Most people understand that the life of a surgeon can be far from glamorous, as these highly trained medical professionals must manage sizeable patient loads, extreme stress and, of course, frequent sleep deprivation. While this is accepted as part of the culture, a growing number of experts have raised the question in recent years as […]
Last time, we started discussing the rather shocking levels at which misdiagnoses are made by physicians here in the U.S. and how some experts are now attributing part of this problem to the traditional clinical apprenticeship approach relied upon by the nation’s medical schools. In general, the traditional clinical apprenticeship approach calls for the physician-in-training […]
When it comes to the notion of medical errors, most people understand there is always some risk their treating physician will do something wrong. For instance, they know mistakes can be made regarding the treatment pursued, the medication prescribed and the surgery performed. What people seem to have a harder time understanding and accepting, regarding […]
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a student in elementary school or graduate school, summer is considered sacrosanct, a time to take a much-needed break from the daily grind and explore nonacademic pursuits. Indeed, most students still have over a month before they have to head back to the classroom. Interestingly enough, there is at least […]
In our previous post, we discussed how millions of Americans develop a serious medical condition known as a hernia every year. To recap, the condition — characterized by a prominent and painful bulge in the abdomen — is caused by the deterioration of the muscle in the abdominal wall, which creates a space through which […]
While we would like to think otherwise, the reality is most of us have been in complete denial about our health at one point or another. For instance, maybe you downplayed your cold symptoms to your manager in order to finish a big project or intentionally ignored your stomach pains in order to make it […]
It’s a question most people have grappled with at one point or another during the course of their professional career: Am I too sick to go to work today? The unfortunate reality is even though the answer to this question was probably a resounding yes, many people nevertheless made the choice to drag themselves into […]
When a person feels a sharp, stabbing pain in their left shoulder, there’s a very good chance that they’re suffering a heart attack, which is essentially an arterial blockage somewhere in the body stopping the flow of blood to the muscles of the heart. In order to save heart attack patients, cardiologists must first locate […]
When a person goes to the emergency room complaining of excessive coughing, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, leg pain and/or dizziness, or if a surgical patient shows these same symptoms, it should put physicians on high alert about the possibility of a pulmonary embolism. For those unfamiliar with a pulmonary embolism, it is […]
According to the National Cancer Institute, roughly 2,300 new cases of bone cancer are diagnosed here in the U.S. every year. In recognition of this sobering fact — and the fact that so many families are already struggling with bone cancer — we’ll continue with our discussion of the condition by looking at some of […]
