“Medicine robbed me of my 20s.” I’ve heard the line many times in my medical training. It often comes accompanied by a long sigh, a slow sip of coffee, and a glazed stare off into the distance. “Imagine what could’ve been,” the seasoned physician muses…
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 69-year-old man is evaluated during a follow-up visit. He initially presented with a 3-month history of chest pressure and dyspnea that occ…
Health care reimbursement in the U.S. is frighteningly complex. We have federal payers, like Medicare; state/federal payers, like Medicaid; private, for-profit insurance companies, like Aetna; private, not for profit insurers, like many local Blue Cros…
Health care reimbursement in the U.S. is frighteningly complex. We have federal payers, like Medicare; state/federal payers, like Medicaid; private, for-profit insurance companies, like Aetna; private, not for profit insurers, like many local Blue Cros…
A large percentage of doctors end up switching jobs within the first five years of practice. This really isn’t surprising given that the medical training experience doesn’t necessarily correlate with the medical practice experience. Many doctors work …
Doctors who disparage, or even ridicule, what parents tell them are, fortunately, rare. Nevertheless, sometimes parents may infer from what the doctor says or how he acts that he does not value what they are telling him, even though he did not mean to …
The World Health Organization describes universal health coverage — a system coupling health care access with financial protection for all residents — as the “single most powerful concept that public health has to offer.” The goal of univer…
Talk about physician burnout and job dissatisfaction is everywhere right now. If you are a doctor, you cannot escape the news. Within the last couple of weeks, organizations in Massachusetts (a mecca of healthcare and hospitals) declared physician burn…
Several years ago, my daughter Emma introduced me to some videos on YouTube of a dermatologist from California who posted her sometimes shocking but always intriguing encounters with patients who suffered from a variety of dermatologic issues. Of all o…
Jill Ladkin was already having a terrible autumn. It began with a seizure that put her in the hospital with what seemed like scores of unfamiliar physicians attending to her state of health. The brain scan revealed a mass in the lining of her brain, a …
