February 3rd marks the annual observance of National Women’s Physician Day, a special day dedicated to honoring the countless female physicians who have dedicated their lives to the health and well-being of their patients. The holiday was created…
Category: primary care
7 ways to help your doctor help you: a guide to improving your health care experience
Surveys show that people are pretty unhappy with the state of health care in the United States these days. Insurance is way too expensive, and co-pays and cost-sharing are out of control, with patients paying the bulk of office visits out of their own …
The dark side of celebrity medicine
Sharon Stone has publicly said that medical professionals missed a large fibroid tumor. This followed a prior incident where she reported that she was given larger breast implants without her knowledge while undergoing reconstruction surgery. We all kn…
Patients’ hilarious comebacks: a doctor’s perspective
I’ve had the opportunity to interact with a wide variety of patients. Along the way, I’ve heard some pretty memorable and interesting things. I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorites. One of the most common things I hear fro…
Forgiveness vs. self-preservation: the difficult decision of caring for an abusive parent
“My parents abused me as a child. I went no contact with them over ten years ago, but now my dad is in the hospital with a serious diagnosis and the discharge planner keeps asking me to be involved. I don’t want to. What are my rights?̶…
Why taking risks is worth it: a doctor’s journey from uncertainty to opportunity
There were no smartphones when I was a medical resident in the late 80s in Puerto Rico. During my last year, while waiting for a lecturer to arrive, I grabbed a medical journal from the conference room table to kill some time. I flipped through the pag…
The art of the physical exam: the importance of returning to the basics
“Make thorough inspection.” – Sir William Osler, MD. The art of the physical exam is precisely that: an art that must be practiced often, for years on end, and the one that a physician may become a great achiever or skilled but never …
How receiving medical practice coaching can multiply your income
Not only does medical practice coaching teach you how to open your mind to who you really are, but it also allows you to bypass the dreaded $20,000 to $50,000 MBA business education that your medical school refused to teach you about. When you recogniz…
Primary care colonialism: the impact of profit-driven health care on communities
An excerpt from On Medicine as Colonialism. For about seventeen years, from 1991 until 2008, I lived in little Scituate, Rhode Island, where I practiced family medicine, and for about eleven of those seventeen years, I practiced out of the basement of …
Feeling valued by my boss: How a simple tumbler made my day
I arrived at my desk after a holiday hiatus with renewed energy to tackle the day. It sat there, unassuming, on my desk with a note. My heart was giddy, knowing my tea pastime would level up. Opening the letter, I realized it was from my boss. My boss …
