Category: KevinMD

Want resilience? Look to your patients.

On a beautiful spring morning, I found myself in an outpatient OB clinic, ready to begin the last rotation of my third year of medical school. My attending physician greeted me and patiently (but quickly) showed me the ropes. I spent the better part of…

While pharmacy benefit managers are watching cable, patients are streaming Netflix

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) including Express Scripts, CVS Health, and OptumRX are the subject of intense criticism by virtually everyone in medicine and politics. While the purpose of PBM’s group purchasing business model was intended to contribu…

The questions surgeons need to ask their seniors before surgery

The decision seemed straightforward. Bob McHenry’s heart was failing, and doctors recommended two high-risk surgeries to restore blood flow. Without the procedures, McHenry, 82, would die. The surgeon at a Boston teaching hospital ticked off the possib…

As a patient, I never understood the heartbreakingly human toll our system takes on clinicians

Let’s get right to it: This is an apology letter to frontline clinicians. And a call to action. I’m a patient advocate, and I’ve spent most of the last 20 years fighting for patient- and family-centered care in national laws and regulations, and in loc…

How to save money when moving for residency

Here are some specific ways for medical trainees to save on their move. Timing is everything When is the exact timing of your move? Are you flexible? Think about your situation: you graduate medical school, pack up, and then move for residency. Right? …

Perfect nurse. Perfect manager. Perfect puppet.

Perfect nurse. Perfect manager. Perfect puppet. An ICU physician once told me: Nurse managers have a life cycle of a mosquito. Fast and furious And then gone. Deleted until the next one shows up. It was the perfect ICU. Twenty-five beds. Dynamic intens…

Replace doctors with robots now, please

It’s a widely held belief that eventually all living human doctors will be replaced by robots. Some say as soon as 2035. I say, “Why wait? Replace me now!” If the idea of a robot diagnosing and treating — and examining — you and your loved ones seems o…

The last massage of his life

Clutching my duffel bag under my rain jacket, I dash from my truck toward a house that was built by Frankie, the man I’m here to give the last massage of his life. I’ve been massaging people since I was five and have been a professional mas…

The doctor trap: What it is and how to escape it

There is a trap used to capture monkeys that uses a tree with a hollowed-out trunk. The opening is just large enough for the monkey to put its hand inside. While the monkey can easily pull its empty hand out at any time, inside the hole is a larger spa…

Becoming a doctor in India can be life-threatening

Recently, my niece gingerly confided that she was going to study engineering rather than medicine. I was certain she’d become a doctor – so deep was her love for biology and her deference to our family tradition. But she calculated, as would anyone wit…