Raise your glasses (of juice, water, champagne, or whatever you fancy) and join me in celebrating a dream come true: I’m officially a physician who practices medicine from home. To think that it was only four years ago that I was burnt out. It to…
Category: Hospital-Based Medicine
Recognizing the secret identity of physicians
It was recently National Teacher Appreciation Week, and many were busy recognizing their superhero teachers. Schools dedicate the week to their teachers, parents bustle about with flowers, handmade cards, and gift baskets. For me, though last week w…
Physicians shouldn’t get too attached to the organizations they work for
One of the biggest changes to health care over the last 20 years has been the corporatization of medicine, from small independent physician practices, to large corporations that now run the show. Medicine has gone from good old Dr. Johnson’s office aro…
Avoiding medicine’s Boeing 737 Max
I’m sitting on a cross-country flight to California with utmost respect for the professionalism of the crew, especially considering my life will be in their hands for the next 6 hours. Despite understanding the physics, I am still amazed by flight, and…
A medical student’s first patient presentation
In medical school, you’re not taught how to give stellar patient presentations. Yes, you’re shown the traditional order of things: “Give an effective one-liner first, then tell the HPI [history of present illness] but only give pertinent info, etc.” Ju…
An experiment in removing the heart from medicine
I delight in learning my patients’ stories and giving them exactly what they need when I take care of them in the hospital. Who they are and what is the best approach to their problem is the primary mystery to be solved, my Sherlock Holmes moment…
How a Minnesota Supreme Court decision could affect curbside consults
“In a case that could have wide-reaching implications for medical practice in Minnesota, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a ruling on April 17 in the case of Warren v. Dinter holding that the existence of a physician-patient relationship is not…
Sexually discriminatory language used against our trainees: There is no grey area
“Thanks baby, I mean doctor … Doctor baby …” he finished uncertainly. I washed my hands, gave him a quick nod, and walked out of the emergency department exam room with my smirking attending following behind me. Speaking to a group of my female c…
Treating a VIP benefactor of a hospital
My local hospital has been petitioning the local city zoning board for permission to build an on-site parking garage for years now. The city zoning board is very strict about the height of buildings and has turned the requests down repeatedly. This pa…
Physicians: Don’t let administration intimidate you
One of the things I am most grateful for, as a doctor who has worked in at least a dozen different hospitals over the last decade, is the broad range of experiences I’ve had and the variety of physicians I’ve met and gotten to know. I enjoy hearing exp…
