My thoughts drift back to my early years of training, when for nearly 2 years I spent every third night on call in the hospital setting. One night still haunts me. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — Hauntings: When the clinical mark is missed — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
Please note that all of my previously published Humane Medicine pieces can now be accessed here.
Several years ago, when I was laid up for 6 weeks with a fractured ankle and hand after a hiking accident, my wife decided to get a dog. She and my daughter drove to the pound to scout out prospective candidates. They came home with a scraggly terrier, rescued from certain annihilation. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — Vestigial reflexes, gut reactions: When time is not enough to heal — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
If we should become wise, we come to understand that each of us has only the day before us to live. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — Said and done: When the present is all we have left — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
There is an old adage in medical practice: when you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras. In other words, any given clinical presentation will more than likely turn out to be a common disorder. In primary care medicine, esoteric diagnoses are relatively rare.
But sometimes when the sound of hoof beats returns in rapid succession, the clinician would do well to consider the possibility of a zebra in the forest. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — Horse sense: Recognizing a rare diagnosis in primary care — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
Weatherbeaten by Winslow Homer
It’s always difficult to hand a new patient a disturbing diagnosis, or even to suggest that there might be something amiss. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — Ebb and flow: Murmurings that are more than sweet nothings — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
In my youth I had visions of becoming an ophthalmologist. Nothing, I thought, could rival the anatomy and physiology of the human eye for sheer beauty and function. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column —Kitchen medicine: Focusing in on an obscure diagnosis— recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
On her physical exam there is nothing amiss to report. Yet something is obviously bothering this child. Uncertain as to which direction to proceed, I take a stab in the dark. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — The principle of uncertainty in medical practice — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
In our rush to practice sound scientific medicine, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we are treating human beings, who are most likely vulnerable, apprehensive and in need of moral support in their darkest hours. more»
The more I looked, the more I began to see. The more I saw, the more the pieces of this complex pediatric puzzle began to fall into place. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — Looking through a glass darkly, then seeing face to face — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
Moral distress: when clinicians feel they cannot do the ethically appropriate thing. Midnight medicine: when difficult decisions must be made with no time for consultation and critique. more»
Interested readers can now access my latest Humane Medicine column — Midnight Medicine: A time when difficult decisions must be made — recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
