One of my coworkers who grew up in India told me that their teachers in grade school would post everyone’s scores in the hallway after every exam. This comparison of grades and objective testing further extended to cities and even regions in the count…
When I meet patients in the office, our conversations do not focus exclusively on the medical issue at hand. Of course, if you come to see me with a stomach ache, at some point, I will direct the dialogue toward your abdomen. Often, our conversations a…
Every July, we have some time to think about our independence and freedom. We also celebrate and spend time to be grateful for those that helped us achieve that. Everyone reading this certainly has a lot to be grateful for. But I also know that there a…
At the end of a long table covered with hors d’oeuvres and a birthday cake, I struck up a conversation with three primary care physicians. I was hungry for their opinions. Inside the crowded apartment, we spoke for some 20 minutes about the systemic an…
It can be difficult to tease out the evidence-based science amidst the claims of successful adult stem cell-based treatments for a range of health problems from joint pain to Parkinson’s disease, macular degeneration, and spinal cord injury. Even a num…
Touch is a sensitive thing. No pun is intended here, but whether and how we touch our patients deserves our careful thought and deliberation. So much interpersonal contact these days is virtual, with emojis, abbreviations and whole words thrown around …
It’s always kind of a surprise when you read a patient’s chart, and you see an examination of a body part they just don’t have. Just the other day, I was reading a consult note on a patient of mine who had been seen by a subspecialist…
The problem Sometimes, you reach a stage in life where each day has become predictable. Despite success, you slide into a rut. The status quo doesn’t cut it. Your patients are interesting, but not stimulating enough. Your staff is well-trained, but not…
It was a common enough reason for someone to have a CT scan. The order read, “Abdominal pain, colon cancer resected in January.” It was now March, only two months post-surgery. Yet the patient’s CT scan showed a number of large masses in the liver, con…
I have been working on gun violence prevention for the past two years. After the Las Vegas shooting, I worked with a fellow medical student to create a course teaching medical students about gun violence and how it relates to medicine. We taught future…
