Discussions

It is not surprising that almost half of all seniors living in long-term care have been diagnosed with depression. How should we, as physician caregivers, respond?

Dr. Yu says he tries to remind himself of the following things to increase enjoyment and calm.

Chronic pain has no cure. The patients are often angry with us for failing them. We struggle to keep them working. My heart used to sink when I saw a chronic pain patient on my list.

A patient who kept on wanting massage therapy for his chronic anxiety but wouldn’t consider meds or psychotherapy. That didn’t thrill Dr. Jassam—but then the patient’s requests went to something he had to say no to.

Take our weekly news poll: If it was totally up to you: Would you fire a patient for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations?

September 2020 was a month of long goodbyes. It was the consolidation of five decades working as a GP and a lifetime of caring. The final months, although anything but routine, brought a sense of cohesiveness to all those years.

Frank F., aged 69, was not aging gracefully. While there wasn’t a specific acute episode of  deterioration of any single condition, his overall health was declining incrementally and progressively.

The flu shot starts to work two weeks after you get it, and its effectiveness wears off after a couple of months. Most influenza comes in Dec. and on. Yet pharmacies seem to be promoting folks to get flu shots in October.