The reason that the United States hasn’t been able to reach higher vaccination rates is because of leadership failures. It’s really hard for leaders to lead transformational change during stable times. It’s infinitely harder to lead i…
Category Archive: KevinMD
Our health care system may be failing, but it isn’t broken [PODCAST]
“The problem with health care isn’t ‘fixing’ the system. The problem is continuing to ensure that profits can be made and millions can be employed while better health care outcomes and experiences are achieved. We won’t find the solut…
You can’t fix what is already broken
It’s one of the last weeks in December. If it was any other year, I would have realized that Christmas is around the corner, the air would be filled with a different, radiant, joyful kind of energy, and most of us would be focused on all the less…
Addressing the lack of Black male physicians through early intervention
“When I grow up, I want to be a pediatrician or a surgeon.” Those were the words I wrote as I graduated fifth grade. I often ask myself how I have been able to navigate a world so unfamiliar to me, how I have carried on with my ambitions despite being …
Laocoön and His Sons: suffering of those who care for those who suffer
Arguably one of the most famous statues of Western civilization is of the Laocoon group, made between the second century B.C. and the first century A.D, and discovered and excavated in Rome in 1506. Michelangelo himself was supposedly one of the first …
Primary care: the variety and the intimacy of the problems I see [PODCAST]
“Fifteen minutes for a checkup or urgent problem, thirty minutes for a physical. In the tiny gasps of time in between: Refilling scripts, checking labs, and signing medical supply orders and insurance authorization requests. Maybe lunch. Maybe a …
I see you, COVID
I see you, COVID. I see you in the hospitals each day. I don on my surgical cap, scrubs, goggles, N95 mask, and gown. Are you there? I see you in the scared eyes of my patients, in their tears, and in their regrets. I see you in their cough, gasps for …
Don’t pay off your student loans early
In 2010, a landmark study from Princeton was published “proving” that money just doesn’t buy happiness. Study participants were asked to compare their emotional well-being from yesterday to today, and it appeared that making more than…
The role of empathy in improving patient care and decreasing medical liability
Studies reveal that more than half of all practicing physicians demonstrate signs of burnout. Contemporary physicians face tremendous pressures due to a confluence of factors, including balancing heavy patient loads within constrained schedules, the in…
Try this new technique when talking to vaccine skeptics [PODCAST]
“When we hear skepticism, our first instinct may be to end the conversation. After all, why spend our time trying to convince someone who has made up their mind? Our second instinct may be to counter the person’s position without pausing to hear …
