An excerpt from When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error. One of the selling points for the electronic medical record (EMR) was that it would be a boon for patient safety. Just having all the medical records in one place is a monumental improv…
COVID-19 essentially shut down my in-person primary care practice, and we immediately turned to telemedicine (“seeing” a patient virtually either through a phone or video-based visit). My primary care group did this out of necessity, but nobody predict…
An excerpt adapted from Being Authentic: A Memoir. Our existence is fragile. I learned that in many intricate ways, long before the COVID-19 pandemic, so I do not take today for granted. I do not know what tomorrow will bring. I do not even know if tom…
I rounded recently on a 100-year-old veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. It was a terrible and costly battle fought in Belgium during the winter of 1945, the coldest and snowiest in memory at that time. The German army made a desperate last stand again…
We have all heard that 90 percent of the time, a patient’s history provides the diagnosis before we even perform a physical exam or order any tests. At the same time, much of our reimbursement used to hinge on how many body systems we examined. Like so…
The Blue Angels have awed generations with tight aerial choreography and the sonic roar that heralds their aerobatics. No doubt millions have felt patriotic goosebumps watching their technical mastery at summer air shows. Last week, as the fighter jets…
Abraham Verghese’s must-read book, Cutting for Stone, addresses powerfully the human side of medicine. It is a poignant reminder of the sacredness within medicine created by the unique bond that is the doctor-patient relationship. We are allowed into t…
I pull my car into the garage and exhale wearily. I’ve just finished rounds at the hospital, including PUIs for COVID-19. I’m lucky. I get a new N95 every day, but still, I’ve seen the steady reports of diligent physicians getting infected, so I kno…
As I sit through another meeting discussing our facility’s preparedness for COVID-19, my mind circles back to my infant at home. Husband and I are both frontline physicians, fully aware we may need to take on more shifts and responsibilities. Do I have…
The COVID-19 crisis has forced upon us the rapid adoption of telemedicine with all its advantages and flaws. It has certainly allowed physicians to evaluate patients safely and to assess them while continuing to allow them to physically distance. It m…
