This past year, I served as an internal medicine resident at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, New York. And this month, I officially started my anesthesiology residency at Brown. Working as a doctor amid the coronavirus pandemic has been…
Category: KevinMD
Automatic savings is one of the best decisions you can make
When I graduated from medical school, one of the best decisions I made was to set up automatic savings. I made a budget that had about 25 percent taken away in taxes, decided to live on 50 percent of my income, and made the bold move to have the remain…
In social work, small actions make a big difference
I first became acquainted with Michael after another case manager I work with, a woman, reported the proprietor of the group home (sort of a boarding house, really), Miss Samantha, as she was known, and whom I knew slightly, said she wanted Michael out…
Something’s rotten in America’s health care
My friend, the hospitalist, was livid as he came from meeting the administration. “They said doctors cost too much!” he sputtered. “We’re an expense. An expense the hospital can no longer support. We are an expense!” He turned purple. Nice color. Like …
Pain management’s painfully fine line [PODCAST]
“I find that managing chronic pain can be a bit of a dance between myself and the patient. Sometimes a little bit of a compromise. I always tell my patients that pain is subjective but many things can contribute to pain — certainly stress, lack o…
A physician unmutes herself after receiving an email
There it was, in my inbox, an email from an unfamiliar person. I knew the email recipient but not the sender. Part of his email went like this “This women is obviously very touchy. You did all the right things; I would just forget about her.” I was sur…
Wife swap: a physician’s toxic work environment
“It’s not my fault that you chose to have children.” Years after leaving my job, I still hear my boss’s words in my head. He did not want to get married and or have children. He made that clear during my interview. He was also …
Our patients matter, but at what cost to our families?
oIs it possible to have it all? Can you have a job that you love, helping people and using your brain and hands all at the same time; plus, a family, with a spouse and children, that you are always there for? Is it possible to have a balance between …
I challenge you to discuss death
My medical school’s secondary application, like that of many other medical schools, asked me to describe a personal or professional challenge or conflict and to explain how I worked to resolve it. However, unlike other medical schools, my school specif…
The connection between atrial fibrillation and burnout
One of the greatest health challenges in our lives is the phenomenon of burnout. It occurs when there is enough negative stress that persists over time. As many of us know, stress is an integral part of being human. It can be positive (an upcoming wedd…
