In medicine, the sickest patients always seem to come on Friday afternoons. At the end of the week, I’m hoping to move quickly through my last few patients – a small corneal abrasion, a routine follow-up, or a stable glaucoma exam. I’m prep…
Category: Conditions
A complex patient interviews a retired physician
Dr. James (Jim) Whitlock, a neurologist, and Ann McColl met at a writers’ workshop in Maine in 2022 and discovered a shared interest: patients with complex conditions and their journeys in the medical system. Dr. Whitlock’s practice focused…
Burnout on the U.S.S. Enterprise
The original Star Trek television series, in my opinion, stands out as the best of the bunch. It lasted only three years (1966-1969), but it has retained a cult following. Among its many television “firsts” were the initial inter-racial kis…
The toll of health care: suicide risk among professionals
Our health care workers—nurses, physicians, and support staff—are at a heightened risk of committing suicide. Plain and simple. The emotional and physical toll on our health care professionals has been ever-increasing, exacerbated by the COVID pandemic…
Embracing life’s purpose in the face of inevitable death
“I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it.” – Epictetus I wish more people knew that quote during the pandemic. I write this on November 1st, celebrated as Dia de Muertos or “Day of the Dead.” Epicte…
From ICU to kidney mass: a nurse’s journey of fear
After 32 years working as an ICU nurse, I believed I had developed a strong capacity to confront death alongside my patients. I had become accustomed to the challenging scenarios: co-morbidities, multi-system organ failure, emergency intubations, venti…
Intravenous immunoglobulin for gastroparesis: What happened to me
Six months after being diagnosed with gastroparesis, I underwent experimental intravenous immunoglobulin treatment. What is often considered a wonder drug, with the ability to treat hundreds of rare illnesses, resulted in the worst experience of my lif…
Save time with these 4 charting tips
If you ask nurse practitioners how they spend most of their time at work, their answer will be “charting!” Not only do nurse practitioners (NPs) assess, diagnose, and treat patients, but they also have to document the findings. On top of th…
Lessons from historical drug prohibitions
New Zealand just rescinded its ban on tobacco smoking at the same time that Donald Trump just suggested the death penalty could cure the drug problem. What did New Zealand learn? And how has drug prohibition worked out in the past? In 1511, the governo…
World AIDS Day 2023: Remember and commit
December 1, 2023, marks the 35th anniversary of World AIDS Day (WAD), first commemorated in 1988. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Remember and commit,” a truly impactful theme because through remembrance, we acknowledge thos…
