I had the fascinating experience of interviewing for residency at 20+ weeks’ pregnant. Although a number of people told me that I was doomed, I found the experience to be quite enlightening. Since I couldn’t hide the fact that life outside medicine was going to be important to me during residency, I felt empowered to […]
Category: KevinMD
Take a close look at the number of opioid pills you’re prescribing
Recently, a generally healthy friend of mine had two small, unrelated surgeries over the course of a few months. For the first, a small operation on his hand, he received a prescription for 30 oxycodone pills. He used one the night after surgery, to make sure pain wouldn’t wake him. Over the next few days […]
The impact of commuting on your financial plan
As we get older, time becomes are more valuable commodity. I clearly remember that as a college student, I was more than willing to wait in line for over an hour simply to get a free sandwich promotion. Nowadays, I’m not even too interested in waiting 20 minutes to be seated at a restaurant. Our […]
Surprising and unlikely rewards of social media engagement by physicians
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com. It is not uncommon for my patients and their family members to ask for my credentials at the end of our preoperative interview. Despite reaching my forties, my Asian genes have allowed me to maintain a youthful appearance – often causing apprehension about my claim […]
Primary care does what Google can’t
Non-clinicians skip over some of the most necessary underpinnings of doctoring and speak too much about housekeeping issues: blood pressure targets, aspirin use, mass screenings, immunization rates and so on. People without medical degrees could do those things. But there are steps that must be taken before we worry about the measurables. These are the […]
How burnout helped this physician find his purpose
A common proverb teaches that, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Medicine is a world where people are well-intended. Yet they fail to change a system that is broken and continues to produce burned out, depressed, and suicidal doctors. We can see their final destination, look back, and realize that we helped pave the road that […]
Best practices in head CT imaging: How are we doing?
Computed tomography, or CT scanning, is one of the most powerful diagnostic tools to emerge during my medical career. Just look at the detail in the brain images above, taken at 90-degree angles through the brain. And I was there at the beginning. I remember well when I was a medical student taking neurology, and […]
The empty celebration room on National Doctors’ Day
A physician recently recalled to me a situation he found himself in on the last National Doctors’ Day. Those of you reading who work in health care, will already be aware that this is on March 30th every year. I have seen this day celebrated in every hospital I’ve worked in since I first came to […]