The Podcast by KevinMD

"Medical errors exist at the far end of a continuum of unexpected events in clinical practice and they are devastating for all involved. Even when care is attentive and patient compliance perfect, unexpected outcomes occur in medicine. Unanticipated diagnoses, delays in diagnosis, premature death — these are all included in the realm of "unexpected events" even if nothing has gone "wrong" in medical care. These events cause physicians to suffer self-doubt, worry, shame and guilt, sometimes exacerbated by the magnitude of the event, the temperament of the clinician and the institutional climate in which these events occur." Eliza Humphreys is a pediatrician and certified life coach. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Who will heal the physician?" Editor's note: Dr. Humphreys would like to clarify that she completed a general preventive medicine residency, inadvertently referred to as a fellowship during the recording. 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

"Even low dose mercury toxicity can be harmful to human health in a variety of ways: enhanced free radical stress, reduced glutathione levels, increase in apolipoprotein E g4 genotype expression, promotion of neurofibrillary tangles and altered immune sensitivity. It has been implicated in contributing to autism, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinsonism, and even lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disease that may have neurologic involvement. Mercury toxicity has been reported as an occupational risk to dental staff, goldminers, and chloralkali factory workers. My father, a dentist, developed neurological symptoms of mercury poisoning after handling many dental amalgams, so I have some firsthand experience with its danger. Even in remote parts of the world like the Amazonian basin evidence of neurotoxic levels of methyl mercury contamination has been observed. Testing adults in a remote village on the Tapajos River, investigators found that loss of manual dexterity and visual contrast acuity correlated with mercury levels even in a range considered non-toxic." Arnold R. Eiser is an internal medicine physician. He shares his story and discusses his book, Preserving Brain Health in a Toxic Age: New Insights from Neuroscience, Integrative Medicine, and Public Health. 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

"One initiative that more administrators should support is global medical outreach. The ability to practice pure medicine, like the neighborhood doctor from long ago, renews a love for the vocation that physicians sought when they first entered medical school. Humanitarian outreach will help reinvigorate physician workforces immediately, allowing physicians to have the opportunity to treat patients who are overwhelmingly grateful for the care provided while also teaching local partner doctors dedicated to changing the lives of adults and children in their own community. Meaning in medicine can be found again. I know, it happened to me." Danielle Sweeney is a pediatric urologist. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "I left medicine. Then I found meaning." 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

"Patients want more than simply learning about a problem and how to treat it. Patients want reassurance. While I summarized the proposed surgical treatment, I watched for signs of anxiety or lack of understanding. Ultimately, my patient wanted to have confidence that I was the right person for the job and that I would do whatever was necessary to make things turn out well. I believed that delivering the message personally was important. I was both providing knowledge and gaining trust as I described the surgery and its potential risks and benefits. It has been well documented that patients facing surgery may remember only half of what they have been told ahead of time. Given that statistic, even if patients cannot recall many details, I hoped that my patients felt comfortable that their questions had been answered, that surgery was indicated, and that they were in good hands. I was reminded of the aphorism: 'They may not remember what you said, but they remember how you made them feel.'" Paul Pender is an ophthalmologist and can be reached at his self-titled site, Dr. Paul Pender. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "The dichotomy of patient needs and patient wants." 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

"Arguably one of the most overlooked yet incredibly important aspects of your malpractice insurance policy is the Consent to Settle Provision. You're paying thousands of dollars a year for your malpractice insurance; you should have a say in how your claims are handled, don't you think? Today we're going to talk about the consent to settle provision – why it's important, how carriers can limit you, and what you can do to ensure that you're in the driver's seat for the handling of your malpractice claims in the future. One of the most important features of a malpractice insurance policy is the consent provision, which gives you the authority to settle (or not settle) a claim that you are involved in. While this may feel like it does not concern you now, it could make a huge difference if and when you are involved in a malpractice case in the future." Jennifer Wiggins is a health care executive. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Understanding consent-to-settle in your malpractice insurance policy." 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

"Sufferers of mental illness often believe that others feel they have control of their symptoms, only having to decide to not be, for example, depressed. While they themselves suffer the symptoms of mental illness, they often have the feeling that they should be able to control them. Depending upon their experience, the observer of the mental illness sufferer believes that the patient can decide to some extent to not feel the symptoms. Others feel that the mental illness sufferer is somehow to blame for their suffering. When observing someone with mental illness, the examiner does not see signs referable to the condition. Information concerning the patient's clinical condition consists entirely of symptoms and must be related to the clinician. There are no true signs of mental illness, but rather feelings; conditions that are inside, and hence invisible to everyone else. This invisibility leads to feelings of isolation and the destructive feeling that their suffering is by the fault of themselves." William Lynes is a urologist. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "The invisibility of mental illness." 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 started planning my escape in late 2020. I would find a way to quit health care, to cease being a practicing physician altogether. Living the life of a doctor-mom, I felt consumed with daily obligations and duties. Guilt plagued me for feeling burdened by this life, for feeling it was a monotonous prison. The guilt soon transformed to anger. I was not showing up to my life in a meaningful way. I held many limiting beliefs that blocked me from change. How did I get here? A child's dream of becoming a doctor sustained me into adulthood. The dream was an all-encompassing mass-like occupancy in my brain with space for few other dreams. Upon becoming an attending, my dream was realized, but I found myself with a huge void where this space-occupying lesion once lived. Now what? In the absence of childlike wonder, it did not occur to me to create new dreams." Cathi Whaley is a hospice and palliative care physician. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Permission to burn the manual." 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

"Before retirement, I switched everything I cared about to my personal one and unsubscribed to everything I didn't care about. For the first few months, I religiously checked my work email. Sure, I was missing important information. I finally weaned myself like a reluctant nursing baby. On the rare occasions I check my work email, it has spam, irrelevant ads, missives from my previous employer about meetings or new incentive plans I care nothing about. In contrast, my personal email has lunch invitations from friends and interesting articles from Smithsonian, National Geographic, Atlas Obscura, and NY Times. Don't get me wrong. I still read the frequent emails from the pediatric hospitalist listserv, a very busy means of communication for the nation's pediatric hospitalists. It helps me stay up to date on new therapies and new issues in pediatrics. But most of my emails now evoke pleasure, not duty." Ann F. Beach is a pediatric hospitalist. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "A physician's personal great resignation." 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

"Patients look to providers for guidance, wisdom, and hope. When patients receive a new chronic disease diagnosis, it can feel terminal to the layperson. Even pre-diabetes is traumatizing to an otherwise healthy adult. We must not underestimate the power of our words. Learn to see selling as a key skill to develop. As with other skills, it gets easier the more you do it. When you have the know-how and enjoy selling, you will have more belief in yourself, your patient, and the treatment/healing process. You reconnect to your purpose and share the gifts only you have. You live life with ease and joy. You feel better. Patients do better. Everyone wins." Cindy Tsai is an internal medicine physician and can be reached on Twitter @cindytsaimd. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Why selling will make you a happier doctor." 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

"There is a lot of confusion and outright falsehoods about fasting. You can search the internet for clarity and end up more confused than when you started. The fact is, fasting can be a very effective tool to improve your metabolic health, increase insulin sensitivity and help you lose weight. But, who should and shouldn't use fasting for weight loss and how long to fast for effective weight loss are questions that need to be answered before you rush into fasting. The main thing to consider is to what end? What's your why?" Karla Lester is a pediatrician. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Don't be in a hurry to fast." 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