Here are the top posts from this past week, based on the number of times they were viewed.

1. Two words that hurt communication between physicians and patients. Communication between physicians and patients is critical to quality care and improved outcomes, however, such discussions often seem labored and fraught with anxiety and stress.

2. 5 rules for living well with a chronic illness. Here’s the thing about depression and chronic illness. It’s not depression if you are adjusting to a major loss.

3. Why doctors should pursue another degree. As you progress through your medical career, at any stage of it, you always have to keep in mind why you are doing all this work.

4. Transfusing a Jehovah’s Witness during surgery. I was in practice about five years and was about to do a radical nephrectomy on a patient.

5. Lunch money Pharma spends on physicians. Today’s stream of socially conscious thinking comes to you after having feasted on a tasty lunch paid for by a drug company.