During my years as a coach of Christian doctors, a common topic of interest has been ‘doors.’ Perhaps a doctor has an opportunity for career change or advancement, and wants to coach about whether to walk through Door A or Door B (or there may even be Doors C, D, E, and F!)
Read More
I had a great chat with Louis Carter at the Global Missions Healthcare Conference. If you don’t know Louis, he spent time as a missionary in Nigeria, and for last 20 years or so has spent a month or two, three or four times a year at mission hospitals teaching plastic and hand surgery techniques. He is now completing a book on those techniques for the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons.
Read More
Every day, I live some and I die some; I save some, and I lose some. I find life, and I lose life. Kingdom living is like that. Jesus said, “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Lk. 17:33, NKJV) Eugene Peterson’s The Message put it this way: ‘If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.’
Read More
It’s been 30 years, but I can still recall his look of disappointment. James was a medical student who had looked up to me when I had surrendered my life to God’s call for international healthcare missions. It hadn’t worked out. We hadn’t lasted. Back after two years in Nigeria, seeking a career like other doctors who had never heard the call, I had let him down.
Read More
I was checking my email in the family room with the Wimbledon Tennis Championships on TV in the background when a phrase the announcer used grabbed my attention. He said Nick Kyrigos, an Australian tennis player, was a “spot server.”
Read More
As a second year medical student, a member of my medical school class committed suicide. I didn’t know him well, but his death impacted me. Made me ask a lot of questions. Why didn’t I know him better? Had I gotten to know him, could I have made a difference?
Read More
We were seeing him in the hospital because his blood counts had dropped, probably nothing serious. As we talked, I learned he was a Korean War veteran and asked him if he was at the Chosin Reservoir, in that “Coldest Winter” where more than 100,000 Chinese poured over the Korean border and drove U.S. soldiers south though cross-fire and frostbite.
Read MoreThere is absolutely no question that physician burnout is on the rise in medicine today. Numerous studies have supported the reality that physician burnout rates range from 30 to as high as 65%, depending on specialty. Burnout, of course, isn’t a ‘disease’ a physician would prescribe medicine for, or even necessarily diagnose in one of his or her patients. But it is a ‘dis-ease,’ to be sure. Burnout is a long-term stress reaction, which includes emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of sense of personal accomplishment. For a certainty, Christian doctors are not immune to the effects of burnout, and one of the primary elements of CMDA’s coaching ministry is helping Christian doctors manage and address the challenges of burnout in medicine today.
Read More
God is very wise, When He decided it was time for “time” to begin, He divided life into bite sized pieces—seconds and minutes, moments for living—each identical in length to all the others, yet each totally unique.
Read More
Blessed are those who have their act together and are spiritually with it, for they illustrate what God’s reign in this world really looks like. Blessed are those who are healthy, wealthy and happy, for they’ve found the true meaning of life.
Read More
Experienced and skilled coaches use a variety of tools for helping their clients think, re-think, or ‘new-think’ ways of seeing things. Sometimes, just looking at a circumstance or situation from a slightly different perspective can produce breakthroughs. Asking powerful questions can be amazingly effective in helping individuals see things in a different way. And, as a coach, one of the most affirming comments a client can make to me, (after I’ve asked what may seem like a simple question) is an even simpler response: ‘Hmm? That’s a good question.’
Read More
Sugar cane-sweet, juicy. Anyone familiar with the taste will salivate at the mention of the word. During our years in Kenya, a fresh stalk of sugar cane trumped all other treats as far as our children were concerned. Eagerly they watched us cut away the tough outer layer with a sharp knife.
Read More
Preparing to meet my next patient, I pick the next chart up off the counter. “Bob Smith,” married middle-aged patient, chief complaint: STD check. “Weird,” I think, “Mary Smith’s husband’s name is Bob, too. What a coincidence.” I open the exam room door, and Mary Smith’s husband, Bob Smith, is sitting inside.
Read More
Ever wonder why achieving lasting change can be so difficult? One of the reasons, perhaps, is that change isn’t as simple as driving a car from one side of a bridge to the other.
