Listen to psychiatrist Emily Watters' work with the homeless population and how she got her start writing cartoons, educating patients using out-of-the-box communication strategies. Emily Watters is a psychiatrist and can be reached at . She...
"For the folks who are either physicians or becoming care providers, I hope you choose to familiarize yourself with this odd yet common form of loss. I encourage you to respect a woman’s right to decide at what point and …
"I often think about how I can make you see these things about yourself that others see. I think about the ways I can tell you that things will get better even though the darkest of days is upon you …
"As a species, we have been an abject failure in dealing with a worldwide crisis. We politicize things for money, political reasons and some kind of weird power, even when it kills us in the process. We already have a …
"From a charting standpoint, the sins of commission easily outnumber the sins of omission. Our group’s progress note template begins with a summary that eventually becomes the narrative for the discharge summary. Most of the time, most of the...
"We believe optimal postoperative pain management should provide adequate pain relief, minimize adverse effects, and reduce chances of drug misuse. While we cannot undertreat pain, we also cannot go back to the practice of over-prescribing or...
"The symptoms of EDS aren’t limited to the musculoskeletal system and commonly affect everything from hearing and vision to integumentary issues such as prolonged wound healing and easy bruising. It also became apparent that the specialists I had...
"The impact of the pandemic on the lives of Americans will be felt for years, if not generations, to come. This includes its alarming effect on health behaviors that contribute to the already formidable challenge of obesity in this country. …
"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 to...
"Mid-career colleagues: it’s time to go back to the future. Time to learn again. Time to build professional and social networks at work. Take a lunch break. Bring home a few fewer RVUs. I recently started a monthly journal club …
"COVID was ominously not only drowning people in their own spit but struck in different shades to alter human personality that kept helplessly getting lost in the maze of their own minds. It made the young maniacal, hearing voices and …
"We all go through our early lives in the S-curve of our medical education–college, medical school, residency, early practice. As you reach the mastery phase, I would posit that there is a downward dip as we realize that we are …
"We won’t know until 2022 or later whether there will be an increase in claims related to the pandemic. When a medical error occurs, it’s not like an automobile accident. Everybody nearby knows when there’s been an automobile accident because...
"We know this is true in our hearts and minds, but we also know it to be true in documentable terms. Studies have proven that strong, empathic engagement between doctors and their patients increases patients’ willingness to report symptoms and...
"How do we combat all these beliefs that can make doctors into bad investors? I have a few thoughts. First of all, don’t panic. Most of us are indeed starting behind the eight-ball when it comes to wealth accumulation. But …
"These are extraordinary times. Leaders have the opportunity to seize the day, to lean into this turning point in health care delivery, to drive organizational transformation, and to emerge from the devastation of the pandemic with an organization in...
"We can move from being a reactor to creator. Creators think of the future and make it start happening today. Reactors are just dealing with the crisis at hand, not progressing, feeling stuck, feeling like life is unfair. Reactors are …
"With the obvious accounted for, we turned to the obscure, the area of medicine where judgment and experience come into play. Fortunately, we received sound advice and guidance from the infectious disease physicians. Stick to the basics, they...
"We need you to join the ranks of this time-honored profession with new eyes and determined minds and eyes that see medicine’s problematic foundations and minds that are willing to act on it. Because it is you, future medical students, …
"Ever the teacher, the Dr. Lown we knew modeled 'The Lost Art of Healing' (the title of one of his books) in the clinic, the laboratory, and the halls of power. As health professionals, we watched him listen carefully to …
"Legislative advocacy has become difficult for the severe autism population since the DSM-5 lumped Asperger’s syndrome with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Further complicating the matter, a new population recently emerged who identify as...
"My thoughts immediately went to the tragic loss of one of my best clients, a physician who recently passed away after battling COVID-19. I remember him not only as an excellent physician but even more so as a great person. …
"Even though there has been a lot of progress, LGBTQ youth are still struggling with discrimination. I am disheartened that 40 percent of LGBTQ youth surveyed by the Trevor project in 2020 seriously considered suicide in the previous 12 months, …
"Taking control of distress is done by embracing the concept of 'mental fitness.' Being mentally fit enables one to overcome the negative emotions that have traditionally sabotaged our lives, both personally and professionally. Similar to physical...