After practicing psychiatry and behavioral health for nearly 25 years, I’m done. I feel sick, and especially sicker from my occupation. Not merely burned out, but ill. Primarily mentally. I’ve always had complex post-traumatic stress disorder. And depr…
Whether you’re hoping to become the first doctor in your family or you hail from a long line of physicians, navigating the path to medical school can be a daunting experience that takes years of preparation. Providing a peek inside the mind of an admis…
When it comes to locum tenens, doctors have a lot of questions. Maybe you even have some of your own. But first, let me ask you a few: Did you know that there are more than 50,000 doctors working locum tenens in the U.S.? Or that 90% of health care fac…
The sky was overcast as my girlfriend dropped me off at the airport on a June day several years back. I was headed to Chicago to take the last meaningful high stakes exam of my medical training, a mandatory board exam available only at two sites, a tes…
In a world where, in a moment, I can order from thousands of items and have them delivered to my doorstep the same or next day at the press of a button without having to re-enter my name, address, and billing information each time, it would seem that f…
As proposals to ban surprise medical bills move through Congress and state legislatures with rare bipartisan support, physician groups have emerged as the loudest opponents. Often led by doctors with the veneer of noble concern for patients, physician-…
“The death of a child is the single most traumatic event in medicine. To lose a child is to lose a piece of yourself.” I walked into work yesterday morning, and it only took seconds to appreciate the immense sorrow and sadness that permeate…
I was an RN for more than 40 years and am now retired. As a recent hospital patient, I documented my experiences. This resulted in a letter to nurses everywhere. *** Dear Nurse, Please be kind to me. I am frightened, alone, and in pain. I am way out of…
The use of health care information technology has increased exponentially over the last five years, and as a frontline physician, I have seen this change at close quarters. In most of the hospitals I’ve worked in up and down the East Coast, it’s been i…
If you’ve needed emergency care in the last few years, you probably encountered this situation: Soon after entering the emergency department, you were asked to go to a triage area in the waiting room where a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician ass…
