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What’s new in the redesigned KevinMD enhanced author page

Your KevinMD author page has a new look. For subscribers to the KevinMD enhanced author page, it is now a full professional profile, and their photo appears beside their name everywhere they publish on the site. Here are some of…

Your KevinMD author page has a new look. For subscribers to the KevinMD enhanced author page, it is now a full professional profile, and their photo appears beside their name everywhere they publish on the site. Here are some of the authors who already have one.

Join these KevinMD subscribers

What changed

Until now, an enhanced author page meant a photo and a longer bio in a gray box above a list of articles. The redesign …

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What’s new in the redesigned KevinMD enhanced author page

Conditions and diseases

Closing the gender pain gap takes more than awareness

Women experience more pain than men across virtually every region of the body, yet their symptoms remain systematically under-recognized, delayed in diagnosis, and undertreated. A landmark 2026 global analysis published in Nature Medicine, which was drawing on self-reported data from…

Women experience more pain than men across virtually every region of the body, yet their symptoms remain systematically under-recognized, delayed in diagnosis, and undertreated. A landmark 2026 global analysis published in Nature Medicine, which was drawing on self-reported data from more than 6.1 million people across 118 countries, confirmed that women report higher pain prevalence at all 11 anatomical sites examined, including the head, face, neck/shoulder, back, abdomen, hips, …

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Closing the gender pain gap takes more than awareness

Conditions and diseases

When to refer a child for cochlear implant candidacy

Pediatric hearing loss is far more common than many recognize, standing as one of the most frequent congenital conditions diagnosed in the United States. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that approximately 1 to 2…

Pediatric hearing loss is far more common than many recognize, standing as one of the most frequent congenital conditions diagnosed in the United States. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that approximately 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 infants who undergo a newborn hearing screening have a detectable level of hearing loss. Thanks to universal newborn hearing screenings, which were implemented at the …

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When to refer a child for cochlear implant candidacy

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Physician finance

Incapacity planning is about authority, not family

In a recent KevinMD podcast, palliative physician Kirsten Engel and writer Medha Tripathi described a patient they called Mr. L. He was dying in the hospital. He could not speak for himself, no family visited, and he had never named…

In a recent KevinMD podcast, palliative physician Kirsten Engel and writer Medha Tripathi described a patient they called Mr. L. He was dying in the hospital. He could not speak for himself, no family visited, and he had never named a health care proxy. A court-appointed guardian held the authority to decide.

The team believed comfort measures and hospice would serve him best. In his case, decisions of that weight …

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Incapacity planning is about authority, not family

Health technology

Clinical AI accountability does not come with your EHR

In a recent essay on Epic and Oracle, Eric Doherty argued that health care leaders should not pick a side. They should demand AI that is trustworthy, portable, and patient-centered. I agree. But that is the beginning of the accountability…

In a recent essay on Epic and Oracle, Eric Doherty argued that health care leaders should not pick a side. They should demand AI that is trustworthy, portable, and patient-centered. I agree.

But that is the beginning of the accountability question, not the end. Once the technology is in use (drafting the note, suggesting the code, proposing the order, flagging the patient), who verifies that it keeps performing as expected? Who …

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Clinical AI accountability does not come with your EHR

Health technology

Waitlist software fills fewer than half the slots it offers

During the vaccine rollout, an opened vial gave a clinic six to twelve hours to use every dose. State and local health authorities told sites to keep standby lists so unused doses could be given before they expired. A canceled…

During the vaccine rollout, an opened vial gave a clinic six to twelve hours to use every dose. State and local health authorities told sites to keep standby lists so unused doses could be given before they expired.

A canceled appointment carries a deadline of its own, printed in the schedule: the appointment time. The room and the clinician are there for that hour whether or not a patient fills it, …

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Waitlist software fills fewer than half the slots it offers

Conditions and diseases

Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak: no proven vaccine, no shortcut

The current Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is becoming an important test of how well the global health system can respond when a dangerous pathogen emerges without a licensed vaccine specifically proven to protect against…

The current Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is becoming an important test of how well the global health system can respond when a dangerous pathogen emerges without a licensed vaccine specifically proven to protect against the virus causing the outbreak.

