Physician

Bedside medicine and the meaning of physician presence

Physician

May 26, 2026

Transitioning from one part of the country to another can be daunting, though for me it has become a fascinating lesson in both what differentiates us and what remains remarkably the same. Geography changes. Accents shift. Customs vary. Yet suffering, fear, hope, and love seem to speak a language of their own.

I have continued to practice medicine much as I always have, in person, at the bedside, and in patients’ …

Spirituality is a remedy for physician burnout

Jessica Singh, MD

Physician

May 25, 2026

A physician, whom I will call Dr. Hannah, initially sought coaching from me to address burnout and optimize clinical documentation in the electronic medical record. One of the major challenges that surfaced in her first coaching session was that she did not know who she was outside of work. She also wanted to bring more joy, fulfillment, and meaning into her life. Dr. Hannah’s schedule was so intense that she …

The quiet loss of dignity in medicine

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

Physician

May 25, 2026

When institutions begin to fear the consequences of telling the truth, the First Amendment becomes a parchment promise rather than a living principle. Medicine is not immune to this cultural shift. Physicians who once spoke freely about patient safety, training standards, and systemic failures now hesitate, not because they lack conviction, but because the corporate structures around them punish candor. The result is a profession that has lost not only …

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The quiet loss of dignity in medicine

Anesthesiologist bedside manner matters more than skill

Britney Bowling, MD

Physician

May 25, 2026

In anesthesia, we meet patients at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. We care for patients as a team, and I’m grateful for the skilled certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) I work alongside every day. Often, we are asked to earn trust quickly, while patients place their safety and comfort in our hands. What we offer in those moments goes beyond technical skill. This is my attempt …

Doctor patient trust cannot be automated

Archan Khandekar, MD

Physician

May 25, 2026

He is an engineer from Guatemala, in his sixties. The Spanish accent has gone mostly quiet after decades in the States, but not entirely. Six months ago I did a radical prostatectomy on him. Localized disease, favorable risk, I spared the nerves. It went the way you hope these things go.

Today, sitting across from me in my clinic, his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is 0.05. Which, if you are not in …

Physician burnout is quietly costing doctors themselves

Jerina Gani, MD, MPH

Physician

May 24, 2026

What if I told you that burnout is not the most dangerous thing happening to primary care physicians right now? I actually think there’s something worse, and it’s happening quietly. Because many experienced doctors are slowly losing something they never expected to lose: themselves.

Not their license. Not their income. Not even their career. Themselves. Their energy. Their personality. Their joy. Their curiosity. Their life outside medicine.

Hello, I’m Dr. Gani. And …

Overcoming physician burnout during medical residency

Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD

Physician

May 24, 2026

I had matched into one of my top pick residencies, and I was living out my “dream life.” I was a very proud active-duty military member, and I was an oral and maxillofacial surgery resident. I loved where I lived, and my co-residents were amazing. The program fit my personality, and I was surrounded by extremely supportive attendings with few exceptions. I had gotten exactly what I had hoped for …

Why hospitals delay action on impaired physicians

Paul B. Hofmann, DrPH, MPH

Physician

May 23, 2026

The challenges in dealing effectively with this issue are compounded by multiple factors. These include an overall national shortage of physicians, particularly in rural communities, as well as being more prevalent in some specialties than others.

In addition, if an impaired physician has been a long-standing member and past leader of the medical staff, is responsible for a significant number of hospital admissions, has consistently participated in the institution’s annual fundraising …

Lifestyle, mindfulness, and the neuroscience of happiness

Kayvan Haddadan, MD

Physician

May 23, 2026

I have been gathering information about the neuroscience of happiness for over a year now, since the completion of my previous book, Legal Mind in Medicine, and decided to put a glimpse of it in an article form for the Memorial weekend reading.

Happiness stands as a central human pursuit, shaping our physical health, mental resilience, productivity, and relationships. As physicians, understanding the science of well-being offers real value. It …

Why medical training ignores the business of medicine

Santoshi Billakota, MD

Physician

May 23, 2026

We spend a lot of time talking about how broken the medical system is: burnout, moral injury, administrative overload, loss of autonomy. We propose solutions: better workflows, more staffing, policy reform, technological innovation. But there is a harder truth we tend to avoid. The overall medical training system needs an overhaul.

