Category: KevinMD

Patient engagement: Can tech help? [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join Joshua Reischer, a physician executive, as we delve into the complexities of modern health care delivery. Explore the challenges physicians face in obtaining essentia…

Addressing mental health in the medical field

In the heart of a bustling hospital, where the relentless pace of saving lives never wanes, lies an unseen battle that rages quietly within the souls of those who care for us. Health care professionals, heralded as heroes, especially in the wake of a g…

Real pain deserves real treatment

When a patient comes to us and describes confusing symptoms that don’t seem to fit into any immediate category, we can see it in two different ways: as a challenge, we can rise to, a riddle to solve … or we can see it as an opportunity to denigra…

How my sister’s rights were taken away, like thousands of others with developmental disabilities

Teresa has Down syndrome and was 49 when the capacity assessment took place in Ontario. I saw her as happy, healthy, and active. She enjoyed living nearby with my 91-year-old father, who often said, “We’re a team. We help each other.”…

How AI can save lives by simplifying communication

Artificial intelligence is here. While the hype is new, it has existed longer than most think. With a history rooted in the mid-20th century, technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) spent decades in an academic chr…

Health care waste exposed [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We are joined by Edward Hoffer, an internal medicine physician, to explore the alarming levels of waste plaguing the U.S. health care system. Together, we shine a light on…

When the doctor’s office becomes a confession booth

“I made a big mistake a long time ago.” These words snapped my concentration. I squinted at the computer screen, and even though it had been stable, I waited for Brenda’s pancytopenia to collapse entirely. I enjoyed seeing Brenda, the…

How Enhanced Recovery After Surgery solves our opioid problems

In retrospect, we were an addicted nation waiting to happen. Not from a self-indulgent culture, not from an unwillingness to suffer hardship, nor any of the generational criticisms of lack of grit. Our opioid crisis derives from an impatient culture th…

Princess and the pauper: Both deserve health privacy

The sad news of Princess Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis is a sound reminder of the sanctity of a person’s health status and their right to privacy. I wasn’t sure which adjective I should use to describe Kate’s diagnosis – &#8…

Finding peace in the face of loss: a father’s journey with hospice

How do you make sense of someone dying? The only way I know is to put it into some context so that, if possible, some good can come of it. Some of you may have known about my dad’s Parkinson’s disease. He’s had a fairly rapid decline …