doctor-patient relationship
The Small Costs
We all hear about “health care costs,†a lumbering behemoth that dominates the news. But it is the smaller amounts, literally the pocket money, that often has the strongest effect on the concrete currency of health. Sometimes doctors find themselves in the position of offering their patients a few dollars to help with a co-pay or transportation home. More
The Challenge of Diabetes
A diagnosis of diabetes often triggers a flurry of life changes and medical interventions. But diabetes–like all chronic illnesses–is a marathon, not a sprint. More
Doctors’ Bad Habits
We doctors constantly lament how difficult it is get our patients to change their behavior. But the truth is, we are equally intransigent when it comes to changing our own behaviors as caregivers. More
NYU Stories review of “What Doctors Feel”
A rare glimpse into the effects of shuttling from patient to patient without being allowed to process the powerful feelings—fear, anger, grief—that naturally arise when lives are at stake. More
More Power to the Placebo
The hospital ward was quiet for the night, except for “the howler.†The patient and I were both pretty exasperated with each other. He was sullen and cranky; I was exhausted and at my wits’ end. More
Clinical Correlations review of “What Doctors Feel”
As the saxophone virtuoso Charlie Parker said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.†More
Science-Based Medicine review of “What Doctors Feel”
A patient might reasonably say “I don’t give a damn how my doctor feels as long as she gets me better,†but emotions affect everything we do, influencing clinical decisions and patient outcomes. More
The Doctor Will See Your EMR Now
Like the milkman of yore, the doctor makes rounds every day in the hospital. Alas, this image would be true today only if a computer terminal were plunked in the bed instead of a patient More
Respect and How it Impacts Patient Safety
When we tolerate a culture of disrespect, we aren’t just being insensitive, or obtuse, or lazy, or enabling. We’re in fact violating the first commandment of medicine: Do No Harm. More
Writing about Medicine
The hustle and bustle of the hospital leaves clinicians very little time for reflection. Writing is a way to slow down time. Writing allows us to revisit events and give them their due. More
The Immigrant Healthcare Imperative
Legalizing “undocumented” immigrants might be a boon for our healthcare system. Immigration reform makes both economic and medical sense. A young immigrant from Tibet offers first-hand lessons. More
Patients Need Poetry…And So Do Doctors
Sometimes it is the things we deem least practical that wield the most power. In fact, poetry’s impracticality may be its strength. By being just words on a page, it isn’t expected to pull the weight of chemotherapy, antibiotics, or an MRI machine. So when a poem does pack a punch, we’re often bowled over. More
Developing Empathy
Developing empathy requires good role models during clinical training. Those role models aren’t just your professors and your attendings. Teachers are everywhere in medicine, if you just keep your eyes open and pay attention. More
The Dirty Secret About Medical Errors
As physicians we see medicine as a science. We think of ourselves as rational, evidence-based practitioners. But we are far less rational than we tell our patients and ourselves that we are. More
Can We Let Doctors Be Human?
Is our vision clouded because we are so immersed in the world of sickness? Is it because this helps reinforce the power dynamic that has kept patients “in their place” for centuries? Or might it be because, like our patients we doctors are scared down to our bones? If we were to see our patients living the lives that we live, then there would be nothing to separate them from us. And then we could easily become them. More
