I received a phone call from an elderly gentleman who was closer to ninety years of age than 80, was taking an aspirin, and had just suffered a fall and hit his head. He did not know why or how he fell. He asked for an appointment the same day to “check me out.”
My staff asked all the pertinent questions and immediately brought the information to me. After reviewing it, …
Some health issues should not be evaluated in the office
I love stories, either told, written, or listened to. Songs tell stories, as does art. Blogs such as the rich content open so many doors for rich conversations. Telling stories is part of who I am. My father loved to tell them, as did my grandfather, whose name I took. They were called bull-sh*tters – and perhaps some refer to me that way at times. In medicine, I find storytelling …
Why storytelling is critical in medicine
Nothing like a tragic global pandemic to make everyone rethink their careers. This past year and a half have brought a lot of changes to the workplace. Many of us don’t want to go back to the way things were. According to a Pew Research Center survey from late 2020, of the 71 percent of employees working from home because of the pandemic, more than half, given …
Can medicine transcend beyond the clinic walls? I’d like to see us try.
Greetings. I write briefly to inform you I am aware of your Google Review placed nearly a week ago. I’m not upset, but I must say that I am rather surprised by some of the statements. It is germane to the situation when a patient expresses displeasure about his or her experience with our office that we all collectively learn from the experience to improve patient experience in the future. …
To the patient who left a negative physician review
“He’s not even an MD, Jimmy. He’s a DO. This guy can’t even afford the good letters.”
“They’re basically the same, but they’re totally not. MD is Coca-Cola. DO is RC Cola.”
“A DO is like an off-brand doctor.”
These quotes came from Hasan Minaj’s interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. It spread like wildfire through the DO community. This is not the first time that DOs have been belittled by …
Stigma and stereotypes have no place in medicine
I gleefully rang in 2021, happy to leave 2020 and its troubles behind. However, the promise of the new year did not bring the end of the pandemic or its pressures. As I write this, I am perched on the precipice of another uncertain school year for my children. The surge in work that the pandemic brought has not ebbed either. For doctors, the pandemic has brought unique pressure to …
Last week, I became involved in two situations of pain between the eyes that seemed to potentially be presentations of very serious medical conditions.
Autumn took a call from her sister late on Friday afternoon. Her sister had been tested for COVID the day before and told Autumn she instantly felt a severe pain between her eyes and developed a nosebleed as soon as the nasal swabbing was completed. The nosebleed …
The art and uncertainty of triage
A few years ago, a Chicago-area fertility clinic ran a series of radio ads at the same early hour each morning. For weeks, I woke to a woman’s energetic voice cutting through the fog of my semiconsciousness, announcing her gratitude to the center’s reproductive specialists. “Without them,” she proclaimed brightly, “my baby wouldn’t have my blue eyes and my husband’s wide smile.”
Ten years earlier, I myself had driven 20 miles …
A physician family’s adoption journey
Arguably one of the most famous statues of Western civilization is of the Laocoon group, made between the second century B.C. and the first century A.D, and discovered and excavated in Rome in 1506. Michelangelo himself was supposedly one of the first to view the newly discovered statue, and it is said that it …
Laocoön and His Sons: suffering of those who care for those who suffer
This episode is sponsored by the Rush University Series at The Podcast by KevinMD.
As we enter a year and a half into a worldwide pandemic, many of us working in health care are fatigued, over-worked, and burned …
5 myths about compassion and patient rapport building in health care
It should come as no surprise that primary care physicians are looking for careers outside of medicine. That 40 percent of primary care clinicians are concerned their field won’t exist and that 21 percent plan to leave primary care in three years.
Doctor burnout has reached epidemic levels. Primary care physicians feel like mice on a wheel, running faster without gaining ground. If …
As doctor burnout climbs, can we save primary care?
I left my primary care practice earlier this year to focus on life coaching. Why did I leave? Because I wanted to do more and make a bigger impact. I remember how eager I was to complete medical training as I approached the light at the end of the tunnel. I thought I could finally relax and enjoy life as an attending after all the delayed gratification from becoming a …
Should you stay or leave medicine?
Wood art
The taxing journey of going through an illness often has the turning point of hearing a “diagnosis.”
Diagnosis locks a person inside a sick body. Diagnosis is a label that dictates certain behavior in an individual and the whole circle of people around that person, including family members, workplace, health care providers, and insurance companies. Diagnosis is a journey from diagnostic …
“Are there specific ways empathy will be tested in the standardized patient exam?” a medical school classmate of mine earnestly asked following a lecture years ago. I laughed, thinking that teaching empathy was impossible. As an optimistic and naive medical student, I had thought of myself as naturally empathetic. During those days, I was able to spend hours with patients, gaining their confidence while hearing their stories and concerns. I …
My journey to the root of empathy and why we must try to teach it
I am a board-certified pediatrician, wife, mother of four, and host of a podcast. I have been interested in nutrition and feeding practices for as long as I can remember. In my practice as a pediatrician, I was constantly bombarded with parent concerns about children’s eating habits. Commonly parents worried that their children were not eating enough, were eating too …
The surprising power of family meals
It is said that everything that moves has a breaking point. Engineers understand this concept, and they have developed intricate methods to understand when metals will reach their breaking point if they sustain repeated back and forth stress.
It becomes crucial to understand that when metals break, the consequences have substantial implications as many industries rely on machines to be efficient and safe. If a machine shuts down due to the …
Physicians are hurting. This is what makes them human.
On April 5, 2021, the federal government mandated that health care providers provide free electronic access to patients’ clinical notes, as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. This includes 8 types of notes spanning outpatient and inpatient arenas. If providers/organizations do not comply with this mandate, they will be subject to fines due to “information blocking.”
This was borne from the OpenNotes movement – which declares itself to promote and …
How medical notes will change if patients get to see them
“We can’t sit in the stands – we have to get messy and play on the field.”
The casual observer, the season ticket holder, the player, and the coach have very different levels of knowledge, skill, and passion for a professional sport. The casual observer may be confused, not even understanding the fundamentals of the game. The season ticket holder likely has some experience with the sport, possibly playing as a …
Getting messy in the game of health care
Although Pride Month is over, awareness and advocacy for equity among the LGBTQ+ community must continue to be prioritized. This is especially important in health care settings. Many LGBTQ+ people feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in doctors’ offices, and more than 40 percent have experienced discrimination in health care environments. As a result, LGBTQ+ people postpone or avoid care at a rate that is 2-3x greater than the broader U.S. population. …
How to make LGBTQ+ patients feel welcome during in-person and virtual doctor’s visits
Everybody dies. And doctors can’t change that reality.
But we’ve created a system where we lead people to believe immortality is possible. We expect clear-cut answers to health questions. We’ve been trained to look for multiple-choice questions with an answer key that tells us the correct solutions. As doctors, we’re expected to be selfless, altruistic superhuman helpers who always know the answers and will sacrifice ourselves to benefit everyone else. And …
Doctors are humans, not heroes
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