Category: KevinMD

Love on life support: a powerful reminder from the ICU

Room 1, ICU — Love on life support This was a busy Saturday in 2022. 06:45 — I walk into the unit and spot a gray-haired man pacing outside Room 1. Clothes rumpled, air sharp with sweat. The moment he catches my white coat he stops. “Doctor, any …

Surviving kidney disease and reforming patient care [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Health care executive and patient advocate Aja Best discusses her article, “How early CKD diagnosis can save lives: a transplant survivor’s journey.” She…

Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

It’s not the easiest question to ask aloud—especially in medicine, where we pronounce death but rarely reflect on it. We chart it. Certify it. Explain it. But what does it mean to die? For most of us, the word carries a double weight. It means to…

My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

I have always been a performer at heart, starting with theater in school. For 28 years, I was a law professor at Indiana University in Indianapolis, and teaching gave me a captive audience. Beyond the classroom, I have always been passionate about musi…

Antimicrobial resistance: a public health crisis that needs your voice [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Health care public relations leader Melanie Doupé Gaiser discusses her article, “Antimicrobial resistance needs a publicist.” She highlights antimicrobial resi…

Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems

The field of emergency medicine (EM) is at a crossroads. Faced with rising burnout, a constantly changing health care landscape, and an evolving trend in unfilled residency positions, the specialty is now grappling with another proposed structural chan…

Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

In numerous writings and venues regarding physician practice, the claim is made that “physician education is lacking in nutrition, geriatrics, care for non-cisgender people, relating to patients in general, cultural respect, equitable treatment, …

Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

In the grand theater of American higher education, where the pursuit of knowledge once bowed to the austere discipline of merit, a troubling drama unfolds. The medical school admissions process, now awash in the murky waters of holistic review, risks b…

She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything

Even before Mia was born, I could sense that something about her was different. With my other children, I felt constant movement during pregnancy, but Mia stayed curled up in one spot and hardly moved at all. When I mentioned this to my obstetrician, h…

Rethinking medical education for a technology-driven era in health care [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Medical student Rishma Jivan discusses her article, “Medical curriculum 2.0: Integrating technology and innovation in medical education.” She argues for an urg…