An excerpt from The Unexpected Gift of Trauma. Copyright © 2023 by Edith Shiro. Reprinted by permission of Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins. When a traumatic experience shatters our world and we’re left to pick up the pieces, the idea that we…
Category: Conditions
Rising nurse practitioner burnout: charting and work-life balance
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…
The critical link between America’s obesity epidemic and the liver
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…
Overcoming health challenges: one patient’s story
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…
Health equity: Social workers are the answer
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…
The power of listening in palliative care consultations
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…
Coupling behavioral health prescriptions with measurement-based care
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…
We got the new COVID vaccine. It was a whopping $191 per shot.
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,…
Why emotional intelligence is critical for safe nurse staffing
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…
The connection between organ systems and skin health in Chinese medicine
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…
