Stefan Kertesz
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stefankertesz.bsky.social
Stefan Kertesz
@stefankertesz.bsky.social
Don’t believe the NEJM spin

I read the article. This review of “deprescribing” miscites the lit to drive an unsupported conclusion that tapering to is a path to safety

The piece portrays a patient without humanity.

It treats informed consent as a hypothetical notion to be discarded in practice
Opioid deprescribing is advised when risks of opioid use outweigh benefits. A tailored, patient-centered plan with gradual dose reduction, monitoring, and support can improve outcomes and reduce harm.

Learn more in these key points and read the full article: nej.md/4oL3fu2

#MedSky
November 18, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Are prescription drug monitoring programs harmful or helpful?

I will be debate that question for the @AMERSA_tweets colloquy today 11/14, Professor Liz Chiarello, author of “Policing Patients”

At 1015am Pacific, 12:15 Central
Streaming here

www.youtube.com/live/shEHw7v...
AMERSA 2025- Friday Plenary Sessions
YouTube video by AMERSA
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM
The American College of Physicians announced that the *one thing* doctors should *not* take seriously is:

whether their patient with pain feels that they were helped

Dr Saul Weiner & I cover this and other pain-related disasters in our latest podcast On Becoming a Healer pod.link/healer/episo...
October 30, 2025 at 4:07 AM
1/🔊 Our latest podcast focuses on the hollowed-out state of pain care in America. It asks "Why are we addicted to talking about opioids rather than helping people with chronic pain?"

"On Becoming a Healer" is on
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2mU6...
October 23, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Stefan Kertesz
I'm looking forward for this lively discourse on the utility, or lack of such, on Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs this November at AMERSA's conference in Portland, Oregon!
Each year at the annual conference, the AMERSA Discourse plenary session offers attendees the opportunity to hear the evidence from two perspectives on a topic. Join us in Portland this November to engage in a thoughtful discourse! Register today: amersa.org/annual-confe...
June 18, 2025 at 6:51 PM
1/Women entering med school in the 50s & 60s faced a "Mad Men" like world:

Being pinched & prodded
Playboy photos in lectures

And yet when our podcast guest interviewed them decades later, they were upbeat about their careers
Our latest On Becoming a Healer podcast tells their stories
September 28, 2025 at 6:56 AM
After Dr Smith’s patient died, her husband brought him her diary.

What he read shocked him. He had failed at responding to a woman in the worst moment of her short life.

Dr. Smith is the guest on our latest podcast from “On Becoming a Healer”. That story is in this post
pod.link/healer/episo...
August 19, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Georgia
Film: Ilford HP4
Pentax Super Program
50 mm
f/5.6
August 10, 2025 at 5:13 AM
A week ago a limited bronchopneumonia hit

my temp spiked to 102 while my O2 sat hovered at 90%. The X-ray showed some odd and small infiltrates.

Antibiotics were given. I am not back to normal, but I am getting close.

Fencing on the left. I was breathless but in a week, I will be good !
August 3, 2025 at 5:44 AM
1/Are doctors ready to serve patients with disabilities? Only 41% say they are
--Our latest On Becoming a Healer podcast explores this with Lisa Iezzoni, MD.
--She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while at Harvard Medical School.
--She's a Harvard professor of medicine
July 17, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I'm looking forward for this lively discourse on the utility, or lack of such, on Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs this November at AMERSA's conference in Portland, Oregon!
Each year at the annual conference, the AMERSA Discourse plenary session offers attendees the opportunity to hear the evidence from two perspectives on a topic. Join us in Portland this November to engage in a thoughtful discourse! Register today: amersa.org/annual-confe...
June 18, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Stefan Kertesz
Delighted to be selected for the 1st cohort of trainees at Grayken Center for Addiction’s Nurse Care Manager Training with our nurse champion, Marsha. Nurses are essential to expanding access to care in AL and rural US, and we’re so glad to have some of the best at UAB @uabcappi.bsky.social
June 16, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Did you know that cytisinocline has trial-quality evidence for helping people quit vaping?

We're hard at work preparing for Friday afternoon's Clinical Update in Addiction Medicine at 445pm at #sgim25 (with Drs. Morford, Mullins and Chan) @societygim.bsky.social
May 15, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Stefan Kertesz
3 docs found a calling in trying to be of use to folks who are homeless or

At right : SGIM plenary speaker Jim Withers of the Street Medicine Institute

Left Travis Baggett @MGHMedicine and @BHCHP
(Middle) Stefan Kertesz @VABIRMINGHAM & UAB

#SGIM25
May 15, 2025 at 3:19 AM
A great audience at the National Health Care for the Homeless Council has come to hear summaries from
#HCH25

“What's new in homeless health care? A no-jargon summary of the latest research”

I will share a PDF of our summaries below later today

Dr Travis Baggett presenting up front!
May 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Former Acting US Attorney Ed Martin concluded 2 months of star power by sending intimidating letters to medical journals

Is that an embarrassing aberration or a sign of things to come?

That’s in the 2nd half in this On Becoming a Healer podcast

open.spotify.com/episode/3Hzt...
May 10, 2025 at 7:24 PM
1/The groups accrediting US medical schools & residencies are under new pressure

In a new “On Becoming a Healer” podcast, we look at a 4/23 White House order to investigate & terminate accreditors of US medical education, and curious attacks on med journals from a US Attorney
May 1, 2025 at 12:30 PM
This is the 1st podcast that became more timely in 7 days since we posted it.

I detail the concerns of many who objected to what they saw in recent years. Can what’s happening now be justified?

But the question remains: Can physicians stand up to authoritarianism?

youtu.be/x1iwqRgUPpo?...
April 16, 2025 at 10:20 PM
🚨The record of physicians standing up for our values as healers under authoritarian regimes is not good, historically speaking

In this podcast, we ask if docs in the US will do better, this time around

“On Becoming a Healer” podcast streams on all services - links below /1
April 8, 2025 at 12:26 PM
I am thankful to be honored with the award and to work with a wonderful cadre of addiction and pain scientists and clinicians at UAB
Congratulations to CAPPI @uabcappi.bsky.social Senior Scientist, Dr. Stefan Kertesz, on being named the 2025 Bucksbaum-Siegler Clinical Excellence Award Honoree! A well-deserved honor! bit.ly/4jh6wyB

#UAB_CAPPI #UAB #clinicalexcellence #doctorpatientrelationship
Current News & Events – Bucksbaum-Siegler Institute for Clinical Excellence
bit.ly
March 31, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Counter-touch in fencing
March 24, 2025 at 12:33 AM
1/Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs draw physicians into adopting the logic of law enforcement-

That’s the case made by our podcast guest @lizchiarello.bsky.social
in our new episode from On Becoming a Healer

Listen here:
pod.link/healer/episo...

(I’ll post the YouTube link next)
March 23, 2025 at 4:52 AM