The Podcast by KevinMD

Latest Episodes:

Essential physician speaking tips and the power of story Jul 16, 2020

Show notes

"People remember stories in your speech. The rest fades away.

I learned that pearl of wisdom from studying great literature and telling personal stories, and now teach it to students of speech. Who can forget the stories of The Iliad and The Odyssey having once read the books or heard of these tales of Homer? And when I want to tell a story of a hero, I think of the story detailed in another chapter of the life of my heroic policeman father who rescued hostages and gave wise advice about medical school that has served me well throughout life, that is, Homework; Courage; Never Give Up!

Again, people remember stories. They forget statistics, graphs, and most information on slides. Stories that generate emotion have the equivalent of Velcro stickiness to your long-term memory storage."

Donald J. Palmisano is a surgeon, an attorney and past president, American Medical Association. He is the author of A Leader's Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech: How to Deliver a Message and Captivate an Audience. (https://amzn.to/2VZu1DW)

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "People remember stories in your speech. The rest fades away." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/05/people-remember-stories-in-your-speech-the-rest-fades-away.html)

How to handle family and parenting stress as a physician Jul 15, 2020

Show notes

"Being a parent in the middle of a pandemic is not easy. Sheltering in place with canceled daycare, school, and college, while also being a doctor or other healthcare worker, working in high-risk, high-intensity situations, presents many challenges. It also presents many opportunities.

It is possible to choose thoughts about being a physician and a parent during the COVID-19 situation that can help it feel more like an opportunity and less like a struggle."

Jessie Mahoney is a pediatrician and can be reached at Pause & Presence Coaching.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "How parenting in a pandemic is an unexpected opportunity." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/04/how-parenting-in-a-pandemic-is-an-unexpected-opportunity.html)

Real estate investing for physicians Jul 14, 2020

Show notes

"Many physicians are looking for alternative sources of income and are looking for ways to diversify their investment portfolio from the volatility of the stock market. Some have heard of real estate syndications, but what exactly is a syndication? For those who have not heard of it, real estate syndications can be an attractive investment vehicle for busy professionals who do not have the time or experience to actively manage real estate. As an investor in a syndication, you can put your capital to work for you, leveraging the benefits of investing in real estate that can provide passive income independent of your time."

Cherry Chen is an internal medicine physician and founder, The Real Estate Physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Real estate syndication 101: a physician's guide." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/04/real-estate-syndication-101-a-physicians-guide.html)

A medical educator shares his love for medicine Jul 13, 2020

Show notes

"Each patient I have seen over these four decades has made me a better doctor. Books do not impact long term memory the way a real patient can. I once heard the chair of medicine at a teaching hospital say that the worst thing about being on call every other night as an intern is missing half the patients. I now know he was right. Each patient becomes a colored light in our sky."

John F. McGeehan is an internal medicine physician.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Every patient makes me a better doctor." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/06/every-patient-makes-me-a-better-doctor.html)

A psychiatrist explores the mental health of physicians Jul 12, 2020

Show notes

"We know that the past two months haven't been easy. We know about the sleepless nights, anger, tears, depression, and anxiety. We know all of this because we know what trauma does to a person, and you are in the middle of experiencing a repeated trauma. The trauma of watching patients die in ways you've never seen, the trauma of watching colleagues die, the trauma of knowing what exactly this virus could do to you if you were to become infected.

We know that some of you feel helpless in your role as a physician, and that inability to control things that you are used to controlling is disrupting your confidence. For some of you, the frustration with your institutions is making it difficult to make through each shift."

Nicole B. Washington is a psychiatrist and can be reached at her self-titled site, drnicolepsych.com.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "To every physician from the psychiatrists who are here to support you." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/05/to-every-physician-from-the-psychiatrists-who-are-here-to-support-you.html)

Strategies to foster meaningful connection during telemedicine visits Jul 11, 2020

Show notes

"The COVID-19 pandemic has upended health care, with telemedicine emerging as a strategy to reduce risk exposures for patients and clinicians. Video visits, in particular, can be effective for many types of clinical care and offer convenience and savings for patients. As care shifts to this virtual modality, however, there is a risk of jeopardizing the meaningful human interaction that is critical to clinical care and impactful to patients and clinicians alike.

