“Ms. Taylor*?” “Yes, it’s me. I’m so deeply sorry to you and the team. You all helped me so much when I was here. But I started drinking a day after I left and blacked out.” Two weeks ago, Ms. Taylor was found by her…
Category: KevinMD
The unsung heroes of sick kids
Chances are that if you have kids, you’ve had at least one unplanned visit to the hospital. Taking care of children in the emergency department (ED) is a special challenge for many reasons including the fact that the child’s parents don’t choose to see…
Why would any woman discourage a man’s advocacy or support?
A male interventional radiologist who is active in the #HeForShe campaign recently told me that he is being pressured to stop advocating for women. My first instinct was the biggest sigh and eyeroll of my life followed by thoughts of locker room peer p…
Do you know why you’re having surgery?
During my third year of medical school, I completed a clinical rotation in surgery. I was certain that it would be horrible. I envisioned myself in the OR, getting lightheaded, passing out onto the sterile field and being yelled at by my attending phys…
5 ways for physicians to fight burnout
There is a lot of discussion about what to do about physician burnout. The conversation includes debates on the actual incidence of burnout, why it varies among specialties and work environments, who is responsible for it and what can be done to combat…
Where’s the humor in medicine?
“Come on, bring it on! Come on, bring it on!” the little girl repeatedly chanted behind the drawn curtain in the pre-op holding area. I pulled the curtain back and peered in to see my young patient in the bed and happy as a lark, her mother was sitting…
What happened to the first name in medicine?
I cannot begin to count the number of misspellings that I have witnessed of my first name. The number of “As” and the pronunciation confuse both first-timers and my closest friends. Its spelling on my first elementary school report card set the rhythm …
The measles outbreak, media imagery, and the thoughtful focus of fear
A rapidly escalating measles outbreak near Portland, OR has led local health officials to declare a public health emergency, with 44 confirmed cases, almost all in unimmunized children, almost all of them in unimmunized children. Meanwhile, New York an…
What Marie Kondo can teach us about physician burnout
It seems you can’t open a magazine or surf the web these days without reading about Marie Kondo, the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Kondo has attained a cult-like status for her ability to help peo…
What Marie Kondo can teach us about physician burnout
It seems you can’t open a magazine or surf the web these days without reading about Marie Kondo, the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Kondo has attained a cult-like status for her ability to help peo…
