Fear is something that most of us have felt at one time or another. That feeling of being threatened, when you feel as though your current state is in jeopardy. It’s an instinctive reflex to flee or fight the threat. This instinct has been with u…
Category: primary care
PCPs could counter virtual plans by increasing telehealth visits [PODCAST]
“If PCPs want to meet the new competition from virtual primary care plans, I suggest that they gradually increase the percentage of their visits that they do through telehealth. Now that payers are reimbursing those visits at the same level as in…
My 10 Commandments of a Servant Leader
I have seen great leadership and bad leadership. As a leader, I have also made my share of mistakes, and I am sure I will make more. When I do, I will immediately take ownership of it, learn from it, and do all I can not to make the same mistake. Howev…
“Difficult” patients”: Is it them or is it us?
It was past midnight in the ED, and she was writhing on the bed, palms clutched over her abdomen. I pulled up a stool, notebook, and pen in hand. I was ready to listen to Mrs. Walker’s story. But I also felt a sense of dread rising: From a quick chart …
The daily micro- and macroaggressions of being an underrepresented minority in medicine
I sat in a crowded auditorium listening to an attending at a renowned medical institution give a lecture. I didn’t know the answers, and shrouded in imposter syndrome, I avoided eye contact. The visiting medical student from Mexico answered the questio…
Avoiding the pitfalls of integrating primary care into community-based mental health centers
Providing primary care to patients with mental illness is a challenging task that requires highly skilled and experienced practitioners comfortable with the full array of biopsychosocial problems with which these patients present. For example, understa…
How to be a “good girl”: confessions of an (im)perfectionist
Indian parents are perfectionists. This is what I had come to understand and believe, even before I had the vocabulary to define it. Perfection was the expectation. Not excellent, not superb, but perfection, and only perfection. After years of reflecti…
A doctor’s life is absurd, but can it still be worth living?
I will speak for myself to say that I completely identified with, and fully agree with, all the sentiments shared by Dr. Klingberg in “A breakup with primary care.” Still, from my own life experiences, and a 30-year career in primary care solo practice…
A physician applies to law school. Here is her application essay.
I have been a physician for 26 years. I have been a fierce patient advocate throughout my entire career. It never occurred to me that physicians do not have the same rights of citizenship that the very patients I fight for do. I always thought I lived …
You deserve a doctor who’s a good fit for you
You should like your doctor. Whether or not you like your doctor matters. It matters because if you don’t like your doctor, you’re not going to be honest and forthcoming. Your doctor needs you to be honest and forthcoming to take good car…