Medical training does not just teach knowledge and clinical skill; it shapes identity, hierarchy, and thought patterns. From the earliest …

Fragmented care needs clinical direction, not more data

Alan P. Feren, MD

Physician

May 23, 2026

Patients often assume that someone is directing their care. That there is a clinician who sees the whole picture, integrates the information, and guides what happens next. In many cases, that is not how modern care is structured. Patients move between clinicians (primary care, specialists, urgent care, consultants), each focused appropriately on a specific aspect of the problem. Each encounter may be thorough. Each decision may be reasonable. Each plan …

Telemedicine as a career, not a side gig

AIR Physician Academy

Physician

May 21, 2026

We were on a call recently with a physician who told us, almost in passing, that she’d been seeing patients on a telemedicine platform for four years. She said it the way you’d mention a hobby. Then she added, before we could say anything, that of course it was just a side gig.

She’d been doing it for four years. It was her practice.

We’ve had some version of that conversation hundreds …

How a medical investigation drives physician burnout

Jean Paul Brutus, MD

Physician

May 21, 2026

A physician receives the letter. It is short, formal, and absolute. A complaint has been filed. An investigation is underway. In that moment, something shifts. Not just professionally, but personally. The identity built over years of training, sacrifice, and responsibility suddenly feels fragile. Every decision, every note, every outcome is now seen through a different lens. What follows is rarely discussed. Not in training. Not in hospital corridors. Not even …

How physician burnout impacts modern health care

Khai Ling Tan, MD

Physician

May 21, 2026

My daughter had been home sick for three days. Not the kind of sick that keeps you in bed, but the kind that lingers just enough to keep you home, well enough to be bored. She was restless, observant, and thinking. She is 10.

Her dad stayed home with her the first day. I took the second. By the third day, I went back to work. I arranged my schedule so …

How psychological safety reduces clinician burnout

Nicholas Testa, MD

Physician

May 21, 2026

Burnout among nurses and clinicians has been a prominent topic over the past decade. The combination of regulatory requirements, higher patient demands, and leaner budgets in the shadow of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has fueled the embers that have allowed this crisis of clinician burnout to smolder.

Simultaneously, health care systems are striving to deliver better clinical results in a world where transparency in data and public reporting is the expectation. …

How civic engagement empowers health care workers

Stella Safo, MD, MPH

Physician

May 20, 2026

For much of my career, I understood my responsibility in familiar terms: care for the patient in front of me, advocate for better health systems, and teach the next generation of trainees. I still believe that. But I now believe something else just as strongly: If we are serious about health, we cannot stop at the clinic door. We also have to show up in civic life and in the …

Why physicians miss business owner stress in patients

Timothy Lesaca, MD

Physician

May 20, 2026

The ECG was normal. The troponin was negative. The stress test was reassuring. Yet the patient in front of you looked as if he had been living under siege for months.

He was not sleeping. His blood pressure had worsened, despite medication adherence. He described chest tightness, reflux, headaches, irritability, and difficulty concentrating. He woke most nights around 3 a.m., his heart beating fast, checking an account balance, and then lay …

Why your physician guilt may not actually be yours

Christie Mulholland, MD

Physician

May 20, 2026

I was doing the dishes recently when I was hit with a stomach-dropping sensation and an unprompted memory. A negotiation I’d had years ago with my department. I had secured fair compensation for work they needed done, using the leverage I had. I walked away feeling good about it. And yet, standing at the sink with my guard down, years later, I felt a flash of guilt so unexpected it …

The referral trap: How specialization fragments care

Ann Lebeck, MD

Physician

May 19, 2026

She was already seated when I walked in. On the desk in front of her sat a large sleeve, the kind that holds imaging films, oversized and awkward, the kind that no longer fits in a folder or a binder or anywhere in a modern clinic. Beside it was a folder. Labs indexed by specialist and date. Notes from orthopedics, neurology, rheumatology, pain management, and physical therapy. Every test, every …

California opioid prescribing: What the data actually shows

Kayvan Haddadan, MD

Physician

May 19, 2026

As a physician managing patients with chronic pain in California, I’ve witnessed the tension between necessary regulations and the daily reality of helping people in genuine distress. As chairman for the National Campaign to Protect People in Pain (NCP3), I know how important it is to advocate for our patients. While foundational reviews on prescription drug oversight provide helpful context on opioids and NSAIDs (for details, refer to chapter …

Physician

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