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The giants of medicine: An appreciation

Medical Education

October 30, 2014

The present time has one advantage over every other – it is our own.
– Charles Caleb Colton

The cherubic young man smiles from the black-and-white class photo. His open, relaxed appearance captures my attention. He sits on a wooden bench at the far right end of the front row, his sharp white shirt and patterned tie cinched tightly beneath his three-piece wool suit with the stylishly wide lapels. He looks directly at the camera …

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The giants of medicine: An appreciation

Do EMRs improve patient safety? A debate.

Karen S. Sibert, MD

Health Technology

October 30, 2014

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“I’m here to say ‘Yes, they can,’ which is different from ‘Yes, they always do,’” says James Moore, MD, president-elect of the California Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA).

To the contrary, enthusiasm for electronic medical records (EHRs) is part of a “syndrome of inappropriate overconfidence in computing,” argues Christine Doyle, MD, the CSA’s Speaker of the House.

The two physician anesthesiologists (and self-identified “computer …

Why company-paid egg-freezing threatens medicine and motherhood

Alexandra Sowa, MD

Physician

October 30, 2014

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Recently, reports surfaced that two Silicon-valley giants, Apple and Facebook, are covering elective oocyte cryopreservation, a.k.a. egg freezing, for its female employees. Silicon Valley, like medicine, has a shortage of women at the top and it is presumed that this move will attract more women to enter — and stay — in the field of technology.

As both a recent graduate of medical …

The lessons hospitals and physicians can learn from Ebola

David Klein, MD

Physician

October 30, 2014

Among reams of coverage on the Ebola outbreak, Politico just published a characteristic story with the headline, “In the world of Ebola, no room for error.” The only problem is that is as soon as you introduce a human element to any system, there will be error.

That’s the reality that health care leaders across the United States are grappling with now in a simultaneous effort both to tighten the health …

The Ebola quarantine: Is 21 days enough?

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

Conditions and Diseases

October 29, 2014

A few weeks ago an emergency room doctor called our infectious disease physician group concerning a patient who had returned from Liberia and was having nausea and vomiting. Several of the patient’s family members had died of Ebola.

As panic struck us, our decisive question was: When did he return from Liberia?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for screening and isolating patients for possible Ebola infection are …

Instead of being hysterical about Ebola, respect it

Dr. Saurabh Jha

Conditions and Diseases

October 29, 2014

Some years ago I was in Australia’s Northern Territory. The intrepid explorer that I was, I was croc-spotting from the comfortable heights of a bridge over the East Alligator River. The river derives its name because it is east of something. And because it’s croc-infested.

I was reading a story about a German tourist (it’s usually a German) who was attacked by …

Pharma needs physician digital key opinion leaders. Here’s why.

David Lee Scher, MD

Medications

October 29, 2014

Physician key opinion leaders (KOLs) have been viewed as a valuable resource in the pharmaceutical (heretofore referred to as pharma but included are medical device companies) industry.

In one study in which 100 KOLs were surveyed, the most important characteristics of a KOL were, “regularly sought out by their colleagues for opinions or advice, speak often at regional or national conferences have published articles in a major journal during the past two years, …

A civil war in psychiatry: Is there common ground?

Allen Frances, MD

Physician

October 29, 2014

There will never be any compromise acceptable to the die hard defenders of psychiatry or to its most fanatic critics.

Some inflexible psychiatrists are blind biological reductionists who assume that genes are destiny and that there is a pill for every problem.

Some inflexible anti-psychiatrists are blind ideologues who see only the limits and harms of mental health treatment, not its necessity or any of its benefits.

I have spent a good deal …

Patient satisfaction: Should that be the real mission of health care?

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

October 29, 2014

As the patient satisfaction movement races full steam ahead, the time is perfect to regroup and define what this whole thing is really all about.

Anyone involved in health care, and particularly hospital care, knows that the term “patient satisfaction” has become a buzz phrase recently. Sadly too it’s also evolved into a bit of a bumper sticker in hospital administration circles …

Customer service in health care: It’s coming. Are you ready?

William Rusnak, MD

Physician

October 29, 2014

After reading a book about conducting good business, you’ll likely review the concept of adequately meeting demands for clients or consumers. Whether a company is thriving due to lower pricing or higher quality, in the world of business, the golden rule is provide value or go bankrupt.

