Category: primary care

Perfectionism will kill you

Every doctor wants to be perfect. We want to make sure our diagnosis is perfect. Our treatment plan is perfect, and our outcome will be perfect. Patients want the perfect doctor. They want us to get it right on the first try, each and every time. The p…

How female social conditioning leads to burnout

There has been a lot of talk about physician burnout over the past few years, and as an occupational medicine physician, I’m happy to see that conversation is taking place. For too long, we just saw burnout as an acceptable hazard that just comes…

How medicine is broken

I read KevinMD regularly. I see a lot of stories about how broken medicine is: how doctors are retiring, leaving early because they are overworked or underappreciated, or being manipulated by corporate medicine. All these complaints are valid.  There a…

An empowered woman’s guide to better health [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “Women rely on the internet more heavily than men do to understand health concerns, engage with others about health, and use technology to support health goals for themselves and thei…

Sexual health is health: It’s time to embrace that in medicine

For many of us, while in medical school and residency, sexual health history was mostly taught from a disease standpoint. If a patient had a complaint about sexual dysfunction, had a symptom or concern about a sexually transmitted infection, needed con…

Leading an organizational culture change? Consider an apology first. [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “While patients, the workforce, and key outcomes are way better off in a culture of safety, the process from toxic to healthy culture requires a challenging shift from relationships r…

How women manage and mismanage their health [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “Shame has no place in illness or in health. The first step to eradicating shame is to openly speak up about symptoms and concerns and for health care providers to commit to acknowled…

You’re not being frivolous. You’re being fabulously human.

[Frivolous: not having any serious purpose or value] For years, I’ve noticed something that’s bothered me. I see it almost daily within social media women’s physician groups. The post starts with, “I know this is a frivolous que…

The unstoppable momentum of a medical “fact” with no source

When I started my company in 2009, personal experience was a driving force in identifying the problem I wanted to help solve. As a neurosurgeon, I often treated patients who were neurologically devastated by acute bleeding in the brain after years&#821…

Bring the real You to your workplace

Life is short, so make yours extraordinary. Capitalize on what makes you, YOU, and be your own unapologetic self. The Almighty designed us as unique but imperfect and flawed individuals, prone to sin and blundering error. But that’s the great par…