Physician

When I was in medical school, I loved pathology. The visual learning and deep understanding of disease were attractive enough that after second year, I took an extra year before clinical rotations to work as a post-sophomore fellow, working as a resident cutting specimens and performing autopsies. I missed patient contact but it served as a great foundation for clinical medicine ...

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An excerpt from Leadership Lessons from History: A Study Guide Written for Physicians & Other Healthcare Leaders. In June 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia along with an army of 600,000 men; fewer than 100,000 made it back. During their ignoble military withdraw, in the middle of a terrible winter, thousands of ...

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I am a critical care physician and spend a good amount of time in the emergency room seeing consults. As an internal medicine resident, we were often in the ER, admitting new patients. In my three years of residency, we spent only two to four weeks working in the emergency room. It was the one time I had an insider’s view of life as an ER physician. And, man, was ...

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This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com. After spending a decade in college and medical school, followed by internships and residency, seeking additional guidance at the beginning of your career may seem excessive. You’ve already taken direction from dozens of leaders; isn’t it time to cut your own path? Yes and no. You’ll make plenty of your ...

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It’s that time of year again when retail outlets start counting down the days to Christmas and deck their stores with holiday cheer. For many people, this time of year feels magical. Yet for others, it is a consumer competition to buy the absolute best gift at the lowest price. While both these groups love the holidays in their own way, there is a third group for which the holidays ...

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“Admission diagnosis: causa socialis” In my training in Sweden, it was not unusual to admit patients to the hospital for social reasons: an elderly person who could no longer manage at home, a person whose social network fell apart, and so on. “Social reasons,” causa socialis, was a legitimate diagnosis (Swedes used more Latin than Americans, at least back then). And it was used with only mild grumbling. There was a clear ...

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I enjoy talking to random people about their experiences with health care. As somebody who regularly travels all over the country, for both work and pleasure (I far prefer the latter), whenever I meet people in situations where you end up talking -- be it on airplanes, a guided city tour, or at a social function -- as soon as I say I’m a physician, the conversation invariably ends up ...

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I like to think of myself as a relatively optimistic person.  If you have ever met me in person, you might think that I have a pretty sunny disposition on life.  And for the most part, I do.  Since I write every day, however, there are times when my posts may start going negative.  Not for an extended period, but long enough for my readers to wonder if am just a touch ...

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Another study reiterates what we already know: In droves, millennials are venturing away from the traditional model of securing a primary care provider and opting not to access health care “as usual.” Still, too many physicians do little more than shake their heads over this. We wonder when millennials will figure out they need a medical home for the best possible care – especially when a medical emergency occurs. But, guess what? ...

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