Medical

In recent years, there’s been a veritable explosion in the number and type of health monitoring devices available in smartphones and fitness apps. Your smartphone is likely tracking the number of steps you take, how far and fast you walk, and how many flights of stairs you climb each day. Some phones log sleep, heart…

“COVID-19 has propelled the nation into widespread telehealth services to provide consumer-based care, especially for those who access this technology. Equity issues arise when using digital communication because many underserved populations lack access to digital and/or mobile services. Inevitably, this brings up the greater concern of an unintentional exacerbation of disparities because low-income groups face…

Although it was midwinter, the air coming in through the front windows of the Nissan Versa was balmy.  The radio was tuned to a local station.  It was playing Air Supply’s “Out of Nothing at All.”  This is one of those songs you turn the volume up and allow yourself the one brief moment of…

Medical specialties, especially within the medical community, are known to be identified as comedic stereotypes of themselves. In addition to (or in conjunction with) being viewed as lazy, anesthesiologists are often stereotyped as being obstructionists to the operating room.  A spot-on joke generated during the “first” COVID-19 surge in March of 2020 was in reference…

An excerpt from 50 Years in the OR: True Stories of Life, Loss, and Laughter While Giving Anesthesia. We were notified one cold winter’s afternoon in February that a farm accident victim with a bad leg injury was coming in from a small town twenty-five miles west of Bemidji. When the ambulance arrived, they had…

Creating the ideal life is hard, but it can be especially difficult in medicine, where the pressures and daily stresses are significant. What simple steps can you take to live your best physician life? Here are some action items to consider: Follow your values. Most of us pursued medicine to help others, but were there…

Body mass index, or BMI, has long been the standard tool for assessing weight status and health risk. A calculation of your size that takes into account your height and weight, BMI is frequently used because it’s a quick, easy, and inexpensive measurement tool. Yet, it lacks any assessment of how much fat a person…