Category: KevinMD

How to bring joy and be valued while avoiding burnout 

Work-related stress causes 120,000 deaths and results in $190 billion in healthcare costs yearly, and U.S. businesses lose up to $300 billion yearly as a result. Stress, depression, and anxiety are, unfortunately, part of the modern human condition. Bu…

Don’t make the mistake of equating an hourly wage for the value of your time

Do you know how much your time is worth? Those of us who are 1099ers can easily tell you our hourly wage. Now, what about everyone else? Well, there’s a quick trick. Take your yearly salary and divide it by 2,000. So if you make a salary of $200,000 pe…

The only way to save medicine, save our country, and to save ourselves is to pivot

A few months ago, I signed up for a virtual conference for women in medicine. Its a group of women, over 10,000 of us, who have watched me and supported me through the past two years of my career. Two years of struggle. Two years of personal and profes…

A physician’s journey from Survivor to Shark Tank to quarantine

I’m my breaking point! Frustrated, exhausted, caffeine-deprived, and surrounded by people who don’t listen to me, I’m not trained for this, and I am ready to tag out.  OK, granted, it is only day two of distance learning for my third grader and kinderg…

Apocalypse now: climate change, cardiac arrest, and the price of inaction 

It seems impossible that 2020 could have brought another existential challenge to life as a lung and ICU doctor. As COVID-19 broke out earlier this year, I found myself on phone calls with physicians practicing in far-flung areas, helping host regular …

When physicians get sick: We are just as human as the patients we treat [PODCAST]

“My experience with recent knee surgery that left me significantly disabled for over a month brought this to my attention yet again. I was completely dependent on others for basic self-care since I was unable to get in and out of the tub/shower w…

A gastroenterologist’s COVID musings from behind the mask

I was recently asked to see an 89-year-old woman who was gravely ill in the intensive care unit. She was admitted with cholangitis due to bile duct stones causing complete obstruction leading to septic shock. It is a life-threatening situation, especia…

The mental health jeopardy of our youngest healers

I was admitted to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation and stabilization just after my third year of medical school. Leading up to my episode, I thought I was fine – stressed, sure, overworked, definitely, but I thought that was normal for som…

Should professional athletes get priority in COVID testing?

As COVID-19 continues to surge across the country, with an anticipated death toll reaching 300,000 by the end of the year, the NFL season has just kicked off. Multiple professional and college sports programs have also returned to play. To prevent outb…

How primary care almost killed this physician

In 2009, I started a family medicine residency. This dream had been brewing since age five when I decided that I wanted to be a doctor. I followed that dream like a mouse follows cheese. Despite some obstacles in the way, I kept my eyes on the prize. I…