“We have to heal ourselves first. That begins with caring for our own minds and bodies, and souls. It means not avoiding (as I did) caring for our own physical and especially our mental health. It means we must be a part of the lives of our famil…
Category: primary care
Yes or no questions may be hazardous to healthy relationships
A common communication problem: Although important questions often have complicated answers, sometimes we ask things in a way that shuts people down. When someone poses a question that calls for “yes” or “no” as the expected an…
America is failing primary care doctors
While the pandemic sparked a renewed (if only temporary) appreciation of the medical profession, this alone wasn’t enough to induce change in the system overwhelming them – a fact blatantly revealed to me this year at the annual conference …
Family meals’ surprising power [PODCAST]
“If you are encountering families with feeding concerns, I strongly encourage you to ask them if sitting down together for meals is part of their regular routine. The more prescriptive ‘eat this, not that’ or calorie counting model th…
Tomgirl and tomboy: Rethinking gender stereotypes [PODCAST]
“How do we create a world where all of us can express our unique selves the way we choose without derisiveness and shame? I am not here to criticize the wonderful parents and caregivers who are reading this – they only love their children. Common…
Physician struggle with feelings of betrayal
We went into medicine to help people, and now we struggle with feelings of betrayal. We sacrificed so much. While our cohort in college went on to graduate and earn an income and start families, we continued with medical school, an all-in venture finan…
I do not want to be resilient [PODCAST]
“We all know watching a module on resilience, sitting in a lecture about mindfulness, being told to practice more yoga and breathing techniques does not make you feel less burnout. It’s having the support and buy-in from your workplace, to actual…
Why now is the time to get patients back to in-person routine care [PODCAST]
“As the next wave of the pandemic unfolds, the rise in cases is once again straining health care systems. But that’s not the only reason hospitals and health systems could experience an influx of emergency or critical care visits. Findings from t…
Why clinicians can’t keep ignoring care coordination [PODCAST]
“Provider organizations may look at their budgets and think the traditional model of fax machines and landlines is serving their entity in optimizing revenue streams. They may even look at their providers’ full schedules and believe there isn’t a…
I’m your primary care doctor. May I take your order?
My Tuesday out of clinic started off like any other Tuesday. I got up (sluggish, still chronically sleep-deprived), scrubbed my face and brushed my teeth, slipped into workout clothes then set to getting my two girls ready for school. After packing lun…
