by Jeremy | Apr 2, 2020 | Change, Medical, Transformation
I’m an ICU doctor in the middle of a global pandemic. I am trained to manage ventilators and care for the critically ill. My city, along with others, is preparing for a surge of patients requiring hospitalization and intensive care. And I’m nowhere near a hospital....
by Jeremy Topin | Dec 11, 2018 | Burnout, Change, Family, Parenting, Teenager
I miss when you both were little. The three of us with room to spare in the big chair. That precious time before you would sleep, wearing soft PJ’s dotted in animal shapes. I preferred the ones without “footsies”, so I could feel those small, cold feet brush against...
by Jeremy Topin | Nov 22, 2018 | Balance, Family, Parenting, Transformation
For me, holidays such as Thanksgiving, evoke memories more than emotions. Reflection on traditions more than generating a visceral response. The ritual of a 4am wake up alarm followed by a moonlit drive on barren roads to an empty hospital parking lot has been...
by Jeremy Topin | Oct 24, 2017 | Balance, Parenting, Teenager
“Doc, I don’t see why I need all these meds. Can’t I stop them? Any of them?” I hear this often from my patients. Sometimes they are right. They are on too many meds and don’t need them all. But sometimes it takes removing a medication for a period of time in order to...
by Jeremy Topin | Oct 17, 2017 | Balance, Burnout, Healthcare Reform, Medical Education, Medicine, Parenting
The day began the same as yesterday. As well as every day prior to that for the last few months. I was tired. Exhausted. The type of fatigue that envelops your brain in a dense fog, altering the way you see and hear the world around you. The type that impairs your...