An excerpt from Slow Dancing with the Devil: A Son’s Substance Use Disorder, A Mother’s Anguish. The only time my anxiety was gone, or at least on pause, was when Luke was in a treatment center or sobriety house. I knew he was safe and surr…
Category: KevinMD
The essence of health narratives, including poetry
In the vast universe of all that has been written, writing about loss, illness, and death is probably second only to writing about intimacy, relationships, and longing. In the world of narrative medicine, the order is reversed. Patients are harnessing …
Discover the power of patience
This summer, my cousin Cindy has been raising Monarch butterflies. Two weeks ago, when I was visiting her for the weekend, she gave me a chrysalis to bring home. She’d already done the bulk of the work, feeding and caring for the caterpillar. I l…
Doctors rediscover joy in practicing medicine, on their own terms
Challenging and frustrating are two words describing what it feels like to be a doctor today. Yet numerous physicians are sharing their journeys as to how they moved through difficult times and have been able to find joy again by practicing medicine on…
End-of-life ethics and antibiotic use [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join Althea Halchuck, a patient advocate. We explore critical insights into end-of-life care, the ethical considerations around antibiotic use, and the quest for a peaceful, dignified death…
Physician return-to-work policies
Police officers are required to undergo second-victim counseling before returning to duty. Should physicians also undergo such counseling before resuming their work? This question arises, especially in light of the ongoing shortage of health care profe…
Communication, power dynamics, and organizational culture in health care
In a recent podcast conversation with Kevin Pho, MD, we talked about the importance of assertiveness in health care, including the ability to say “No” and the significance of culture in supporting it. One of the topics we touched on was the…
How my patients’ Zoom backgrounds made me a better doctor
In May 2020, I wrote a piece published on this very website titled, “Remembering the art of medicine during virtual visits.” In that article, I wondered how telemedicine could possibly allow us to make the humanistic connection that occurs …
Understanding reproductive rights: complex considerations
A phrase commonly heard is “reproductive rights,” and while there is some variability in what this entails, in most cases, this includes a woman’s right to choose not to be sexually active, to say no to unwanted sex, to access contrac…
Innovations in surgical education [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join Ruchi Thanawala, a cardiothoracic surgeon, as we explore the transformative power of technology in surgical training. Discover how innovation is reshaping the way we educate future sur…
