The Podcast by KevinMD

COVID-19 vaccines: Channeling the 7 habits to get from vaccines to vaccinations

01 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

"As we get excited about vaccine news and results, we need to evaluate our messaging and how we can get to high enough COVID-19 vaccination rates to a...

Bottles and pacifiers: advice from a Latinx pediatrician

31 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Growing up in Puerto Rico, 'babas' (bottles: biberón/botellas) and 'bobos' (pacifiers:  chupetes/chupón) were very common among the families and c...

Why COVID is so emotional for physicians

30 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"These encounters made my evening shift much more emotional than usual. I am still not sure what it was exactly that evoked such strong feelings of sa...

Think you have an iodine allergy? You may want to reconsider.

29 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Iodine-based contrast agents are widely used for CT and other X-ray studies. They light up blood vessels and enhance perfusing tissue. These agents a...

Behind the scenes of a hospital's COVID response

28 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"In the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic, getting a flu shot has never been more important. Many people are staying indoors, wearing a mask, and washing t...

Food allergies are not funny

27 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"If we do not raise objections to this kind of comedy, we are teaching those around us that food allergies can be funny. It is no that surprise that d...

Surgical smoke evacuators and inertia in the time of COVID

26 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Early in the pandemic, in thinking of and discussing possible solutions to help protect health care workers, two of my former colleagues and I recall...

Talking politics in the exam room

25 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The medical profession now understands that social determinants of health are probably the most important driver of a patient's overall health, and t...

Why corruption is ruining your health care

24 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Doctors help patients, and they love us for it. We fix bones, replace joints, cure killer infections, and control diabetes with insulin. We use painl...

How to develop a mission-driven personal brand

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"When it comes to social media, embrace a micromedia mindset. That means sharing entertaining, informative content that provides value. Think of yours...

Understanding critical care in the ICU: then and now

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"I write this as a caregiver, patient educator, and clinical researcher. The coronavirus pandemic has shone a spotlight on intensive care units (ICUs)...

Does your doctor's age matter?

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"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 mi...

Don't underestimate the value of intergenerational relationships

20 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"With the rapid growth of modern medicine and awareness in lifestyle and environmental influences, individuals can live longer and healthier lives. Ap...

Issues faced by LGBTQ individuals in the operative setting

19 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Studies have repeatedly demonstrated a vast majority of pain physicians don't feel like they have adequate training in meeting the unique needs of th...

How to be a transformational, supportive leader during COVID-19

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The behavior of managers and supervisors in organizations affects the mental health of their employees. This is especially true during times of uncer...

What it's like to be pregnant in a pandemic

17 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"What has kept me comprised during this entire time has been the realization that this whole situation is not normal. It's not normal for me; it's not...

What does colon cancer screening have to do with self-driving cars?

16 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"We can clearly see that exponential technologies are disrupting cars and phones. So why wouldn't these technologies find their way into health care a...

How can we redefine locum tenens?

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Hiring locum tenens clinicians often proves to be more efficient, and when a position goes unfilled, health care organizations are potentially leavin...

When coaching physicians with wellness, don't lead with mindfulness

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"In my work with physicians and physician leaders in academic medicine, I learned that physicians are highly self-reflective and aware of the pressure...

Turn 2020 into an opportunity by changing your mindset

13 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"A few months ago, I signed up for a virtual conference for women in medicine. It's a group of women, over 10,000 of us, who have watched me and suppo...

Proponents of independent non-physician practice make a dangerous assumption

12 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Most Americans have remained dangerously unaware of this revolution in health care. Being treated by a non-physician is not on the radar of the avera...

Can there be hope amid politics?

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Humans are complex. Humans are multifaceted. Humans are capable of grit and determination. This means that humans are also worthy of hope. If I learn...

Mental health in medical professionals and the power of sharing stories

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Frontline medical professionals must collectively share what they experienced as a whole. We must piece together these narratives and unearth commona...

How to decrease your dread of being on-call

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Have you ever wondered how much time we spend worrying about call, versus the amount of time that we actually spend being on call? What about the Mon...

Mental health in our youngest healers

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"I was admitted to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation and stabilization just after my third year of medical school. Leading up to my episode, I t...

