Physician

The alarming epidemic of physician burnout and how we can combat it

Physician
June 8, 2023

Physician burnout is not a new issue, but it has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. According to the Medscape’s 2023 survey, 53 percent of physicians say they are burned out, compared to 42 percent in 2018.

Burnout among doctors can have disastrous consequences for individuals and society at large. Burnout can lead to reduced productivity, lower quality of care, and even medical errors. It affects not only the physician’s …

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A retired physician’s battle with moral injury

Physician
June 8, 2023

I retired early from the profession I loved because the devolution of the health care system had made it impossible for me to care for my patients in a manner that met my standards. It also left me with a wound of “moral injury” which makes me leery of re-engaging with our health care system.

My early career

My first post-training job (1989) as a physician was in a BCBS clinic. After …

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Unveiling the secrets to effective resuscitation and overcoming obstacles

Physician
June 8, 2023

Whether one is resuscitating or being resuscitated, the call for help is a cry for help. However, constructive help may be hard to come by and thus harder to let go.

When one is resuscitating or being resuscitated, the scenario may often be that they are or have been driving under the influence of tunnel vision, thus being blindsided by situational incompetence induced by it. Just like the best-case scenario for …

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A tense family drama unfolds as a young daughter pursues unconventional career path

Physician
June 7, 2023

You may not have heard about the young girl from my neck of the woods who just graduated from high school and is heading to college in Arizona to study ichthyology. It’s been causing quite a stir because her father, a family medicine doc who runs a busy practice in town, is less than thrilled about her daughter’s chosen career path. The tension between father and daughter is palpable, and …

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Decoding the brain’s decision-making: insights for medical professions and strategies for success

Physician
June 7, 2023

The interplay between the brain’s fast and deliberative decision-making systems is complex yet fascinating, shedding light on the cognitive underpinnings of different medical professions, such as emergency room (ER) doctors and radiologists.

Let’s illustrate this with an example. Consider an ER doctor faced with a patient exhibiting symptoms of a heart attack—chest pain, shortness of breath, and cold sweat. The physician must rapidly recognize these symptoms, immediately initiate protocols, administer clot-dissolving …

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Discover your true north: Navigating life’s confusions and embracing your path to success

Physician
June 7, 2023

At age 18, my buddy David and I scaled the outside stucco of a hotel in Cancun, Mexico, and soon found ourselves ten stories up, lying on our backs on the hotel roof, looking at the night sky. It was a terribly stupid idea—one of many we had back in those days. But once we were up there, David taught me the major stars and constellations of the summer sky: …

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Revealing America’s expansion: the dark truth of Native American suffering and unjustified abuses

Physician
June 6, 2023

It is nearly universally agreed that the United States of America is a “great nation” with the world’s strongest economy, an expansive international presence, and being physically one of the largest countries in the world. The groundwork for this expansion, both in size and economically, was grounded in our concept of “manifest destiny” – the belief that as a nation, we were intended to span from ocean to ocean. For …

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From journalism to medicine: Unveiling the untold stories of patients’ medical conditions

Physician
June 6, 2023

Doctors come from different backgrounds, and we all start medical school with various life experiences. Few people know that I actually started off life as a journalism major. I wanted to write about other people and their life stories. I wanted to travel and photograph what the world had to offer. Then, having lost my journalism job and getting hired at a nursing home as a receptionist, I ended up …

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A mentor’s legacy in medicine, leadership, and embracing evidence-based care

Physician
June 5, 2023

As a graduate of Temple University’s medical school and psychiatric residency program, and as a current faculty member, I had the good fortune of studying under highly respected physicians who served not only as chairpersons, but also as presidents, CEOs, and chief medical officers. Anthony (Tony) F. Panzetta, MD, was one of them. Panzetta passed away in 2021 at age 87. As with all great mentors, he had multifaceted talents …

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Breaking free from restrictive covenants to combat burnout

Physician
June 5, 2023

Hospitals have the duty to ensure that their physicians are professionally content, both physically and mentally to provide the highest quality of care. But they also have a responsibility to prevent physicians from leaving work for competing institutions. The paradox between the use of restrictive covenants in physicians’ contracts and hospitals’ concerns about physician wellness arises from a tension between two important objectives.

