“Hi, Doctor Kamajian! I finally got health insurance that I can use to come to see you with my son.” I looked at the chart and realized it had been three years since I had seen her very familiar face. So, before the exam, we chatted and got reacq…
Category: KevinMD
Navigating infertility while training to perform abortions
I met the medical criteria for infertility one week before starting my journey to becoming an abortion provider. In my second year of residency as a family physician, my husband and I began trying to have a child. At six months without success, we impa…
Best jobs for retired physicians: What are the options?
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com. Even the best of careers must end sometime. Sure, most doctors look forward to retirement, but not every retired physician wants to sit back collecting sea-shells for the rest of his or her life. Whe…
MKSAP: 60-year-old man with constant low-grade epigastric pain radiating to his back
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 60-year-old man is evaluated for constant low-grade epigastric pain radiating to his back that worsens after he eats fatty foods. He has a …
Surprise! Health care can learn a lot from the DMV
Three years ago, I received a letter in the mail informing me that my driver’s license would be expiring. Almost immediately, I felt a sense of dread because I knew I would have to go to the DMV to renew my license. As a full-time, practicing orthopedi…
Blame the pain, not the opioids
I’ve noticed a frightening trend in the latest research on patients taking prescribed opioids: whatever the negative outcomes, researchers attribute them to the opioid medications instead of the underlying pain. The many detrimental outcomes thes…
Children surprise their doctors to say thank you
Children surprise their doctors by dressing up just like them to say thank you for the incredible work they do each day. Happy Doctors’ Day, courtesy of Children’s Health.
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How physicians can find meaning in their work
“Seriously, do you often/very often reflect on how your work helps make the world a better place?” I was recently involved in an email exchange with a colleague when she sent me this line. We will get to the answer to that question at the end. I was di…
Using the Avengers to explain how cancer treatments work
In a recent talk I gave for colleagues, I ventured outside the box. I searched for a metaphor to make cancer treatments easy to understand. Around the same time, it so happened my kids decided we needed to re-watch all of The Avengers movies at home. (…
A physician’s empathy in urgent care makes a big difference
While winter is traditionally the busiest time of year for pediatricians, this winter has been particularly difficult in the Midwest with not only a larger number of ill visits, but a late and heavy flu epidemic hitting at a point where most of us were…
