Author's posts
Go rural, young doctor!
I hear it all the time. Young resident physicians are taught it. It infects our failed attempts to staff rural hospitals. (Among other things.) It’s this. ‘If you’re well trained in a teaching center, and you go to a small rural hospital, you’ll lo…
The default for psychiatric patients: “Send them to the ER”
Here is a standard emergency department situation, played out all across America today. Patient X has schizophrenia. He takes medication, but only until he feels better. He is calm when he takes it, but sometimes aggressive and assaultive when out of…
Not all ambulance rides are emergent
When the paramedic calls in and says “transporting non-emergent …” I think of this wonderful story. I was once “deposed” by the state medical board to speak on behalf of a friend who had been charged with “unprofessional b…
Why social media may be causing real emotional harm
“Mens sana, in corpore sano,” goes the old Latin saying. “A healthy mind in a healthy body.” It’s vital that way pay proper attention not only to our physical existence but to our minds and souls; to the intangible but essentia…
Working in the ER taught this doctor what evil really means
If you ask people if there is evil in the world, a lot of them will smile politely at such an obviously Medieval (or Neanderthal) view of the world. Which, of course, is a bit of an insult to both groups who were from all evidence quite intelligent fo…
It’s time we take physician satisfaction seriously
There are a lot of unhappy physicians in a lot of bad situations. I know because I write for them, and they write to me. The thing is, we deal with patient satisfaction all day long. Why not work harder on physician satisfaction? I want my colleagues t…
Medicine today is all about the document, the data, and the bill
“Remember that patient you saw?” What a horrible question that always was. You came to work, and a friend would come up to you quietly and take you aside. “Remember that guy yesterday with the chest pain?” “Mr. Hayes?̶…
An emergency physician does a tooth extraction
I was working a few days ago and pulled a tooth. Mind you, it’s not something I do with any regularity. However, it was a very sweet little lady who was too weak and ill to get to the dentist and had other issues. That lower incisor was loose, and c…
Political correctness and the taboo topics in medicine
I write for several publications, and I’m always pitching to new venues. Recently I pitched an idea to an editor. I wanted to write about gun research from the perspective of a rural physician. In particular, I wanted to ask what might physicians say…
A physician who’s always in control
My friends and family used to say that I was born 30 years old. I get it. From the time I was young, I was controlled, risk-averse, studious, and polite. In addition to the fact that I was naturally reserved, I learned over time to do my best not to…