Restrictive covenants, which are clauses in contracts that …

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From medical student to intern: Discovering a deeper connection with patients

Physician
June 4, 2023

As a medical student with a limited knowledge base and limited exposure to taking care of a high volume of patients, my idea of being the physician I hoped to be involved in spending time at the bedside and really getting to know my patients as people and hearing their stories. As I was learning my way around how the medical world worked as clerkship student, this was perhaps the …

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A physician’s typical day, as envisioned by a non-clinician health care MBA: a satire

Physician
June 4, 2023

My alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m. for some early charting. I love these pre-work hours, even though it’s my own unpaid time. I went into debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars to have the need for sleep trained out of me. A neat side effect of this is that it also wiped away my will to resist inane admin tasks.

While I’m pre-charting, my family wakes up, or at …

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Decoding name displays in health care: Privacy, identification, and compliance unveiled

Physician
June 4, 2023

There are three versions of name displays in health care institutions, each tailored to different groups of individuals. For physician staff, full names are typically shown, including both first and middle names, along with their highest educational level. This helps establish their presence and expertise within the health care institution.

On the other hand, non-physician staff usually have only their given names displayed in full, followed by the rest of their …

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Master time management with 7 productivity strategies for optimal results

Physician
June 3, 2023

Do you know what one thing is common among all of us, regardless of our wealth or age?

Time.

Every human being in this world has 1,440 minutes every day. However, while we all have the same amount of time, some people are more productive than others. Time management is a skill that doesn’t come naturally and requires effort and planning. Below is a list of seven important strategies that will help …

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The tragic story of Mr. G: a painful journey towards understanding suicide

Physician
June 3, 2023

A most memorable message awaited me on my desk one morning: a brief note from Mrs. G asking, “Why did my husband take his own life today?”

Startled, I reflected on Mr. G’s history as I had been treating him in my urology clinic for the past few months. It had recently come to my attention that his complaints were related to painful recurrent renal colic.

Anticipating a distressing phone call, I …

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The escalating violence in health care workplaces: a critical problem facing the nation’s health care system

Physician
June 2, 2023

The recent shootings at an Atlanta medical facility that left one dead and four seriously wounded are just the most recent, widely published event documenting the accelerating violence occurring in the nation’s health care workplaces.

Violence within our health care workplaces has been a steadily rising and critical problem over the past decade – now further fueled by issues such as fallout from the COVID pandemic – including a political-issue-motivated …

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Is chaos in health care leading us towards socialized medicine? How physician burnout is a catalyst.

Physician
June 2, 2023

A recurring theme expressed by many contributors and commentators to KevinMD is physician burnout.

It is generally accepted that chaos causes burnout. There is no shortage of chaos in the practice of medicine: emotional, physical, personal, professional, and political stresses, not to mention the threat of lawsuits and the cost of liability insurance. This is just the shortlist. There is also no shortage of adjustments that doctors make in response.

It is …

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Why allowing yourself to embrace discomfort is necessary for personal growth

Physician
June 1, 2023

Life coach and author Martha Beck’s 4-Phase Change Cycle begins with Phase 1: “Death and Rebirth.” Martha’s blog contains the Phase I Mantra: “I don’t know what the hell is going on … and that’s OK.”

Many of us try to skip Phase 1. It’s uncomfortable. It’s painful. And, it’s necessary.

I finally accepted the value of Phase 1 after years of trying to jump into Phase 3 of Martha Beck’s Change …

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Unconventional health care, flawed studies, and biases: Navigating the complexities for optimal well-being

Physician
June 1, 2023

When I speak with my less “crunchy” peers, I encounter a considerable amount of resistance to ideas that have initially gained traction in naturopathic or integrative spaces: food as medicine, making “non-toxic” swaps, meditation, or reiki, to name a few.

As humans, we certainly love a good us vs. them mentality, tribalism and all.

But the reality is, many of us have witnessed harm inflicted on patients who sought care in less …

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