Nurse practitioner (NP) burnout is at an all-time high. Many nurse practitioners (and health care providers in general) are struggling right now, feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. Many are contemplating leaving health care altoge…
Obesity has undeniably become the top health issue of our time, with its prevalence and impact on our bodies making headlines across health care and popular media. This isn’t merely a matter of carrying extra pounds; it’s about the multitud…
The patient was a typical one in my primary care practice, and for those of you in my field, one familiar to you as well. Jim, as we will call him, was a middle-aged, obese male with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes, whose most c…
Americans are suffering from an unequal health care system in which some people have resources and receive excellent care while others lack access to basic and essential services. Despite the entrenched and systemic nature of some of these barriers, th…
Finishing up a consultation in the ICU, the nurses approached me to see how it went. “Did you get the DNR?” I explained that I enter these conversations without an agenda. My first goal is to develop rapport, reading the room to gauge how f…
It can be difficult for patients with substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder to seek care and commit to a regular schedule of behavioral health care visits. However, telehealth and telepsychiatry have vastly enab…
As emergency physicians, my husband and I were determined to protect ourselves, our teenagers, and society at-large with the latest, monovalent COVID vaccine, which the CDC recently recommended for every American 6 months and older. I realized, though,…
In Daniel Goleman’s model of emotional intelligence (EQ), there are two main competencies: Personal competency, which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation; and social competency, which includes social skills and empathy. We ca…
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), health is perceived as a holistic concept that encompasses not only the physical aspects of our bodies but also the emotional and spiritual dimensions. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners have long held the…
An excerpt from Beautiful Monster: A Becoming. The day of the surgery we show up early to the small clinic. After a brief wait we are taken into the back, where the doctor draws a map of my body-to-be on my now-body, detailing the road to my new life. …
