serving patients with disabilities, including many military …

Pajama time is for fools

Armand Rodriguez, MD

Physician

April 1, 2026

I really tried to have AI come up with an innocuous-sounding title for this piece: “Caring Hearts, Lighter Wallets: The Financial Reality of Primary Care.” But my poor judgment prevailed so I just decided to insult all of my colleagues right from the start. I assure you, for better or worse, that this article is my original opinion although with AI editing for grammar and clarity (but unfortunately not brevity). …

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Pajama time is for fools

Overcoming physician burnout with a new care model

Jerina Gani, MD, MPH

Physician

April 1, 2026

Many physicians do not talk about this openly, but at some point in their careers, a quiet question begins to surface: Is this really what it is supposed to feel like? After years, often decades, of training, sacrifice, and dedication, all of us as primary care physicians find ourselves in a position that, on paper, looks successful. We are caring for thousands of patients, maintaining full schedules, and carrying immense …

How ethical dilemmas in medicine affect body donation

Francisco M. Torres, MD

Physician

April 1, 2026

Many clinicians recall cases that stand out not for their diagnostic complexity, but for their ethical dilemmas. One such experience involved a long-time patient, a devout Catholic in his 70s, who asked if donating his body to science conflicted with his church’s teachings.

For years, I have displayed a favorite prayer on a poster in my office called “Prayer of the Catholic Physician.” This display gave my patient the opening to …

How to find reliable online health information and avoid medical misinformation

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

Physician

March 31, 2026

Previously, I urged readers to use the internet for information about health conditions, medications, and other medical concerns to help make informed decisions about their care. I must modify this based on an online search experience I had that yielded mostly garbage. If I had not known what to seek, I would have been confused, ended my search prematurely, as I expect most people would have, and learned nothing.

To simplify …

Why we need a new medical specialty to fix corporate medicine

Allan Dobzyniak, MD

Physician

March 31, 2026

Perhaps the time has arrived to view the clinical practice of medicine differently. The practitioners are now broadly identified either as primary care providers or specialists. Specialty care is more easily defined, but whether such care is used appropriately is another question.

Primary care now includes pediatrics, internal medicine, and family practice with an increasing number of physician extenders, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Primary care has transitioned into something quite …

The hidden costs of diffuse accountability in medical teams

Gus W. Krucke, MD

Physician

March 30, 2026

I have watched the scope-of-practice debate for decades, from call rooms and crowded wards, from intensive care units and emergency departments, and from the deafening quiet that follows a code well run yet not won.

Early in my career, I argued the way many physicians do, with outcome data and workforce projections. Over time, I came to see that those arguments skirt the deeper question: When clinical authority expands, does accountability …

Overcoming moral injury in medicine: a Doctor’s Day reflection

Seleipiri Akobo, MD, MPH, MBA

Physician

March 30, 2026

The white coat has always been a symbol of a sacred trust, a commitment to “do no harm.” But as we approach Doctor’s Day 2026, many of us find ourselves grappling with a different kind of harm. It is not a physical wound, nor is it the “burnout” often cited in corporate wellness modules. It is the moral injury of us.

In our daily practice, we increasingly find ourselves at the …

A poem of gratitude for narrative medicine on Doctor’s Day

Michele Luckenbaugh

Conditions

March 30, 2026

You stood in the quiet spaces
where fear gathers its weight,
in exam rooms humming with doubt,
in moments when breath was forced
and time seemed unwilling
to promise tomorrow.

You were there.

Not only with stethoscope and chart,
not only with the knowledge of medicine,
but with something far rarer:
a presence that did not rush,
a listening that did not measure itself
against the ticking of a clock.

