Primary Care

Should patients order their own lab tests?

Physician

February 16, 2017

Knowledge is power. Increasingly, patients are demanding and receiving access to levers in the medical machine that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. The informed consent process, which I support, can overwhelm ordinary patients and families with conflicting and bewildering options.

Television and the airwaves routinely advertise prescription drugs directly to the public. Consider the strategy of direct-to-consumer drug marketing when millions of dollars are spent advertising a drug that …

4 reasons why being a doctor is worth it

Jean Robey, MD

Physician

February 14, 2017

2016 closed around a continued effort to “salvage” the medical profession’s reputation, but the notion that it’s broken continues to be counterproductive.

The brightest students, for example, question the long journey and delayed gratification being a physician entails. They do the math and continue to engage in other professions that are medical but not specifically Medical Doctorate degrees or Doctor of Osteopathic degrees. These same students conclude there is no longer …

The Physician’s Bill of Rights

Michele C. Parker, MD

Physician

February 10, 2017

I love teaching my children about history, and in the process, I often see a clearer perspective of events I learned about at a young age when I had less life experience under my belt.

As I have been revisiting the evolution of our country, the formation and restructuring of our society, and the emergence of periods of oppression, rebellion, and social change, I have been struck by the concept that …

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The Physician’s Bill of Rights

A letter from doctors to our patients

Monique Rainford, MD

Physician

February 1, 2017

Dear patients,

We are happy to have you in our lives. We came into medicine to take care of you. Some of us because we wanted to help you to win the fight against cancer. Others of us because we love delivering your babies. Others because we wanted to have the skill to make sure you survive that heart attack or that terrible accident. Others because we wanted to do our …

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A letter from doctors to our patients

Medicine is not destroying your marriage

Sarah Epstein

Physician

January 29, 2017

Every medical couple knows that the lifestyle and career choice brings with it adjustments and sacrifices. Physician spouses and partners often take on more housework and childcare to accommodate long working hours. Physicians may work unusual hours that lead to late-night arrivals, missed bedtime tuck-ins, and less face-to-face time. This can lead many couples to blame medicine for their struggling relationship.

Take the example of a resident who has been working …

Why this physician can’t be her family’s doctor

Karen Yeter, MD

Physician

January 27, 2017

The day I got into medical school, my uncle said to me, “You are going to be a doctor! We finally have a doctor in the family. You are going to take care of your uncle in his old age.” Other family members echoed the same sentiment. First doctor in the family. Now, we will all have free medical advice.

As I progressed through medical school, then internship and residency, then …

Being a woman doctor in a man’s world

Maiysha Clairborne, MD

Physician

January 25, 2017

Last week I was in a session with one of my coaching clients, a successful black female physician who is the owner of her own practice. As we were concluding she made a statement to me “I feel like medicine has just sucked the feminine right out of me.” Immediately I related.

As women in the professional world, we are always in competition with men whether we are aware of it, …

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Being a woman doctor in a man’s world

Patient death by data: A poem

Ellen Kemper, MD

Physician

January 23, 2017

“Afternoon,” the doctor says. “What brings you here today?”
A cough? A cold? A belly ache? Some feelings of dismay?
Well, tell me just what ails you, and I’ll try to do my best,
To sort through all your problems and put your fears to rest.

But give me just a moment — my computer must get started.
Without attention to its needs, your visit goes uncharted.
You say your chest is hurting? And you’re really …

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Patient death by data: A poem

It’s time to ask patients about spirituality

Veronica J. Meawad, MD

Physician

January 22, 2017

From the first year of medical school, we are trained in probing into the most personal aspects of patients’ lives; but when it comes to spirituality, we shy away. In a survey of the U.S. general public, the 2008 Gallup Report demonstrated that 78 percent of people believed in God and an additional 15 percent believed in a higher power. Other studies have shown that religious beliefs and …

What National Women Physicians Day means to me

Hala Sabry, DO, MBA

Physician

January 22, 2017

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It’s a common question we ask our youth, and I remember as young child sharing my aspirations with family members. When I answered “I want to be a doctor when I grow up”, I received positive feedback and praise. As an innocent little girl, I had no idea that there were people in the world who wouldn’t be as supportive of a woman in medicine.

