For years now, I have read The Rheumatologist cover to cover (but only glance at the ads, but don’t tell the advertisers that). Len Calabrese’s piece, “The Science of Empathy in Rheumatology” in the January 2021 issue, hits the central point in medical care. I would like to believe that it has been empathy that…
Key Studies Highlighted: 2 Industry Veterans Discuss Their Favorite Annual Meeting Abstracts
ATLANTA—With more than 3,000 abstracts from 103 countries presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting in November, it was impossible for attendees to view them all. However, two ACR/ARP veterans—Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, from the University of California, San Diego, and John Cush, MD, from UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas—chose to tackle the nearly impossible task and…
Physicians Identify Professional Dissonance as a Cause of Burnout
Recent research into burnout in primary care providers has found many providers experience professional dissonance and cite increasing paperwork and undervaluation as contributors to burnout. The study also outlined solutions that may improve professional fulfillment…
Stealing Time
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…
Professional Coaching Can Contribute to Physician Well-Being
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Professional coaching can improve the well-being and reduce the distress of physicians, researchers have found. “With over 40% of physicians having substantial symptoms of burnout, professional coaching is one strategy that should be offered to help them recover,” Liselotte N. Dyrbye, MD, MHPE, from Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Mn., tells Reuters Health by…
From Climbing Walls to In the Rheum: What’s New at the 2019 Annual Meeting?
This year, the Annual Meeting Planning Committee has designed an engaging program, bringing together the best experts to address important topics. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s new…
3 Tips to Optimize Practice Performance
Rheumatologists can build resilience through recovery and reframing, transforming stress so that it enhances performance…
Strategies for Striking Work–Life Balance
Making time to advance your career and enjoy family life is no easy task. One busy rheumatologist, educator and mom shares her strategies for success…
Tips & Tools for Dealing with Bad Patient Outcomes
Bad things happen to good rheumatologists—and to their patients—and can have profound personal and professional consequences for the doctor. Sometimes recommended treatments can have predictable, but devastating, side effects. Even if the rheumatologist does everything right according to evidence-based best practice, patients can still have bad outcomes, even die—with resulting feelings of sadness, anger, guilt…
Unwise Choices: EHRs, PBMs, Drug Costs Are Leading to Physician Burnout
My dear electronic health records How do I dislike thee? Let me count the ways Adaptation of Sonnet 43 By Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806–1861 As my tenure as physician editor winds down, it’s worth reviewing some of the more nettlesome issues confronting clinicians that have been previously discussed in these pages and gauge their current…