"It’s rare for anyone to try and tally the precise cost of unnecessary care. But when they do, the estimates are staggering. The Washington Health Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to making care safe and affordable, analyzed insurance claims from 1.3 million patients who received one of 47 tests or services…
"A sad truth is this: Most everywhere, health care is a low-margin industry that lacks resources to invest in leadership development. Although our business’s central, sacred function is caring for our fellow human beings, many who move up in the health care hierarchy do so without possessing the so-called 'soft…
"During my medical school clerkships, an attending recognized a truth within me that I’d hidden for many years. Just a few hours into my pediatrics rotation, the attending asked me, 'You had a rough childhood, didn’t you?' I was astonished. How had he known? I asked him, needing to know…
"On a recent call with a small health organization in rural Uganda, I asked the director about the C-section rate in the community. In some private maternity centers, this procedure is performed far more often than one might expect. I’ve learned that while this practice may be financially motivated, the…
"Excited by the promise our research holds for PKD patients, we have been packaging a variety of PKD drugs into our nanoparticles, testing their ability to act as a courier service for renal drug delivery. We’ve been testing this process on drugs that show therapeutic benefits in animal models but…
"Hypertensive disorders with onset during pregnancies are among the leading causes of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in the U.S. and can have far-reaching consequences for the long-term health of the mother and child. In Dr. Jerome Adams’ recent Call to Action to recognize and address hypertension control as…
"As working women, we have an opportunity to be an example of living with passion and priorities, of working hard, of staying committed, not necessarily to work itself but to the priorities we set around our work and our personal lives. When we work and parent simultaneously, we have a…
"Doctors undergo mandatory training sessions in medical school to prepare for unexpected medical emergencies. Health care workers are mandated reporters who have to undergo specific training for the purpose of identifying child and elder abuse or neglect. Bystander intervention should also be on that continuum of responsibility and training. I…
"The FDA recommended an updated boxed warning and standardization of product labels across the drug class. They recommended judicious prescribing and a gradual taper to mitigate withdrawal reactions. While I am optimistic about these changes, the updated warning doesn’t tell the whole story. After reviewing the newly updated Xanax Medication…
Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. Welcome to The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-by-kevinmd/id1515033137 Subscribe on Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9rZXZpbm1kLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3IbkuWWy0WRrpLkO8xvnAC
"American medicine is facing an identity crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to socioeconomic health disparities and turned up the heat on the question of whether health care is a right or a privilege. The financial strain on hospitals resulting from the temporary postponement of scheduled surgeries exposed a…
"Before COVID-19, clinical research was a little-known part of health care. Despite this process being responsible for determining the safety and efficacy of all the drugs, medical devices, vaccines, and other medical therapies available, less than 5 percent of the U.S. population actually participates in clinical research. One reason why…
"I have a form of genetic primary immunodeficiency and several heart issues, among other things. I know that I need to be far more vigilant than someone with a fully armed and operational immune system, so I try to take as much responsibility for that as I can. First tactic:…
"For thousands of generations, parents, relatives, and the extended community raised and prepared children to become successful adults, to acquire knowledge, and strengthen the abilities needed to meet the challenges of their time. How did they do it? Until relatively recent times in human history there were no schools or…
"When I was diagnosed as gene-positive for HD, just over ten years ago, there wasn’t anything promising on the horizon in terms of a cure. It has only been since new clinical trials were announced in the past few years that I have allowed myself to feel a tiny bit…
"I’ve been semi-retired in clinical medicine for almost four years now. Initially, I found myself coaching burned out physicians: Helping them recover, finding careers they love, and even starting their own businesses outside the box. However, as I listened to my inner voice, I was led back to my healing…
"This plea for help is on behalf of every hospital worker who has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic — from the environmental services staff and medical assistants who are often not recognized, to the social workers and chaplains who are surrounded by distress, to the physicians…
"The right choice of words, at the right time, can lift a person out of despair and literally save a person’s life, while an ill-chosen word, or worse, a purposely harsh one, can scar a person. The entire field of narrative medicine is formed around the principle of reviving empathy…
"'That’s great. You want to start a women in medicine program! How are you going to pay for it?' This is the most common question and potential barrier from colleagues, leaders, and those who understand the value of these programs. We found that our two-year Women Leaders in Medicine program…
"We know the ER’s revolving door will continue to spin for so many children and adolescents who seek help in the heat of their personal crisis. Some will need to stay in the hospital – to heal their bodies and minds and even fight for their lives. Some – the…
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 The Cartoon Shrink. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD articles, "Blood clots and the…
"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 to what degree her fetus and its life or loss…
"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 right now. But I know I can’t make you see…
"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 World Health Organization (WHO). Would it be so difficult to…