I turned to leave. She spoke softly, “Thank you. Thank you for coming.” The way these words were spoken caused me to gulp a deep breath while my heart fluttered. In my mind, I was doing my job. A physician visiting one of our COVID-positive…
Category: primary care
Why boundaries should be part of your 2022 physician goals
As we enter another predictably unpredictable year in medicine, we all have some sort of goals for this year, or at least we should. Goals help us experience mastery, even if our goals include brushing our teeth daily, leaving medicine or traveling. Ho…
The importance of treating early treatment diseases
Today, the practice of medicine mainly involves treating medical conditions after symptoms of the medical condition become obvious (e.g., setting a fracture or treating pneumonia), or preventing disease for a population of patients using a preventative…
Why lifestyle medicine is an urgent priority [PODCAST]
“Lifestyle medicine’s foundational pillars include a specialized look into diet, physical activity, sleep, stress, mood, substance use, and relationships. Creating a patient-centered plan of care based on these areas are proven successful in prev…
What shared journeys to the afterlife teach about dying well and living better
An excerpt from At Heaven’s Door: What Shared Journeys to the Afterlife Teach About Dying Well and Living Better. What brings you here? I ask this question of every person who steps through the door because they have come to talk about death—the …
The gift of honoring life
The doorbell at my father’s house rang, and the dogs went crazy. A physician was at the front door who had requested to come to pay his respects and to check on my father, as he had lost his wife (my mother) of more than six decades just days bef…
Patient surveys: the quest for positive reviews [PODCAST]
“Studies show that those physicians with negative online reviews were more often scored poorly due to non-physician specific causes. In my career, I’ve read comments from patients that said they were not satisfied with their provider because they…
Debunking the myths around asynchronous care
It is no secret that telehealth adoption has skyrocketed as a result of the pandemic, and because of that, many health systems are in the process of shifting to a virtual-first hybrid care model. Unfortunately, video visits, which most will equate with…
Lessons in caring too much from a fictional physician [PODCAST]
“All the faceless young men who are brought to his operating table, prepped and draped, broken and bleeding, are finding their experience of war bears little resemblance to their reveries of war. They should have known better. At corner taverns i…
What it’s like to work with International SOS
At the beginning of August 2021, during the early stages of opening my practice, I decided to take an opportunity that I would be forever grateful for. The organization International SOS was looking for physicians and other health care providers to joi…
