Overweight, Obese Teens Show Early Heart Risks
May 21, 2012
Two new studies show the early health risks the ever-enlarging number of obese U.S. teens face, from diabetes to heart damage.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
What if stress management was actually ridiculously easy?
May 20, 2012
I keynoted at a conference a few weeks ago. As usual, as the date approached I felt the pressure intensify. It’s much better than when I first started public speaking years ago. For my very first paid speech, which was in front of several hundred people, I shook for the three months leading up to it – some days when I got really worked up it was actually a challenge to hold a pen.
For this recent event, I did a few preparations the week prior (mostly making lists to help me feel like I was getting something done). I’d told myself I’d prep over the weekend, though of course when the weekend came other more fun things beckoned. No problem, I’d devote the entire day prior to the event to preparing.
Read the rest of What if stress management was actually ridiculously easy? on KevinMD.com.
Category: Conditions | Tags: Psychiatry | No comment
How we deliver bad news is critical to how families deal with grief
May 20, 2012
As a cardiac electrophysiologist, I have had to discuss bad news with patients and families more times than I would like during my career. How a physician goes about this process can make an enormous impact in the lives of those affected by the news that must be delivered.
Precious little time is devoted to teaching this essential communication skill in the training of physicians today. I can remember back to the early days of my internship at the University of Virginia when I had my first patient death. I had been a “real doctor” for less than a week. I was caring for a gentleman in the CCU who had suffered an anterior MI and was in cardiogenic shock. He was on multiple pressors and his BP remained dangerously low. He had lots of tubes and lines and was supported by an intra-aortic balloon pump.
Read the rest of How we deliver bad news is critical to how families deal with grief on KevinMD.com.
Category: Physician | Tags: Hospital, Palliative care | No comment
His father’s suffering had already been too great
May 20, 2012
He looked dead. The paramedics brought him down the hall toward one of my critical care beds, and for a moment I thought the patient was dead. He was nearly the same color as the pale sheet covering his thin frame. His cheeks were sunken in and his eyes were gazing upward, in what I sometimes call the “death stare.” Then, surprisingly, he moved his arm upward to push his oxygen mask off of his face, resting it atop his head like one would wear a pair of glasses not in use.
Read the rest of His father’s suffering had already been too great on KevinMD.com.
Category: Physician | Tags: Hospital, Palliative care | 3 comments
Doctors, use Google to get more patients in less than 7 minutes
May 20, 2012
Every month, hundreds of thousands of people look for a doctor on Google. As an amazing practitioner, your site deserves to be seen by these patients, and that means being on the first page of search results. Getting on that first page can be tricky, but there is one ridiculously easy thing you can do to improve your chances – and it takes less than 7 minutes.
Read the rest of Doctors, use Google to get more patients in less than 7 minutes on KevinMD.com.
Category: Tech | Tags: Primary care, Specialist | No comment
A Life After Residency Alliance to ease the transition to practice
May 19, 2012
I recently wrote about the ways in which residents’ lives change dramatically during the transition to practice. For many, this transition feels like a complete 180.
I’m going to devote today’s post to introducing the concept of a “Life After Residency Alliance,” which is a group of people you can rely on for support, guidance and direction as you transition to practice.
The concept is taken from Napoleon Hill’s Mastermind Alliance, a philosophy of assembling a select group of people (Masterminds) to achieve a definite purpose. Each person contributes his or her strengths and talents, and helps to form a stronger alliance.
Read the rest of A Life After Residency Alliance to ease the transition to practice on KevinMD.com.
Category: Education | Tags: Residency | No comment
Diversity provides color to the tapestry of human experience
May 19, 2012
I was recently appointed the Assistant Director of the Yale Cancer Center with the portfolio of Diversity/Disparities. While I’m not sure I’m the most qualified for this, it has gotten me thinking a lot about diversity, disparities, and what it means to achieve health equity. Too often, I think, we are plagued by narrow thinking … the impression that our only objective is to ensure minority accrual to clinical trials. It seems to me, however, that diversity is so much more. It is truly at the core of what we do, particularly as oncologists.
Read the rest of Diversity provides color to the tapestry of human experience on KevinMD.com.
Category: Physician | Tags: Cancer | 2 comments
Diversity provides color to the tapestry of human experience
May 19, 2012
I was recently appointed the Assistant Director of the Yale Cancer Center with the portfolio of Diversity/Disparities. While I’m not sure I’m the most qualified for this, it has gotten me thinking a lot about diversity, disparities, and what it means to achieve health equity. Too often, I think, we are plagued by narrow thinking … the impression that our only objective is to ensure minority accrual to clinical trials. It seems to me, however, that diversity is so much more. It is truly at the core of what we do, particularly as oncologists.
Read the rest of Diversity provides color to the tapestry of human experience on KevinMD.com.
Category: Physician | Tags: Cancer | No comment
Necessary is a word best defined when looking back in time
May 19, 2012
How do you define a “good” doc? I was reading the patient responses to an article here on KevinMD.com and was saddened by how many of the patients were angry with their docs. Anger is an unhealthy emotion! One of the respondents was particularly angry about the “unnecessary” tests her doc performed on her and her family.
I have written about the vagaries of the term “unnecessary” in the past. What makes a doc brilliant? What makes a doc lousy? How can the same doc be perceived as “brilliant” by some patients and “lousy” by others?
Read the rest of Necessary is a word best defined when looking back in time on KevinMD.com.
Category: Physician | Tags: Primary care | 5 comments
Medicine involves a tension between isolation and connection
May 19, 2012
I was skeptical when a doctor casually mentioned that 2% of all pregnancies are ectopic pregnancies (in which the fertilized egg is implanted somewhere other than the uterus, usually the fallopian tube). Without treatment, a common outcome is fallopian tube rupture, which jeopardizes the life of the mother. It is a serious medical concern. I shot a confused look at a fellow first-year medical student. Two percent? It seemed way too high.
Read the rest of Medicine involves a tension between isolation and connection on KevinMD.com.
Category: Education | Tags: Emergency, Medical school, OB/GYN | 7 comments
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