"Maintaining a relationship during nursing school takes some effort. Your time is taken up by studying, classes, clinicals and labs. Oh, did I mention studying? At the end of the day, there is just not much time left for significant others. Now, I am referring to romantic relationships here, but the same concept also applies to friendships. I’ve put together a list of tips from my own experience to hopefully give some advice and encouragement to future, current and even past nursing students. I ...
May 29, 2022•15 min
"More studies are needed to fully understand the impact of in-home hospital care programs on quality and cost. Extending the waivers will give physicians, health systems, health services researchers, and policymakers the opportunity to further analyze these programs’ results to determine the future for this person-centered care model. The movement from inpatient to in-home acute-level care started long before COVID-19, and the pandemic accelerated it. Congress should extend the acute care at hom...
May 28, 2022•20 min
"At the interpersonal level, people can help to normalize vaccination as the standard among their friends and family–not by lecturing or hectoring, simply by openly sharing that they themselves are vaccinated. Health care providers also have a role to play in de-sensationalizing the issue and making discussions about COVID vaccination a more routine part of their standard practice. Even as the U.S. looks forward to a summer of possibility, the true end of COVID is still a long way off. The virus...
May 27, 2022•18 min
"No one anticipated how the pandemic would impact their Deaf colleagues’ work environment and career opportunities. Yet, 15% of adults report some form of hearing difficulty. This number increases dramatically with advancing age, with 50% of those aged 75 years or older experiencing hearing difficulty. The exact number of Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) physicians and other health care providers is unknown. However, according to the Association of Medical Professionals With Hearing Losses, the number...
May 26, 2022•22 min
In this episode, we talk to pathologist Hoda Zeinab M. Amer who discusses her work with non-profits, along with her book detailing the behind-the-scenes lives of pathologists. We also open the proverbial black box of pathology and she explores the traits interested students should have if they pursue the field. Hoda Zeinab M. Amer is a pathologist and author of Animals of Undetermined Significance . She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, " Scenes from a pathology resident’s day ...
May 25, 2022•19 min
"If you have never heard the term 'financial infidelity,' it doesn’t mean you don’t know what it is. In fact, according to a recent creditcards.com survey, 32 percent of respondents have financially cheated on their partners. Both finances and cheating can be complex subjects to discuss, even with and, sometimes especially with, those closest to you. Not surprisingly, this topic is pertinent to physicians and dentists because they tend to have more money available. In hopes that if there are any...
May 24, 2022•17 min
"As physicians, we are masterful at suppressing so many of our emotions, and the thoughts and memories associated with them. However, trauma has a way of impacting us in great big obvious ways (as we saw with Will Smith), and not such obvious ways (perfectionism, workaholism, lack of boundaries). I’m not suggesting any of us go unearthing swaths of past trauma. Simply be aware that it may be impacting you in ways you recognize and have yet to address, or in ways you never quite thought of as bei...
May 23, 2022•21 min
"I almost quit my job in 2014. I didn’t like my life, and I didn’t like myself. I had a lot of problems personally and professionally, and I wondered if I was good enough to solve them. I often felt weak and powerless. People were coming to me for answers, but I sometimes felt like a fraud. My usual strategies of working harder and reading more books weren’t helping me, and I knew it, but I didn’t know what to do. I felt frustrated, angry, sad, tired, and lonely. All I knew was I wanted these fe...
May 22, 2022•20 min
"Physicians have a deep well of experiences to draw from in their writing. They witness dramatic episodes of heroism, cures, disappointments, and failures. They see unforgettable scenes, hear devastating words, make difficult decisions, and observe people at crucial moments in their lives. Most importantly, they witness the power of cause and effect – one action producing a resulting action – a building block of fiction, nonfiction, and poetical narratives. Great writing comes out of these exper...
May 21, 2022•16 min
"I had no recollection of this, but as I processed what Yael said, my response was the opposite of what one might expect—I felt tremendous relief! I was happy. My pain had a name and hopefully that meant that I could get well. I was a doctor, and I knew well that the first step toward treatment is a diagnosis. I was determined to approach DID the way I had most things in my life—medical school, marriage, mothering, and advocating for women’s health care—with passion and an intensity of purpose."...
