I am honing my storytelling craft after thirty years as an emergency physician, mother, and observer of the human condition. I will be creating new entries and pulling in some of my published works. Thanks for coming along.

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After Emergency Medicine…

#83 Growing up Black in Suburbia
Dr. Joan Naidorf Dr. Joan Naidorf

#83 Growing up Black in Suburbia

I share my review of Kiara Imani’s terrific book: Therapy Isn’t Just For White People. One chapter, that illustrated the poor treatment the author received in a local emergency department, spoke to me. We have got to do more to recognize bias and gaslighting.

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#82 Taking the Measure
Dr. Joan Naidorf Dr. Joan Naidorf

#82 Taking the Measure

The Measure by Nikki Erlick invites readers to think hard about how they want to spend this one precious life. Of course, she features an emergency physician, because this is how we roll.

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#81 Surviving Intern Night #1
Dr. Joan Naidorf Dr. Joan Naidorf

#81 Surviving Intern Night #1

I replaced one of these during the first night of my internship. You can do a lot of hard things with encouragement and curiosity. Here is a reflection on a very long and emotional night when I began my medical training.

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#80 Can Leaders Improve Difficult Clinician-Patient Interactions?
Dr. Joan Naidorf Dr. Joan Naidorf

#80 Can Leaders Improve Difficult Clinician-Patient Interactions?

Can physician leaders help improve difficult clinician-patient interactions? Yes, I believe that they can. The key is to change that very negative ways that clinicians think about those interactions. The families and challenging patients won’t change. We have to offer new, believable thoughts to obtain better feelings and results.

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