A few days ago I received a message: “Any advice for incoming med students?” As an old, wise, seasoned, now-second year medical student, I know everything. Just kidding — I fumbled my way through first year like everyone else, and just like you will too. No piece of advice allows you to opt out from the […]
Category: KevinMD
Advice for first-year medical students
A few days ago I received a message: “Any advice for incoming med students?” As an old, wise, seasoned, now-second year medical student, I know everything. Just kidding — I fumbled my way through first year like everyone else, and just like you will too. No piece of advice allows you to opt out from the […]
The art of medicine is needed to prevent migraine headaches
He spoke with an aura of superiority, in a slightly nasal voice, and his topic was migraines. It was in the late 70s, a time when there were few options to treat migraines. “Most people who claim to have migraines just have simple tension headaches,” he scoffed. And in a move that seemed unorthodox at […]
Don’t let fear harm your health
I remember reciting a phrase during my childhood that goes something like this, “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.” So as I would walk back and forth to school, I would make a conscious effort to avoid any and all cracks in the sidewalks for fear of bringing unwarranted harm to my mother. […]
Financial independence requires sacrifice
It is easy to look at someone’s net worth and ooh and ahh. The response from my monthly income reports is fairly telling. People see the numbers and wonder how I accumulated so much. They peruse the Rockstar Finance’s Net Worth Tracker and daydream. To capture these dreams, there are countless blog posts about how to become a millionaire. […]
A physician-father who made a lasting impression
Every small community has a unique but similar cast of characters. Our small Southern Utah town was no different. From a young boy’s perspective, the cops and docs were feared but cautiously idolized, the mayor was respected, the athletic coaches were immortalized, and of course, we had the homeless man in town, whom we feared. […]
Restricting opioid prescribing: Some error has to be tolerated
I have written previously about the raging opioid epidemic in Ohio. Attacking and reversing this tidal wave will require many weapons, resources and time. Opioid addiction is a crafty and elusive adversary that will be difficult to vanquish. Our battle plan will have to be nimble and adjusted over time, much as military leaders must do in actual armed […]
The risks of publically reported surgical outcomes
“Some data is better than no data at all.” Do you believe that? I heard it frequently when the infamous ProPublica’s Surgeon Scorecard first appeared three years ago. Back then I blogged about it saying “To me, bad data is worse than no data at all.” A recent study in BJU International confirmed my thoughts about this type of publicly posted […]