Recent reports highlight the same lesson from different angles: Controlling outbreaks such as this requires much more than a single medical countermeasure. It depends on the …

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Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak: no proven vaccine, no shortcut

Physician voices

An insurance denial kept my patient from end-of-life care

My patient lay in the hospital bed approaching end of life. We had a plan to get the patient to an inpatient setting for active symptom management for end-of-life care. Everything was in place until we got a denial from…

My patient lay in the hospital bed approaching end of life. We had a plan to get the patient to an inpatient setting for active symptom management for end-of-life care. Everything was in place until we got a denial from the insurance for coverage for inpatient end-of-life care. The reason for denial was “lack of medical necessity.” The rage I have felt experiencing this situation over my decade-long experience as …

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An insurance denial kept my patient from end-of-life care

Conditions and diseases

Why the physics of a PET scan depends on antimatter

Most people, including plenty of us still in medical training, know the basics of a PET scan on the surface. PET stands for positron emission tomography; patients get injected with a radioactive glucose tracer called fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), and areas of…

Most people, including plenty of us still in medical training, know the basics of a PET scan on the surface. PET stands for positron emission tomography; patients get injected with a radioactive glucose tracer called fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), and areas of high metabolic activity light up on the scan. What gets left unsaid is everything underneath it: what a positron actually is, why it exists at all, and how the answer …

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Why the physics of a PET scan depends on antimatter

Physician voices

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH, on physician burnout and sustainable careers: a KevinMD subscriber spotlight

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH, is an internist who left clinical practice after burning out early in her primary care career and now coaches physicians, with a focus on women physicians and careers that last. She has published 48 essays…

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH, is an internist who left clinical practice after burning out early in her primary care career and now coaches physicians, with a focus on women physicians and careers that last. She has published

…

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Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH, on physician burnout and sustainable careers: a KevinMD subscriber spotlight

Health technology

The Rural Health Transformation Program cannot pick sides

A child in rural West Alabama spikes a fever and starts tugging at her ear on a Friday night. The nearest pediatric clinic closed two years ago. The nearest urgent care is 45 minutes away, if the car starts. Her…

A child in rural West Alabama spikes a fever and starts tugging at her ear on a Friday night. The nearest pediatric clinic closed two years ago. The nearest urgent care is 45 minutes away, if the car starts. Her mother calls a telehealth line instead. The clinician can hear the child crying. He can see her flushed cheeks over the camera. He can’t look in her ear canal, can’t …

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The Rural Health Transformation Program cannot pick sides

The Podcast by KevinMD

Burnout, difficult patients, and the question that changes both [PODCAST]

Most patients called difficult have a reason nobody has asked about. Every chart carries labels, and the labels rarely carry the person. Stella Awua-Larbi is a nephrologist who has practiced in the Chicago suburbs for more than 15 years. This…

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Most patients called difficult have a reason nobody has asked about. Every chart carries labels, and the labels rarely carry the person. Stella Awua-Larbi is a nephrologist who has practiced in the Chicago suburbs for more than 15 years. This episode is based on her article “The person …

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Burnout, difficult patients, and the question that changes both [PODCAST]

Physician voices

Time for ACGME to drop maintenance of certification

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is currently accepting comments regarding updates to its Common Program Requirements. A quick glance at its proposed strikeouts and additions might suggest a routine and bureaucratic exercise, far removed from the minds…

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is currently accepting comments regarding updates to its Common Program Requirements. A quick glance at its proposed strikeouts and additions might suggest a routine and bureaucratic exercise, far removed from the minds or priorities of busy practicing physicians. In reality, ACGME’s update presents an important and urgent opportunity for physicians to be a voice for change in academic medicine. Physicians have until …

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Time for ACGME to drop maintenance of certification

Physician voices

The medical malpractice crisis began in Cook County

The story of medical malpractice litigation in the United States is like the famous passage in Macbeth. "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Medical malpractice lawsuits are nothing new. They have…

The story of medical malpractice litigation in the United States is like the famous passage in Macbeth. “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Medical malpractice lawsuits are nothing new. They have been filed and tried in America’s courts since 1784. Between 1835 and 1865, there was a rash of them. One might even call it a crisis.

Medical liability insurance is, also, …

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The medical malpractice crisis began in Cook County

Physician voices

How a misread living will led to a 6-day court fight

Six days. $20,000 in legal fees. One advance directive (living will) applied too soon. A 60-year-old man suffered complications after cardiac catheterization, developing acute kidney injury from the intra-arterial dye and pulmonary edema requiring intubation. Serious? Yes. Reversible? Yes. The…

Six days. $20,000 in legal fees. One advance directive (living will) applied too soon.

