The Podcast by KevinMD

Latest Episodes:

Our work as physicians and healers is to see the whole patient Apr 28, 2021

Show notes

"Instead of focusing on one organ system, I want to know everything. The diagnostic challenge is to discern patterns of insults, symptoms, and lab tests that correlate with specific microbes, specific organ dysfunction, specific diet issues, and environmental exposures. We keep asking questions until we detect patterns in the chronically ill patient that correlate with any number of overlapping issues such as infections, hormone deficiencies, immune dysregulation, toxic exposures, and diminished capacity to detoxify. And then we explore the interrelationship of all these problems. Differentiation then integration."

Daniel Kinderlehrer is a physician and author of Recovery from Lyme Disease: The Integrative Medicine Guide to Diagnosing and Treating Tick-Borne Illness.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Our work as physicians and healers is to see the whole patient." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/our-work-as-physicians-and-healers-is-to-see-the-whole-patient.html)

Physician suicide: We need safe spaces to talk about it Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

"Suicide is a path, whether fast or slow, that a person chooses to take because of their own reasons. We certainly can never predict suicide or truly understand it. But with that said, every time it happens, it is a tragic loss of life that time can and will never heal.

We must do more to support our physicians in training, residents, and established clinicians. Like how we sit at the bedside with patients and listen to their stories, someone needs to listen to what doctors have to say.

This is an epidemic that we must address right now. We must shine a light on the underpinnings of stress, dissatisfaction, grief, guilt, and pain. And we must drag out of the shadows a broken healthcare system that burdens many of our physicians.

It starts with making it OK to talk about suicide and to foster an environment where it is safe for medical students and physicians to share their stories privately and publicly. We absolutely must create safe spaces for conversations to be had at all levels of medical education."

Ton La, Jr. is a medical student and can be reached on LinkedIn.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Physician suicide: We need safe spaces to talk about it." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/physician-suicide-we-need-safe-spaces-to-talk-about-it.html)

My Klonopin withdrawal story Apr 26, 2021

Show notes

"Our relationship with Big Pharma is a dangerous, nasty, and abusive one, and it can prove to be fatal too. Benzos aren't limited to a specific class, race, gender, creed, etc. Many stars have died from mixing benzodiazepines with opioids or illegal drugs.

It has been a little over a year that I have been off of Klonopin, and I'm happy to report that most of my withdrawal symptoms are gone. I handle stress better now, and I feel emotions more deeply and genuinely. Please be patient with the process and with yourself. It gets better, I promise."

Bethany Silverman is a writer.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "My Klonopin withdrawal story." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/my-klonopin-withdrawal-story.html)

Focus medical education on training the whole person Apr 25, 2021

Show notes

"Had I understood the nature of my struggles and felt permitted and supported in actively addressing them, I would have been more effective, a better learner, and more fulfilled. After trying out a few clinical settings, a lot of reading, and some much-needed coaching, I found my identity as a healthy, inspired physician. Eventually, by setting boundaries and understanding my patterns, I discovered what I needed to thrive.

So, maybe we need to reimagine medical education. From medical school onward, physician education and training should be conceptualized as a career-long process supporting the holistic development of life-long learners, leaders, and healers. Certainly, there has got to be a better way than my circuitous, self-designed, and at times, painful and exhausting pathway."

Tracy Asamoah is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and can be reached at Tracy Asamoah Coaching.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "It's time to focus medical education on training the whole person." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/its-time-to-focus-medical-education-on-training-the-whole-person.html)

Leadership lessons from Dr. Fauci Apr 24, 2021

Show notes

"Dr. Fauci navigated the delicate balance between his obligation to the American people as one of our most respected physician-scientists and holding on to his job in a federal government whose leader doesn't take kindly to independent thought that potentially upstages his own. Dr. Fauci not only survived multiple appearances on the national stage with Trump, as the task force morphed into charade, but he even emerged as a popular folk hero, all the while maintaining his status as a respected medical authority.

Despite having ample opportunity to confront the president on his misinformation, Dr. Fauci focused his unwavering attention on mitigation of the virus, refuting Trump's often puzzling and sometimes harmful pronouncements, without even having to directly acknowledge them."

