“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them.” – Achilles Charles Debussy Silence is an important part of our everyday lives. Yet, we often don’t consider its critical importance in helping us to reflect on what we’…
Category: KevinMD
How the changing roles of hospitals are isolating physicians
Physicians nearing the end of their careers often mourn the loss of the hospital as it once was — the undisputed center of the health care universe. They remember a time when every community doctor rounded on patients in the morning, and every su…
Vaping likely has dangers that could take years for scientists to even know about
The rise in cases of otherwise healthy young adults who have been hospitalized or even died from vaping-associated lung injury is alarming. Many people don’t know what is contained in these vaping devices, what the reported health effects actually mean…
3 ways to win back the public’s trust in medicine
The United States is currently facing the largest measles outbreak in three decades, with more than 1,200 cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control. The spread of that disease is a mere symptom of one of the most dangerous pandemics of our time…
Overspecialization in medical education: Is it hindering physician growth and stifling innovation?
In the recent book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, David Epstein makes a strong argument for exploring or sampling different interests and jobs before settling on a career of choice, a process that leads to “match quality,” whic…
The ideal health system lies between the two extremes
Admittedly, my views on funding health care have done a 180 since I left medical school. I grew up and went to university in the United Kingdom, which famously has one of the most heavily centralized socialized systems anywhere in the world. Born out o…
Why hospitals are getting into the housing business
One patient at Denver Health, the city’s largest safety-net hospital, occupied a bed for more than four years — a hospital record of 1,558 days. Another admitted for a hard-to-treat bacterial infection needed eight weeks of at-home IV antibiotics, but …
Why hospitals are getting into the housing business
One patient at Denver Health, the city’s largest safety-net hospital, occupied a bed for more than four years — a hospital record of 1,558 days. Another admitted for a hard-to-treat bacterial infection needed eight weeks of at-home IV antibiotics, but …
Second-tier, off-label treatments for anxiety
In previous posts, we have reviewed the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), as well as the off-label prescribing of gabapentinoids, for treating anxiety disorders. Anxiety is …
Why one residency program did 150,000 push-ups in 10 weeks
At the start of the year, our program director asked, “What if we challenge every resident in the program to do 5,000 push-ups?” We were immediately interested. After discussing logistics and socializing the idea, the #5KPushUpChallenge was started: Ov…
