"We have observed that delays in screenings and intervention for patients with certain common chronic conditions can contribute to claims. Now, clinicians have the opportunity to identify patients whose conditions merit priority contact, such as those with cardiac conditions, those on blood pressure medication, or those with diabetes, and request they come in for delayed screenings or checkups. Explicitly recommending that those without medical contraindications get vaccinated not only helps slo...
Nov 05, 2021•17 min
"The diagnosis is well-established. A cure is within our reach, and the wisest among our practitioners of the healing arts are offering valuable counsel. When the U.S. government and science, in its most principled form, work together, insulated from a culture of insidious and invidious profiteering, they can put a man on the moon, and launch a helicopter on Mars. They can also deliver better health care in a much more equitable and cost-effective way. It is time for the patient to listen to her...
Nov 04, 2021•19 min
"After much searching, I was fortunate to find a fellowship that though inexperienced in LGBTQ health recognized an opportunity. Faculty and mentors worked from a growth mindset rooted in finding what I needed to succeed rather than what they knew they had to offer at that moment. With their and others’ support, despite the discouragement and fears of being “superficial,” I now try to serve as an example to other students and trainees who wish to pursue a career that weaves their personal and pr...
Nov 03, 2021•16 min
"We physicians must come to terms with the trauma caused by the financial insecurity built into our training and the ripple effect it has even after we finish training, both as a way to repair ourselves individually and as a way to assure that our profession survives. The cost of medical education is high, but the cost of the financial lessons learned in the course of obtaining that education is even higher. It may be a price too high for future doctors to bear." Elizabeth Hughes is a dermatolog...
Nov 02, 2021•16 min
"We have to heal ourselves first. That begins with caring for our own minds and bodies, and souls. It means not avoiding (as I did) caring for our own physical and especially our mental health. It means we must be a part of the lives of our families and loved ones as well. Once that is accomplished, then and only then can we move on effectively to heal and revitalize our beloved profession. And likewise, that is not a battle that can be shouldered alone. We must join with and support each other....
Nov 01, 2021•21 min
"If you are encountering families with feeding concerns, I strongly encourage you to ask them if sitting down together for meals is part of their regular routine. The more prescriptive 'eat this, not that' or calorie counting model that has been traditionally used in medicine is clearly not working well. As we see continue to see increased obesity and disordered eating alongside decreased resilience in our children, a return to the daily 'ritual' of the family meal may be the most beneficial fir...
Oct 31, 2021•15 min
"Like some insidious conditions, feelings can fester. They can spread like cancer, and sap the spirit of nourishment until it starts to die, riddled with doubt and sensations of inadequacy. They can degrade the soul, as though it were suffering from a systemic inflammatory disease. But this progression, like many conditions of the flesh, is treatable. With early detection, the process can be arrested and cured. Talking about feelings, journaling, praying, or finding an outlet in wellness activit...
Oct 30, 2021•16 min
"Bipolar runs in my family, so I knew the harsh realities of this untreated illness. A family member faked his own death after a counterfeiting spending spree. My grandfather told people that I would die in a car accident, and he would take my body up to the mountain and bring me back to life. When I was younger, surrounded by this family chaos, it was easy to tell myself, 'They are crazy!' I bought into many of the stigmas of mental illness — that those with mental illness are unpredictable, in...
Oct 29, 2021•16 min
"How do we create a world where all of us can express our unique selves the way we choose without derisiveness and shame? I am not here to criticize the wonderful parents and caregivers who are reading this – they only love their children. Common sense must prevail. I only ask with respect that parents and caregivers let their kids explore freely so we all can find a way to live together with our differences celebrated. What a wonderful day that will be." Craig Pomranz is a vocalist and actor. H...
Oct 28, 2021•18 min
"We all know watching a module on resilience, sitting in a lecture about mindfulness, being told to practice more yoga and breathing techniques does not make you feel less burnout. It’s having the support and buy-in from your workplace, to actually have the time to do the things that feed your soul and fill your cup. Adding more onto an already overflowing plate of life’s stressors only makes it heavier and more overwhelming. I want support. I want authentic connection and compassion. I want som...