Michael Miyamoto is a cardiologist.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Dealing with a bad boss: lessons from Dr. Fauci." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/dealing-with-a-bad-boss-lessons-from-dr-fauci.html)

A nurse shares her story of sexual assault Apr 23, 2021

Show notes

"I am a nurse who has worked at a rural hospital. My husband is a board-certified family medicine doctor. In the fall of 2020, I was raped by my massage therapist. I know that everyone has an opinion of what they would do in that situation, and I was probably one of those people. However, to my complete shock (quite literally), I didn't behave in any manner that I would have thought. Much to my embarrassment, I was a nurse who had no idea what to do when I was raped on top of the previously mentioned humiliation."

The guest is an anonymous nurse who shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "There needs to be a better approach to victims of sexual violence." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/there-needs-to-be-a-better-approach-to-victims-of-sexual-violence.html)

Don't forget about influenza and the lessons learned from COVID Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

"When the public was made aware of the risk of transmitting the virus and the far-reaching measures of social distancing, closing schools, and lock-down, most Americans willingly complied. After all, they became aware, for the first time, of the risk of aerosolized viral particles present in theatres, churches, restaurants, and classrooms. But we physicians already knew that. We knew that when we went into the operating room or the bedside to repair a laceration in the emergency department, we wore masks to protect our patients from the microorganisms living in our noses and mouths. We already knew that the spread of norovirus and other food-borne illness can be mitigated by the use of hand-washing and the use of sanitizing cleaners. Physicians already knew that the world was a rather naïve and scary place in terms of infectious disease."

Joan Naidorf is an emergency physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Influenza: a deadly risk in schools before COVID." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/influenza-a-deadly-risk-in-schools-before-covid.html)

Expressing grief through the power of story Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

"Now the room is silent as if nothing at all occurred. I stand watching the red stain forming on the pristine white sheet, mocking me in my failure. I trained at excellent institutions, survived residency, and served in combat. Now, here at a Level 1 trauma center, I could not save this life with every possible medical tool at my disposal. This injury, this particular injury, always has, and forever will, haunt my dreams. The hubris to think that I could be the difference, that I am better than those who came before me, was answered tonight, as it has been before, by this deserved slap in the face.

I absorb the charged silence; my mind wanders back to my third year of medical school. I was doing well, a moderate prodigy of the medical department. I was ready for every conference, every patient, well-read and well prepared, until that fateful day."

Richard Morand is a trauma surgeon. Melissa Fournier is a social worker. They are, respectively, contribute and co-editor, The Healer's Burden: Stories and Poems of Professional Grief.

They share their stories and discuss the KevinMD article, "I could not save this life with every possible medical tool at my disposal." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/11/i-could-not-save-this-life-with-every-possible-medical-tool-at-my-disposal.html)

How essential workers cope with COVID Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

"I really shouldn't complain. I haven't lost my housing or job. I have plenty of food and toilet paper, and so far, no close friend or family have died from COVID. That said, this pandemic is hard. In fact, it is exhausting.

During the spring and summer, I gave positive COVID results to a number of patients from my home's safety, thanks to telehealth. But the reality of telling patients how to self-quarantine when six people live in two rooms with one bathroom, or giving resources about food and other basics because the household provider lost a job, or can't work because s/he is COVID positive, is tough. Tough on the recipient of the advice and tough on me."

Therese Zink is a family physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, ThereseZink.com. She is the author of COVID Chronicles: How Essential Workers Cope.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "The long journey of COVID." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/11/the-long-journey-of-covid.html)

Physician morale and the doctor's voice Apr 19, 2021

Show notes

"It is dangerously unfortunate that the use of masks has been politicized in many parts of our nation. The Dakotas (or North and South COVID as they were recently called on Saturday Night Live) are far from exempt from this phenomenon. Likely, if Governor Burgum's decision was less influenced by fear of criticism from his constituents and political retaliation, he would have required a mask mandate long before making it acceptable for infected individuals to leave their home. Masks have time and again proven to be safe and effective. It's not a big ask."

Sheetal Khedkar Rao is an internal medicine physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "The problem with allowing COVID-positive health care workers to continue working." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/11/the-problem-with-allowing-covid-positive-health-care-workers-to-continue-working.html)

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