The Podcast by KevinMD

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COVID in Pakistan: a physician's story Jul 07, 2021

Show notes

"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 in doctors towards patients and their colleagues so that we keep the inner human alive in us as we treat the obstacles we are faced with daily.

If you are a physician seeing a multitude of patients daily, try spending time with the patient and offer them a word or two to heal."

Natasha Khalid is a physician in Pakistan.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "I'm a doctor who had COVID. Did I deserve this? Does anyone?" (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/05/im-a-doctor-who-had-covid-did-i-deserve-this-does-anyone.html)

How to pay for women in medicine programs Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

"'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 improved burnout, retention, and engagement of the over 400 women physicians who participated. However, funding remained the chronic barrier to sustainability.

I will introduce you to ten possible funding strategies to get your creative strategy-building blood pumping."

Dawn Sears is a gastroenterologist and can be reached on Twitter @GutGirlMD, YouTube, and at GutGirlMD Consulting.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "10 ways to pay for women in medicine programs." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/04/10-ways-to-pay-for-women-in-medicine-program.html)

Dying of loneliness: the COVID-19 epidemic in children and adolescents Jul 05, 2021

Show notes

"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 lucky ones – will be able to go home, but by no means are they out of danger. Their lives too are threatened, and they will need ongoing support from parents, family, friends, teachers, and mental health providers – who will likely care for them across a virtual platform.

Human contact has been gravely compromised this past year, and we, as pediatric ER doctors, as members of our community, and as parents, are seeing the fallout in the children we care for."

Rachel Kowalsky and Shari Platt are pediatric emergency physicians.

They share their stories and discuss the KevinMD article, "Dying of loneliness: the COVID-19 epidemic in children and adolescents." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/04/dying-of-loneliness-the-covid-19-epidemic-in-children-and-adolescents.html)

Meet the physician who educates patients with cartoons Jul 04, 2021

Show notes

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 Johnson & Johnson vaccine: a comic explanation" (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/05/blood-clots-and-the-johnson-johnson-vaccine-a-comic-explanation.html) and "If the COVID vaccines don't make you sick, why do some people feel sick?" (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/if-the-covid-vaccines-dont-make-you-sick-why-do-some-people-feel-sick.html)

Let's talk about vanishing twin syndrome Jul 03, 2021

Show notes

"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 has meaning to both her regardless of your views.

I implore you to become familiar with laws, regulations, and general procedures surrounding fetal death and disposal of remains in the state(s) in which you choose to practice and how it may vary in pregnancy. Last, I hope this helps the women who yearn to know the personal experience of someone with VTS, as I did during my pregnancy."

Nichole Cubbage is a biomedical researcher.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Let's talk about vanishing twin syndrome." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/04/lets-talk-about-vanishing-twin-syndrome.html)

To the patient who wants to die: a psychologist's perspective Jul 02, 2021

Show notes

"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 these things; no one can. I know these things may not be helpful to hear, irrelevant, noisy.

So instead of trying to convince you, dear one, I'm going to be here for you. I'm going to listen to you. I'm going to advocate for you. I'm going to help pull you out of this depression. I'm going to help you live a valued life with chronic pain.

I'm not going anywhere. Please, please stay here too."

Melissa Geraghty is a psychologist and can be reached on Twitter @mindfuldrg.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "To the patient who wants to die: a psychologist's perspective." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/04/to-the-patient-who-wants-to-die-a-psychologists-perspective.html)

COVID vaccines' tragic dance Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

"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 staff it with the best scientists from every country, without any political pressure and follow their recommendation worldwide, without local bureaucratic interference? The first vaccine approved by the WHO — no prizes for guessing — mRNA Pfizer.

Humans have a way of complicating life by breaking even common sense into silos guided by politics, power, hubris, and finance. We read history and shake our heads when we see some of the haunting tragedies of mankind. And yet, we continue making the same fundamental mistakes. To paraphrase, "The tragedies will continue; we just will have different entries and exits.""

Dinesh Arab is a cardiologist.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "The vaccine rollout's tragic dance." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/05/the-tragic-dance-of-the-vaccine-rollout.html)

Bloated notes are a huge problem and a time suck Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

"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 important stuff is in there. It's just obscured by what data scientists technically describe as 'oodles' of no-longer-relevant details. Like a package of cheap ramen, the single cube of chicken meat is in there. Your job is to find it.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we keep simply adding details to a note rather than subtracting the no-longer relevant ones?"

Craig Bowron is an internal medicine physician and can be reached at his self-titled site, Craig Bowron, MD.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Bloated notes are a huge problem and a time suck." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/05/bloated-notes-are-a-huge-problem-and-a-time-suck.html)

Pediatric patients need appropriate pain management after surgery Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

"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 unnecessarily prescribing opioids for minor operations. There needs to be a carefully nuanced balance in treating pain, especially for pediatric and adolescent patients.

Going forward there needs to be continued parent and patient education about expectations for recovery post-surgery and proper pain management. This needs to include consistent messaging to families regarding safe use, storage, and disposal of opioids as well as the risks for non-medical use and substance use disorder.

This critically important topic deserves more research and clarification so that the medical community can properly treat pediatric and adolescent pain. Stigmatizing the select use of opioids for children and adolescents after surgery is counterproductive and additional guidance should not emphasize the fear of opioid diversion or misuse over appropriate pain management."

Rita Agarwal is an anesthesiologist.

She shares her story and discusses the KevinMD article, "Pediatric patients need appropriate pain management after surgery." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/pediatric-patients-need-appropriate-pain-management-after-surgery.html)

What you need to know about Ehlers-Danlos syndrome patients Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

"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 seen had contributed valuable information to the overall puzzle but were simply not able to put it all together. I had accrued an impressive list of diagnoses commonly associated with EDS: migraine, gum disease, anxiety, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, restless leg syndrome, sleep disorder, lumbar spondylolisthesis, sacroiliac dysfunction, hiatal hernia, hearing loss, and early-onset osteoarthritis. EDS explained everything right down to the bumps on the sides of my heels called piezogenic papules and my velvety soft, delicate skin. One physician explained how she makes sense of this constellation of multi-system symptoms by using the phrase: 'If you can't connect the issues, think of connective tissues.' Finally, it all made sense."

Julie Griffis is a physical therapist. Linda Bluestein is an integrative medicine physician.

They share their stories and discuss this KevinMD article, "The difficult to diagnose comorbidity that plagues Ehlers-Danlos syndrome patients." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/05/the-difficult-to-diagnose-comorbidity-that-plagues-ehlers-danlos-syndrome-patients.html)

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