“I started planning my escape in late 2020. I would find a way to quit health care, to cease being a practicing physician altogether. Living the life of a doctor-mom, I felt consumed with daily obligations and duties. Guilt plagued me for feeling…
Category: primary care
Want to improve your patient reviews or relationships? Learn to be present.
I recently came across an article in the Journal of Urology that was trying to understand the determinants of patient satisfaction in the outpatient setting. They surveyed 500 patients over two months and asked questions about demographics, expectation…
Your doctor may already be gone
The doctor you are seeing may have already left medicine. Yes, you still have an appointment. Yes, they are still in the room, taking your history and performing a physical exam. But inside their mind, they have already decided. They haven’t said it ou…
The dichotomy of patient needs and patient wants
As a practicing ophthalmologist, I saw many patients who had developed blurred vision, glare, or trouble reading. These patients needed to understand that cataracts were the cause of their vision problems and how the cataracts developed and how they sh…
When quality measures interfere with good care
All medical professionals are familiar with the jargon: quality metrics, P4P, low-cost/high-value care, PQRS, and meaningful use. We see these terms in multiple emails, staff and clinical meetings, and organization-wide initiatives. These measures and …
Why is it hard to find grace in medicine?
“If I make a mistake, my patient could go home in a body bag.” I don’t recall whom I first heard this from, but it stuck in my mind as terrifying thoughts do. And we wonder why burnout in medicine is a thing. Mistakes in medicine can cause …
Why is it hard to find grace in medicine?
“If I make a mistake, my patient could go home in a body bag.” I don’t recall whom I first heard this from, but it stuck in my mind as terrifying thoughts do. And we wonder why burnout in medicine is a thing. Mistakes in medicine can cause …
How to be more like fungi
“Mycelium is ecological connective tissue, the living seam by which much of the world is stitched into relation.” -Merlin Sheldrake Merlin Sheldrake invites us to see the world from the point of view of mycelium. He coaxes the reader to …
What it means to be board certified in health and wellness coaching
After I passed my emergency medicine oral boards in 2019, I learned that the American Board of Emergency Medicine was implementing MyEMCert modules, an alternative means of maintaining certification. I was so excited never to have to take a multiple-ho…
Listening to pain in our younger patients [PODCAST]
“As a family physician for more than 40 years, I have seen countless patients struggling to alleviate chronic pain, with far too many turning to self-destructive coping methods such as alcohol and opioids. Unfortunately, the struggle with chronic…
