A young man’s life is over too soon. He had been seen more than four times by more than ten different physicians and in four different clinical settings in the two weeks leading up to his death. Each time he was accompanied by a concerned loved o…
Category: KevinMD
Think beyond benzodiazepines for anxiety
An excerpt from Understanding Medicines for Anxiety. Although the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are among the most widely prescribed medicines for depression, they also have a useful role to play in treating anxiety disorders. In this…
5 things I learned from being a “high-maintenance” patient
Physicians and health care providers across the world are trained to treat disease processes and disease states. Often, this approach becomes technical. And while directed towards the patient, it paradoxically distances itself from the patient. The dis…
Show your staff you care. Here’s how.
Have you heard of the book The 5 Love Languages? My wife will tell you my love language is “words of affirmation,” and I agree. I feel most appreciated when I’m told that I’ve done something well or when my hard work and efforts…
The suffocation of social isolation
Literature surrounding the effects of social isolation and loneliness for older adults is no longer lacking. Studies and articles outlining the dreadful consequences of these epidemics have even pierced large media outlets like Time magazine, where the…
The benefits of passive over active investing for busy professionals
Each of us has limited time, resources, knowledge, and experience. As physicians, the majority of our time, along with our resources, has been devoted to our medical education and clinical practice. Real estate syndications can be an attractive investm…
Understanding the backlash to gaming disorder
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases will have a new code: gaming disorder. For those who eagerly await play-by-play updates to ICD codes, this may be old information. …
Scope of practice expansion: Patient safety is sacrificed for greater access
When a patient seeks the care of a professional, they expect that person to be well trained, experienced, and constantly continuing their education. As an ophthalmologist, I completed a 4-year undergraduate program at Virginia Commonwealth University, …
Street medicine: You don’t know about it, but you don’t care to
Street medicine is a small niche, but it’s not new. Dr. Jim Withers and Dr. James O’Connell began the pioneering in the United States in the 1980s, and it’s not just a local practice; the Street Medicine Institute is a global organization made up of fi…
Plan for your life and medical career with these 3 steps
This time of year I like to walk down memory lane. I remember my first rotation in the neonatal ICU. I was up all night doing heel sticks on preterm neonates, only to have to repeat them when the results came back because the K’s (potassium leve…
