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We explore the high-stakes world of life-and-death decisions in medicine with William O. Collins, an otolaryngologist and airway surgeon. Drawing from personal experiences, he shares the challenges of performing under pressure, the importance …
How to make life-and-death decisions with confidence [PODCAST]
A few years ago, I decided to pursue a PhD. Why … isn’t it obvious? Being a psychotherapist who helps health care professionals navigate burnout and imposter syndrome, raising three teenagers, and holding multiple certifications in everything from DBT to MBSR to CCISM wasn’t enough—or so I thought.
In my work, I help physicians, faculty, and other high-achieving professionals process the relentless pressure of their careers. I often explain that their …
You are already at the table: Letting go of perfectionism in health care
While a new year offers new beginnings, it’s not about scrapping everything and starting fresh. Instead, it means sitting still and quiet long enough to truly appreciate life lessons and use them as fuel for growth.
So, here’s what I’m taking from one year to the next.
Peace
In 2024 I learned that life’s events can shake you to your very core, and there’s little you can do to stop it. But when …
How slowing down and finding peace can transform your career
I have been a primary care physician since 1994 and have been reflecting on the tragic murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. The crime stands as a stark reflection of the profound frustrations many Americans feel toward the current health care system, which have been escalating for as long as I can remember. While the act itself is abhorrent and indefensible, its occurrence sheds light on deep systemic issues that …
Why the health care CEO murder reveals America’s broken system
I am a family physician by training, and I thank God every day for that foundation. About a decade ago, I transitioned to emergency medicine, thinking I’d left primary care behind. Back then, primary care problems—hypertension, diabetes, routine medication refills—would occasionally show up in the ER, but they weren’t the norm. Fast forward to today, and they’ve become a central part of my shift.
It’s not because people suddenly decided the …
The ER doctor who became the new PCP
Americans heard a lot this campaign season about family caregivers. The federal government is making progress, but more needs to be done. I know about the importance of family caregiving; I’m alive today because a family caregiver advocated for me when I could not do that for myself.
At the age of 38, in January of 2005, I started having difficulty walking. My primary care doctor sent me to a neurologist, …
How a family caregiver saved my life during a rare medical crisis
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Join us as we explore the challenges of health care non-compliance among older adults with gerontologist Michael Pessman. We discuss the underlying factors driving resistance to medical advice, the importance of rebuilding trust …
Why older adults are skipping doctor visits and how we can change it [PODCAST]
The question is whether practicing medicine is like or unlike practicing law. Only those in distress come in search of physicians and lawyers. Thus, their clients need healing as well as protection from the ills in their innate systems or in the systems surrounding them. The absolute dependence or even surrender of those in need during times of need provides their physicians as well as their lawyers the moral high …
Why practicing medicine is both like and unlike practicing law
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly dominant topic in the daily news. From banking to birding, personalized marketing to publishing, and smart homes to sports, AI is permeating all aspects of society.
In medicine …
Navigating the world of artificial intelligence in health care
Think about every health care reform effort we’ve been working on for the last decade or two, including accountable care organizations (ACOs) and the value-based purchasing models from CMS. The vast majority of them use one or both of the following strategies in an attempt to financially reward providers for delivering higher value (it’s like they’ve realized that financial incentives need to be fixed!):
Pay for performance and shared savings are good, but they’re not the solution
Particularly over the last 10 to 20 years, medical care has been vertically integrated so that many of us—most of us—are now working for larger health conglomerates. As part of this transition, more and more of our management is professional, with MBAs or their health care equivalent, running our working environments and collecting our billings from which they generate our salaries.
The Economist, a British journal, tells us that in 2022, …
Losing control of how the health care system treats patients
This article is sponsored by NRC Health.
In the evolving landscape of health care, our consumers, patients, and workforce are undergoing significant demographic changes. At the heart of these changes are generational differences in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. These generational influences don’t …
Strategies for patient-centered and employee-focused care
As an emergency room physician with over 20 years of experience, I’ve faced countless moments of emotional intensity—saving lives, delivering difficult news, and navigating the chaos of a health care system stretched to its limits. Yet, it wasn’t a catastrophic patient case or a bad day at work that led me to my breaking point. It was the slow, relentless erosion of my emotional capacity. I call this state the …
Reviving the emotional flatline: Addressing burnout in health care professionals
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There are one million physicians practicing medicine in the United States. No medical intervention they recommend is immune from a complication. The exact number of complications is unknown. Some are medical errors inherent to the intervention, while others are random errors of nature caused by external factors.
When you add to this the fact that there are more lawyers in the United States today than ever before, something has to give. …
A clarion call about medical malpractice to leaders in health care
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Join us as we explore the hidden pitfalls of behavioral finance with financial planner Shane Tenny. Discover how cognitive biases like overconfidence, confirmation bias, and loss aversion can derail even the most successful …
How cognitive biases are sabotaging your wealth-building efforts [PODCAST]
An excerpt from The Purpose Code: How to unlock meaning, maximize happiness, and leave a lasting legacy.
Back in middle school, an awkward kid on the cusp of teenagerdom, I met a man who changed my life forever without intending to. He had stumbled upon his own sense of purpose and, because of it, was making his mark on the world—and those around him.
Roman was the picture of …
The man who changed the world with baseball cards
The peaceful transition of power to the 47th president of the U.S. occurred January 6, 2025. It was the loser of the presidential election who ensured an orderly process and ironically certified the results.
In medicine, transitions of care – whether from inpatient to skilled nursing facility, from hospital to home, or during the passing of responsibility from one practitioner to another – represent pivotal moments in the continuity of patient …
What if transitions of care resembled transitions of power?
I have worked in clinical oncology in Pakistan. As an oncology physician, I was not supposed to interact with patients in the ER. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with recent medical graduates in an emergency medicine setting. This experience was new for me, as I have been focused on oncology for a long time.
However, that’s the beauty of life—it pushes us to do things we never thought we …
A heartfelt journey from oncology to the ER: How mentoring young doctors changed me
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Join us as we dive into the complexities of autoimmune diseases with family physician Pamela Buchanan. Discover the profound connections between chronic stress, systemic inequities, and immune health, particularly for women and Black …
Why stress and trauma are at the heart of autoimmune diseases [PODCAST]
When it comes to medical breakthroughs, it can be a long journey between discovery and implementation.
Implementing new technologies and therapies for patients is often hindered by slow adoption, inaccurate application, and delays caused by the rapid pace of guideline updates, which providers may struggle to keep up with. These challenges can prevent patients from fully benefiting from medical breakthroughs, leaving their potential only partially realized.
For example, the development of genomic …
How lab values management can improve cancer testing and treatment
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