Read More
Author Lewis Grant describes a condition he calls, “Sunset fatigue,” end-of-the-day behaviors he says may indicate that an individual has been “infected” with hurry sickness. Here are some of the symptoms he has identified. Sound vaguely familiar?
Read More
According to a 2009 article in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, “Approximately 10% to 12% of physicians will develop a substance use disorder during their careers, a rate similar to or exceeding that of the general population.” But while our addiction rate may be similar to the rest of the country, the characteristics and consequences of our addictions are not.
Read More
I love Fall. It’s a season of beautiful foliage, football, and a time for me reflect and celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. This year, again, I plan to take time throughout the Thanksgiving season to thank God for my many blessings. (My wife and I are particularly thankful this year, with the arrival of our first grandchild a few weeks ago!)
Read More
Science fiction is no longer fiction—the first three-parent baby was born a few months ago. Last month in The Point, Dr. Robert E. Cranston raised a series of important questions about the safety and ethics of the technique; now more information—and more questions—have arisen. As a reminder, the concept of creating a baby with three parents came as a proposal to “treat” individuals with mitochondrial genetic diseases, i.e., mutations in the mitochondrial DNA that lead to sometimes lethal physiological problems.
Read More
I love coffee, especially in the morning. I don’t know how many times I’ve walked into some local coffee haunt for my morning ‘fix,’ and noticed a group of men or women sitting at some corner table, bibles open, as they are obviously having a ‘group’ discussion around the word of God. Invariably, when I notice such a group, an unavoidable question pops into my head: “I wonder if the leader is discipling, or mentoring, or…coaching?
Read More
One of the most important ‘tools’ in a coach’s toolkit is the skill of asking ‘powerful’ questions. All CMDA coaches are certified through the International Coach Federation (ICF), the ‘gold standard’ organization for professional coaches. And the ICF lists ‘powerful questioning’ as one of the eleven core competencies necessary for coaches to achieve an ICF certification.
Read More
Doctors have had a bad rap on the marriage front for a number of years. We’ve long been accused of having a much higher divorce rate than the general public. For many years, there was not a lot of data on healthcare marriages, but strongly held popular opinion characterized a high percentage of us as overworked divorcees whose devotion to our patients cost us our marriages.
Read More
And so begins a New York Times article about the recent JAMA Internal Medicine analysis of physician pay disparities. The central message of the analysis is that women in healthcare, on average, earn $20,000 less per year than their specialty-matched male colleagues.
Read More
It was a relatively slow evening at work when I got the text. My phone vibrated on the clinic countertop as I was looking over a chart. “Are you busy? Can you talk?” I figured those words couldn’t be good, coming as they did from a young intern I mentored when she was a medical student. I found myself wondering if she had lost a patient.
Read More
Whether the Petitioner-Pharmacists’ belief that it is immoral to participate in the taking of human life is informed by the objective medical science establishing: (1) that a new, distinct, human being comes into existence at the moment of sperm-egg fusion, and (2) that the objectionable drugs, Plan B and ella, have the capacity to end the life of a new human being at the embryonic stage of development.
Read More
Family physicians should use their “practical tool for spiritual assessment.” Is such a tool either wise or ethical? Recent commentaries would suggest not.
Read MoreIt is dangerous for physicians. It wrongly assumes physicians are always ideal moral agents. They are not. I know doctors I would refer my loved ones to, but I also know doctors I wouldn’t let treat my dog.
Read More
The statement above is the foundational moral principle of medicine, pledged by doctors for centuries as they attempt to cure and relieve suffering without injuring the patient. It’s a principle being eroded by the movement to legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia. When combined with an impersonal and technological healthcare system, the movement to support PAS has proven lethal.
Read More
Letter to the Editor of CHEST (American College of Chest Physicians) opposing physician-assisted suicide in response to article by Attorney Kathryn Tucker’s article pushing physicians to help patients dye.
Read More
The Times wrongly asserts that the Supreme Court’s decision on the Obamacare contraceptives mandate “could embolden employers to assert a ‘religious’ right to deny other health benefits to their employees — from immunization to blood transfusions to psychotherapy — or to discriminate in other ways.
