Physician

Focusing on well-being versus wellness: What it means for physicians (and their patients)

Physician
August 23, 2025

Words matter.

In a recent conversation with a physical therapist friend who lives with chronic illness, she shared that the term “wellness” doesn’t resonate with her—it feels like an impossible state to attain. She prefers “well-being,” explaining that it more accurately reflects how she feels and functions in daily life.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spoken and written about physician wellness and well-being, often using the terms interchangeably. But that …

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Why hiring physician intrapreneurs is the future of health care leadership

Physician
August 23, 2025

Surthriving in the brave new world of sick care requires not just a new playbook, but players with new skill sets to execute the plans. Knowledge technicians are as obsolete as an NFL team with a running game but without a passing and special teams plan. Unfortunately, HR managers are getting it wrong. The biggest risk to future success and becoming a disruptor is a company’s existing …

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Love, birds, and fries: a story of innocence and connection

Physician
August 22, 2025

I like quails. They resemble sparrows but are slightly larger. Quails are relatively quiet and easy to keep since they cannot fly much, unlike sparrows. They have a good lifespan as well. Since childhood, I have raised many quails, and I currently have two that I bought in 2023.

The quails have aged significantly, and the male has plucked many feathers from the female’s body. As a result, there are bald …

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The overlooked power of billing in primary care

Physician
August 21, 2025

When most of us as providers think about success in primary care, we focus on patient volume, quality of care, or time management. But in my opinion, there is a less glamorous (yet absolutely vital) area that can determine both our income and our liability: billing accuracy.

Billing is not just about codes and claims. It is the foundation of our financial health and a critical layer of legal protection. When …

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Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

Physician
August 20, 2025

Pain management physicians, who often prescribe controlled substances like opioids, face intense scrutiny. Critics argue that investigations are overly aggressive, resembling fishing expeditions where investigators search broadly for any evidence of wrongdoing, often beyond the original complaint. A 2023 Los Angeles Times report noted that nearly 10,000 investigations were conducted in 2021–2022, with pain physicians disproportionately targeted due to outdated guidelines predating modern evidence-based practices. For example, the reliance on …

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Why physicians need a place to fall apart

Physician
August 20, 2025

Physicians are masters at holding it together.

You walk into a patient’s room, and no matter how little sleep you have gotten, how chaotic the last shift was, or how much is weighing on you personally, you put on the calm, capable, competent face that patients and colleagues expect. That ability to compartmentalize (to suppress your own emotions so you can stay functional) is often what gets you through residency, twenty-four-hour …

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The joy of teaching medicine through life’s toughest challenges

Physician
August 20, 2025

Sepsis, multi-organ failure, near death

I fought back to the work I loved.

Life shifted; teaching’s call opened another door.

Not time yet.

The student clinic, a rebirth at the bedside,

Watching timid M1s bloom into confident, caring M3s: pure joy.

Being a doctor, teaching, healing, helping those in need.

Not time yet.

The pure fun of light bulbs igniting in small groups,

Connecting with so many bright, caring young minds,

Knowing medicine’s future is secure through them.

Not time yet.

Another …

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Why health care can’t survive on no-fail missions alone

Physician
August 20, 2025

We don’t send SEAL teams into the field without backup, but we routinely send health care workers into no-win situations and tell them: don’t fail.

I celebrated friendship and teamwork during a Change of Command ceremony this week—full of honor, tradition, and those stirring reminders of what it means to lead. But one repeated phrase stuck in my craw: “This is a no-fail mission.”

It’s meant to inspire. It’s meant to light …

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The unspoken contract between doctors and patients explained

Physician
August 18, 2025

We often sign extensive contracts when entering long-term commitments — think of the fine print in a mortgage, a car loan, or a new job offer.

While there are privacy forms and acknowledgments of office policies, the expectations of the physician-patient relationship are often assumed rather than explicitly stated. Some providers do outline expectations, and in today’s medicolegal environment, HIPAA notices are always signed — but that’s not the same as …

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The truth in medicine: Why connection matters most

Physician
August 17, 2025

Being a doctor is about more than diagnosing illnesses or prescribing medications. It is about more than knowing the latest research, the right drug dose, or the most effective treatment plan. Those things matter (of course they do), but they are just part of the job description.

The reality is more human, more vulnerable, and more complex.