Oct 27, 2021•17 min
"As the next wave of the pandemic unfolds, the rise in cases is once again straining health care systems. But that’s not the only reason hospitals and health systems could experience an influx of emergency or critical care visits. Findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging based at the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation revealed that nearly one in three Americans between the ages of 50 and 80 put off an in-person appointment for medical care in 2020 becau...
Oct 26, 2021•19 min
"Frontline workers may have temporarily experienced a heightened sense of personal success and gratification, but I doubt many of us are still able to feel satisfied at this point, after all the repeated moral injuries and losing so many patients. COVID-19 assuredly changed me. The virus changed my residency experience. It changed the hospital, and it changed the entire world. As Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently stated, 'We simply cannot revert instantly … to life as it was before COVID.' W...
Oct 25, 2021•17 min
"As a mother, a physician, and an educator, I refuse to accept this as normal. It is not! What should we tell the parents of these young physicians? How do we explain to them that their dream of being a doctor became a nightmare with a tragic ending? What do we tell their children when they ask for daddy’s good night kiss, or for mommy’s caring hugs? Where are the leaders? How did nobody notice their sadness, lack of hope, and deep desperation? Sadly, this tragedy is not isolated. These types of...
Oct 24, 2021•14 min
"Provider organizations may look at their budgets and think the traditional model of fax machines and landlines is serving their entity in optimizing revenue streams. They may even look at their providers’ full schedules and believe there isn’t a patient population that still needs care. But this would be a miscalculation. Without appropriate methods to close the gap on referrals and communicate appointment information to patients, no-show and cancellation rates risk burdening providers and cost...
Oct 23, 2021•17 min
"During COVID, the medical training system had to adapt because people couldn’t meet in person and even those that could didn’t have access to patients or facilities in the same capacity. However, the explosion of remote training tools that became available make this hybrid training method as good in many ways, and perhaps even preferable to one that consists mainly of in-person lectures. In fact, some medical schools have suggested that all preclinical classes should be available exclusively on...
Oct 22, 2021•15 min
"As you wait, you have a lot of time to think. You comb through the past in search of something you might have missed. If we had acted sooner on the signs of his illness—had the cancer been diagnosed earlier—would Lee have had a better chance? You think about your child as a toddler and as a kid and as a teen. Did you push him too hard or not enough? How did you handle his skinned knees and his successes? You remember the first time he got drunk. (Lee was 14 and had discovered the punchbowl at H...
Oct 21, 2021•16 min
"Last March, I was working in a small primary care practice on the west side of Denver. COVID-19 came to town. On Thursday, March 12, we were told the schools would be closing. On Friday, we were told that clinic staff had to wear masks — and the clinic had to start testing patients for COVID-19. The only problem? There were no medical-grade masks to be had. Not through the state health department, not on Google, not anywhere. Likewise, there were no COVID tests available. A patient came into th...
Oct 20, 2021•18 min
"There has been a growing wave of entrepreneurial physicians finding joy and value in starting consulting and coaching businesses. Many use their expertise to work with physicians exclusively. Our company has been excited to play a part in better spotlighting these businesses. Today it is now even easier to find doctors who can give you guidance on everything from running your own practice more efficiently, build a better relationship with your spouse, to negotiating your next job contract. We a...
Oct 19, 2021•18 min
"Transections, eviscerations, exsanguinations, amputations, decapitations, disembowelments, penetrations, disarticulations, emasculations, enucleations, incinerations—these things he has seen. But of late he chooses to see only the glimmering vials. His vision fades and darkens as he draws closer to the OR where the ultimate reality lies prepped, draped, framed, and illuminated, waiting for the surgeon to fix it all, to make sense of it all. Exposure in surgery is everything." Michael J. Collins...
Oct 18, 2021•12 min
"Her face is decorated in colors of the earth. With events on Earth Day and throughout the week, New York City celebrates sustainability and ways to live in harmony with the planet. Scheduled festivities include a march down Broadway with a mix of virtual talks and celebrations and in-person walks and volunteer opportunities across the boroughs. Earth Day began in 1970 as a way to raise awareness about environmental issues and became a global event in 1990; the event has been celebrated in parks...
