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Compassion and Medicine

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  Compassion and Medicine Sara Hylwa-Deufel, MD As we all know, February is the month dedicated to love. And while we may not always feel love for our jobs, colleagues, patients, or even ourselves, offering compassion is a prerequisite for being a physician. Compassion entails recognizing the suffering of others and being motivated to help. Compassion has both feeling and acting components, distinguishing it from similar feelings like sympathy, empathy, and concern (1). While compassion is foundational for the physician, little research has been conducted on the subject. However, a recent study from 2022 attempted to address this gap by asking patients what actions physicians take to make them feel cared for. The study found 7 behavioral themes: listening and paying attention (far and beyond the most important behavior in this survey with a whopping 71% of responses), following-up and running tests (11%), continuity and holistic care (8%), respecting preferences (4%), genuine understa

Creating Joy and Fun at Work

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    From Dr. Shawna Flanagan My office staff and I bring joy and fun to the workplace by having fun office dress up events. We love a group Halloween theme and do random themes throughout the year (pajama day, sports team day, Taylor Swift day). Not only does this create a bond with the staff but our patients love our fun energy as well.  Sometimes it’s just little things that bring a joyful boost to the workplace. From Dr. Una Miniter To cultivate joy in the workplace, my office has a potluck celebration for each person‘s birthday. Additionally, four times a year we have a craft night as we have a lot of talented crafters on staff. Lastly, we have numerous patients that come in telling jokes at each of their visits. We all informally compete to see who has heard the best one.   From Dr. Catherine Tchanqu é -Fossuo Creating Joy & Fun at Work is not always easy, bu

Advances in Dermatology: 2023 in Review

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  Advances in Dermatology: 2023 in Review Cather McKay MD, FAAD This year has been yet another exciting year in the field of dermatology with some of the highlights detailed below. Atopic dermatitis, prurigo nodularis, and urticaria The American Academy of Dermatology published guidelines for the management of atopic dermatitis (AD) in adults with topical, light, and systemic therapies this year. 1,2 Topical therapies first used in psoriasis are showing promise in AD. Phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitor roflumilast cream 0.15% (Zoryve) has data available for ages 6 years and up, 3 and a 0.05% cream is proving safe and effective in phase 3 trials for ages 2-5 years. 4 Tapinarof 1% cream (Vtama) is being studied for patients down to the age of 2 years. 5 The indication for oral abrocitinib (Cibinqo) was lowered to the age of 12 this year. Oral baricitinib (Olumiant) is currently approved for alopecia areata in the US but may gain an indication for AD in the fut