Blogs
Gangsin: 갱신 Korean: refresh, renew, updated
Remaining status quo requires less effort than making a change. Over the last 20+ years, I have listened to thousands of patients confide their personal stories. Some remained paralyzed in their current state of distress, fearing new situations may be worse. I was one of them, until recently. In this final blog of my trilogy on self-discovery, I reveal my new life.
Chào: (Vietnamese: Goodbye/Hello)
One of the first words I was taught by my parents was “chào”. In Vietnamese, you say chào and bow when you greet someone or when you leave as a sign of respect. In my first blog about self-discovery, I detailed the burnout and why I left clinical practice. In this second blog of the trilogy, I wanted to share encounters with patients as I told them goodbye. While I received great advice when I started practice, no one ever talks about how hard it is to leave.
Karoshi - {Japanese 過労死: Death by Being Overworked}
Over the last few decades, Japanese workers were collapsing dead at their desks or committing suicide due to the high stress stemming from their jobs; Japan coined this phenomenon, “Karoshi.” In 2021, the World Health Organization and International Labour Organization issued a warning: working 55+ hours a week is a serious health hazard and increases the risk for death from heart disease and stroke. But since the pandemic, I see many colleagues working hard at the expense of their health, family life, mental and emotional well-being. I never thought I would be burned out because I had passion for my job.
Teaching and Academic Burnout
RheumNow recently highlighted a publication that reported about a third of physicians in academia intend to leave. To our colleagues in non-academic situations, this may seem incredibly high. I think an important contributor to the intention to leave academics is that something that used to be a benefit has now become a challenge: namely, teaching.
Best of 2023: PMR: glad or bad tidings?
Please don’t tell your patient that PMR “typically” lasts two years. According to real-world data from the UK, one in four patients with PMR is prescribed steroids by their primary care physician for over four years. But nobody tells them this at the start, and that causes big problems later on.
Choice Overload (and the Way Out)
I recently overheard a very good practicing rheumatologist complain, “why do I need yet another drug for psoriatic arthritis? I have more treatment choices than I have actual PsA patients who need a new or better drug”.
PMR: glad or bad tidings?
Please don’t tell your patient that PMR “typically” lasts two years. According to real-world data from the UK, one in four patients with PMR is prescribed steroids by their primary care physician for over four years. But nobody tells them this at the start, and that causes big problems later on.
Why aren’t we preventing RA yet?
Ever since the seminal studies demonstrating a prolonged preclinical period for seropositive RA, which have been replicated in multiple cohorts around the world using both retrospective and prospective study designs, the rheumatology community has been tantalized by the prospect of preventing the onset of inflammatory joint disease in seropositive individuals exhibiting no clinically detectable synovitis. So why can’t we prevent RA yet?
Comorbidities in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Precarious Stack of Blocks
Comorbidities can pile up like a stack of blocks for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). At the time when RA is diagnosed, they already have more comorbidities than their peers, and after RA diagnosis they accumulate comorbidities faster than their peers.
What Happened to the Pharma Reps?
Dr. Jack Cush weighs in on changes in pharmaceutical "detailing" with suggestions for the future.
