What should a heart doctor talk about on the this wear-red-for-women’s-heart-disease day? (It’s sunny out this Friday afternoon, so I am keeping it brief.) Promoting women’s heart health is important. Even though pink made the bigger news this week, heart disease kills far more women than breast cancer. Wait, that’s a terrible line of reasoning; […]
Rambling a little this afternoon. On perspective and gratitude. On the drive to work, I heard NPR’s piece on Dr Paul Farmer’s (Partners in Health) efforts to build a modern-day teaching hospital in Haiti. Having recently read Mountains beyond Mountains and then hearing this story made me think about the disease that I treat, atrial […]
Hey All, Thanks to the hard work of Dr Val Jones (@drVal), this week’s Grand Rounds is being hosted on USA Today Your Health. Along with my post on Medical Blogging. there are 55 posts from many of the web’s best medical bloggers. It will lake a while to work through this sea of great […]
The Practice of Medicine inspires I feel compelled to write because I am passionate about my work. For most doctors, Medicine plays out like a roller coaster—ups, downs and plenty of whooshes. It’s rarely dull. Doctor writers care about their work; we want it to be better. We need to tell the stories, and hope […]
There’s one more notable thing that happened while I was in Boston. Be forewarned, it’s a little self-congratulatory: I read a book. A story. And I feel the better for it. So much so, that I am moved to say something. The story made me feel, think, wonder, and yes, sometimes gulp hard. Like doctors […]
Without trying very hard you can read about all that gives doctors the blues. CNNMoney recently reported that many docs are actually going broke. It’s true, the take-the-fun-out-of-medicine people push harder all the time. But worry not, I am not going to drone on about negative things. I’m not even going to list one. (Think […]
My twitter feed is awash in end-of-the-year posts. The niftiest of these include a site’s most popular posts. That an author publishes a ‘best of’ post must mean they know their traffic stats. Here’s my conflict: When I was on blogger, I followed stats. My tech-savvy younger pals first informed me of stats after I […]
Peace. Oh do we all need more peace. Grace. This one, I need more of than most. Patience. Slow down world. Please. Hope. Optimism. Sometimes the positive hides itself well. Generosity. Not just of treasure, but of talent and time too. Love. And loved ones. Imagine a world with more love. And Friends. People need […]
Let it be known that I am on vacation. And it is winter And my wife is working. So…How bout some folly. It’s better than housework. I have always said that I was a nerd before being one was cool. See… Thus, this graph really grabbed my attention. Ahh…Things are so impermanent. Heh? JMM h/t […]
It is risky. Stay fresh. Avoid repeating yourself. Don’t rant. Never preach. These would be the ‘rules’ of supposedly good blogs. And, of course, doctors that dare to take a stance on health issues risk being perceived as pretentious. I get this. So it is with trepidation that I write a follow-up to last week’s […]
The chart reads, “here for 6-month AF ablation follow-up.†My eyes track first to the palpitations box. None. Then the ECG. Regular. Good. That’s a relief. Sweet! Knowing he was free of symptoms and in regular rhythm, I bounced into the room. “How are you?” He looked well. Observe. Always observing, us doctors. I just got […]