A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
Much has been discussed in recent years around the concept of “practicing at the top of your license.” But what does this really mean?
The most common definition is that each medical professional’s routine activities should utilize the full extent of their education, training, …
The numbers are in. Medscape National Physician Burnout, Depression & Suicide Report 2019 indicates that the rate of physician burnout is still at an all-time high. Forty-four percent of physicians reported feeling burnt out.
According to the report, 50 percent of women reported experiencing burnout versus 38 percent of men. Carol Bernstein, MD, a psychiatrist at NYU Langone Medical Center, states that the reasons for the difference …
Marie Kondo, the best-selling guru of organization and “sparking joy” has established the foundation of getting a space organized and functional. Her do-it-all-once method, known as the KonMari Method, is considered healthy and life-altering for those seeking organization and productivity in their space. One of the ideal places to organize is the home office especially for doctors, nurses and medical professionals who have reading, studying and research to do. You …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
Academic and education environments tend to use the word curriculum vitae, or CV, more frequently than resume. But, a CV’s purpose is the same: to get you a job.
Although a CV generally contains more information than a standard resume, the keys to a successful CV are still brevity and …
My friend, Lello Tesema, and I were sitting in a restaurant in Harvard Square. It was the first, feverish bit of spring when it seems like the entire city has emerged en masse from their winter dens. We were sitting outside under patio lights, wearing regular clothes instead of our usual scrubs. I should have been happy.
As often happened in those days, I asked Lello if things were ever going …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
Physician burnout is not a novel topic within the health care industry. Numerous studies have been done on the increasing prevalence of its symptoms — from emotional exhaustion and loss of empathy to doubt that one’s work even makes a difference — among today’s practitioners. In fact, a recent …
Many times during difficult patient interactions — when I am not sure about the right thing to do — I let myself be guided by the question: “What would I do if it was my family member?” This internal dialogue usually cuts the clutter and lets me focus on the most important thing: the well-being of my patient. I can step away from the behavioral chaos and guide them in …
I posted on social media that in 2019, I would compete in Ironman. I wanted to hold myself accountable and was announcing “I could do this.” My primary reason, so I thought, was that “I wanted to grow mentally and physically.”
Since then, I have been training six hours per week on top of my usual daily routine. I have been mentally and physically challenged in ways I didn’t think possible. …
It seems like natural human tendency to explain ourselves. When we are late to a meeting, we come up with an excuse in case anyone asks. When our kid starts throwing a temper tantrum at the store, people stare at us expecting an apology. In the same way, when we decide that there are things outside of medicine that are more important to us than the job – an explanation …
As a woman in medicine, where the odds for pay, promotion, and leadership are stacked against me, I feel obligated to light the path for younger women who come behind me. It has taken me a while to be comfortable with my style of leadership, own my own voice, be able to regroup after rejection, and tolerate feeling on display and yet often invisible.
I wish someone would have told me the following …
Two device salesmen recently came unannounced to our small private gastroenterology practice. They were hawking a product that could quickly and non-invasively determine how much scar tissue had formed in a patient’s liver, a useful tool for assessing patients with hepatitis and many other liver conditions.
We are physicians, not entrepreneurs. We do not regard the colonoscope as a capitalist tool. Yet, these two salesmen were barraging us with facts and …
In the last decade, specifically in the last five to six years, we have seen the gradual disempowerment of America’s physicians as well as their unfortunate patients.
Starting with health management organizations, managed care, all the way to the insurance exchange, doctoring has been forcefully wrestled away from physicians only to be placed into the hands of large insurers, administrators and the United States government.
The common denominator was never about improving …
Physician well-being, burnout, and “work-life balance” are pretty common topics in training. We start at intern orientation, discussing how to work 80 hours a week, eat, sleep, exercise, and still have some semblance of social life. It’s like we’ve forgotten the origins of our job title: “resident” or “house staff” — implying that, until recently (and even now, in places outside of North America), we, the physicians-in-training, lived at the hospital. …
A retirement plan isn’t usually a top priority for fresh doctors looking for their first jobs, whether that final date is in five years or thirty. Perhaps knowing when to hang up your hat is immaterial so early in your career since most doctors will end up leaving their first job within the first five years anyway. However, I do wish that I had some inkling about the career paths …
Rock-paper-scissors is a game that nearly all of us played as children.
It is a game with incredible opportunities to play mind games with your opponent.
There is no luck in rock-paper-scissors as with card games.
The game does not have complex rules like chess.
You simply have to figure out the patterns of your opponent (or induce patterns into them) and take advantage accordingly.
Can you beat the New York Times computer bot?
Back in …
Women physicians are disheartened when they discover the financial implications of having children. Most of us will not get paid leave. Many of us are the breadwinning partner. And most of us will not become stay at home moms so we will need to pay for high-quality childcare or have a stay at home spouse.
Certain things should be in place prior to becoming pregnant. So even if you’re single, I …
Asset protection is a term that gets tossed around quite a bit when we discuss how long and difficult the journey is for doctors to establish their careers. You always want to protect what you’ve worked hard for, right? The principles for asset protection apply not only to doctors but essentially anyone who wishes to have some sort of security for their assets. The key is to make sure you don’t over …
Physicians receive rigorous medical training for the better part of a decade. However, we emerge unprepared for the real-world job application process to which our friends in other professions are accustomed. One of these logistics includes credentialing and verification for hospitals and clinics where your group intends to practice — a process that can take up to three months.
There are a number of items that are requested during the credentialing …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
How satisfied are you in your current health care position? According to the Conference Board, a global, independent business membership and research organization, only 51 percent of employees report overall satisfaction with their current job. In the survey, conducted earlier this year, respondents reported that the job factors …
We’ve all heard about credit card points and miles by now—put enough of your expenses on plastic and you’ll be flying first class airlines all the time, right? We are actually fortunate in American (sorry for those of you residing in, let’s say Japan, who still are stuck in a mostly cash-based society) to be able to have incredible amount of credit card options to squeeze out every penny.
While the …
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