Walking through the dark construction zone of my now demolished kitchen, I made my way to the garage and out into the still, hot, humid July night. The air felt so thick, it was hard to breathe. At 1 a.m. I was headed to the hospital for a patient that just arrived in active labor. […]
First of all, I am far from a financial genius. I am also not a natural saver. Thanks to scholarships and jobs, I made it out of college without loans. But, I took out a $191K for medical school. In the middle of med school, I took a year off to teach. During that year, […]
A store cashier sees dozens of customers during a shift. A car tire shop mechanic may work on 20 cars. Workdays can be hard across professions. Medicine surely does not escape this. We just don’t deal with customers or goods, despite efforts to make it look like that. A simple runny nose visit may be […]
So let’s get down to it. Everyone is tired of shooting sprees. If you’re a gun owner, you’re tired of seeing weapons abused and misused to harm the innocent. If you’re a gun opponent, you feel the same way but can’t imagine why anyone has these weapons in the first place. I get it. I […]
Burnout has been a descriptive term for years, but lately, psychologists and others have assigned it specific characteristics with a view toward being able actually to study and measure it. One common definition of burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism, detachment, and feelings of ineffectiveness. The PICU environment […]
Why do we underestimate risk? This phenomenon isn’t unique to politics or natural disasters, and it contradicts our need to prepare for future events. It explains why it is hard to get healthy “millennial invincibles” to sign up for health insurance, why earthquake insurance policies skyrocket after an earthquake, and why people tend to underinvest […]
A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine explored the gender roles of career-oriented academic MDs in the workplace juxtaposed with domestic responsibilities. Dr. Jolly and colleagues hypothesized that by examining a specific cohort of younger physicians, more likely exposed to dual-income households, that there would be few, if any, differences in time spent […]
Believe it or not, the topic of work-life balance can be quite controversial. It’s a concept that can seem almost impossible to attain, so some people regard it as a myth: “a pie in the sky” idea of sorts. As surprising as it seems, work-life balance is very much attainable, and my personal experience is […]
Believe it or not, the topic of work-life balance can be quite controversial. It’s a concept that can seem almost impossible to attain, so some people regard it as a myth: “a pie in the sky” idea of sorts. As surprising as it seems, work-life balance is very much attainable, and my personal experience is […]
Since the beginning of a new academic year is fast approaching, here’s some heartfelt advice. You might need it, I hope you read it and heed it. If you’re just beginning your medical school journey, the first line is written specifically for you, but the rest of the piece is pertinent for any doctor, at […]
