I walk by the closed double doors and frosty windows of the ICU. You’re lying in there, intubated. It feels weird to go to work now. I can’t see you or talk to you, don’t know the drips, don’t know the plan … and it’s killing me. I, along with ma…
Category: KevinMD
How technology removes the pain point from diabetes management
There is a wealth of information about your health circulating in your blood. For people with diabetes, accessing that information can be a matter of life or death. For nearly 30 years, the prevailing technology for checking the blood sugars of someone…
The stories of rural physicians
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com. When George W. “Billy” Campbell, MD, walks down the street, he never knows who — or what — he’s going to encounter. Anything can happen when you’re the doctor at Foothills Fam…
MKSAP: 42-year-old man with thrombophilia
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 42-year-old man arrives for follow-up consultation. Three months ago he developed a proximal right leg deep venous thrombosis following a s…
The spirit of Santa Claus in medicine
For longer than anyone could remember, he was the rural community’s pharmacist. A skilled compounder of prescriptions and conversant in chocolates, greeting card, and how to prevent a trip to the doctor’s office by using an over-the-counter…
The Osteopathic Oath vs. the Hippocratic Oath
It was during the first few weeks of medical school that I realized that I was joining a secret society. Like many physicians, I was called to medicine at a young age. For me, it was Doctor Beverly Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I admired…
Silence in health care is a crisis
I was moved when a family entrusted me to give a eulogy for their beloved. This great privilege highlighted a hallmark of a physician’s service to humanity: “to cure sometimes, alleviate often, but comfort always.” But I was horrified to learn that his…
Join telemedicine’s transformation of the health care delivery model
I came across Dr. Kevin Tolliver’s post, “Beware the Limits of Telemedicine,” and found it to gloss over the benefits of telemedicine and the opportunities that increasing telemedicine uptake can afford to the patient and provider. With thi…
The thorny side of medical marijuana
Patients legally using medical marijuana (cannabis) at home may be stunned if they are admitted to a hospital because many hospitals may prohibit them from using it. In the United States, medical marijuana is legal in 31 states, and research shows that…
A call for accountability in health care
In Dr. Suneel Dhand’s article, “We can do a better job with hospital discharge paperwork,” he advocates for physicians to do a better job at creating discharge instructions that are more appealing and easier for patients to understand. After all, coher…
