It was a sunny morning in July, and I was scheduled at the outpatient center with the oral and maxillofacial surgeons for teeth extractions. One of my patients was your son, an athletic teenager, whose only medical history was asthma. According to you and him, he had not experienced any recent asthma attacks and had […]
When I think back to the original meaning of the word “doctor,” I believe we may have lost our way in the physician/patient interaction. The word “doctor” originates from the Latin word, meaning to teach. As a physician and educator, I can’t remember the last time I went to the doctor and was taught something. […]
In 2016, dispatchers in my hometown of Mansfield — a Rust Belt city in rural North Central Ohio — fielded over 363 overdose-related police calls. The community organized an opiate response team, created to help individuals following an overdose, which could only respond to those experiencing their second overdose. Around the country, small towns and […]
An excerpt from the Docs Outside the Box podcast, episode 3: How Dr. Drai gets paid the big bucks to do what he loves! Dr. Nii Darko: Have you ever wanted to know what the lifestyle was like for Dr. Sanjay Gupta, or even a Dr. Oz — or even the doctors in the show “The […]
Many of us have moms and dads or older friends and relatives in nursing home facilities and care very much about their well-being and the supports they receive. But who’s caring for the care aides who do the bulk of the frontline work in nursing homes? Their welfare is almost entirely overlooked in the health […]
The health care industry is experiencing a crisis. There’s a shortage of highly skilled doctors. And as a result, doctors are working long hours that are affecting their stress levels, increasing burnout rates, health and the ability to diagnose their patients properly. This piece will discuss the many solutions to this problem: from offering better, […]
If you’re not a mental health professional, your exposure to psychosis may come through a variety of channels. You may know someone with a psychotic disorder; you may have a psychotic disorder yourself. You may have taken an introductory class on psychology in high school or college, and you may be aware of psychotic episodes […]
As a physician in training, you’re in the first quarter of your new position as an intern or resident. If you are an early career physician, you are adjusting to life as an attending. What exactly does that mean for you? Are you moving from rotation to rotation hopeful that someone will show you the […]
“Where is my baby?” I awoke upset that my belly, which hours before was bulging through my doctor scrubs, had surprisingly been flattened. No one had asked for my permission to deliver my baby. They told me he was delivered emergently — at 32-weeks gestation — to save both our lives. I was a third-year […]
This must be my eighth cancer scare. (No, I really don’t undergo excessive testing.) Decades ago, I’d noted a possibly normal finding but dropped it after getting no response at subspecialist visits. Recently, following pertinent CME, I asked again and the physician bit. You can guess the rest. One night while dodging traffic I accessed […]