Read More
The Times rightly defends but wrongly interprets a federal law that forbids the government from imposing “substantial burdens” on the exercise of religious convictions and requires federal officials to pursue the “least restrictive means” of achieving any “compelling interest.”
Read More
He was shocked at the attorney’s letter. A patient who had seemed pleased with her care was suing him for reckless and wanton negligent care.
Read More
I’ve had the opportunity to have a number of young male patients, who during their teen years, have felt attracted to other guys and have begun to wonder if they might be homosexual. I think it’s very important to point out that it’s completely normal and extremely common to be attracted to other guys when you are a teen. In fact, most young men feel closer to other guys than they do girls.
Read More
This edition’s Impact Story is brought to you by Mike O’Callaghan, DDS, a CMDA dental member practicing in Michigan. Mike has led several GHO short-term mission trips and serves on the Dental Advisory Council. He recently published two articles: one was on the topic of short-term mission trips and other titled “Human trafficking and the Dental Professional” was seen in the most recent edition of the Journal of the American Dental Association. ADA members can view the article online here or in JADA print form.
Read More
The health effects of same-sex sexual behavior are many. The public, government, and judiciary are being lead to believe that same-sex sexuality is a normal variant with interactions and results equivalent to heterosexual sexuality. However, this position runs contrary to professional literature and the track record of history.
Read MoreSixty years of hiding the truth taught this doctor a very hard lesson.
Read MoreI still don’t know how I made it through the remainder of the day, or how my shaking hands were able to suture the next patient’s laceration. Instantly, the joy was gone from my life.
Read MoreThe pain of a malpractice suit can test your limits, threatening all you hold dear. For some, th is experience is devasating-personally, relationally, professionally-regardless how the case is resolved.
Read MoreI reported early for my shift in the emergency department as a nurse was fininshing her coffee at the front desk. Thumbing throught the morning newspaper she stopped and said, “Hey Pat, I didn’t know you were getting sued!”
Read More
As a physician, I have taken the journey of life with many patients and have listened carefully. Bubbling under the surface of everyone’s life resides doubt, anxiety, and fear – like some primal three-headed beast. Even in lives that seem under control and doing well, it’s there – trust me.
Read MoreA Christian physician pours her heart and soul into her practice. Christ is the model, the Great Physician, who healed both body and soul.
Read MoreMuch has been written about the subject of malpractice, but very little attention has been paid to the emotional and spiritual impact of a suit on the life of the physician who is sued.
Read MoreHere’s what often causes lawsuits and what you can do to avoid themFor doctors, nothing is more sobering than receiving notification that you are being sued.
Read MoreBecause a malpractice suit can be personally devastating, it is essential that we share our concerns and fears to avoid the nameless, unreasoning, and unjustified terror that can paralyze our mission to be light in a darkened world.
Read MoreIsrael was a spreading vine He brought forth, fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones.
Read More
I worked in a lumber yard while in college, and a number of times I got slivers in my hands. The slivers were often so irritating that I would be consumed with the thought of removing them, and at times I would have to stop work to rid myself of the irritation.
Read MoreMalpractice rises before the physician as an imminent barrier to his life work. The issues of malpractice touch him as a self-employed businessman, as a professional and as a person.
Read MoreAs a lawyer presenting his case to physicians, I feel a bit defensive. The attitude of many people in our society is reflected in a recent bumper sticker – “Support your local lawyer, send your son to medical school.”
Read MoreI do not carry malpractice insurance. Originally I decided not to carry it simply because I could not afford it. Now, however, I practice uninsured as a matter of principle.
Read MoreThe malpractice crisis has been with us for three years. In 1974 insurance premiums jumped by nearly 200 percent, and each year since then they have risen higher.
Read More- « Previous
- 1
- …
- 11
- 12
- 13
Ethical Issues Regarding Post-Fertilization Effects of Oral Contraceptives
I have prescribed “the Pill” since 1978. My wife and I used the Pill for years, having no moral concerns about it. Then, in 1995 my friend and practice partner John Hartman, MD, showed me a patient information brochure–given to him by a friend–that claimed the Pill had a postfertilization effect causing “…the unrecognized loss of preborn children.”
Read More