Starla Fitch MD
MedPage Today
Atlanta, GA, United States
Contact Starla
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Past articles by Starla:
Do You Want to Be Right or Happy?
Whether we're talking about patient interactions, staff communication, or losing battles with our physician colleagues, we've all been there. You know what I mean. Patients who have high expectations, poor compliance, and negative attitudes. Staff who shirk their duties or do the bare minimum or fail to do the (to us) obvious. Physician colleagues who express resentment, distrust, or anger at… → Read More
Stop Pretending You Know It All
Have you ever been in a meeting with your medical colleagues and something was being discussed and you felt, well, lost? Like you were back in physics class, and the professor was describing some obtuse thing and your eyes were glazing over, even though you knew it was an important concept? Raising my hand right here. I can guarantee that you are not alone. Not even a little bit. I have been in… → Read More
Stop Trying to Be Perfect
Picture this. You're in the operating room, nearing the end of the case. Everything is going well. You're closing the incision and you decide to make a tiny adjustment. Maybe just another millimeter here, two millimeters there, will achieve the right symmetry that you (and the patient) are looking for. If you've never been in a similar situation, well ... you can stop reading right now. Maybe… → Read More
Does Loneliness Add to Physician Burnout?
Like you, I've seen all the articles on physician burnout. And I've nodded my head at the disconnect in even the term "burnout." Some have argued that the word "burnout" implies that it's somehow the physicians' fault. That we are not strong enough. Not "resilient" enough. Simply, not enough. Sure, there are myriad reasons we are all maxed out: electronic medical records, burgeoning government… → Read More
Year-End Medical Madness Survival Guide
Best practices for dealing with your patients during the holidays → Read More
Doctors Need to Learn to Say No
If you have a life where you never, ever say yes when you mean no, then you can stop reading right now. But I guess that you're a lot like me. Now and then, you get caught off guard. And before you know it, you're staying late to see that emergency patient. Bringing cupcakes for the second-grade class. Volunteering for the coffee meet-and-greet at church next Sunday. What's up with that? We're… → Read More
A cancer scare changed my life in 7 seconds
I was driving down the highway on the way to the doctor’s office. But I learned this one trick. → Read More
Doctors experience the world differently
I think it’s a fair trade for eating power bars in the break room during our lunch hour. Wouldn’t you agree? → Read More
No, doctors aren't to blame for burnout
Here are the top 3 reasons why motivation fails when it comes to beating doctor burnout. → Read More
Doctors need to learn to say no. Here's how to do it.
Somehow we crumble when we’re face-to-face with someone who’s asking us to do something we don’t have time to do, or don’t want to do. → Read More
True confessions of a surgeon: What's the best question you can ask her?
There’s always something, whether it’s a life or death crisis, or a friend in need. → Read More
The top 10 lies of doctors
I’ve been a doctor for more than 20 years, and I hate to break it to you, but it’s time I came clean: We lie. → Read More
The Danger of Physician Burnout on the Health Care Highway
Whether we're doctors, nurses, med students, or health professionals in other arenas, I can tell you that we went into this for the patients. Someone along the way touched our hearts and our souls and we decided that nothing else but helping patients... → Read More
The Top 10 Lies Doctors Tell
Sometimes the lies are to our patients. Sometimes, the lies are to our families. And sometimes the lies are to ourselves. But, nonetheless, we lie. A lot. Often daily. Want an inside scoop on the lies to look out for from your doctor?... → Read More
Are You Too Nice?
A simple thing, but it rattled me for the rest of the day. What is it about me that made that woman think it would be all right to ask such a personal favor? Does she not know I'm a doctor and a germaphobe? What if she has a cold? A sore throat? Herp... → Read More
Does Medicine Need a New Language?
The insurance companies' complications, government involvement, and economic downturn have all added fuel to this fire of discontent. But I think the problem is even more pervasive than that. It stems from our interactions. With each other and with o... → Read More
The Secret Lives Of Patients
My recent experience taught me that doctor and patient are two sides of the same coin -- and it's a toss up, literally, which side we are on. Every day.... → Read More
What A Dying Patient Taught A Burned-Out Doctor
In medicine, our goal is health, to make everything better. But sometimes we can't. Driving home from Mr. Johnson's funeral, I remembered our last conversation. What had he really wanted me to know? What could I learn as my lesson from his life?... → Read More
Patient Checklist: 10 Ways to Make the Most of Every Visit
Nearly 10 million newly insured Americans will visit doctors' offices this year. The average time you -- or anyone -- has with a primary-care doc is 15 minutes. What's a sick person to do?... → Read More
Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Doctors
While doctoring may not involve the hard life of a cowboy, it certainly has its challenges. And those challenges are becoming even more apparent as our health care system changes.... → Read More