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Malpractice fails when it comes to medical errors

Jan Gurley, MD

Physician

January 21, 2011

Here’s your multiple choice question to set the stage: what percentage of all physicians do you think should be sued for malpractice?

Would you say one-in-ten doctors ought to be sued? Or one-third? How about every single one of them? Let’s make it one claim per doctor, nationwide. Does that sound reasonable? Keep in mind that even defending yourself against a suit will cost on average $40,649 per claim, ranging from …

Are parents to blame for childhood obesity?

Dr. Joe Kosterich

Patient

January 21, 2011

Childhood obesity is a problem. It is a function of the foods children eat both at home and at school. The people responsible for feeding children are parents not advertisers. Running the line that it is all to do with advertising allows adults to run a “Johnny told me to” line, which would not be accepted as an excuse from a child.

It is not about blaming parents. It is about …

How effective will the physician payment national database be?

Merrill Goozner

Health Policy

January 21, 2011

ProPublica.org did some interesting frontrunning on the physician payment national database that will become operable sometime around 2013 as part of health care reform.

In the first of a series of stories that has been picked up by several mainstream media outlets, the New York-based investigative journalism non-profit culled all the physician payments that have been publicly posted by seven drug companies to date. It aggregated the dollars …

Menopause and cancer: What women should know

Therese B. Bevers, MD

Conditions and Diseases

January 21, 2011

Menopause often brings more than physical changes. It also may bring uncertainty about cancer risks and cancer prevention.

Below, I’ve compiled some of the questions I frequently hear from patients about menopause and cancer. I hope these answers will help other women start informed conversations with their doctors about menopause-related concerns.

How does menopause affect a woman’s cancer risk?

Menopause does not cause cancer. But your risk of developing cancer increases …

Mental illness in the college student

Emily Gibson, MD

Conditions and Diseases

January 21, 2011

Along with millions of Americans, I’ve tried to comprehend the tragic shootings in Tucson, reaching deep within myself to find compassion for a young man who has forever changed the world for himself and so many others through his actions.

For those of us who assess, diagnose and treat college students struggling with mental illness while trying to succeed in their academic pursuits, the events leading up to his impulsive killings …

Read more…

Mental illness in the college student

Compassion and decency overwhelmed by fear

Kevin

Patient

January 20, 2011

by Eileen M.K. Bobek, MD

The year after I finished my emergency medicine residency, I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled.

Afterwards, I looked as if I had taken several punches to my face. My jaw was swollen, my skin a cornucopia of muddied blues, purples, greens, yellows and reds. If people didn’t know better, I told my husband with a laugh, they might think that I’d …

Personal responsibility and societal structure changes that reduce obesity

Allen Perkins, MD

Health Policy

January 20, 2011

I visited my parents this past week. The are both in their 80s and in relatively good health although my mother received a diagnosis of diabetes while having a medical exam for an unrelated problem. I spent some time educating her about Type 2 Diabetes, the causes (genetics and weight gain) and the options (medication and/or weight loss and exercise). I stayed with my brother-in-law and sister and the conversation …

EHR data is currently ill suited for clinical research

Margalit Gur-Arie

Health Technology

January 20, 2011

One of the most promising uses of Electronic Health Records (EHR) is research.

As EHRs become more and more widespread and the clinical data previously held in silos of paper charts becomes fluid, exchangeable and duly collected, large clinical repositories should emerge and be made available to those engaged in research, presumably medical research. The results of such research are expected to help us identify cost effective therapies, health care trends …

5 ways to improve your medical practice in 2011

Rosemarie Nelson

Physician

January 20, 2011

Here are five things that you should have on your 2011 To-Do list.

1. Start electronic prescribing. What have you been waiting for? The EMR/EHR? (See number 4 below.) Electronic prescribing can work in a stand-alone (no EMR/EHR) environment. Work flow can be modified, and you will benefit tremendously with additional nurse time available to you after the nurses realize how much phone time they save each day.

Ask your current practice …

Patients Google their symptoms, doctors need to deal with it

Kevin Pho, MD

KevinMD

January 20, 2011

Many doctors roll their eyes whenever patients bring in a stack of research they printed out, stemming from a Google search of their symptoms.

A piece by Zachary Meisel in TIME.com describes a familiar scenario:

The medical intern started her presentation with an eye roll. “The patient in Room 3 had some blood in the toilet bowl this morning and is …

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Patients Google their symptoms, doctors need to deal with it

How Millennial physicians will impact disease management

Jaan Sidorov, MD

Physician

January 20, 2011

Oh, those Millennials.