May 20, 2022•18 min
"Looking to the future, since I only froze one embryo and my ovary reserve is diminishing, we are hoping to go through another infertility treatment cycle. Although, once again, the medications are once again being denied. Infertility is just like any other mental or physical health condition and should be fully covered, including pharmaceutical, medical, and surgical treatment. As data suggests, 1 in 4 female physicians will experience infertility, which is twice the general population’s rate, ...
May 19, 2022•21 min
"I know many physicians are already maxed out. Technology can make that worse. As soon as you introduce what will be perceived as new obstacles to moving from A to Z, all they’re going to think is, “I can’t do what I need to do. I’m exhausted and I’m behind. And now you’re introducing seemingly arbitrary expectations and steps with new tech, and you’re just sitting there with your arms crossed, shaking your head at me?” That further exacerbates this feeling of a loss of autonomy, a feeling that ...
May 18, 2022•21 min
"Having a physician partner who knows us well, who we can trust, and whose judgment we value exponentially increases the odds of accurately making the distinction between self-limited illness versus a significant disease process. This will also assist us in navigating the health care system such that we receive only that testing and treatment that is appropriate for our individual situation. Just imagine how much better we would have fared in the U.S. had our individual responses to the COVID-19...
May 17, 2022•18 min
"We’re encouraged to mentally rehearse life-saving procedures for conditions that occur so rarely we might go our entire career without performing them. And the reality is that I could spend every minute of my free time this way and still have an unexpected situation arise during my next shift. So, is there a way, as experts in disaster preparedness, to accept what we cannot control? Thankfully time, medication, and therapy helped me out of a very dark place, and the journey has prompted me to r...
May 16, 2022•22 min
"Have you ever wondered how many times death has not come, but could have? On the corner of Church Street and Dubuque how close was I, pausing to assess an ice-sheeted puddle just before a woman turns, her head turned too, searching for what? A snack? A phone? A child crying? The summer I almost drowned, my mother said no you will not, and I did not. Hotel pool, a single cool eye seeking, floaters upstairs in the room. Every backseat I slid into under the cloaks of dark and youth and rebellion w...
May 15, 2022•13 min
"Oh no, it’s a doctor hopper. You know who I’m talking about: the patients with twenty previous doctors documented in their chart. The ones who took years to be diagnosed. The ones who still have not been diagnosed, but insist something is wrong. They’re just jumping around until they get their way, you seethe. Really? Every doctor’s appointment is a commitment of time and money for a patient. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that we’d greatly prefer it if things went right the first t...
May 14, 2022•19 min
"A few months ago, I embarked on an ethnographic study to understand what health care professionals saw as the psychosocial needs of pediatric patients. This involved conversations with several doctors in Pakistan, who had volunteered to share their views about pediatric patient care. As I engaged in deep, organic discussions with my interlocutors, I found doctors willing to explore personal experiences which had left indelible memories. I had somehow tapped into a need for them to reflect on th...
May 13, 2022•16 min
In this episode, we talk with writer Dustin Grinnell. He takes us behind the scenes on his ideas for his books, his research process, and how he brings medical stories to life. We also delve into the realm of speculative fiction, and how that intersects with medicine, technology, and ethical dilemmas. Dustin Grinnell is a writer. He shares his story and discusses his book, The Empathy Academy . Did you enjoy today’s episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by Kevi...
May 12, 2022•14 min
"The Great Resignation. I doubt there is a medical practice out there that has not been affected by it. And experts predict we are just at the beginning. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ early data from 2022 shows that health care is among the top three industries increasing in monthly “quit rate,” second only to accommodation and food services. 2.6 million health care workers quit their jobs from May to September 2021, and 1 in 5 physicians plan to leave their current practice in the next t...
May 11, 2022•21 min
In this episode, I interview Jim Dahle, creator of the White Coat Investor. He has literally created a new asset class of content: the health care professional personal finance space. He discusses how he got his start with the White Coat Investor, why his message still resonates today, and how financial literacy can combat burnout. He then moves on to his take on real estate and cryptocurrency. Finally, we end by discussing his most recent book on asset protection. James M. Dahle is an emergency...