Oct 17, 2021•20 min
"A child is born with a food allergy. They do not choose to have their immune system compromised. Parents do not get the choice to opt-in or out of having their child’s body recognize ordinary food as a threat. Food allergies are a unique disease in that we need the help of those around us to keep our children safe. Let us remember that children, especially when they are young, often cannot protect themselves. A young child also may not truly understand the potential danger of sharing food with ...
Oct 16, 2021•18 min
"I believe there is an art to medicine, a psychological connection to your patients through a hands-on patient encounter. There are nuances AI may take decades to compete with. For now, in my lifetime, I hope that people examine patients and when there are questions about the quality of care, institutions perform a deeper dive into the real problem. (Was it the overall experience, a poor relationship with the doctor, financial stress that would be assumed by paying the medical bill, or actual ma...
Oct 15, 2021•17 min
"We can’t expect those with a business school mindset to solve physician burnout. What is needed is leadership throughout health care organizations by those with expertise in the core business, deep commitment to health care workers and patients, extensive tacit knowledge, and credibility. Physician CEOs have better outcomes in all critical metrics, including engagement among staff. And physician leaders have an ethical and fiduciary responsibility to serve patients. Those with a business school...
Oct 14, 2021•30 min
"I can imagine the horror of watching a colleague being attacked. I worry about the coworker who Lynne protected that day, since being a survivor can be so bittersweet. I can feel the shock of how quickly the violence escalated, tasting the bitterness from the desperation of being so alone in the immediate first seconds of the downwardly spiraling situation." June Garen is a nurse and author of Hey! I Could Use a Little Help Here! My Story of Healthcare Workplace Violence . She shares her story ...
Oct 13, 2021•16 min
"The first amendment protects your right to free speech. But it does not make you more right, more ethical, or more kind. And nor does it give one license to rewrite history as has been occurring since July 27th, adding insult to our experience. Let me break this down. On one hand, three pediatric medical professionals and one student spoke eloquently and rationally about facts, guidelines, and personal experiences. On the other hand, grown adults belonging to ironically named groups claiming to...
Oct 12, 2021•28 min
"Is your health care organization reeling from a bad EHR implementation? There have been rumblings from hospital leadership and congressional committees about the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospitals’ implementation of the Cerner Corporation electronic health record (EHR) replacing the VistA EHR. The $10 million EHR overhaul has been controversial since the staggered rollout started in Spokane, Washington. One report noted that months after the go-live, fewer users knew how to operate the syst...
Oct 11, 2021•14 min
"Scarcity has, in many ways, defined the COVID-19 experience in the U.S., from shortages in personal protective equipment to ICU ventilators and hospital capacity, to COVID test kits, to drugs like Remdesivir in hard-hit states. These shortages have added impetus and new dimensions to existing conversations around health care supply chains, some of which had originally stemmed from a climate-conscious, sustainability lens. As suggestions are put forth to re-evaluate hospital supply chain design,...
Oct 10, 2021•19 min
"Technology continues to evolve every day. In the near-term future, portable and easily deployable robots will allow surgeons all over the world to perform minimally invasive surgery in an increasing number of procedure types and become even more effective surgeons. To achieve our goal of having a future surgeon workforce that meets the demands of an aging population and delivers good patient outcomes, we need training and knowledge-sharing at scale. Surgical robotics is poised to be an importan...
Oct 09, 2021•18 min
"Dear resident physicians: Soon you’ll finish residency, and you may be wondering what’s next. Some of you will start fellowships, but most of you will practice your specialty. You may be looking for opportunities that are a good match with your needs and wants. Virtually all of you are looking forward to greater income. I hope that this ending is also a beginning – a renewal of your commitment to the life-long learning that is medicine. One of the current concerns of our society is the possibil...
Oct 08, 2021•15 min
"The problem with feeling like an imposter is thinking there’s something wrong with it. I know this is different from any way you have thought about it, but humor me. What happens when we are offered an opportunity but we feel like an imposter? We hide. We overwork to compensate. We look around at our colleagues and resent them. Because why do they get to feel so secure? Why aren’t they feeling insecure? They don’t even spend time worrying about it, and that leads to more resentment! They are no...
Oct 07, 2021•13 min