How to bring joy and be valued while avoiding burnout

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"When I was regularly working 80+ hours a week, and was on call almost every day, I had to admit that something needed to change. I stepped back and d...

How to be sick: challenges faced by those with chronic pain and illness

06 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"I write in my book, 'I know from experience that nothing positive comes from directing blame at yourself.' When it comes to chronic illness (which in...

A message to medical interns, in the midst of a pandemic

05 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Ultimately, our job is a difficult one. It's hard to take usual comfort in heartwarming statistics or hollow promises of prosperity when you find you...

This is what a successful health care system looks like

04 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"If we are serious about supporting the optimal health and well being of our nations' patients and physicians, we need to start believing and implemen...

Who are the doctors who end their own lives?

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Recently, a fellow physician mom ended her life. While outwardly, a very vibrant, lively, and happy woman, she fought her own internal demons for som...

COVID-19 highlights chronic oppressive job conditions

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"In medicine, the guise of 'professionalism' is an example of how an oppressive system has led us to believe that we ought not to advocate for our rig...

Why physicians need personal loans designed by doctors for doctors

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is brought to you by Doc2Doc Lending (https://www.doc2doclending.com/), a novel lending platform created for doctors, by doctors, with th...

How physicians can find jobs in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"I'm now CMO at a private biotech company focused on developing therapies for patients with rare endocrine diseases. We are conducting a trial in the ...

How this physician's first experience with death affected her

29 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"My sister called me. I answered. And, then, I lost it: 'He died. He died,' I repeated. 'Our patient died. I literally did CPR on this guy. We tried t...

A physician moves from the exam room to the C-suite

28 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The dictionary definition of learning is 'the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.' For leaders, the mos...

Essential tips for the physician-entrepreneur

27 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely road. Everyone dreams of life after a successful round of funds being raised, staff being hired, and plunging h...

COVID-19 is a war on two fronts

26 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"I'm exhausted. As the pandemic rages on, the mental toll of dealing with COVID-19 has started to wear on me. As a practicing hospitalist in the Midwe...

Ballad of a sober man: an ER doctor's journey of recovery

25 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Now, in her afterlife, she occasionally accompanied Maggie on excursions into my head, usually at night. Make that a double vodka. I thought I had fi...

Parenting in a pandemic: Making the best decisions for your family

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"You have made difficult choices about your family's health and safety already. Pediatricians help parents make these kinds of decisions all the time....

Financial tips that resident physicians need to know

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"These strategies on how the rich get richer do not only apply to the wealthy. These same opportunities and strategies are open to us as well. If we w...

Essential physician communication tips to improve the patient experience

22 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"A majority of physicians see between 11 and 20 patients per day, and among all practices, the majority of doctors spend between 17 and 24 minutes w...

Why spiritual health is so important

21 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Around the time of the coronavirus outbreak, 2019 also marked a full century since the death of Sir William Osler, who revolutionized medical trainin...

Mental health care in children during COVID-19

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Our country, and the world, is beyond exhausted by COVID-19 and the utter chaos and destruction of lives it has caused. All people, including physici...

Declaring racism as a public health crisis from the lens of two Latinx student doctors

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Antiracism requires action-oriented work and calls us to ask, how will we work to become antiracist? How will we change our institutional culture and...

An inflexibility and inflammation root-cause approach to treatment

18 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"In medicine, empiric therapy is treatment that is administered based on the probability of success because we don't have all of the information. We m...

Why the pandemic is the perfect opportunity to introduce meditation to children

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"While there is a myriad of expert opinions on what long term effects this pandemic will have on our children and their physical and mental health, we...

Appreciation in the personal finance world

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Appreciation in the personal finance world has two different components to it: Quantitative: increasing value of net worth and financial assets Qual...

COVID-related stressors and increasing instances of substance abuse

15 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"While the rise in substance use disorders during COVID will become more apparent as the pandemic eventually ebbs, the silver lining is that this is n...

Let's make compassion go viral

14 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"We are social beings. Evolution has taught us that in order to survive, we must work together. Community trust (trusting your fellow citizen) is a ve...

