It takes a special person to care for people during their most vulnerable states, to keep intimate details about people while remaining compassionate even toward the seemingly vilest of persons. The white color of a physicians’ coat can be a metaphor f…
The health care crisis is a difficult one to face. Health care budgets have skyrocketed, and rates of chronic illnesses have increased much faster than before. As physician leaders, what if we each took personal responsibility for the crisis? Perhaps …
Before I walk into clinic, I already know their response if I submitted my resignation letter today. I hear it monthly from multiple patients who have no reason to believe I’m leaving: “You aren’t going to leave too, are you?” &…
Own it. People sometimes say, “Own it.” Own your mistake. We use it less frequently to say own reactions or actions instead of blaming others and external forces for our actions. Life coaches call it being in a state of “emotional chi…
When plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Pearl published his Los Angeles Times op-ed, “How Doctor Culture Sinks U.S. Healthcare,” a polemic essay critical of primary care physicians like me, he set off a firestorm. While he made some valid points, Dr. Pearl als…
There are some things I wanted to say to you as you officially commence your training that I wish I had been told. Take your training with you. Take the love and support of your family with you. Take the ancestors—their prayers, their struggles, the…
“No offense to you, Doc, but I hate coming to the doctor.” I hear these words at least once a week when I walk into a patient’s room. In 15 years of practice, that means about a thousand times. And that does not include my training ye…
The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched health care systems across Canada beyond capacity. Surges of COVID-19 have strained available beds, exhausted health care workers and resources. Some regional and provincial health systems delayed all non-essential p…
“Interviewing for medical schools was intense, excruciating, and terrifying. Despite the difficult questions, there are three that stand out to me. The first was to differentiate sympathy from empathy, where I spent 30 minutes defending my answer…
Recently I have been talking with my medical students about how the recognition of beauty can shape our actions. We routinely behold lovely paintings, people, and vistas, I tell my students. And paintings, people, and vistas might move us. But we don’t…
