As they usually are, the pediatrics are absolutely correct: A child is not just a little adult. The same can be said for the eldest among us: Senior citizens are more than just old adults; they have their own biopsychosocial considerations that we, as rheumatologists, must tend to. Among all the conditions that we find…
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Kumar, physician editor of The Rheumatologist, goes on the record with his predictions for how rheumatology will change in the next 10 years.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Kumar, physician editor of The Rheumatologist, discusses the definition of empathy and its role in rheumatology.
Is it 2024 already? It seems like yesterday that I stuffed all my earthly belongings into my black Volkswagen Jetta and headed from Lexington, Ky., to Iowa City, Iowa, to start my rheumatology fellowship.1 That was 10 years ago. Now, in 2024, as I go online—particularly on social media—and see the various happy, smiling faces…
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I was at a mandatory “training session” on patient communication for all clinicians at my institution. There, I was being coached on how to properly talk to patients. In theory, this isn’t a bad thing—we all need more education on how to facilitate inclusive and equitable conversations with…
I was cleaning out an old storage closet in my parents’ house in Florida when I stumbled across some notes I took in medical school. As I leafed through pages and pages of notes filled with doodles and reminders, I found a statement that gave me pause: “Immunology—what is it good for?!” To be honest,…
If you’ve been a long-time reader of The Rheumatologist, you may have noticed that things look just a little different in this issue. The logo has changed, the font appears distinct, and the bylines are, for lack of a better term, aligned differently. If you’re looking at this online, the menus have changed somewhat, and…
“When you get a good mentor, don’t let ’em be the one that got away.” Richard Brasington Jr., MD, FACP, MACR, told me this about a decade ago when I was a rheumatology fellowship applicant and first met him. It was clear the statement was influenced by his love of fishing. Dr. Brasington’s office was…
Mistakes are a part of life. In fact, they are a large part of my life. Whether uncovering inborn errors of immunity, teaching about diagnostic errors, identifying systemic lapses in high-quality care or correcting spelling errors in manuscripts, my entire being is centered on studying and examining mistakes. To a certain degree, I feel like…
Spam, spam, advertisement, spam … wait wait, what’s this? A small envelope, addressed from Maine. I wonder what this is about? Usually, when I get an envelope this size, it’s a letter from someone trying to sell me something or complain about something I have no control over. So imagine my surprise when I found…