Background: Moral distress, the inability to act in accordance with one’s ethical beliefs due to hierarchical or institutional constraints, has been associated with burnout and poorer well-being.  Significant moral distress amongst American physician trainees might occur when they feel obligated to provide treatments at the end of life that they believe to be futile or [...]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted healthcare and put enormous stress upon front-line healthcare workers. Physician trainees may be more vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes, including burnout and distress. The objective of this study was to compare mental health indices of attending physicians versus trainees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A voluntary survey was [...]

Background: In the US, Marijuana is the most used substance, with 18% of the population having tried it at least once. Its use is steadily increasing and stands at a staggering 43% amongst college-aged adults. Marijuana has been known as a self-coping means for anxiety. The recent increase in marijuana use and its effect on [...]

Background: Physician burnout has been suggested to be positively associated with the degree of spirituality and negatively associated with empathy; however, sparse data with mixed results are available. Therefore, our objective was to determine if physician burnout is related to spirituality and with empathy. Methods: We surveyed attending physicians, residents, and medical students using an [...]

Case Presentation: A 40-year-old woman with a history of anxiety presented with one week of diffuse abdominal pain, associated with constipation, decreased oral intake, nausea, and bilious emesis three times a day. She was admitted to an outside hospital one month prior with similar symptoms and treated for pneumonia. The patient lives alone and denied [...]

Case Presentation: This is a previously healthy 41-year-old man who presented with fevers, headache, and neck stiffness for 5 days. He also reported photophobia, anorexia, insomnia, nausea but no vomiting. He denied any recent travel and was not aware of any insect bites. The patient had a faint macular rash on his upper chest and [...]

Case Presentation: Mr. A is a 48-year-old male with a past medical history of end-stage heart failure. He was transported from prison due to worsening dyspnea and was admitted to the hospital with acute kidney injury. He rapidly deteriorated, requiring transfer to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to worsening shock requiring vasopressors. Mr. A’s [...]

Case Presentation: A 7-month-old former term female with congenital hypothyroidism was admitted for the third time with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis. Her first admission at 7 weeks of age involved an ICU stay requiring intubation and chest tube placement after a chest X-ray showed a right tension pneumothorax. She suffered no other major complications and [...]

Case Presentation: This is a 32 year old male with no pertinent medical history who presented to the emergency department with complaints of headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, fevers and chills for 4 days. The patient also admits to generalized weakness and poor appetite. The patient denies any chest pain, dyspnea, shortness of breath. The [...]

Case Presentation: A 15-year-old female with a past medical history of acne vulgaris on topical Dapsone and anxiety on Sertraline presented to the ER with severe shortness of breath. She was recently hospitalized for a left knee meniscal repair one month prior. She went to a theme park on the day of admission where she [...]