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Articles by Cory Michael
7 proven strategies to beat test anxiety and ace the USMLE
Test anxiety is a prevalent challenge among medical students, particularly when facing the USMLE—a crucial exam that can shape the trajectory of your medical career. While anxiety can fuel your drive to excel, it can also become a debilitating cycle of “what-ifs” that hampers success. Here’s how to transform anxiety from a foe to an ally, ensuring you perform at your peak during these pivotal exams: 1. Recognize the role of anxiety. Accept that a certain level of anxiety can be a motivating force.
New dietary guidelines should prioritize plants and healthy beverages Original
As both a physician and a certified culinary medicine specialist, I know firsthand how a nutritious diet can prevent and treat diet-related diseases. Diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions are becoming increasingly . Over and over, the science tells us that a low-fat vegan diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, can help patients suffering from these conditions.
Being defensive: Evolutionary healthy or modernly inconvenient?
In the world of medicine, we often encounter the term “defensive” used in various contexts – from patient interactions to professional evaluations. However, it’s crucial to reevaluate our understanding of this term and its implications on our practice and relationships. Labeling a reaction as “defensive” carries a subjective judgment, often seen as problematic or negative. “Defensive” is often equated to a “bad” and “problematic” reaction or behavior.
The Truth Behind The Lies
I recently watched a video where Republican commentator Candace Owens alleged the reason so many African American men were incarcerated was a result of the "racist left agenda". Yes, the same Candace Owens who said in 2022 that "we don't need prison reform, we need to start locking more people up." The republican party likes to pretend they are the party of prison/criminal justice reform but their actions and words say otherwise.
How Tratak yoga reshaped my USMLE Step 2 prep
This is a notable example of the impactful outcomes that can arise from venturing beyond conventional routes to chart distinctive journeys toward success. Like countless other medical students, I committed months to intensive preparation, diligently taking mock tests, revising tirelessly, and faithfully adhering to the trusted USMLE Step 2 study resources.
Congress Confirms Existence of UFO's and UAP's
David Grusch, a former intelligence officer in the Air Force and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, recently appeared before the House Oversight Committee's national security subcommittee. He was joined by two former fighter pilots who had firsthand experience with UAPs. Grusch had been a representative on two Pentagon task forces that investigated UAPs until earlier this year.
Reform the US Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court plays a crucial role in upholding justice and interpreting the Constitution. However, recent events have raised concerns about its structure and functioning, leading to calls for reform. This petition seeks to address these concerns and advocate for necessary changes within the Supreme Court. 1. Term Limits: It is imperative to establish term limits for Supreme Court justices to ensure a fair and balanced judiciary.
It's Complicated
By Cory Michael In today's digital age, the rapid dissemination of information has been both a blessing and a curse. While the internet has provided us with unprecedented access to knowledge and diverse perspectives, it has also given rise to the spread of misinformation. Unfortunately, misinformation often goes hand in hand with hate, fueling prejudices, stereotypes, and social divisions. In this article, we will explore the...
Cracking the code to a healthy spine: Revealing the secrets of aging gracefully [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join us in this enlightening episode as we welcome orthopedic surgeon and author Yoshihiro Katsuura, who sheds light on the process of spinal degeneration and the secrets to aging gracefully. With a focus on back and neck pain, Yoshihiro shares insights on how some individuals continue to lead active lifestyles despite degeneration, while others experience pain and disability.
If The GOP Only Knew
By Cory Michael When it comes to crime, both parties are pretty strict on their no tolerance for crime. Republican's however, are more inclined to support harsher punishments as well. Yet when it comes to convicted felons the Republican Party is unaware of just how much this group could benefit them. As a convicted felon who has spent time in both jail and prison, I became interested in the different personalities, backgrounds and thinking...
Embrace Intellect, Reject Ignorance
By Cory Michael Embracing Intellect: Illuminating the Path from Ignorance Today, I want to embark on a journey to explore the significance of intellect in our lives and the world around us. In a world brimming with information (and misinformation), it is crucial to embrace intellect and over ignorance. Lets unravel the wonders of intellect and how it can light up our lives through understanding and growth.
Weaponizing Religion
By Cory Michael The Weaponization of Religion: How Conservative Republicans Utilize Faith for Political Ends Religion has long played a significant role in waging wars, shaping societies, providing individuals with a moral compass, and fostering division. Similarly, throughout history, religious beliefs have been used by various groups for their own political purposes. In recent times, conservative Republicans in the United States have...
Issues Affecting Convicted Felons After Incarceration
When it comes to convicted felons people don’t give much thought to them once the guilty verdict is given. It’s easy to write off people convicted of a felony as horrible criminals who belong in prison. With as many as 1 in 3 Americans having some sort of criminal record, you would think there would be more concern for their lives onced release from incarceration.
