Physician

Talking to patients on the phone can be very efficient and quite rewarding, like when I called a worried patient today and told her that her chest CT showed an improving pneumonia and almost certainly no cancer, but a repeat scan some months down the road would still be a good idea. She told me she was feeling better, but still quite weak and that her sputum was still dark ...

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An excerpt from Stay Away From My ER, and other fun bits of wisdom. 1. You don’t like to be told what to do. Especially not by arrogant doctors, who act as if they know better, just because they’ve been through a few decades of training! 2. Your ...

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The words of the year as 2019 ends appear to be “OK Boomer” and “woke.” To this Boomer, it appears that the younger generation is blaming us for all the evil in the world, from their perch of “woke” moral superiority. They consider us to be out of touch and over the hill. According to Merriam-Webster, “woke” means “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial ...

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In my recent post, "Why Gratitude Is A Superpower," I told the story about a thank you note that my daughter, Maya, left me one morning for making her coffee. I was literally overcome with warmth and appreciation. My reaction demonstrates the real impact we can have on another person's emotional state when we express gratitude — either verbally or written — for something (gift, assistance, help, ...

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Kahlil Gibran writes, "In friendship or in love, the two side by side raise hands together to find what one cannot reach alone." What types of outcomes can physicians and patients achieve in healing, living, and life when Gibran's message is incorporated into the physician-patient relationship? Can humanism in medicine become even more humanistic? "Humanism in medicine" is characterized by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation as respectful ...

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Consuming too many potato latkes and Christmas cookies has left its mark on our waistlines. Unfortunately for Americans and their medical care, the seasonal overeating seems to last all year. Indeed, the American Medical Association has declared that obesity is a disease. It may be more accurate to describe obesity as a contributor to certain diseases. Obesity raises the risk of premature death, heart disease, high blood ...

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First, you have to call up your daughter to pick you up and take you to the lab. It’s hard for the nurse to find your vein. The pain from his fishing around in your arm is not nearly as bad as the pain you always have in your hip, and back, and shoulders, but it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and you cry a little bit. The ...

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I knew Friday was not going to be a good day. A leak in the ceiling of my family room.   A pet who would need surgery.  I was already stressed well before Friday. But at work, the issues started on Thursday with an osteoporotic patient for whom I had recommended Forteo, six weeks earlier.  It was denied by her insurer who wanted Tymlos instead.   No big deal.  We simply precerted Tymlos, but ...

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One of the largest problems in our ER, it seems, is that there is a subset of patients who visit us on a routine basis. Commonly known as "the regulars," these familiar faces are sprinkled throughout our day between all our other patient visits. Whether it be for chronic pain, for chronic illness, for companionship, simply to have a place to hang out for a few hours, or to get ...

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