Caregiving is often described as a sacrifice. One individual bears a burden to care for another. There’s a connotation of drainage, evocations of burned-out batteries and tired limbs. I was a premedical student. I was aggressive in pursuing an MD…
Category: KevinMD
Inaction is driving our collective burnout
I sat knee-to-knee with a nurse practitioner at a school-based clinic in rural Ohio. Choking back tears, she described a patient she couldn’t get out of her head: a middle-school girl, accompanied by her mother and a social worker. Just days prior, the…
What physicians should know about turnkey real estate
If you’ve done any research into real estate investing, you’ve likely heard the term “turnkey real estate.” Businesses calling themselves “turnkey companies” claim to take care of all the hard parts of real estate investing – helping you with all aspec…
The importance of female role models
There is no doubt about it, I am my mother’s son. What would you expect? My father died when I was eight years old. During my formative years, I was brought up solely by my mother. I believe this is a unique lens in which to see both life and finan…
Sun exposure makes people both more and less likely to die of melanoma. How can that be?
Quick quiz question: two people are diagnosed with melanoma — Sarah Sunburn, an adamant sun-worshipper, and Paula Pale-All-The-Time, a fanatical sun-avoider. Who is more likely to die of the disease? The answer is pale-faced Paula. Surprised? Let…
Patients and physicians need to talk more and tweet less
Long ago, and far away, I encountered a patient that changed the way I practice. I was with a medical student while examining a middle-aged woman who presented with a dramatic eruption that was probably DRESS syndrome (DRESS syndrome was not yet descri…
Residency training, and training in residency
Exhausted. Aching. Hungry. Slightly delirious. Mile twenty-four of a marathon? Or hour twenty-four of a twenty-eight-hour shift? I am a resident. I am a runner. I am also a rather tired human since, as I type these words, I’m both post-call and p…
Residency training, and training in residency
Exhausted. Aching. Hungry. Slightly delirious. Mile twenty-four of a marathon? Or hour twenty-four of a twenty-eight-hour shift? I am a resident. I am a runner. I am also a rather tired human since, as I type these words, I’m both post-call and p…
A physician’s plea to Santa Claus
I am a pediatric hospitalist in middle America. I believe in you, and I hope that you believe in me. Many of my patients’ parents do not believe in me, you see, and it makes it hard for me to do my job and to take care of these children in the way that…
Doctors and nurses are made to suffer
An excerpt from Please Don’t Die. While I was still writing this book, a local doctor killed himself. This was a younger psychiatrist with a successful practice, leaving three children after shooting himself in the head. What do you imagine his…