Hassle-free real estate investing for busy doctors

13 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Why real estate? By having a 'why' you want something, it'll help keep you motivated to pursue your goals when setbacks and mistakes occur. For our f...

A nontraditional approach to fear and stress

12 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Like 9/11, we have a new reference point touching everyone on the planet: life before COVID-19 and life after. Regardless if you get it or don't, the...

A call for a moratorium on the sale of inhalable products

11 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The inflammatory response elicited by the novel coronavirus can do great damage to the essential function of lungs. People with underlying lung disea...

Palliative care and the importance of holding space

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Holding space means being physically, mentally, and emotionally present for someone. It means putting your focus on someone to support them as they f...

How to balance family and professional needs during the pandemic

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The reality of being a medical practice owner is that we are small business owners and very vulnerable to the impact of COVID. Having previously work...

Medical aid in dying is not assisted suicide

08 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"To help the reader understand the issues better, I would like to relate some stories. A friend of mine was dying of pancreatic cancer. He had an impl...

Imagining a pandemic as a physician novelist

07 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"There are some things that we are living through as a result of COVID-19 that I did not imagine in my fictional account. For example: the timeline. A...

Moral injury and practicing oncology during COVID-19

06 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"As our office begins to return to pre-COVID operations, it has been uplifting to have a relative sense of normalcy, even though morale seems to be re...

Examining the duty of physician officials in the government

05 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The duty of physician officials in the government exceeds that of other officials. As physicians, they have a unique moral obligation to do more than...

An Indian doctor with vitiligo shares his story

04 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Growing up, my family sheltered and protected me with everything related to vitiligo. People never really asked me what happened to my skin. And, if ...

COVID-19 amplifies health disparities

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The daily email update on COVID-19 affecting our hospital system is a glaring reflection of the health disparities amongst those in marginalized grou...

How improv helps physician leaders

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Signing up for an improv class was unchartered territory. It was far beyond my comfort zone, like skydiving, for a little thrill. I'm not an adrenali...

Health misinformation from a patient perspective

01 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"What on earth are we doing here, folks? To try to save a tanking economy, workers were sent back to their jobs much too early, causing again a spike ...

Depression vs. burnout: A physician goes through both

31 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"I have been depressed. I have been burned out. I have been both. I have been neither. How do you know if you are depressed vs. burned out when your c...

Telemedicine in COVID-19: Disparities still exist

30 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"An increasing number of institutions are relying on telemedicine to continue delivering care to patients in lieu of typical outpatient visits in resp...

#MedBikini and medical professionalism

29 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"While our bodies have been a bastion of the heart and soul of medicine, a group of our peers thought it was acceptable to diminish the capabilities o...

How writing can change minds and make you a better physician

28 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Meet the physician who has written multiple widely-shared articles on KevinMD. How does writing change minds and bring people together? Why is humor s...

To better take care of patients, we need to take care of ourselves

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"I wonder what keeps us physicians going? What makes us show up to work every day? Even though it might sound clichéd, for most of us, it's the love ...

Search engine optimization for physicians

26 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"What is SEO? In short, it is the process of optimizing content found online in order to help it be seen by those searching for the information found ...

How coaching prevents and treats physician burnout

25 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Physicians are advocates of health. This must include our own. Physicians identify threats to health. This must include those that threaten our own –...

3 coronavirus facts Americans must know before returning to work and school

24 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"We can't un-bungle our nation's COVID-19 response. Political leaders acted too slowly; health agencies committed unforced errors with testing kits an...

A terminal diagnosis for my baby

23 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Eventually, this thankfully passed. Now, almost three years later, I know that this loss will always be with us. Miriam was beautiful, she was our on...

A physician experiences unprofessional behavior. What happened next?

22 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Setting: An impersonal, windowless conference room within a hospital Characters: A nurse in charge (NIC), a department chair (DC) and me (ME) NIC: T...

Telehealth is the future but it is obscured by a dismal present

21 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Will the unfavorable regulatory environment permit telehealth to flourish? Perforce we're beginning to see a relaxation of restrictions that have hit...

Can what you eat worsen your ADHD?

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Suzy was a bright and hardworking student. However, even though she was conscientious and generally cheery, her grades began to fall during her senio...

