Author's posts
We’re failing people with opioid use disorder [PODCAST]
“We know regulators can move quickly to confront a health crisis because we have seen it in action. During COVID, the nation eased regulatory burdens at all levels of government to help health systems and doctors leverage technology and change th…
A body part that fills me with a roller coaster of emotion [PODCAST]
“Their absence makes me feel sad, I look around at my peers, envious and curious, Obsessing over when they will show up. When they do, they never seem to live up to expectations, Too small, too uneven, but what’s sure is it’s a sign I’m no longer…
To my patient who is going to lose her hair from chemotherapy [PODCAST]
“I understand that the biggest fear you have about going through chemotherapy is losing your hair. I just want to tell you. You will be fine. Trust me. I know it’s barbaric. Why don’t we have medicines to treat cancer that will not make you lose …
Changing how we think about “difficult” patients [PODCAST]
“Our patients go through some very predictable fears and responses to illness and injury. In turn, medical students and residents also think and respond with some thought distortions and misunderstandings about their patients and themselves. Arme…
Family medicine and the fight for the soul of health care [PODCAST]
“Overall, the health system in the United States is still not tilting its axes in favor of either primary care or family doctor. What is worse, family doctors as a collective are more balkanized and less cohesive than ever. There is a sense among…
Kids are not OK: Health care is failing them [PODCAST]
“Our children are not OK. Our pediatricians are not OK. Please, let us not further ignore and jeopardize the future health of our society. Pediatrics needs a transformational change to direct primary care and other models that transition from tra…
Managing expectations during COVID-19 [PODCAST]
“I had sent an email to some key people in my organization about managing patients’ expectations and how that needed to be addressed differently on an organizational level. The truth of the matter is that I am powerless to change the way the syst…
How a code profoundly affected this physician [PODCAST]
“There is a small amount of literature about secondary trauma. This means that the people who respond to trauma (firefighters, police, doctors, EMTs, etc.) experience PTSD from experiences they were not the primary victims of. I haven’t read the …
Unrequited: love in the time of COVID-19 [PODCAST]
“If you knew we are like the ‘Two Fridas,’ that our hearts are connected, would you change your mind? Would you stop as you are about to cut the artery feeding your heart and mine? If you knew that when you cry because of your lonelin…
Why do physicians stay in toxic work environments? [PODCAST]
“For the most highly educated and specialized professional on the health care totem pole, physicians put up with a ridiculous amount of nonsense in the workplace. You are pressured to see high volumes of patients in a rapid-fire fashion (15 minut…