Serving a Life Sentence
One of the functions of our broken Criminal Justice system is to rehabilitate criminals, preparing them for re-entry as productive members back into society. But how can you become a productive member of a society that refuses to let you? As a convicted felon, it doesn't matter if your charge was 15 years ago or 5, finding housing is almost impossible.
Public health requires collective courage [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “To create a healthier, more just, and more equitable world, we must confront the truth, and that requires an act of collective courage. Perhaps there needs to be a whole new consciousness that abandons ideas of reforms and instead labors a social transformation toward liberation.
The impact of a lack of diagnosis reaches far and wide
Getting a medical diagnosis can actually be a huge relief. I know it may seem counter-intuitive. Saying “I have cancer,” “I have Parkinson’s,” or “I have depression” definitely doesn’t belong in the same realm as being relieved. Or maybe it does. When was the last time you saw a GoFundMe for “gradually progressive neurologic symptoms for 20 years that numerous physicians in many different specialties still don’t understand”?
Inequity contributes to burnout among new academic physicians
I was still a resident in May 2013. My new long-distance girlfriend gave me directions to take the train from the airport to the opposite side of her massive metroplex. As is likely common for a hayseed like me, I got lost finding the correct rail station and instead walked through the city’s large academic medical center by accident.
Missouri and Texas: a tale of 2 COVID cultures
The Major League Baseball season is in full swing, and nothing reflects the variable nature of our country’s response to COVID-19 better than how major cities are continuing to respect (or ignore) the virus and their baseball teams are handling fans. In Toronto, they are not even letting the Blue Jays play in their country, while in North Texas, it is as if there isn’t even a virus out there killing people anymore.
The coronavirus vaccine is not a political or social issue
It has been over a year now since shelter-in-place orders struck fear into many, forced millions into unemployment, and taught us all the meaning of the term “supply chain.” It didn’t take long before the chants of “flatten the curve” and “support our health care heroes” dissipated. Once more was known, many industries figured out to cope safely while others just decided to cope unsafely. The government stepped in to help a lot of rich people and hopefully some lesser advantaged people as well.
Vaccinating athletes will show us if the vaccine works
As I watched the vaccine rollout take place over the past month, all I can say is that I am not surprised. I watched hospital executives who never see patients jump the line, doctors having their healthy nannies vaccinated, and health systems trusted with vaccine doses have essentially no plan. It’s like we didn’t have 9 months to figure this out. All I can say is that this is the America we live in.
Assisted reproductive technology helps good things happen to good people
Cory Michael, MD | Conditions | September 13, 2020 It is hard to imagine an age in which assisted reproductive technology (ART) did not exist. The CDC reported that 1.7 percent of U.S. births in 2017 were attributable to ART, with approximately 285,000 ART cycles reported that year. In reality, the process is not as straightforward as it may seem on paper. As a radiologist, I was involved peripherally with patients struggling to conceive during training.
The path to a healthy nation starts with the you, the voter
Cory Michael, MD | Policy | August 22, 2020 It is hard to envision that this is an election year. With a paucity of campaign ads and the presidential nominees locked up for quite a while, I didn’t even know that the Democratic convention was going on until I saw a report about it after the fact.
Public health, not medicine, is what will save us
In a small community not far from my hometown, Paul sat peacefully in his self-built abode on a July day like just about any other. Happy to experience the peace of his bucolic life far from the hustle and bustle of the city, he rarely visited a doctor despite a festering back ailment that limited his ability to work. He had no retirement savings and no plan for life after retirement except for Social Security and Medicare, a not-uncommon trend for this region.
Safe restaurant practices as crisis therapy: lessons from a bartender
Cory Michael, MD | Conditions | June 27, 2020 With a leftover airline credit to spend, I recently decided to take a quick trip down to southern California and make one of my routine treks along Interstate 5 from San Diego to Orange County. I wanted to see how the area was dealing with the pandemic and enjoy some sun. No trip would be complete without a visit to my favorite bar in Encinitas, which had expanded its barbecue offerings and was now selling a brisket flatbread.
Why we must keep learning from the coronavirus pandemic
Looking back on the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, I hope that we are able to take away several lessons. Immediately after the virus showed up in the United States, many physicians without access to virus testing seemed to go straight to imaging for an answer.
The health effects of a bad economy may be worse than COVID-19
Thinking that it was time to think about what sort of long-term mask I would like to procure to wear in public as the summer approaches, I got to thinking, what sort of mask defines me as a person? Is it the stagecoach robber triangular bandana? Is it a standard medical ear-loop mask? An OR mask has to be tied, and wearing an N95 respirator in public while hospital workers still experience shortages of these seems rather selfish.
