When I describe it, many of you will instantly recall the Norman Rockwell painting of a doctor holding a stethoscope to the chest of a little girl’s doll. Historian Neil Harris described that iconic image, published in a 1929 edition of the Saturday Ev…
Choice is always available to us. Choice is a charged word – fueling political debates and challenging concepts of freedom. Many would argue that there are unavoidable obligations, legal and cultural limitations that revoke choice, but at the core of h…
I have noticed several articles describing how antibiotic development has bankrupted some pharmaceutical companies because there isn’t enough potential profit in a ten-day course to treat multi-resistant superbug infections. Chronic disease treatments,…
I looked at a free book chapter from Harvard Businesses Review today and saw a striking graph illustrating what we’re up against in primary care today, and I remembered a post I wrote eight years ago about burnout skills. Some things we do, some challe…
“Although I personally hope to continue to be at or near the frontlines, I understand those that are in a compromised position, and they shouldn’t feel ashamed for wanting to protect themselves or their family. There is no portion of the Hippocra…
A majority of physicians see between 11 and 20 patients per day, and among all practices, the majority of doctors spend between 17 and 24 minutes with each patient. Assuming a five-day workweek, this translates to more than 900 patient interactions per…
“I typed up a brief response to the no show memo, hit reply, and then deleted the original message. It’s not that I am a fan of wasting time and resources, but for now, I have a general personal policy to never dismiss pregnant patients. I’d have…
“It seems as though the looming reality for many of us is that we will have patients who need ventilators, and none will be available. It seems like we might benefit from remembering that we can still succeed in practicing medicine by being prese…
“I struggle for words to describe life in the season of COVID-19. Depending on the day, I need at least a few adjectives: ‘peculiar,’ ‘fine, all things considered,’ ‘terrifying.’ ‘Joyous’ and ‘…
I recently saw a powerful video about an amazing nurse who is a foster mother to children dying of cancer. She lovingly cared for them no matter the circumstance, the difficulties, or the heartbreak that came with each and every death of one of these p…