A 60-year-old man suffered complications after cardiac catheterization, developing acute kidney injury from the intra-arterial dye and pulmonary edema requiring intubation. Serious? Yes. Reversible? Yes.

The patient just needed short-term ventilatory support and temporary dialysis. The plan, consent, and scheduling of a temporary dialysis catheter ensued. Then his advance directive was found.

The attending physician concluded the patient should …

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How a misread living will led to a 6-day court fight

Health policy

A plan to save primary care that puts doctors in charge

PCPs don't have to suffer silently under employers that deprofessionalize them and treat them as the low people on the totem pole of health care. They can embark on a mission to save U.S. health care, while increasing their earnings…

PCPs don’t have to suffer silently under employers that deprofessionalize them and treat them as the low people on the totem pole of health care. They can embark on a mission to save U.S. health care, while increasing their earnings and enhancing their status.

This may sound like a pipe dream. But all the essential elements for it are available. All that’s needed is the political will to make it happen.

As …

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A plan to save primary care that puts doctors in charge

Physician voices

What Gold Star families need beyond flags and funerals

At 2 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, 1970, someone started pounding on our apartment door. My mother thought it was a prank. She had ignored the buzzer downstairs because neighborhood kids occasionally rang doorbells in the middle of the night.…

At 2 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, 1970, someone started pounding on our apartment door. My mother thought it was a prank. She had ignored the buzzer downstairs because neighborhood kids occasionally rang doorbells in the middle of the night. My uncle arrived with his service pistol drawn, expecting trouble.

Instead, he found two Air Force officers standing at the door. One was a lieutenant colonel. The other was a chaplain. …

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What Gold Star families need beyond flags and funerals

Conditions and diseases

Patient education after the visit is a design problem

A patient can leave a medical appointment with an explanation, a printed instruction sheet, and a question that has not occurred to them yet. The question may arrive while arranging a ride, talking to a spouse, or looking at the…

A patient can leave a medical appointment with an explanation, a printed instruction sheet, and a question that has not occurred to them yet.

The question may arrive while arranging a ride, talking to a spouse, or looking at the calendar the evening before a procedure. It may be simple enough that the practice answers it many times a week. For that patient, at that moment, it is the missing piece …

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Patient education after the visit is a design problem

Health technology

AI psychosis hits hardest in a first episode

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have published one of the first large looks at what is being called AI psychosis. In a study in JAMA Psychiatry, they reviewed the records of more than 215,000 patients who received mental health…

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have published one of the first large looks at what is being called AI psychosis. In a study in JAMA Psychiatry, they reviewed the records of more than 215,000 patients who received mental health care at Vanderbilt between December 2022 and April 2026. They identified 28 people whose psychosis was linked to chatbot use.

Twenty-eight is a small number, about 0.013 percent of patients. …

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AI psychosis hits hardest in a first episode

Patient voices

Losing a mother to cancer, and the long wait for the end

She was the most important person in my life. My mom. The woman whose hands had held mine Before I understood the meaning of holding on, Whose voice was woven into the fabric of my childhood, Whose presence made the…

She was the most important person in my life.

My mom.

The woman whose hands had held mine
Before I understood the meaning of holding on,
Whose voice was woven into the fabric of my childhood,
Whose presence made the world
Feel a little less frightening.

Then came the words no family is ever prepared to hear.
Metastatic colon cancer.

It had already traveled through her body,
Quietly taking pieces of the woman
Who once seemed to know no exhaustion.

She had …

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Losing a mother to cancer, and the long wait for the end

Health technology

How to catch AI scribe errors before you sign the note

Ambient AI scribes have earned a place in a lot of emergency departments, and I understand why. Documentation in emergency medicine is relentless, and anything that gives time back at the end of a shift gets attention. Some of the…

Ambient AI scribes have earned a place in a lot of emergency departments, and I understand why. Documentation in emergency medicine is relentless, and anything that gives time back at the end of a shift gets attention.

Some of the hype holds up. A single-center study in JMIR AI this year followed more than 10,000 emergency encounters over 13 months and tied scribe use to about 73 seconds less documentation …

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How to catch AI scribe errors before you sign the note

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