The communication challenges of telemedicine, further compounded by COVID-19 related stress, call for strategies to help clinicians forge meaningful interactions with patients during virtual visits. The Presence 5, published earlier this year in JAMA, comprises evidence-based guidelines to foster humanism and connection in clinical care. Reconceptualizing this framework for video visits offers several strategies aligned with the Presence 5 practices: prepare with intention, listen intently and completely, agree on what matters most, connect with the patient's story, and explore emotional cues. Prioritizing explicit humanistic practices can help clinicians foster meaningful virtual connections with patients amidst this challenging pandemic and in the future as telemedicine becomes more widely integrated into clinical care."

Megha Shankar is an internal medicine physician.

She shares her story and discusses the KevinMD article that she co-wrote, "Strategies to foster meaningful connection during telemedicine visits." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/04/strategies-to-foster-meaningful-connection-during-telemedicine-visits.html)

What we can learn from a palliative care chaplain Jul 10, 2020

Show notes

"Faced with the prospect of not being able to provide all COVID-19 patients with the life support that they may need, physicians and nurses are working in conditions that have been described as 'hell.'

How are providers to cope with the trauma they are experiencing in New York and Italy, and presumably other nations as well? How are they to cope with the moral implications of the brutal decisions they will be called on to make if two critically ill patients compete for the same life-sustaining treatment when only one is available?"

Geoff Tyrrell is a palliative care chaplain.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Faced with terrible decisions, but making the right choices." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/04/faced-with-terrible-decisions-but-making-the-right-choices.html)

This podcast represents his private opinion and not that of the VA, his endorser, or board certification organization.

A physician who treats depressed, anxious, and suicidal teens Jul 09, 2020

Show notes

"After almost 30 years in this profession, I have come to the conclusion that there is some truth to that, as no day or week passes that I do not have a depressed, anxious or suicidal teen on my 'to see list.' Could it be my own personal history of depression and suicidal ideation? Could it be my own history of being bullied as a young child? My insecurities as a teenager? My personal history of sexual assault as a young, bright-eyed medical student? Or my own history of private pain and suffering? We may never know. But one thing is for sure I do want my patients, my teens, and tweens to stop hurting. And I plan on doing something about it. One patient's mother thinks I have a 'healing spirit.' That is why they come to me. I say: I hear the call and am ready to be sent."

Uchenna Umeh is a pediatrician and can be reached at Teen Alive (https://www.teenalive.com/) and on Facebook and YouTube.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "A pediatrician's healing spirit: treating depressed, anxious, and suicidal teens." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2018/07/a-pediatricians-healing-spirit-treating-depressed-anxious-and-suicidal-teens.html)

What is the medical basis of vampires and other medical myths? Jul 08, 2020

Show notes

"Where did the myth of vampires come from? Like many myths, it is based partly in fact. A blood disorder called porphyria, which has has been with us for millennia, became prevalent among the nobility and royalty of Eastern Europe. A genetic disorder, it becomes more common with inbreeding. Porphyria is a malfunction in the process of hemoglobin production. Hemoglobin is the protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues. It seems likely that this disorder is the origin of the vampire myth. In fact, it is sometimes referred to as the 'Vampyre Disease.'"

Michael Hefferon is a pediatrician and author of Of Plagues and Vampires: Believable Myths and Unbelievable Facts from Medical Practice. (https://amzn.to/3eREPeP)

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "The medical basis of vampires." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/03/the-medical-basis-of-vampires.html)

Physician-moms carry the weight of the world on their shoulders Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

"As women physicians, especially physician-moms and women physicians of color, we have handled and achieved more than the vast majority of the population, in order to reach our current status of physician.

We do because we can.

We are Superwomen. Until we're not.

Without thought, we take on others' responsibilities, because we can.

In addition to our own personal responsibility to ourselves and to our loved ones, we take on the responsibilities of our patients' well-being, the failures of dysfunctional medical and political systems, and even the disastrous effects of diseases, such as COVID-19.

Our patients hand over their poor health to us, and we accept it.

Our dysfunctional medical systems hand over their inadequacies to us, and we accept them.

We carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Because we can.

Until we cannot."

Rebecca Elia is an obstetrics-gynecology physician and physician coach. She can be reached at her self-titled site, Rebecca Elia, MD.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "What does it mean to be responsible during the COVID-19 pandemic?" (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/06/what-does-it-mean-to-be-responsible-during-the-covid-19-pandemic.html)