Category: KevinMD

Bridging the rural surgical care gap with rotating health care teams

Compared to urban areas, rural communities had a 21 percent higher rate of deaths due to heart disease and a 15 percent higher rate of cancer deaths from 2001 to 2019. The per capita number of general surgeons decreased from 6.4 to 5.2 per 100,000 popu…

Understanding the ethical injury of moral distress in clinicians [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Licensed clinical psychologist and health care ethicist Jenny Shields discusses her article, “DSM-5 doesn’t name it, but moral distress is everywhere in medici…

Why real growth in psychotherapy takes time, courage, and teamwork

What is the purpose of psychotherapy? What are the goals? Psychotherapy is a talking process between a patient and a psychotherapist that involves looking at feelings, behaviors, impulses, and thoughts through a process of self-reflection. The purpose …

What a dying patient’s handshake taught me about life and love

I was working in my oncology ward as usual when I received a call from the medical ICU to evaluate a patient. The patient was a young male who had been admitted a few days earlier with severe respiratory distress. His workup raised suspicion of a possi…

The hidden war on doctors: Understanding administrative violence

Administrative violence in medicine is often understood as harm to patients due to systemic issues; however, administrative violence in medicine is also a process used to inflict harm on physicians, destabilizing the medical field on both systemic and …

HHS at rock bottom: Could the current crisis be a blessing for U.S. health? [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist Muhamad Aly Rifai discusses his article, “When rock bottom is a turning point: Why the turmoil at HHS may …

How doctors can stop frivolous lawsuits before they start

All medical malpractice lawsuits stem from complications caused by medical interventions. Some complications are random errors of nature, which are unpreventable. Others are systemic medical errors, caused by medical interventions gone astray. Clinical…

An effective treatment using an effective care delivery model: Using telehealth to treat adolescents with obesity with GLP-1 medications

Will a telehealth model effectively engage adolescents with obesity and their parents to participate in their treatment plan? Do GLP-1 agonist medications work to improve weight status and reduce or eliminate comorbidities in adolescents? I’ve wo…

How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

“Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.” – Chuang Tzu A hunter once lost his way deep inside the jungle while chasing a deer. He used all his navigation skills, but he did not find any way out of the jungle or food for several …

How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

I remember the first time I was shamed for asking a question. It was during my OB/GYN clinical rotation in PA school. I asked my attending physician something about a patient, not out of laziness, but because I genuinely needed clarity. But instead of …