Also called “Generation Y,” this is the American demographic group born during and after the ’70s, that was vicariously raised by “learning is fun” Sesame Street and became accustomed to getting awarded for any effort. They don’t know about bomb shelters, walking to school, tape decks or having to get up to change a TV channel. Well, they’re now entering the workplace and their informality, disregard for rank, …

Maternity leave and infant brain development

Claudia M. Gold, MD

Patient

January 19, 2011

It is not until about eight weeks of age that an infant has a fully developed capacity for mutual gaze.

Then a baby looks directly into his mother’s eyes, while she, in turn, reflects back this loving gaze, cooing softly in response to her baby’s earliest communication. When a mother looks at a baby in a way that communicates with him, not with words but with feelings, “I understand you,” he …

Superior customer service to grow your practice

Michael D. Shapiro, MD, MBA

Physician

January 19, 2011

Can you succinctly state what your company does, where it’s headed and how you plan for it to get there?

In the April 2008 edition of Harvard Business Review, Collis and Rukstad ask an important question: “Can you say what your strategy is?”

Of course, they ask this because their research found that many firms’ CEOs cannot succinctly summarize their organization’s strategy. And if the CEO cannot do this, then it’s a …

Worsen the nursing shortage with more nurse practitioners?

Kevin

Physician

January 19, 2011

by mdstudent31

One of the hot topics occurring in the health care debate deals with figuring out appropriate leaders of the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). With the recent report by the IOM advocating for independent practice by nurse practitioners, many physician groups, including the AAFP and AMA, have come forth with strong statements advocating against the IOM report and independent practice by CRNPs.

A recent editorial …

A laryngectomy shakes this physician to the core

Itzhak Brook, MD

Conditions and Diseases

January 19, 2011

As an infectious diseases physician with a special interest in head and neck infections, I had extensive experience in otolaryngological illnesses. However, when I was exposed to new, different, and challenging experiences as a neck cancer patient, I had to deal with these as a patient — not as a physician. I endured the consequences of radiation, repeated surgeries, and prolonged hospitalizations. I confronted medical errors in my care, discrimination …

Who benefits from computerization of patient-specific clinical information?

Adam Rothschild, MD

Health Technology

January 19, 2011

Electronic health record (EHR) systems are big news (and big money) these days.

Our government is pushing adoption and “meaningful use” of EHR systems because computerizing patient-specific clinical information can benefit our nation’s health care system. The primary focus has been on the benefit to the care of individual patients, but computerizing patient-specific clinical information can also benefit other parties in the health care system.

I believe that there are 6 major …

Fight multiple sclerosis using YouTube and other social media tools

Ted Eytan, MD

Patient

January 18, 2011

“Facebook is for the living, not the dying” – Regina Holliday

It finally happened. The day my Facebook feed included information about a friend’s illness. This is the photograph my friend Matt posted to his feed. Normally I don’t play that close attention to everything in there, but this caught my eye immediately.

When we talked on the phone, I understood that this …

How to improve patient satisfaction with electronic records

Kevin

Health Technology

January 18, 2011

by John Rossheim

To many physicians, it may appear self-evident that electronic records will improve the patient experience. After all, the doctor has speedier access to notes, labs and other patient data, and that’s got to increase the patient’s confidence in the doctor’s understanding of his health status.

But whether patient records are confined to a private-practice EMR or live in an EHR system, the usefulness of …

A historical perspective of alternative medicine

Kevin

Conditions and Diseases

January 18, 2011

by Roberta Bivins

As a historian who writes about the controversial topic of ‘alternative medicine’, I get a lot of questions about whether this or that therapy ‘works’. Sometimes, these questions are a test of my objectivity as a researcher. My questioners want to know whether I am ‘believer’, or a fan of alternative medicine, or have any stake in promoting or disdaining a given medical …

Your doctor isn’t superhuman and is allowed to call in sick

Doctor Grumpy, MD

Patient

January 18, 2011

I mentioned having a migraine this past weekend, and was somewhat surprised by how many people commented and wrote to me, surprised that a doctor, let alone a neurologist, would actually get migraines.

What’s up with that?

I know this may be hard to believe, but we get health problems too.

I see this odd view surprisingly often. People who somehow expect us to be beyond the health concerns of non-doctors.

We may be …