Medical

Like many surgical specialties, the one I was aspiring to is a male-dominated field. As such, all my colleagues were male, and I often felt as though I was trying to be a part of a boy’s club. I shed my intrinsic femininity and instead equipped myself with diplomacy, banter, a light-hearted attitude, and contagious…

Over the past year, we have experienced massive organizational change at an unprecedented pace. Traditionally, we could spend weeks planning how to best make a change in our workplaces, but COVID-19 was anything but traditional. Our emergency department at Saint Barnabas Health System in Bronx, NY, needed to pivot on a daily and even hourly…

Negotiations are not just for the job interview and annual review. We negotiate every day. Negotiating in place can be a powerful mechanism to make your current job a better fit. The key to effective negotiations is to think like the boss. What are her concerns, goals, and interests? How can you align your goals…

Shingles, or herpes zoster, is a viral infection known for its characteristic painful, burning, or itchy rash. This rash appears along a particular affected nerve, for example in a band on one side of the chest or abdomen that extends around to the back. In fact, the name shingles comes from cingulum, the Latin word…

Assessment without definition: a flat tire on the road of progress Even though we have known about prions for decades, very little progress has been made in defining what a prion is vs. what a prion is not, how they get into the brain, and how prion diseases are different from other neurodegenerative diseases. Phenomenologically…

I recently read a story that struck close to home for me, and I suspect for nearly all of you in your medical careers at one time or another. It was a story of a surgeon called in urgently to the ED for a seriously injured young boy. The surgeon arrived as soon as he…

“Doctors are indeed noble for what they do. Their work is undoubtedly physically intense and emotionally taxing. But the notion that they are ‘superhuman’ and ‘different’ from the rest of society is exactly the trap that we fall into the moment we don our white coats as medical students. It is because of this trap…

It was a cold winter morning in January 2021. Another day in the ICU, another day caring for critically ill patients with complex medical conditions, another day caring for patients on their death beds, another day interacting with patients’ families and their emotions, another day of putting on a strong face for my patients, their…

The initial wave of vaccinations is underway, but let’s not forget that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the epidemic of precarious access to health care, an issue that the U.S. uniquely faces in the developed world. In 2018, a survey found that 44% would skip a doctor’s visit because they could not afford it. 33% reported delaying care for them…