Later …

There is a direct connection between inefficiency and burnout

Paul DeChant, MD, MBA and Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

Physician

January 12, 2017

An excerpt from Preventing Physician Burnout: Curing the Chaos and Returning Joy to the Practice of Medicine.

Mark Linzer’s research identified workplace chaos as one of the key predictors of physician stress, burnout, and intention to …

Do primary care physicians increase life expectancy?

Niran S. Al-Agba, MD

Physician

January 9, 2017

U.S. life expectancy declined in 2015 for the first time in more than two decades, according to a National Center for Health Statistics study released last week. The decline of 0.1 percent was ever so slight ― life expectancy at birth was 78.8 years in 2015, compared to 78.9 years in 2014. However, this reversal of a long-time upward trend makes these results significant.

While many researchers are scratching …

Stop saying these 7 shaming words in medicine. Right now.

Pamela Wible, MD

Physician

January 5, 2017

shamingwordsimage

In medicine, our motto is first do no harm. Words matter. Choose them wisely. Here are 7 words that shame, blame, and injure people who need our help.

1. Don’t say COMMITTED suicide. Committed implies a crime. Committed rape, burglary, murder. Suicide is not a crime; it’s a medical condition that has been taboo for too long. Let’s come out of the dark …

Should doctors’ personal judgments affect their patients?

James C. Salwitz, MD

Physician

January 2, 2017

Medicine is a paradox. To save, we cut with sharp knives. We ignore pain so that it will light the path to diagnosis. We give toxins to destroy toxic disease. We scold our neighbors when they neglect their health, even as we work ourselves to exhaustion, eat too much and evade exercise. We comfort the families of our patients while ignoring our own.

There is one contradiction, which, by its very …

Essentialism for health care professionals

Timothy E. Paterick, MD, JD, MBA and Elizabeth Ngo, MD

Physician

December 18, 2016

An excerpt from Physician—Time to Invest in Yourself: Work-Life Balance, the Needs of the Patient, and Medical-Legal Risk Management.

What is an essentialist? What is an essentialist lifestyle? Essentialism focuses on identifying the important signals in life and eliminating the noise. The noises are the distractions that add no value to your life and frequently monopolize time and meaning. When you assume the role of an essentialist you will discover that you …

Listen to your patient’s story: It’s their diagnosis

Hans Duvefelt, MD

Physician

December 14, 2016

Sir William Osler wasn’t exactly wrong when he said, “Listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis.” But he didn’t mean it literally. His patients did not offer up esoteric and complete medical diagnoses on a silver platter. They left him clues in plain language that he listened to carefully in order to make the correct diagnosis.

He penned his words in an era when medical information was scarce …

My experience as a patient has made me a better physician. Here’s how.

Farrell Tobolowsky, DO

Physician

December 9, 2016

The medical assistant swabbed my nose and my throat multiple times. Pricked my finger too. Then, the phlebotomist (or vampire?) drew bottles and bottles of my blood. Along with the physical discomfort, there was emotional discomfort too. What would the test results show? If they were all negative, would I be satisfied without having an answer?

Being a patient can be extremely vulnerable. Not only do you often divulge to a …

What does a doctor’s white coat really mean?

Jason Lippman, MD

Physician

December 8, 2016

For a century, the white coat has been the symbol of the medical doctor. Today, the vast majority of medical schools in the U.S. begin with a white coat ceremony. There, the fledgling, future doctors stand together and recite a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath before being called up one-by-one to receive the white coats that they will wear throughout the upcoming trials and adventures of medical school. The …

Why this physician chose internal medicine

Robert Centor, MD

Physician

December 7, 2016

On November 1973, I had an epiphany. My first week on my internal medicine clerkship, I realized that I had found my specialty: internal medicine.

Prior to medical school, I had worked with emotionally disturbed children in an inpatient hospital. I really enjoyed the experience, and learned a great deal. During my first two miserable years in medical school (I disliked how they taught the basic sciences and even more how …

Atheist doctors must come out of the closet

David Mann, MD

Physician

December 2, 2016

Reading about the opening of the Noah’s Ark Theme Park in Kentucky brings to mind the days when I worked as a physician in that state. I had moved from an academic position in Colorado and joined a large group of private practice cardiologists in Louisville. I found that people in Kentucky were different from those in Colorado. They were much more overtly religious.

As an interventional electrophysiologist, I would meet …