As spring and summer entice the sunshine and warm weather, short sleeves or sleeveless tops and spaghetti straps are the favorite fashion. Yet some people prefer long sleeves and sweaters year-round because they feel self conscious about their arms.  Due to the social climate of southern California, patients come to our clinic ...

Working in medicine, specifically dermatology, we know there is no such thing as a ''healthy tan.'' When it comes to educating younger generations, I wish the effects of sun were immediate. I wish when a young girl stepped out of the tanning bed she saw dark spots, wrinkles and skin cancers forming on the body. Only then might ...

For as long as I can remember, NPs and PAs have been repeating the mantra of ''same care, less cost.'' I am beginning to wonder if our some of our messages are now coming back to haunt us. It wouldn't be the first time good intentions turned out to have unintended consequences.   When I was a student I once discussed this very subject ...

In our acute care setting, we deal with death and dying on a daily basis. It truly amazes me, the differences in between patients' reactions when facing a ''death sentence.'' I'm sure this can be noted in all walks of the healthcare system, as well, but it's by far been most noticeable to me in the hospital. Take Mr. G, for example. He's ...

As the universities and secondary schools are preparing for spring break, it is important that we are educated and educate our young patients on the dangers of ultraviolet exposure. I am going to focus this blog more specifically towards the use of tanning beds. As a dermatology specialist and a parent, I find it unconscionable that ...

You don't have to break the law to fail a pre-employment drug test. In fact, you could lose your job just by using countless products hanging on the wall of your local gas station. That's because at my hospital, when an employee's urine drops into that little plastic device during a pre-employment drug screen, it is checked for ...

So I go from working part-time as a nurse to not really working and just doing clinicals. My preceptors were pretty good about working with us regarding schedules, which was amazing because I have 2 kids and a crazy husband. This was more beneficial than I EVER realized! Now? I realize... Let's see... In my first three weeks, I've gotten ...

As I approached high school graduation years ago, my Health Careers teacher shared the popular modern parable, Who Moved My Cheese? It is a story about mice and miniature people who look for cheese (a metaphor for happiness and success) in a maze. Silly, for sure, but I found that the story's lesson sticks its nose into my life on occasion. ...

Well, as you guys know, I've passed boards and have already accepted a position in an acute care setting. I actually started yesterday and am so excited! So far I've been in orientation and the anticipation of actually rounding and caring for patients is killing me! I start rounding next week and am really looking forward to sharing this ...

Was it losing weight? Spending more time with your family? Dragging your body to the gym? Reading more books? When's the last year you set a new year's resolution? And how far did you get before you broke it? And why are you so discouraged about trying again in 2013? We students in the medical field are required to study behavior change ...