"Stigma surrounding mental illness often prevents patients from seeking the mental health care they need, delaying care and prolonging suffering. Fear, embarrassment, and impaired quality of life are a reality for many patients suffering from skin disorders like severe cases of psoriasis, hair loss, or acne. In these cases, assistance…
"We owe it to our patients to do better. Every time I picture the couple leaving the pharmacy unvaccinated, I am reminded that true health care requires accountability and a willingness to challenge the status quo. That means challenging a “no” or “that’s too much work” rather than accepting it…
“Diabetes uniquely requires patients be experts in their own care and demands 24/7/365 vigilance. Close communication with a health care team eases the burden and improves outcomes. Glucose management revolves around numbers. Unfortunately, numbers are just noise unless translated into actions. Innovations, such as color for people with low numeracy,…
“Lifestyle medicine is part of regular medicine but stands apart in that it is health care that directly benefits patients through the restoration of vitality and health, primarily by lifestyle interventions. And its healing capacity does not stop there. Because it unlocks the door to health and well-being, its effects…
“The bottom line is that while you can’t predict exactly which MMI prompt you’ll be given, you can absolutely start preparing for the MMI. Become familiar with the format, practice your delivery, start reading about issues in health care, and start thinking about major points to discuss around these issues.…
"The tech giants of Silicon Valley – love them or hate them – have put incredible personal technology tools into homes and pockets of our patients and their caregivers. Now, we must activate those instruments for our own sustainability, and for our patients’ benefit. If the neighborly primary care practice…
"I had also used arts and crafts previously in my own experience to help with healing. Including the previous year when I had a breast cancer recurrence did many crochet projects and took classes in mosaics making as I navigated from victim to survivor. However, following my catastrophic accident, I…
"In their hearts, her daughters just wanted their mother to make the most of the time she had left. She never made it to the beach or hugged her grandchildren. From diagnosis to death, it was two short months. During those weeks, she waited for test results, went back and…
"It’s time to flip the script on evaluations. How can we shine a light upon the strengths of the wonderful peers we are blessed to work with? How can we amplify their greatness, help them work in their own zone of genius? How can we recognize that we all have…
"It is a time to ponder on those essential questions: What is your purpose in life, and how can you follow it? What talents can you share with the world, and what are you grateful for? When we deviate from this true calling, when we deviate from love, from creativity,…
"2022 is well underway, and we are still unclear about exactly where this virus is headed and what the lasting impact it will have had on all of us. We have self-driving cars, drones delivering food, and most of us spend our entire day on video calls, and the rest…
It’s been over twenty years since clinical inertia was coined a term, and since that time, experts have debated on how to define it, and where and when it exists across the treatment paradigm. Every year, scores of information cross HCP’s desks on clinical inertia, but when it comes to…
"When people think of eating disorders, the image is often of an emaciated, white teenage girl in the hospital hooked up to feeding tubes. In fact, eating disorders are varied in how they present in a person, and they certainly do not 'look' a certain way. Eating disorders occur in…
"If we want to alleviate the fatigue and frustration women physicians are experiencing, we can always start by solving two old problems: (1) All doctors need fewer bureaucratic tasks forced upon them, and (2) women physicians must be able to work in environments free of harassment and discrimination. There’s yet…
"COVID-19 melted down the world at a very inopportune time in history. Just as medicine was getting a handle on previously intractable conditions, from sophisticated diabetes management to less invasive surgical procedures, a new threat that devastates our population with few good treatments overwhelms health care. Medical workers come to…
"It’s apparent to most that the dark clouds and stormy waters in the business of health care continue. There is much that needs attention from both health care workers and consumers. We have learned that when we work together, strength, creativity, and energy multiply exponentially. We need to move forward…
"Many families still prefer their providers to wear a mask. I have no way to know who carries what political or health views around their mask-wearing. Their masks were off, and mine was on. When I asked them for their preference of whether they feel comfortable with me wearing a…
"My IVF baby turns 12 this week — and having attempted frozen and fresh IVF cycles six years ago, which did not result in pregnancies — I can also hold tenderly the space for those who have heard those words, 'Only one child?' Yes. Only one. Only one, magical, amazing,…
"Over the years, trainees poured their hearts out. I began developing wellness electives and curriculum. I ultimately became a founding co-chair of faculty wellness at one institution and the director of wellness at another. This “’final” evasive strategy, working on physician wellness and resilience. Over the years, I have increased…
"Whether led by the patient or by a primary care physician or nurse practitioner, a proper leadership-based problem-solving methodology is a critical tool. The approach itself is not nearly as important as the discipline to use a formal approach. One approach, for example, is a simple, proven framework that, on…
"There are numerous ways your contract (and your life) can be made better. If you do not want to do it for yourself, do it for your patients. A burned-out physician will not give those patients the same quality of care as a reasonably rested physician would give. For the…
"How does it work? We teach people to speak to one another’s values. Have you heard of listening to answer vs. listening to understand? Well, we take that one step further. We teach first to use personality science to find the values of everyone around you, then listen to, and…
"To reduce eating disorder risks and to support those who may be suffering in silence, we need to keep talking and promote awareness of the issues while clarifying long-held misconceptions about eating disorders. We can’t help those who do not feel able to speak up. We can’t help people that…
"These changes on the horizon for our country are unlike anything we have ever experienced. We have only experienced an expansion of rights for those who have been denied fair treatment. Going backwards only infringes our ability to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Future laws that could…