May 10, 2022•21 min
"I propose that we look at what each choice in food does for us: How does it make my body feel? How am I able to sleep and move and focus when I eat this food? How am I giving my body what it needs right now and what will keep it strong over time? And, how is this food the perfect one that my body needs right now? Eating the food that fuels aspirations and performance is much better to produce positive change than fueling shame, guilt, and misery. As we practice doing better, we will find ways t...
May 09, 2022•15 min
"Medical errors exist at the far end of a continuum of unexpected events in clinical practice and they are devastating for all involved. Even when care is attentive and patient compliance perfect, unexpected outcomes occur in medicine. Unanticipated diagnoses, delays in diagnosis, premature death — these are all included in the realm of “unexpected events” even if nothing has gone “wrong” in medical care. These events cause physicians to suffer self-doubt, worry, shame and guilt, sometimes exace...
May 08, 2022•18 min
"Even low dose mercury toxicity can be harmful to human health in a variety of ways: enhanced free radical stress, reduced glutathione levels, increase in apolipoprotein E g4 genotype expression, promotion of neurofibrillary tangles and altered immune sensitivity. It has been implicated in contributing to autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinsonism, and even lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disease that may have neurologic involvement. Mercury toxicity has been reported as an occupational risk t...
May 07, 2022•19 min
"One initiative that more administrators should support is global medical outreach. The ability to practice pure medicine, like the neighborhood doctor from long ago, renews a love for the vocation that physicians sought when they first entered medical school. Humanitarian outreach will help reinvigorate physician workforces immediately, allowing physicians to have the opportunity to treat patients who are overwhelmingly grateful for the care provided while also teaching local partner doctors de...
May 06, 2022•18 min
"Patients want more than simply learning about a problem and how to treat it. Patients want reassurance. While I summarized the proposed surgical treatment, I watched for signs of anxiety or lack of understanding. Ultimately, my patient wanted to have confidence that I was the right person for the job and that I would do whatever was necessary to make things turn out well. I believed that delivering the message personally was important. I was both providing knowledge and gaining trust as I descr...
May 05, 2022•18 min
"Arguably one of the most overlooked yet incredibly important aspects of your malpractice insurance policy is the Consent to Settle Provision. You’re paying thousands of dollars a year for your malpractice insurance; you should have a say in how your claims are handled, don’t you think? Today we’re going to talk about the consent to settle provision – why it’s important, how carriers can limit you, and what you can do to ensure that you’re in the driver’s seat for the handling of your malpractic...
May 04, 2022•16 min
"Sufferers of mental illness often believe that others feel they have control of their symptoms, only having to decide to not be, for example, depressed. While they themselves suffer the symptoms of mental illness, they often have the feeling that they should be able to control them. Depending upon their experience, the observer of the mental illness sufferer believes that the patient can decide to some extent to not feel the symptoms. Others feel that the mental illness sufferer is somehow to b...
May 03, 2022•17 min
"I started planning my escape in late 2020. I would find a way to quit health care, to cease being a practicing physician altogether. Living the life of a doctor-mom, I felt consumed with daily obligations and duties. Guilt plagued me for feeling burdened by this life, for feeling it was a monotonous prison. The guilt soon transformed to anger. I was not showing up to my life in a meaningful way. I held many limiting beliefs that blocked me from change. How did I get here? A child’s dream of bec...
May 02, 2022•20 min
"Before retirement, I switched everything I cared about to my personal one and unsubscribed to everything I didn’t care about. For the first few months, I religiously checked my work email. Sure, I was missing important information. I finally weaned myself like a reluctant nursing baby. On the rare occasions I check my work email, it has spam, irrelevant ads, missives from my previous employer about meetings or new incentive plans I care nothing about. In contrast, my personal email has lunch in...
May 01, 2022•15 min
"Patients look to providers for guidance, wisdom, and hope. When patients receive a new chronic disease diagnosis, it can feel terminal to the layperson. Even pre-diabetes is traumatizing to an otherwise healthy adult. We must not underestimate the power of our words. Learn to see selling as a key skill to develop. As with other skills, it gets easier the more you do it. When you have the know-how and enjoy selling, you will have more belief in yourself, your patient, and the treatment/healing p...
Apr 30, 2022•17 min
