Doctors make bad entrepreneurs

Doctors make bad entrepreneurs. I know I told you they make great entrepreneurs. But there are always exceptions. There are a couple of reasons why: They are all perfectionists They often haven’t learned skills outside of medicine They don’t have any time for anything outside of medicine  Perfection stagnation Our GPAs had to be perfect.…

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9 things I learned when I signed up for public service loan forgiveness

As someone who graduated from medical school with six-figure student loan debt, I’ve looked into several different loan forgiveness programs that will help repay what I owe. One of the most popular loan forgiveness programs is Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Through PSLF doctors can get hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans forgiven, tax-free.…

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The children of COVID

If you ignore the masks, the missing exam room toys, and the “astronaut doctor” PAPR on my head, you might think it was a regular day in my pediatric office. But it’s not. It’s a day where we are still all trying to push through the thickness in the air that is COVID. We can…

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Death still affects me. I’m not numb. I’m human.

It had been a long day. Our progress notes were done. The last scheduled case in the operating room was done, and it was time to wrap up loose ends and sign out my patients to the night team. But that’s when Room 4 died. I walked onto the Burn Unit. The nurses were frantic.…

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Where’s Waldo: Finding what’s important in the medical record

I did a peer review once of an office note about an elderly man with a low-grade fever. The past medical history was all there, several prior laboratory and imaging tests were imported, and there was a long narrative section that blended active medical problems and ongoing specialist relationships. There was also a lengthy review…

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Reflections of a critical care nurse [PODCAST]

“Grandma Lilly is 87-years-old and in the ICU. She’s on a ventilator with her wrists restrained to the side of the bed. Grandma can barely see because her eyes are puffy: scleral edema. And her heart races: 140 beats per minute. Her blood pressure is low and Levophed and vasopressin drips are ordered. Her family…

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Does your doctor’s age matter?

If I had $100 for every time I walked into a patient’s room, introduced myself as the doctor, and was immediately asked, “Hey, how old are you?” I might be able to retire right now — at the age of 28. Of course, I am exaggerating, and yet this question echoes for my baby-faced colleagues…

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A seasoned trainee: A doctor who shouldn’t have been 

Residency and fellowships are tough. While most trainees come in and expect medicine to be the most challenging thing they have to deal with, what makes a training program challenging to navigate seems to be entirely something else. Having trained in programs in both the U.S. and Canada, there are some trends that I felt…

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