I knew I shouldn’t look. I was driving 60 miles per hour, heading north on I-95, trying to get to the George Washington Bridge before dusk. It takes a certain fatalism to drive through New York City if you are not a native. Ninety percent of the drivers sharing the road with you know exactly…
“And of course, I am not telling you to do it. That would be illegal.” As a general rule, I try not to instruct my patients to break the law. My business model depends on repeat customers, so placing a patient at risk of getting arrested—even if that risk is remote—doesn’t seem like a good…
I knew I was about to be schooled. That’s what I thought when I first started to read the Twitter feed of Erin D. Michos, MD, MHS, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. I have a Twitter account, but as a general rule, I use it…
The College’s principal journals have been telling the tale of workforce woe, exploring the reasons for our predicament and potential solutions for the long and short term.1,2 Among the medium-term remedies is increased use of advanced practice clinicians (APCs), as we collectively refer to nurse practitioners and physician assistants in rheumatology practices. Solutions Estimates of…
Table stakes. It took me a moment to register what they were talking about. I was listening to Pod Save America, a wildly popular podcast put together by some of Barack Obama’s former speechwriters. It is, I imagine, what an MSNBC podcast might sound like if Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes were allowed to swear….
RheumPAC, the ACR’s political action committee (PAC), is tasked with fundraising, vetting legislators, participating in Capitol Hill visits and developing important relationships for the College. During my interview with Gary Bryant, MD, the ACR’s inaugural RheumPAC chair, he shared his thoughts on the role of rheumatology advocacy in advancing clinical practice, research and education. ACR@Work: Have…
My nephew is an addict. These words do not come easily to me, but I have come to accept them as true. In retrospect, I should have recognized the telltale signs: He stopped picking up the phone when I call. He disappears and then re-emerges hours later, seemingly having done nothing. He has lost interest…
On Feb. 9, 2019, protesters gathered at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City to lead a march down Fifth Avenue to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.1 As a general rule, news from the world of art is not a topic discussed in these pages, but if you indulge me for just a little bit…
As a physician, I am an advocate. I am an advocate for my patients individually and collectively, and I am an advocate for my field: pediatric rheumatology. My own experiences as a patient drive me to integrate my patients’ perspectives into my medical decision making, and although my academic training has prepared me to best…
As we turn the corner on the second decade of biologic use for rheumatic disorders, a reappraisal of approach in our communication with patients is due. In practice, the impact these agents have on patients’ lives justifies the friction rheumatologists face when connecting patients to them. You can understand why older rheumatologists who apprenticed on…