Physician

“You forgot your stethoscope!” The medical student dutifully pointed out as we were on our way to the patient room. “I don’t need it. But let me grab it anyway to pretend. But don’t tell anyone I said that!” I replied.  Her eyes widened with disbelief at the blasphemous statement.

At the turn of the millennium, the world was already going through seismic changes in how it conducts itself ...

Read more...

While recently on board an international flight, an in-flight medical emergency was called approximately one hour into a ten-hour journey. The overhead page most travelers may have heard while on a plane, “Is there a doctor onboard the aircraft?” The air hostess quickly led me to the front of the aircraft where an elderly passenger had vomited a substantial amount of blood in the bathroom and near her seat. I requested ...

Read more...

I wake to a WhatsApp call. It is my aunt, who lives in India. “We are all worried about you,” she says. “All of us here are praying for you. Make sure that you stay safe.” Coincidentally, she is a nun, so I’ll take her prayers whenever I can get them. I promise her that I will stay safe, and then I get ready to enter the ER. I don ...

Read more...

“I stayed up all night, and for what, $10 a consult?” A clearly exhausted and exasperated colleague and friend said to me one morning after his very busy call shift. As a chief resident, one of my roles is to manage the call duty schedule. As such, I frequently hear about how residents feel about call. Interestingly, many comments have to do with the economics of call: “It’s just not worth ...

Read more...

As I come to the end of my internal medicine residency, I cannot help but experience a flurry of emotions. I am sure many of you, like myself, are feeling a whole host of sensations: relief at the fact that you have now completed over 23 years of education/training; exuberant joy when you click on your schedule and realize that you have no more 28-hour calls; and sadness when you ...

Read more...

We have all heard that 90 percent of the time, a patient’s history provides the diagnosis before we even perform a physical exam or order any tests. At the same time, much of our reimbursement used to hinge on how many body systems we examined. Like so many other things in the new reality we find ourselves in, what constitutes a proper medical visit has suddenly changed and will probably continue ...

Read more...

Recently, I ran across a post on social media with multiple bullet points of theories targeted at the current COVID-19 pandemic. Having encountered handfuls of previous posts running along the lines of these factually incorrect claims, I decided it was time to politely challenge the post by asking for the sources of these claims. Within minutes, I was attacked by multiple users with claims of being a “sheep,” ignorantly believing ...

Read more...

I often turn to my children when facing life’s vexing moments. So I did just that recently. “Kiddos, what do you think coronavirus is here to teach us?" My 11 year old spoke first, “To be thankful for our health.” Gratitude, huh? I step back from this moment and wonder if she is on to something. Working as a physician and educator, and ...

Read more...

One of the most memorable milestones in my life was my journey to becoming a doctor. A path that I look upon so fondly as it marks a time that molded much of who I am today. Charles Dickens describes my experience perfectly, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness …” Like many of ...

Read more...