“Have you ever wondered how much time we spend worrying about call, versus the amount of time that we actually spend being on call? What about the Monday after a long weekend, returning from vacation, or an overnight shift? Is it as bad as we thi…
Category: Hospital-Based Medicine
Reflecting on the advice of a revered physician counsellor
I turned into the hospital parking lot, placed my car into park, and looked up at the time. 5:44 a.m. I’d spent the previous night researching COVID-19 symptoms and treatment options, preparing to field questions from my patients, family, and friends. …
How this surgeon beat a medical staff disciplinary action
I recently represented a physician in a noteworthy peer review case at an academic medical center. The medical staff president initiated a complaint against a surgeon, who would later become my client. The complaint was that the surgeon inappropriately…
Physicians who work themselves into the ground are nothing to be proud of
There were recently many news articles and coverage exalting a physician for working 250 straight days during COVID. 250 days, that’s nearly 8 1/2 months without a day off. While this physician displays dedication and caring, I don’t think we should ce…
We keep our sleep-deprived physicians in hospitals full of calorie-dense food
Medicine causes just as much disease as it solves. We must adopt the lifestyle to get through college, medical school, residency, and fellowship is nothing close to a healthy lifestyle. Previously, we discussed the long hours and the lack of exercise, …
How this physician’s first experience with death affected her [PODCAST]
“My sister called me. I answered. And, then, I lost it: ‘He died. He died,’ I repeated. ‘Our patient died. I literally did CPR on this guy. We tried to save his life, and he died,’ I repeated over and over. The tears strea…
A patient revolution for careful and kind care
An excerpt from Why We Revolt: A Patient Revolution for Careful and Kind Care. It was late at the premier teaching hospital in the country, and we were overworked and overwhelmed. Those patients in most trouble had made it in, but many waited outside, …
Being an attending: What no one tells you in residency and medical school
For most of us, medical training through all the pains of medical school and residency is often bearable when we fantasize about life on the other side of all of this. Life as an attending physician, when the sky suddenly turns all rainbow, when the mo…
Essential physician communication tips to improve the patient experience [PODCAST]
“A majority of physicians see between 11 and 20 patients per day, and among all practices, the majority of doctors spend between 17 and 24 minutes with each patient. Assuming a five-day workweek, this translates to more than 900 patient interacti…
I am an emergency medicine physician. I had COVID-19 infection twice and I’m tired.
I am a critical care and emergency medicine physician, I have had COVID-19 infection twice, and I’m tired. My first infection was early on in the pandemic. I had to place a Blakemore tube in a young man who was going to die from his massive bleeding f…
