“Medicine is a form of art.” Those are the words my grandfather told me as I embarked on my journey through medical school. Medicine resembles literature; we, physicians, enter into people’s lives, and we become part of their life tal…
Category: KevinMD
The power of syncing life with nature’s yearly cycles
Humans are naturally attuned to various biological rhythms, such as daily (circadian), weekly (circaseptan), monthly (circatrigintan), and yearly (circannual) cycles. These rhythms not only govern our sleep, eating habits, and energy levels but might a…
Prioritizing self-care for health care workers [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join us as we sit down with general surgeon Scott Ellner to discuss evidence-based strategies aimed at improving the well-being of those on the front lines. In this insigh…
The humorous essay that predicted today’s medical anxiety epidemic
In elementary school, we read an essay named ‘The Man Who Was a Hospital’ by Jerome K. Jerome. This is a humorous essay in which the writer describes his misadventure in a humorous way. He says that once, he was reading a liver pill circula…
Psychological safety: an overlooked factor in clinician burnout and moral injury in health care
I remember when I first decided to step away from medicine. While I wasn’t burned out like some of my colleagues whom I would later coach, I did have what I now understand to be compassion fatigue. It was a familiar feeling I had felt before, and…
Panic button: Escaping the broken health care escape room
Escape rooms have become very popular. Entering a room of seemingly unconnected clues with a group of family members or coworkers creates a sense of fear and excitement that ultimately leads, if successful, to a great sense of accomplishment and relief…
Unlocking physician autonomy: the path to career freedom [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join Tod Stillson, a family physician and entrepreneur, as he shares his journey from traditional hospital employment to forming a micro-corporation. Discover how Tod rega…
Elon Musk’s Neuralink aims to empower disabled with brain implants
As of January 29th, the Elon Musk startup Neuralink delivered its first brain implant to a human. As described in initial reports, the patient seems to be doing well and is already benefiting from increased interneuronal communication. The goal of this…
America’s nurses have PTSD: Will anyone listen to them?
My first clinical rotation as a nursing student was on the same floor where my mother died of cancer. And my very first patient was a young Hispanic man with four children. I was asked to tell him that he had pancreatic cancer and very little time left…
A surgeon said no: the catalyst for my evolution
“When are you expecting?” Eighteen months after my third child was born, I was tired of hearing this question. In addition to the embarrassment I felt, I became increasingly worried that something was wrong with me as my body stubbornly hel…
