Category: Hospital-Based Medicine

How patients put my life into perspective

Today my clinic patient lost his wallet, including his cash, government ID, and his credit cards. He drove more than 130 miles to the clinic.  Still, somehow, he sat in front of me in the exam chair as patient as ever through all my history questions. …

A medical student’s advice for clinical rotations

As a rising fourth-year med student, these are my words of wisdom for all students who are on their clinical rotations. Your mental health is paramount; do not neglect how you are feeling! There is not one med student that I know of who hasn’t felt anx…

A medical student’s advice for clinical rotations

As a rising fourth-year med student, these are my words of wisdom for all students who are on their clinical rotations. Your mental health is paramount; do not neglect how you are feeling! There is not one med student that I know of who hasn’t felt anx…

Doctors, a tech revolution is coming

What if I told you just a few years ago that Amazon — a budding e-commerce startup — would come to disrupt the multi-billion dollar retail industry. I seriously doubt that anyone could have given it a serious thought. At least not in the magnitude that…

Nurses are sick of being treated like hotel workers

“Compassion fatigue” is a phrase thrown around easily when talking about the health care professions. It is often spoken in the same breath as “burnout” and “turnover” while discussing the crisis of a diminishing wor…

Physicians need to acknowledge implicit bias

“Oh, you’re here to take me to my test.”  I have heard this too many times to count, and I have come to perfect my response. “No, I am not patient transport, your social worker, or your nurse. I am your doctor.” After a moment of confusion, I usually s…

Making humanism in medicine more humanistic

Kahlil Gibran writes, “In friendship or in love, the two side by side raise hands together to find what one cannot reach alone.” What types of outcomes can physicians and patients achieve in healing, living, and life when Gibran’s mes…

The power of peer mentorship in medicine

If you asked me five years ago what my career goals were, I may have said something about getting more grant funding and writing more manuscripts so I could eventually become an independently funded physician-scientist. But honestly, at that time, I ha…

Changes are coming to health care in 2020. Are you ready?

Of the nation’s 3.5 trillion in annual health care spending, 90 percent is for people with chronic and mental health conditions. How long can this continue? Can health care institutes afford not to engage in the 2020 wave of preventative care health ca…

Setting the facts straight about The Joint Commission’s stance on food and drink

A spirited discussion erupted over The Joint Commission’s role in prohibiting food in patient care areas: “Taking food and drink away from doctors and nurses is just cruel.” The rumor that The Joint Commission is the enforcer of food and dr…