Public health requires a broader, longer-term assessment of the pandemic
Many government officials have begun to lift some restrictions on elective surgeries and procedures for hospitals. This means that some of those of us in medical professions not on the COVID-19 front lines will be returning to a workload closer to the pre-pandemic phase soon. For weeks, my radiology department has been relatively empty.
Capitalizing on what we know from other pandemics, with a little help from Major League Baseball
Before the age of modern understanding and drug development, HIV sparked fear, anxiety, and panic throughout the country. My eighth-grade science teacher was the first to teach me about HIV, a virus that makes so many mistakes in replicating itself that it confuses the host’s immune system with its mutations. So fascinated by this bizarre product of biology, I knew then that I wanted to study viruses. I read all of the books about Ebola and emerging infections of the time.
The impact of removing numerical scores from USMLE Step 1
I recall clearly the effect that the first step of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) had on my medical education. The test is generally taken at the end of the second year of medical school, about halfway through the 4-year curriculum. What made the test so important is that its result could effectively rule a student out of certain highly competitive specialties (e.g., dermatology, orthopedic surgery, radiation oncology, etc.).
Understanding science means realizing that science doesn't always have all of the answers
The impact of science on the well-being on our planet has never been more important than it is now. We are all looking to science and technology in a search for answers and resources. We keep watching television in search of these answers, but we are left unsatisfied because we don’t understand medical science. A great deal of what we know as doctors comes from other doctors. A group of people taught me what I know; several others taught them, and so on.
The effects of physical distancing will be long-lasting
Cory Michael, MD | Conditions | April 6, 2020 As a radiologist, it should come as no surprise that I am not a “touchy” person. Not only do I remember the first MeToo movement that coincided with the 1991 Clarence Thomas hearings, but I just assume that people don’t want to be touched unless they initiate it. A resident told me that my face turned pale two months ago when a medical student I was quizzing in preparation for a board exam hugged me after getting a question correct.
People are ignoring social distancing guidelines. We must get it together.
I recently received a postcard in the mail titled “President Trump’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America.” The first of these recommendations is to follow the directions of my state and local authorities. In my community, notable restrictions on commerce have been handed down by my governor, my mayor, and a county judge. This has had a crippling effect on our local economy as we brace for the storm to get worse.
Help our health care heroes take care of you
The goal of “flattening the curve” regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic is to slow transmission such that we avoid seeing a large unmanageable peak of infections at once. It doesn’t necessarily mean that fewer people will be infected from start to finish, but it probably does mean that the outbreak will be extended to spread our resources out over a longer period to allow for replenishment.
Coronavirus can be controlled, but we must embrace sacrifice
Cory Michael, MD | Conditions | March 19, 2020 In the midst of this coronavirus pandemic, a friend of mine relayed a troubling story to me recently. My friend is a dermatologist who is 9-months pregnant, living and working in a county with no known community spread of the novel coronavirus. After spending time examining a 19-year-old with acne, the patient told her that she was under self-quarantine due to exposure to the coronavirus in New York.
The sad demise of an idealistic family physician
Graduation from my residency program was a bittersweet experience. At the time, my specialty was suffering from a crippling job shortage, so our futures were uncertain, and a dark mood had come to permeate my radiology residency. We were disgruntled with the specialty, with the system, and with medicine in general. I attended my graduation without any guests and only stayed long enough to receive my certificate.
The continuing battle between the emergency department and radiology
I overheard a disappointing phone call while supervising a radiology resident recently. I could tell that the resident was struggling in a conversation with an emergency department physician, so I asked him to switch over to speakerphone. Eventually, I heard the emergency physician say, “Listen. This is how it works. A patient points to what hurts. Then I have that part scanned, and you tell me what is wrong.” Disheartening as it sounds, patterns like these have worsened in recent years.
How a patient's passing changed this radiologist
I can still recall my first day of medical school orientation. A humbling silence fell across a sea of 162 enthusiastic and largely arrogant aspiring trainees as the dean proclaimed, “As doctors, you will all kill someone at some point in your career.” I did not give this declaration much thought at the time. I already had a career as a diagnostic radiologist in my sites and believed that radiologists were intricately separated from patients such that the dean’s statement would not apply to me.
We focus on the financial sacrifices of physician training. The personal sacrifices are worse.
The sky was overcast as my girlfriend dropped me off at the airport on a June day several years back. I was headed to Chicago to take the last meaningful high stakes exam of my medical training, a mandatory board exam available only at two sites, a test that 1 in 6 residents now fail. One might think of such an event as something to look forward to, the culmination of an adulthood of training and the punctuation at the end of grueling years of study and preparation. This was not the case for me.
