Some years ago, I had the privilege of serving as chief of staff of my community hospital. One of my responsibilities was to review complaints directed at doctors. Ten to twenty “occurrence reports” came across my desk every week. Most were…
Category: Hospital-Based Medicine
Does patient-centered care really meet human-centered care?
This episode was during my elective time in India in the late winter of 2017. It was a patient-centered learning opportunity for students around the world who has an interest in medicine. I was excited about this because of my earliest clinical exposur…
An experience of shame in training
Early one morning in 1996, after a sleepless night on call, I stood with my team in the VA hospital, outside room 102. I was a 28-year-old intern in the general medicine service. We were making rounds on twelve patients that my intern partner, myself, …
An experience of shame in training
Early one morning in 1996, after a sleepless night on call, I stood with my team in the VA hospital, outside room 102. I was a 28-year-old intern in the general medicine service. We were making rounds on twelve patients that my intern partner, myself, …
How privileged a physician’s knowledge is
I was warned about it before we walked into the room. So when I did walk in, I made sure my eyes stayed focused on his eyes, my gaze high and attentive. I smiled, possibly more than normal, to make sure he felt comfortable. Like a puppeteer holding up …
Academic medicine on life support: a letter to a newly appointed CEO of a leading academic medical institution
Congratulations on our leading academic medical institution (LAMI) yet again making it to the top ten list of the U.S. News & World Report! You have taken the reins in perilous times (globally and domestically), and what you do and what you stand f…
When a hospital unexpectedly closes
An excerpt from The Evening Hero. This was apparently not to be a Yungman-only meeting. It was in their conference room, same one where had their monthly morbidity and mortality conferences, and it was packed with doctors. In fact, there was just one c…
We’re reacting to medical errors the wrong way
Medical mistakes are as old as the practice of medicine itself, but it wasn’t until 1999 that the United States started paying more attention to them. Over twenty years later, we may be reducing medical errors — a recent study published in the Jo…
People behaving badly: 4 steps to de-escalate hostile people
Imagine that you are a brand-new attending in a hospital. You have your new starched white coat and stethoscope around your neck. Before you enter your patient’s room, the nurse says, “Whew! Good luck! The patient’s dad is really angr…
He was more than a housekeeper
Over 30 years ago, this man began working for our hospital system. He was assigned to our ICU/CVICU units. Though some health care employees hadn’t even been born yet, Charles was a tried and true “lifer.” He was our housekeeper. And …
