“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated factors that cause violence in the workplace. At no time in recent history will you find clinical health care workers under this degree of stress. Physicians and nurses are operating under high alert in hosp…
Category: Psychiatry
Long-term sequelae of a life in medicine
It’s a Friday in January 1997. Another two-week block of nights behind me, 75 hours a week with a weekend off in between. However, working 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. means waking at 4 p.m. to dress, grab 15 hours-worth of food, drive 20 minutes to the parking de…
Physician burnout during COVID: Bringing ancient practices to modern medicine
Back in January of 2020, the average physician burnout rate was a staggering 42 percent. However, as COVID cases continue to surge, that statistic is now undoubtedly larger. Physicians are exhausted, both physically and mentally. They’ve watched col…
The COVID-19 vaccine won’t solve major substance use disorder treatment gaps
As if COVID-19 weren’t bad enough during the pandemic, another public health crisis – substance use disorder (SUD) – has gone from bad to worse, while access to behavioral health services is shrinking. As of September, more than half (52%) of community…
21 for ’21: little sparks of joy
Keep it Simple is a bumper sticker slogan. Life during a pandemic has been anything but simple, and the holiday season presents (not the gift kind) its own special challenges. So does living alone and trying to stay humanized. In his book Together: The…
A record number of guns were sold in 2020: Should we be concerned?
Amidst the abundance of coverage of the 2020 presidential election mixed with an evolving pandemic, here is a news story you may have missed: it’s 2020 and guns are more popular than ever in the U.S. According to data from Small Arms Analytics to date,…
Resilience is the vaccine med students need right now. Coaching can help.
Whether or not you’re a health care provider, chances are you’ve spent the year thinking, talking, and reading about health care. We’ve had national conversations about everything from the global pandemic to rising health care costs to rationing resou…
Schizophrenia: They are on an island of their own
I knocked on his door. It was 8:30 pm—medication time. Jerome slowly opened his door. He was easily over 6 feet tall. Towering over my 4′ 11.5″ self. Naked. Eye to eye with his penis. He chanted, “You ain’t a bitch. You ain’t a ho … y…
Solving imposter syndrome in physicians
“I no longer start every day in dread,” Sheila (not her real name) told me as we completed a six-month coaching engagement. Her statement initially surprised me because that’s not how she described her interest in coaching when we began. She had simply…
Telemedicine reduces the stigma in substance use disorder patients
“The patient is 15 minutes late. Can you still see her?” “He missed an appointment yesterday because the bus ran late, and he’s out of Suboxone. He’s getting agitated in the waiting room, and other patients are complaining…
