Author's posts
A doctor’s COVID-19 advice to physician leaders
I work as the medical director for a non-profit agency that serves people who are currently or formerly homeless. I am trained as a psychiatrist and have previously worked in local government. I live in the county in Washington State, where people have…
When a patient in jail lacks impulse control
“Under duress, we do not rise to our expectations. We fall to our level of training.” – Bruce Lee (supposedly) When I was looking for My Patient, well before his neighbor grabbed my butt, I remember noticing that most of the slots in …
Does medical school train students to become managers or leaders?
I worked with someone (not a physician, but that doesn’t really matter here) whose title was “assistant director.” He and I quickly recognized that we worked well together: His head brimmed with big visions and ideas, whereas my head brimmed with plans…
The end of a life never just impacts the individual who died
To my knowledge, three people who were under my care killed themselves. The first was a young man — late 20s, maybe? — who I met while I was a psychiatry intern. He was hospitalized in the psychiatric unit where I had just started my rotati…
3 things about psychiatry that don’t focus on pathology
I was asked to present information about mental health to a lay audience. This is both an exciting and daunting task. I imagine it’s like asking someone to talk about fish. There are so many kinds of fish! They live in many habitats! Some of them look …
The questions clinicians never think to ask
The chief complaint was belly pain. He described the pain as both dull and crampy. It came and went, but bothered him the most on the same night of each week. The notes from the primary care doctor show a thoughtful search for the underlying cause. The…
