‘You Can’t Take the Pot Off the Fire’: What We Heard This Week

“You can’t take the pot off the fire [and] you can’t turn down the heat.” — Josh Pickett, RN, a charge nurse at Seattle Children’s Hospital, likening the psych unit to a pot ready to boil over as patient violence continues to increase.

“I’m sorry, ChatGPT — no way they can replace us, not in our lifetime.” — Shunsuke Toyoda, PharmD, of Torrance Memorial Medical Center in California, after ChatGPT gave incorrect medical information.

“We don’t age in synchrony across our whole body.” — Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, of Stanford University in California, on how one in five healthy adults 50 and older have an organ aging at an accelerated rate.

“Do they want to maximize their time on the planet or their quality of life?” — Mara Schonberg, MD, MPH, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, on whether breast cancer patients want to opt for more aggressive therapy.

“Every company is looking for the one treatment that treats all dry eye, and that’s ridiculous.” — Anat Galor, MD, of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, on the importance of offering more precise, individualized therapies.

“[It’s] hard to meet the criteria for a full narcissistic personality disorder.” — Scott Krakower, DO, of Northwell Health in Glen Oaks, New York, on social media frequently labeling people as narcissists.

“I never want us to choose between our health, well-being, and financial stability and security, and providing excellent patient care.” — Mugdha Mokashi, MD, of Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, after residents and fellows announced plans to form a union.

“This is kind of the end of this phase of [HIV] vaccine research studies.” — Paul Sax, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, commenting after the two HIV vaccine candidates flopped in a trial.

“This is about preserving insulin production.” — Thomas Kay, MBBS, PhD, of St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Australia, on a JAK inhibitor preserving beta-cell function in people with recent-onset type 1 diabetes.