Category: primary care

Educating health care professionals on effective communication in rare disease diagnoses is crucial to improving the rare disease patient narrative 

For over 14 years, the last day of February, a month known for its rare number of days, has been recognized by organizations across the globe as Rare Disease Day. With over 300 million patients worldwide impacted by 7,000+ rare diseases, the day serves…

Combining academic medicine and private practice: a success story

In the United States, physicians are typically categorized as either academics or private practitioners. However, a case can be made that it is possible to construct a career path that incorporates both professional avenues. I was put in an excellent p…

Why your intuition is key to better physical and emotional health

In residency, we are trained to follow our intuition. In pediatrics,  this translates into learning how to recognize a sick kid. Of course, we are taught what to look for on the physical exam and the labs and what protocols to follow, but we are also t…

Unlocking the power of gratitude [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join us on this episode as we explore the power of gratitude with Cindy Tsai, an internal medicine physician. We all hear about the benefits of gratitude and the importance of being thankfu…

Breaking free from corporate medicine: one doctor’s quest for ethical care

An excerpt from If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It’s So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First. In late March 2021, during a lull between the third and fourth waves of the coronavirus pandemic, I drove to the small to…

Certified, but denied: the impact of board certification on patient care [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we’re joined by Emmanuel K. Konstantakos, an orthopedic surgeon, and Jeff Morris, an attorney and CEO of the American Board of Physician Specialties. They discuss the…

Healing clinician-associated trauma: a call for connection 

Our modern existence is a state of perpetual disconnection. Earbuds in. Staring down at our screens. Avoiding eye contact. Disconnected from each other and ourselves, we go about our lives in adult parallel play. Numbing any hint of uncomfortable feeli…

The rise of direct pay: a solution to the fragmented, impersonal and costly medical system

It used to be easy. You didn’t worry about your health care or how to pay for it. You had a family physician who cared for you in the office and the hospital. They coordinated every aspect of your care, including working with consultants. And aft…

Breaking the stigma: Making HIV and COVID screening routine in primary care [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we welcome clinical research assistant professor, Maranda C. Ward, to discuss the importance of routine screening for both HIV and COVID-19 in primary care. During the COVI…

Breaking the communication barrier: a survival guide for doctors, nurses, and patients [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we sit down with attorney and author Michael J. Grace to discuss his book, The Mumbo Jumbo Fix: A Survival Guide for Effective Doctor-Patient-Nurse Communication. As a defe…