I remember how you listened to the story,
as if each word mattered,
because to …

The death of medical swagger: How physician status has changed

Paul Dranichnikov, MD, PhD

Physician

March 27, 2026

Fifty years ago, being a doctor was like being a cross between a wizard and a rock star. People would whisper in awe when you walked by: “There goes Dr. High-and-Mighty, saving lives and curing everything from a runny nose to a broken heart!” My dad used to tell me stories about how he would get waved past security, cut to the front of lines, score doctor discounts, and park …

Why clinical medicine is harder than flying a plane

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD

Physician

March 27, 2026

People often say doctors should perform like flight or rescue teams. The comparison sounds flattering. It is also incomplete. Pilots, ship captains, firefighters, coastguards, and rescue teams all work in high-stakes environments. They train hard. They lead under pressure. They make critical decisions with lives at risk. Medicine shares that gravity. But the real-world challenge of clinical medicine is often more complex, less controlled, and more exposed to uncertainties than …

Physician burnout: a poem on the unseen weight of medicine

Michele Luckenbaugh

Conditions

March 26, 2026

You took an oath not to be a machine,
not to be a ledger of codes and signatures,
not to be a pair of hands
moving briskly from room to room
as if compassion could be measured in 15-minute increments.

You took an oath to listen for the tremor beneath a voice,
to feel for the pulse that falters under your fingertips,
to stand between suffering hope and say,
“I will try.”

But somewhere between the stethoscope and the …

Why your patient’s disability claim was denied

Jennifer Hess, JD

Conditions

March 26, 2026

Sooner or later, most physicians encounter this moment. A patient arrives at an appointment carrying a thick envelope of disability insurance forms. They look uncomfortable when they ask the question.

“Can you help me fill these out?”

For many clinicians, the request lands at the worst possible time. The waiting room is full. The schedule is already behind. And the forms themselves are long, repetitive, and often confusing. Still, you try to …

Do no harm: Why physician burnout requires bottom-up reform

Desiree Francis, MD

Physician

March 24, 2026

Before there were health care systems, insurance companies, or electronic medical records, there was the healer, a person embedded within the community, accountable not only for technical competence but for character.

My medical training outside the United States, while competitive and rigorous, remained service-oriented and community-based. Medicine historically was grounded in cultivated human qualities: humility, accountability, reverence for life, respect, and relational presence. Healing was not limited to scheduled interventions; it …

AI in health care: Why artificial intelligence cannot replace human empathy

Ryan McCarthy, MD

Physician

March 23, 2026

If you trust the titans of industry, and I do not, we are led to believe that, just around the proverbial corner, the equivalent of C-3PO will arrive to improve health care. How wonderful!

You might remember the fussy, shiny droid, the golden companion of R2-D2 in the Star Wars films. Fluent in over six million forms of communication, C-3PO bubbled with personality, …

The clash between defensive medicine and value-based health care

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD

Physician

March 22, 2026

Defensive medicine grows where fear rules. Value-based health care grows where judgment, trust, and outcomes matter. That is the clash now facing many doctors. On paper, health systems say they want high-value care, better outcomes, lower waste, and patient-centered decisions. In real life, many doctors practice in an environment shaped by needless complaints, crushing legal defense costs, underfunded services, regulator overreach, and instant reputational damage through online and social media. …

Why physicians get stuck in productive and numbing cycles

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

Physician

March 21, 2026

I had a mini epiphany recently. I realized there are three basic categories of time:

Productive: many work tasks (but not all), completing a task at home, achieving a specific personal or professional goal.
Non-productive and enriching: sleep, physical activity, being fully present with friends and family, learning something new.
Non-productive, non-enriching, and pleasurable: Netflix bingeing, drinking another glass of wine, zoning out, going down a social media rabbit hole, …
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Why physicians get stuck in productive and numbing cycles

The controversy over Maintenance of Certification for grandfathered physicians

Bernard Leo Remakus, MD

Physician

March 21, 2026

I received a lifetime certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in 1983. Since then, I have not participated in any of the Board’s “Maintenance of Certification” (MOC) programs.

I have taken the continuation of my medical education seriously, and have performed more than the number of hours required for my state licensure, professional liability insurability, and AMA continuing education recognition awards. Additionally, I have taught medical students and …

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