John Henning Schumann

December is supposed to be the time of year filled with family gatherings and holiday good cheer. For medical residents, quite the opposite is true.

There are no school breaks during residency. Being a medical resident is a real job, and a stressful one at that. Residents work long ...

A 40-something patient I'll call Ted has a list of conditions that would have tongue-tied Carl Sagan. Even though I see Ted in my clinic every month, he still winds up visiting the emergency room 20 times per year.

Yes, 20.

Before he became my patient, he went even more ...

I became a doctor to help people.

When I was a medical student, I held the naive and idealistic belief that if I just did good work, the business side of things would somehow take care of itself.

How wrong I was.

Now I'm an internist taking care of all ...

Even if I hadn't known the hospital inspectors were coming, I would have figured it out quickly enough from my email.

The admonitions were flying:

"Know your safety protocols backwards and forwards!"

"Sign things legibly, or at the very least print your name below the signature."

"Wash your hands ...