The Podcast by KevinMD

"I almost quit my job in 2014. I didn't like my life, and I didn't like myself. I had a lot of problems personally and professionally, and I wondered if I was good enough to solve them. I often felt weak and powerless. People were coming to me for answers, but I sometimes felt like a fraud. My usual strategies of working harder and reading more books weren't helping me, and I knew it, but I didn't know what to do. I felt frustrated, angry, sad, tired, and lonely. All I knew was I wanted these feelings to go away. And then I would shame myself for feeling this way. I kept asking myself: What is wrong with you? Brett Linzer is an internal medicine-pediatrics physician. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "A burnout coach saved my medical career — and possibly my life." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"Physicians have a deep well of experiences to draw from in their writing. They witness dramatic episodes of heroism, cures, disappointments, and failures. They see unforgettable scenes, hear devastating words, make difficult decisions, and observe people at crucial moments in their lives. Most importantly, they witness the power of cause and effect – one action producing a resulting action – a building block of fiction, nonfiction, and poetical narratives. Great writing comes out of these experiences. The stresses of the COVID pandemic intensified the need for my students to creatively express themselves. There is more to medicine than science, and physician-writers can feel their doctoring strengthen as they synthesize and imagine experiences and explore on the page what it means to be observant, compassionate, and curious. They regain their original purpose in pursuing medicine as a profession. Complementing their grounding in science, they reclaim their grounding in humanity." Jack El-Hai is a writer and creative writing coach. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Why I help physicians write." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"I had no recollection of this, but as I processed what Yael said, my response was the opposite of what one might expect—I felt tremendous relief! I was happy. My pain had a name and hopefully that meant that I could get well. I was a doctor, and I knew well that the first step toward treatment is a diagnosis. I was determined to approach DID the way I had most things in my life—medical school, marriage, mothering, and advocating for women's health care—with passion and an intensity of purpose." Shelley Kolton is an obstetrician-gynecologist and author of Brain Storm: A Life in Pieces. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "A physician's story of dissociative identity disorder." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"Looking to the future, since I only froze one embryo and my ovary reserve is diminishing, we are hoping to go through another infertility treatment cycle. Although, once again, the medications are once again being denied. Infertility is just like any other mental or physical health condition and should be fully covered, including pharmaceutical, medical, and surgical treatment. As data suggests, 1 in 4 female physicians will experience infertility, which is twice the general population's rate, which is 1 in 8 women. The reasons for the increase in infertility include significant stress levels during the education and profession, deferred family planning, and long hours of medical careers. Like myself, Black and Latinx women have higher risks of experiencing infertility, not explained by biological differences but by social inequalities and disparities in health." Stephanie E. Moss is a medical student. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "The hidden costs of fully covered infertility treatment." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"I know many physicians are already maxed out. Technology can make that worse. As soon as you introduce what will be perceived as new obstacles to moving from A to Z, all they're going to think is, "I can't do what I need to do. I'm exhausted and I'm behind. And now you're introducing seemingly arbitrary expectations and steps with new tech, and you're just sitting there with your arms crossed, shaking your head at me?" That further exacerbates this feeling of a loss of autonomy, a feeling that you're not appreciated, a feeling that there's no respect for efforts. Look at all of the accepted definitions of burnout, and it makes it worse. But I'm not here to burn you out. I'm here to say that your voice is valuable, and there are very real ways to positively influence the strategy, adoption, and ongoing maintenance for technology you depend on as a physician." Rodrigo Martínez is an otolaryngologist and health care executive. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Here's a crazy thought: Make technology work for doctors." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"Having a physician partner who knows us well, who we can trust, and whose judgment we value exponentially increases the odds of accurately making the distinction between self-limited illness versus a significant disease process. This will also assist us in navigating the health care system such that we receive only that testing and treatment that is appropriate for our individual situation. Just imagine how much better we would have fared in the U.S. had our individual responses to the COVID-19 pandemic been guided by trusted and qualified medical experts. To make this novel partnership more feasible, I would propose at minimum an immediate 50 percent increase in the rate of pay for both adult and pediatric primary care physicians, thus encouraging more new physicians to choose those professions while allowing for more time for physicians and patients to spend together." Drew Remignanti is an emergency physician. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Only patients can save U.S. health care." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"We're encouraged to mentally rehearse life-saving procedures for conditions that occur so rarely we might go our entire career without performing them. And the reality is that I could spend every minute of my free time this way and still have an unexpected situation arise during my next shift. So, is there a way, as experts in disaster preparedness, to accept what we cannot control? Thankfully time, medication, and therapy helped me out of a very dark place, and the journey has prompted me to reconsider my priorities. Tessa and I only meet about once a month now. With her continued help, I'm hoping to find a way forward in the specialty I love, but with the understanding that I'm no longer willing to sacrifice my own mental wellness." Adrienne Van Curen is an emergency physician. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Are my coping skills a result of my emergency medicine training?" Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"Have you ever wondered how many times death has not come, but could have? On the corner of Church Street and Dubuque how close was I, pausing to assess an ice-sheeted puddle just before a woman turns, her head turned too, searching for what? A snack? A phone? A child crying? The summer I almost drowned, my mother said no you will not, and I did not. Hotel pool, a single cool eye seeking, floaters upstairs in the room. Every backseat I slid into under the cloaks of dark and youth and rebellion with every driver that palmed the wheel like a dare—I will not be struck down tonight. How many near-deaths have I walked towards without hesitation, another door, another elevator another escalator on its way up. And now—every mouth and nose just a house for fear. Oh, but how I dare to smile." Liana Meffert is a medical student. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "It goes without saying: a residency interview." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"Oh no, it's a doctor hopper. You know who I'm talking about: the patients with twenty previous doctors documented in their chart. The ones who took years to be diagnosed. The ones who still have not been diagnosed, but insist something is wrong. They're just jumping around until they get their way, you seethe. Really? Every doctor's appointment is a commitment of time and money for a patient. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that we'd greatly prefer it if things went right the first time. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. If one of your patients has hopped, instead of immediately assuming they're a problem, consider this: they're trying to find the help that will allow them to stop hopping." Denise Reich is a patient advocate. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "How about those doctor hoppers?" Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info

"A few months ago, I embarked on an ethnographic study to understand what health care professionals saw as the psychosocial needs of pediatric patients. This involved conversations with several doctors in Pakistan, who had volunteered to share their views about pediatric patient care. As I engaged in deep, organic discussions with my interlocutors, I found doctors willing to explore personal experiences which had left indelible memories. I had somehow tapped into a need for them to reflect on their own struggles to gain trust, counsel, and understand patients psychologically and the impact this had on them. An unexpected by-product of my research was that I had created a safe space for doctors to unpack their emotions. While they appear clinical and detached, doctors have a heartbeat that races when they share personally meaningful stories about their work in rare places where they feel completely comfortable." Maryam Chloé Pervaiz is an anthropologist. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Listening to the doctor's heart." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info