Sexual offender treatment during COVID-19

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Let's not suffer more hardship then already incurred by COVID-19. Recognizing that both the psychosocial stressors arising from COVID-19 and the with...

Be an upstander and not a bystander

18 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The incident bothered me all day and the following many days. I couldn't quite put a finger on what it was and brushed it aside and stopped thinking ...

What it's like to write about COVID-19 while it's killing your mom

17 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"My mom was beyond vulnerable to the virus. May of 2020 marked two years since she'd become a nursing home resident—receiving care for several chron...

What does a physician's ideal life look like?

16 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"You are a physician. You have put in years of hard work and sacrifice getting here. Now what? Does your life look and feel exactly how you imagined i...

A medical student volunteers with the medical corps

15 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"An email arrived inviting med students to join the State of Georgia's Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). The MRC is an organization of doctors, nurses, PAs...

Free speech, cancel culture, and taking down statues

14 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"History cannot be changed and should not be erased. The First Amendment was placed first for a reason. It is the bedrock of our nation's ability to o...

A physician receives a derogatory email. Here's what she did next.

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"The disparity of women physicians in research is a systemic issue that should be mitigated appropriately.  Women, especially minorities and immigran...

How physicians can be activists

12 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"We dealt with the death, uncertainty, and fear of COVID-19 with a stiff upper lip. But our hearts broke when George Floyd was murdered by the police ...

COVID-19 misinformation is a public health crisis

11 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Government officials, regardless of political affiliation, should seek sound medical advice before communicating with their constituents. Appropriate...

What is the future of telehealth?

10 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted how we deliver primary care to patients. Before the pandemic, telehealth seemed to b...

Medical students are benched during the pandemic

09 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"There is no single culprit responsible for this shift in medical education. However, two, in particular, should be noted. The first is the culture of...

How to minimize virtual medicine liability risk

08 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Telehealth has come into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic as physicians face an immediate need to reduce exposure by providing care—or at least t...

Human trafficking survivors and trauma-informed care

07 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"As a physician working with human trafficking survivors, I have become accustomed to those with a history of surviving violence. But the patient in q...

A message from a pediatric emergency physician: Be kind

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"As I read about Dr. Breen, saddened by the fact that we have been robbed of yet another young, promising, motivated physician, I am reminded that as ...

Patient advocacy is more important now than ever

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"In the best of times (and these are certainly not), all patients need advocates all the time; now more than ever, vulnerable patients need them more ...

It's so important for medical students to share their stories

04 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"As a medical student, you find potential patients everywhere. Whether you're on an airplane or on a romantic dinner date, we've all heard those famou...

How coronavirus took my grandfather's life

03 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"One of the calls you dread making as a doctor is telling a family member their loved one is dying. That was the call I received when my grandfather d...

COVID-19 through the eyes of my kids

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Living the surreal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic challenges us on multiple levels. As a physician, I feel the responsibility to understand the ...

Inside the mind of a surgeon writer

01 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Explore why this general surgeon wrote a novel, and how writing helps with the stresses that accompany a surgery career. What is his #1 tip for those ...

This pulmonary physician has a message for you

30 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"To the people who say that wearing a mask perpetuates the conspiracy: Tell that to the health care workers who have put their lives at risk to face f...

My mother has Alzheimer's: a caregiver's story

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What is caregiver burnout? How can you recognize the symptoms? What are tips for new caregivers? What can caregivers teach clinicians? R. Lynn Barnett...

Reflections of a critical care nurse

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"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...

Lifestyle medicine is a prescription to treat physician burnout

27 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Lifestyle medicine equips practitioners with the tools to affect change. One of the biggest job satisfiers for physicians is positively impacting the...

Treating cancer patients in a pandemic

26 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"As an oncologist, perhaps the hardest part I play is as witness. I am there to give a diagnosis that, more often than not, will alter someone's life ...

Incremental risk amid COVID-19 re-openings: What do we value most?

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Grocery shopping is not optional; it's necessary. But if you go every day and to multiple stores, you are increasing the chance you will be exposed. ...

Essential health messaging tips for physicians

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Advocacy by moms is not new, but advocacy by physicians has been less common. Moms have been fierce advocates on a variety of causes ranging from Mo...