KevinMD posts of the week, June 5, 2011

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

1. What happened inside the hospital during the Joplin, MO tornado. Dr. Kevin Kikta was one of two emergency physicians on duty at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO on Sunday, May 22 when an EF-5 tornado struck the hospital.

2. Should doctors be addressed by their first name? Unlike most other businesses and professions, we physicians have a sacred contract with our patients. They allow us into the most private and intimate details of their lives.

3. Transitions of a first year medical student. The moment you get accepted to medical school, you never really think about how everything is going to be different.

4. Physicians should blame themselves for why they are unhappy in medicine. So if you are a physician in your 50s or older and are complaining about your situation, you completely blew a phenomenal time to invest and really don’t have anything to complain about except your missed opportunity.

5. 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.