Black men need to be comfortable saying that we can be scared sometimes, and to share our emotions without guilt or shame.
I say this as a Black man who has experienced vulnerability both as a family physician and as a patient. Over the last year, I’ve been challenged in unforeseen ways. In my professional life, I’ve cared for patients with COVID-19 and other chronic medical conditions, engaged as a clinician-educator …
Early in my career as a rural physician in Texas, I took care of a couple in their mid-70s named Vernon and Nellie. They drove in from another small town 50 miles away. Nellie usually did all the talking, while her husband, Vernon, sat quietly next to …
Like anyone else, the holiday season can be the source of great joy. And it can add to the stress and overwhelm that physicians already experience. The practicing physician may find herself torn between responsibilities in the clinical setting and the preparations needed to make a memorable holiday experience for family and friends.
It starts with rushing from work to make it to the store before closing. It’s planning, decorating, baking, …
Today, most medical organizations have gotten away from paper medical records and use computerized electronic medical record systems (EMRs). The U.S. government has encouraged the use of such systems, no matter how large or small these systems are.
A current problem is that a patient may be seen in different medical organizations and have medical records in different EMRs. This has promoted the concept of “interoperability,” allowing one EMR system to …
Today’s health care system has become so standardized that if a person in a medical office were instantly and magically transported to a medical office in another city, the person would instantly recognize that they were still in a medical office. Our offices are now antiseptic, cold, and devoid of educational material and humanity, and this office decor can adversely impact a physician’s ability to provide care to their patients.
A family medicine resident sings, “Self-Care Should Now Be Your Plan.”
Lyrics:
You’ve seen lots of deaths in the hospital.
Many patients you just couldn’t save.
You did everything you could have possibly done, but the winner was the grave.
People over you showed you no sympathy,
So you began to despair.
You just needed someone to show empathy
And some time to do self-care.
The wounds you have might be deep,
But a healer’s …
It was dark as we entered a crumbling stone building, a one-room 15’ x 15’ structure. No electricity, no running water, no amenities, we assume “we all have.” I was leading a medical team to the poorest country in Europe, Moldova, a country I had come to know and love well. The team had finished a busy day in the clinic. Before going to dinner, I wanted to make a …
I was sitting in my car on the phone when I heard the news. My boyfriend and I were chatting while I was driving to my parents’ house to have dinner. He mentioned to me that he had something to tell me and wanted to wait until I had stopped driving and had a chance to had dinner. My stomach is strong from having little time to eat and lots …
If you are a frequent flyer in an airlines program, this is often a benefit. If you are a “frequent flyer” in a health care setting, this is not. It means you may have a chronic illness and are often seen in a health care setting, treated, sent home, and quickly return because the care approach was not to prevent recurrence by implementing lifestyle changes.
“I believe there is a formula that can reduce the risk of burnout and save primary care, rooted in one key objective: Remove work from primary care doctors and nursing staff’s plates immediately.
Easier said than done. And that’s where technology and clinical navigation must be leveraged — to assist, facilitate, …
I had surgery recently, and as most physicians do at some point, I found myself on the other side of the bed. Definitely not the side where I have the most experience or feel most comfortable, but it is what it is. The whole process makes a person feel vulnerable and out of control: not a feeling most doctors are accustomed to. But I knew the procedure, so I peed …
After a minor bike accident, you go to the emergency room with a broken wrist. While you’re being triaged, you tell the nurse you take blood thinners because you had deep vein thrombosis a few years ago. The doctor treating you says he’s read your medical records, so you assume he knows what medications you take.
When you tell the doctor about the blood thinner, however, your doctor says that’s not …
Some things in a physician’s life are perpetual. Nowadays, COVID-19 has become one of these inescapable crises that doctors must deal with.
At this point, everyone – including medical practitioners – is exhausted to the core. It feels as though we haven’t slept for weeks or that we’re repeatedly being hit by a train. Every movement feels as if we’re running a marathon.
Even so, my career as a medical professional gives …
Health care costs are out of control and volume-based insurance reimbursement models are felt to be contributing to the problem. Medicare and most major private medical insurance carriers have begun testing and transitioning to reimbursement models that pay for health care services based on the …
The old man sat at the front of the drift boat as it swayed gently, anchored at the river’s edge. The guide sat behind him, making final preparations for the day’s float downriver. The man had fly fished for nearly 40 years; he even tied his own flies and made fly rods such was his love for it. Age and unwelcomed health problems, though, were slowly bringing an end to …
The holiday season is rapidly approaching, and it is not uncommon for us to gain up to 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. But what if we do not want to put on some insulation? What can we do? I specialize in medical weight loss, and my first recommendation would simply be to be aware of the food around us and recognize that seeing food in itself can be …
In medical school, we are taught to listen to our patients, and if we listen hard enough, they will tell us their diagnosis. The statistic that gets thrown around is that the average amount of time a physician listens before interrupting a patient is 18 seconds. Many of us learn to use motivational interviewing skills to help communicate with our patients. These statistics and methods involve training with our ears …
My introduction to health insurance companies was very abrupt and simple.
I received my medical training in the U.S. Navy and served three years after that. Then, I was finally discharged. I had treated thousands of patients as a Navy doctor, but I had never charged one, nor did I even know how to charge for services.
My partner in the civilian practice I joined made the transition easy: “Sign this contract …
Norman Grant was a new patient. He had chronic back pain, not helped by surgery or a dozen injections after that. It all started with an industrial accident in 2001. He had settled his case and was on chronic OxyContin, which far from kept him functional. But as of January 1, his insurance was no longer covering that drug. He only had two weeks left of it.
