Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. “In early 2018 when I started full-time telemedicine, I was quite reluctant about losing the physical hands-on evaluation, especially the palpation, percussion, and auscultation components in the physical exam…
Category: primary care
Please stop saying “provider”
When I started my internal medicine practice in 1996, the medical arena was vastly different than it is today. Back then, having an MD after my name actually meant something. A letter from me to an insurance company would get a needed medication covere…
What needs to change in medicine for it to be sustainable? [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. “A prospect seeking a career in medicine must start with their own awareness of boundaries and perfectionism before entering the field. This inner work must be indoctrinated in schools and encouraged through r…
There’s no one to drive your patient home
There’s a particular bit of conversation I hope never to hear when my doctors are discussing surgery or testing. Not the details of the procedure. Not the possible outcome. Not the pain (and let’s be real, we all know “some discomfort…
I’m a physician, not a provider
Your parents likely spent months searching through baby name books, polling the family, and looking through the photo albums of ancestors to pick the perfect name for you. Maybe your parents had to see your face before they could pick the perfect one. …
Health care takes its toll. Look for the moments that remind you why you’re in it.
Completing my second year as an attending during a pandemic has been, well, interesting. It has brought up a variety of emotions. It’s all you’ve dreamt about for the past 7+ years of training, finally making it — the ability to “call…
We are humans first and gifted healers second [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. “If I knew back in training and practice what I know now, I would have looked for the support and mentoring that would have helped me to forge a path in clinical medicine. But I saw help as an admission of wea…
Stop financially handicapping non-citizen physicians [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. “I acknowledge that as a physician, I am overall financially secure. However, after jumping over multiple extra hurdles to prove myself throughout my medical career, I couldn’t help but feel I have been handic…
The importance of non-judgmental empathy
It has always been difficult for medical professionals to balance the time needed for personal care, both physical and emotional, against the overwhelming demands of their time. This is particularly true today, given the extraordinary pressures created…
A new kind of metric in medicine
Today, I propose a new kind of metric in medicine. I know. I know. (I hear the uncomfortable clearing of your throats.) On one side of the room: Of course we are human, are we not? On the other: Here we go again, Doctor Touchy-Feely. Let’s get on…
