A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Every physician takes the Hippocratic oath and promises to “do no harm.” In the face of the current opioid epidemic, this includes protecting our patients from dependence and addiction, including those who are suffering from debilitating acute and chronic pain. Sometimes this involves getting creative […]
As a third-generation physician, I grew up thinking and dreaming of a being a physician, and 33 years later, I am still living the dream. I dreamt of saving people’s lives. I dreamt of a day like today when I received a LinkedIn request from a young lady on whom, 21 years ago, I performed […]
A number of major cities have seen shared e-scooters, or electrical scooters, take over their streets. It’s certainly popular with the riders, but it is creating waves with a lot of critics as well. In Portland, Oregon, there are four companies trialing the scooters over a several-month period. Driving around my city, I find that […]
The supervising resident’s Voalte phone dinged: “Dr. Mel: Please meet Dr. Rosemond at room 514 for Cardiology rounds.” She scrolled up a few texts and saw that her male counterpart who had rounded the previous day had been addressed as “Dr. Stearnes.” When Mel mentioned the discrepancy to Jacob Stearnes, he just shrugged and said, […]
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 48-year-old man is evaluated for a 4-week history of heartburn that awakens him at night. The symptoms occur about three times per week. He has been taking over-the-counter antacids with incomplete relief. Food triggers include coffee and spicy foods. He […]
He was the go-to sports guy in Washington, DC. A masterful surgeon with countless academic publications, he trained orthopaedic surgeons across the world and was the top physician for professional sports teams and Olympians. Dr. Benjamin Shaffer had it all. Yet Ben was more than a stellar surgeon. He was a kind, sweet, brilliant, and […]
I have two hours until I’m due to breastfeed my seventh-month-old baby again, so I’ll make this quick: Breastfeeding is really hard for many and our environment and current policy context makes it even harder. The month of August has been declared “National Breastfeeding Month” by the United States Breastfeeding Committee — an organization committed […]
Watching patients suffer and die is not an easy thing to do. Left unchecked, I don’t think most front-line doctors would last too long immersed in that kind of setting. First, the emotional toll would be too high to maintain over a long period of time. Second, working at the extremes of emotion doesn’t allow […]
What do you think of when you hear the word medicine? Perhaps it includes doctors, nurses, pills, prescriptions, operations, surgery, wounds, illness and disease, curing and healing, science, study, university? But whatever your picture of medicine — does it include love? Continue reading … Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your […]
Fresh out of residency and having just turned 29 years old, I started my first job as a general pediatrician in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. One of the first official tasks of my new position involved picking out brand new office furniture for my private windowed office which was housed along the perimeter of the […]
