After third-year medicine, I was required to withdraw for handing in an assignment late. It was a paragraph of self-reflection; I couldn’t believe I was being kicked out for something so seemingly inconsequential. My dealings with the faculty bec…
Category: KevinMD
Why doctors need to be chameleons
Doctors need to be true to themselves, but at the same time, they must be chameleons. A doctor fills certain roles in the lives and stories of patients. It is a two-way relationship that looks different to each person we serve throughout every workday …
Nurturing professional identity and maintaining pass rates: an important goal in medical education
The doctor shortage across the United States is coming and has the potential to be painful to millions of Americans. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, by 2023, the country may experience a deficit of up to nearly 122,000 physic…
The weight of it: a pediatrician’s thoughts on how words last a lifetime
Start at the origin. Over two, up four. Down three, right six. Left five, up one. Keep connecting the dots. Everything will take shape. I liked graphs. Plotting coordinates — whether it be for a parabola or ellipse — was always calming for me: numbers …
What if you are one of the 2 percent?
I’m a member of the ACR (American College of Radiology). One of their recent online postings is entitled: Choosing Wisely. Number three (of ten things physicians and patients should question) is: “Avoid admission or preoperative chest X-rays for …
Don’t want to wear a helmet? Sign up as an organ donor.
I walk out my front door today to do my obligatory walk around the block with my pups. Two police cars with blue lights flashing, lead a caravan of over 100 motorcyclists to a funeral for one of their fallen brothers. They revved up their motors in the…
Why physicians should adopt the roles of guides
The family doctor used to be almost the only source of medical information patients had access to. Now, few people need us to bring them the latest news. It’s there for everyone to see. There’s even too much of it. Today, our role is to help make sense…
Letting go when people let go of their lives
My 83-year-old patient had outlived peoples’ expectations on several occasions. Faced with a critical illness three years ago, she underwent emergency surgery and spent several months in the hospital with a series of complications, including sept…
What rushed patient encounters are doing to patients and physicians
Research shows that as many as 50 percent of physicians report some level of burnout that manifests as depression, dissociation, indifference, and even substance use disorders. Medicine has become focused on monetary gains by large corporations, major …
The doctors guide to making a good real estate offer
An excerpt from The Doctors Guide to Real Estate Investing for Busy Professionals. Only make offers on property you think would be good for you to own for 40-plus years. Don’t mistake this statement to mean if you are 70 years old then you shouldn’t bu…
