“Chiefs, remember, one of those interns is going to fill your shoes in a few years. They may model you in that role, so you want to raise them well! As a former chief resident, I have lots of pearls for those entering residency. However, what I w…
Category: Hospital-Based Medicine
Unsolicited advice from unmatched residency applicants: Hope for the best, plan for the worst
When you enter medical school, you put your trust into an unspoken promise: Work hard, pass all your classes, and you’ll come out as a doctor after four years. While mostly true, this perception doesn’t take into account the residency application proce…
Doctors with borders
During my internal medicine internship in 1980 a professor chided our team because housestaff no longer prepared and interpreted peripheral blood smears. He scoffed that they don’t make doctors like they used to. I have heard similar lamentations thr…
It’s time for the ACGME to protect house staff with work-hour reductions and OSHA protection
A few months ago, I submitted an article to KevinMD summarizing a narrative review I compiled grounded in advocacy journalism asserting that Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-regulated: 1) work hour maximums, and 2) U.S. Depa…
In memory of a nurse who died from injuries sustained during a patient assault
An excerpt from Hey! I Could Use a Little Help Here! My Story of Healthcare Workplace Violence. This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Lynne Sausse Truxillo, RN, who died on April 11, 2019 from injuries sustained during a patient assault while on d…
The Apgar Olympics: The race is on
The page comes during a lull on an otherwise busy day in the well-baby nursery (WBN). My pager’s shrill cry rouses me like the blast of a starting pistol. DI-DI GESTATION. 37 WEEKS. BABY A WITH NON-REASSURING HEART TONES. BABY B BREECH. OPERATING ROOM …
Heal the system: Medicine must be anti-racist
My maternal grandmother, Susana, was one of the most important women in my life. I was named after her. At least, that is what I thought for many years. I had gone by my grandmother’s name until I transferred high schools in the suburbs of Chicag…
Clinicians need fire pit time
The flames flicker, tantalizingly reaching upward, and I sit mesmerized. How many times have I sat by my backyard fire pit and watched this ageless dance? I think; I meditate; I pray. A cigar and bourbon often accompany me. I especially love to stand b…
Exclusion of BIPOC from VIP floors in an academic medical center
Omar Mirza is a psychiatrist and comic creator. In this comic, he discusses how Black, indigenous, and other people of color are excluded from VIP floors at an academic medical center (click to enlarge): Omar Mirza is a psychiatrist. Image credit: Omar…
A morning code blue for a COVID patient
An excerpt from An Eschatological Isolation. At 12:11 p.m., the overhead speaker announced: “Code Blue, Three West.” She repeated, “Code Blue, Three West.” Shit. I started my stopwatch and saved the patient note I was writing in the back office of Thre…
