“We are social beings. Evolution has taught us that in order to survive, we must work together. Community trust (trusting your fellow citizen) is a very effective way to build community resilience when hardships strike. Studies have been done in …
Category: Hospital-Based Medicine
Fairness in medical publishing: Reforming the peer review process
In the middle of a busy week of balancing clinical, research, educational, administrative, and parental responsibilities, I receive an email request from a prominent journal to review a manuscript. If I agree, I will spend a couple of hours reading the…
Moonlight, medicine, and clarity
I wake when the sky begins to darken. As the sun buries itself beneath the horizon, the hospital beckons. Nights bring a kind of calm. I find that wakefulness, while others sleep, grants me something sacred — time, untouched. Circadian rhythms align us…
In the burnout epidemic, is mindfulness the new opioid?
At a recent annual exam for one of us (Walter), the medical assistant had checked heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen saturation. Inquiring cheerfully about the Fifth Vital Sign, she flashed the 10-point pain scale of emojis ranging fro…
I’m your doctor. But for only this month.
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this news,” I said to the couple, who were hugging each other as their baby slept in his bassinet. “I know it is very hard to hear. But I want you to know that we are here for you and your family, and our team will walk e…
The patient who reminded this student to care for everyone equally
During the third week of my internal medicine rotation, I was assigned to a patient who would be brought to our floor following an operation. I saw him briefly as they wheeled him into his room but could hear his screams of pain all through our morning…
I will never question my worth when I am misunderstood
“I didn’t understand what you said,” said the waitress. “She very clearly said she wanted a quesadilla with a side of beans!” yelled an elderly gentleman at a different table. The nervousness that arose when ordering food …
A physician experiences unprofessional behavior. What happened next? [PODCAST]
“Setting: An impersonal, windowless conference room within a hospital Characters: A nurse in charge (NIC), a department chair (DC) and me (ME) NIC: Thank you for joining us to discuss the report you made of unprofessional behavior in the operatin…
Hospital administrators thinking about no-cost treatment which really helps patients
The following article is satire. According to several very old studies, interventional patient-centered bipedal locomotion (sometimes informally referred to as walking) might be an important part of good hospital care. Programs focusing on this treatme…
Why we’ll never eradicate malignancy in medical training
For a bunch of folks striving to stomp out malignant processes in our patients, we sure tolerate a fair amount of destructive behavior among training programs. I’ll be the first to say I’m not the most delicate flower in the garden. Before pursuing med…