Medicine claims the life of a physician heroine
Peg began internal medicine residency with altruistic goals. She didn’t want to become a specialist or seek personal financial wealth. She just wanted to help people. With a prior career related to her degrees in art history and sculpture, she had a unique way of truly embracing medicine as an art.
Bringing hospitality back to the hospital: lessons from a bartender
It was a beautiful day in southern California as I made my way along Interstate 5 en route to San Diego from Los Angeles. Seeking a venue near the ocean to get some work done on my computer and maybe a snack with my iced tea, I turned off the interstate in search of a restaurant I had heard about with a good local reputation and well-reviewed food.
Technologists drive quality in medical imaging
As a radiologist, I interpret thousands of imaging studies every year. Of the millions of medical images that have crossed my screen, they all have one thing in common. They were all acquired by a technologist in the radiology department. Imaging technologists perform a vital role in medicine. All have specialized training that is unique and critical to patient care.
Sometimes the most entitled people aren't those you expect
As I sat in a frozen yogurt store a couple of years back, I watched as two young men pulled up in an expensive vehicle. They were wearing athletic attire from a private faith-affiliated university in the neighborhood. Both grabbed sample cups and cup-by-cup consumed about ten dollars-worth of yogurt each before jestfully yelling “Gracias” to the Latin store employee and walking out the door without paying for anything. Then I saw the same thing happen with another group a few minutes later.
100 percent satisfaction doesn't work in our health system
“I want answers!” My mother was upset over the care for her ill husband. Previously able to converse normally, he was now incoherent and disoriented. The recent recipient of a bone marrow transplant to treat his advanced leukemia, he probably experienced a brain infection because of the immune suppression therapy needed to accept the marrow. The marrow transplant didn’t work.
Domestic abuse can affect anyone, even physicians
A good friend of mine, B., once told me a few years ago that before her divorce, her husband was verbally and occasionally even physically abusive toward her. Somewhat shocked by this news, I expressed how glad I was that she had gotten out of that situation. I did not think that B. would be a typical victim of domestic abuse. Coming from an affluent background, we met as co-workers in a laboratory after college. B. always came across to me as strong-minded, goal-oriented, and intelligent.
Serving the underserved: a win-win situation
Medical school was a difficult adjustment for me. Coming from a blue-collar background and lacking a medical pedigree, I did not relate to most of my classmates, and I made very few friends. That changed when I met J., a second-generation physician-to-be without the competitive guile or sense of entitlement implicit in most of the medical students I had met.
The questionable ethics of ultrasound in pregnancy
Having worked at both community hospitals and major medical centers, the issue of ultrasound in pregnancy has revealed itself to be more complex over the years. As a resident, I worked with an obstetrics office that only scanned their own patients who had private insurance and would send uninsured or Medicaid patients (often with a high risk of inadequate prenatal care) to the hospital late in the day to be scanned after their office had closed.
Let academic physicians recover more of their clinical revenue. Here's why.
I spent considerable time after college working in academic labs being indoctrinated with the theory that publication is the currency of academic value and that researchers should always want to have their work printed in the journal most cited by other journals. You are supposed to be impressed when somebody claims that he or she is from a highly ranked university or institution, as these well-regarded institutions are synonymous with high achievement.
Why HSAs are not the answer to our health care system problems
I was talking to a physician in my hospital several years ago, and he expressed his frustration that the annual well-child exams for his four kids were expensive. Puzzled, I stated that I found it odd that a doctor’s own health insurance plan had poor coverage for routine care, and he replied that his group jointly decided on a plan with considerable upfront out-of-pocket costs. Why would doctors buy bad health insurance for themselves?
Overweight patients are not necessarily lazy
My nurse practitioner was pleased to see me at my annual physical this year. “So how does it feel to be 20 pounds lighter?” Allow me to explain. Weight has been an issue my entire life. Raised on a standard Midwest diet of complex carbohydrates and the best processed delicacies that government assistance could buy, I spent most of my childhood socially segregated by my peer group due to my appearance.
Stop the slut-shaming: HPV vaccines prevent cancer
I met “Samantha” during my first rotation as an intern. She was a strong-willed and optimistic lady who weighed about 100 pounds. She was dependent on a tube in her stomach for nutrition, and she appeared 10 or 15 years older than her age of 44 years. Pictures of her children were next to her bed. I asked her how we could help her. She cried. Her husband of 20 years was by her side and answered for her. “She wants to eat again,” he stated. Her tears worsened.
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