Imagine what it is like to sit in the waiting room before your appointment. You …

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New student loan caps could shut low-income students out of medicine

Physician
August 17, 2025

I got into the car outside the bus station in Lowell, Massachusetts, where my father was waiting to pick me up. He looked nervous when he handed me an envelope. Inside was my medical school decision letter. I was accepted. We let out a cheer.

Along with the acceptance letter was the projected cost of attendance: around $70,000 for the first year, climbing to nearly $90,000 by the fourth. I would …

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Why “the best physicians” risk burnout and isolation

Physician
August 16, 2025

This is a famous teaching in the Talmud, which in the Jewish faith is the commentary on the Hebrew Bible. Why would the holy book of the Jews make such a proclamation? It turns out this is about arrogance. It is about humility. The “best doctors” may also be the most prideful. Their arrogance may prevent them from realizing they need help. If they do realize it, their pridefulness may …

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Why real medicine is more than quick labels

Physician
August 16, 2025

An excerpt from Real Medicine, Unreal Stories, Volume 3.

The café was quiet, tucked between a shuttered bookstore and a yoga studio that only seemed to open during Mercury retrograde. It was the kind of place that didn’t advertise, which made it perfect for writers, wanderers, and today, two physicians who had long since discovered that stories, not stethoscopes, were the truest diagnostic tools.

Dr. Gary Handler stirred his coffee absentmindedly, …

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Limiting beliefs are holding your career back

Physician
August 15, 2025

As physicians, we are highly motivated, educated, hardworking and compassionate individuals. We deserve the best that life can offer. I do not mean the nicest houses or fanciest cars (although there is nothing wrong with luxuries). What I am referring to is having the type of career that brings out the best in us. A work environment that allows us to share our gifts easily and effortlessly ultimately contributing to …

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Breaking the martyrdom trap in medicine

Physician
August 15, 2025

In medicine, self-sacrifice is praised. We call it dedication. We call it loyalty. However, sometimes it is just exhaustion wearing a badge of honor, and it keeps us complicit in systems that harm us and our patients.

Burnout does not kick the door in. It just shows up quietly. One day you notice you have not called a friend back in weeks. Lunch, if you can call it that, is an …

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What a Nicaraguan village taught a U.S. doctor about true care

Physician
August 15, 2025

Each year, I leave behind the electronic health record, performance metrics, malpractice fears, and the ever-present hum of burnout—and lead a medical mission trip—this year to Nicaragua. Along with a team of fellow volunteers, I carry only what we can pack: a few stethoscopes, essential supplies, and the will to serve.

We set up clinics in makeshift church halls with tin roofs in …

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Public health under fire: Vaccine battle hits federal court

Physician
August 14, 2025

Well, that didn’t take long, did it?

Today’s “controversy du jour” is prevention in health care. More specifically, vaccines and their role in preventing disease, disability, and death while promoting health and lifespan.

Prevention is the mother’s milk of health care. It is core to reducing illness and disease. Sadly, the udders producing that milk are drying up quicker than you can shake a fist at what is happening before our very …

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How mindful leadership transforms physician wellness

Physician
August 14, 2025

The culture of medicine is shaped in quiet ways, by the way meetings begin, the pregnant pauses before a response, and the energy transmitted in emails sent and received. These seemingly insignificant experiences ripple outward, setting the tone for entire teams, shaping what is spoken and what is not, shaping what feels possible and what feels unsafe.

The culture of medicine is not an abstract force. It is built moment by …

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How the quietly efficient physician can turn perception into power

Physician
August 14, 2025

In the bustling environment of modern health care, the loudest voices frequently attract the most attention. Yet, a special category of physicians who are less visible but no less significant exists: the efficient, quiet clinicians who are usually underestimated. This physician type blends high productivity with a calm demeanor, allowing skill and results to speak louder than words.

Underestimation can undermine leadership opportunities for quiet physicians because visibility may play a …

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The heart was fine—but something deeper was wrong

Physician
August 13, 2025

Sometimes, the stethoscope doesn’t catch what the heart is really saying.

It was just another morning during my surgery posting. I was reviewing pre-op workups when I was asked to assist with the echo evaluation of an elderly woman scheduled for a routine procedure. Her echo report flashed across the screen: smooth curves, rhythmic contractions, and valves opening and closing like well-oiled gates. The left ventricular ejection fraction was over 60 …

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