One industry has seemingly remained immune from this concept, however. In the past few decades, especially, health care has unequivocally failed in …

Health reform: Great for patients, but this doctor lost his job

Anonymous

Health Policy

October 28, 2014

As an employed physician specialist working in an underserved community, I am thrilled with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I was initially a skeptic of the program because of the cost to taxpayers, but I have since witnessed first hand the tremendous benefits. People with limited resources and real problems can now get help without suffering financial harm. Those with chronic …

Too many cooks in the kitchen can spoil medical care

Adam Bitterman, DO and Shalin Shah

Physician

October 28, 2014

There are times when a common cliché may be the best way to describe academic medicine in today’s medical centers. In fact, I have heard patients and their families complain about this, way too often. Simply put, there are many occasions when it seems that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

When someone gets admitted to the hospital, chronic problems …

5 ways to increase your EMR efficiency

Brian Anderson, MD

Health Technology

October 28, 2014

One of the major reasons that health care providers resist implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) system is the belief that using it will decrease provider productivity, reducing the number of patients they can see and therefore reducing practice revenue.

However, an EMR that is designed around a streamlined workflow can enable providers to work faster and more efficiently. Having an EHR and vendor that can give you ongoing visibility and …

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5 ways to increase your EMR efficiency

Primary care physicians: 7 tips to treat health anxiety

Lynne S. Gots, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

October 28, 2014

Before the Internet age, people with excessive and irrational worries about their health (we called them “hypochondriacs”) went to their doctors for reassurance. Today these patients still schedule appointment — often with exasperating frequency — with their primary care physicians when they’re concerned about an unusual lump or vague symptom. But most likely they’ll have first consulted WebMD or the Mayo Clinic website and come up with a differential diagnosis of their …

A physician undergoes hip surgery: 10 observations from bedside

Staci Mandrola, MD

Physician

October 28, 2014

It finally happened. After years of sitting at John’s bedside through multiple serious bike crashes, I had one of my own. I’ve had plenty of time to build up a ridiculous amount of smugness about why he crashes and I don’t. “John is reckless; Staci is cautious. John rides like an airplane engine on a shopping cart; Staci uses her head.”

I …

Ebola: We suffer from unrealistic expectations

Richard Reece, MD

Physician

October 28, 2014

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there.
Where most it promises.
– Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well

It may seem a strange thing to say, but I believe the U.S. suffers from unrealistic expectations. We expect government, health, and hospital officials to get things right the first time around. This is unrealistic. People, and believe it or not, including politicians, are never perfectly competent in things they are never experienced before. Disease …

Ebola and the psychology of contagious disease

Myles Riner, MD

Physician

October 27, 2014

A month ago I published a post predicting that paramedics, emergency nurses, and emergency physicians would be exposed to patients with Ebola and have difficulty picking out these patients from the many other patients who present to the ED with similar symptoms. In light of the events in Dallas, Texas, this seems prophetic, but it is really not so difficult to explain (despite the finger-pointing from a horde of outraged reporters …

What can be said about the Generation Y physician?

Brian J. Secemsky, MD and Joshua Liao, MD

Medical Education

October 27, 2014

Tech-savvy. Attention-craving. Lazy, good-for-nothings.

These are a few of the many traits that have been commonly bestowed upon those born around the last two decades of the 20th century. Commonly known as Generation Y, this demographical cohort of 20- to 30-somethings has certainly sparked mixed reviews from its Gen X and Baby Boomer elders.

But what defines the particular subgroup of young …

Ebola in the United States: Don’t forget the lessons we learned

Maja Feldman

Conditions and Diseases

October 27, 2014

Although I never disclosed this in my medical school interviews for fear of being just another cliche (“Hollywood sparks interest in medicine story”), I decided to become a doctor in 1997 at the age of 11 when I first saw the movie, Outbreak. For years and years, this was my favorite movie. The scene where they showed the electron micrograph image of the Ebola virus had me captivated. I was staring at …

Ebola in the digital age: How doctors can confront it

Chiduzie Madubata, MD

Social Media in Medicine

October 27, 2014

With the recent attention given to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the cases diagnosed in the United States, one of the main ways in which the public is being informed is through social media. Every single day on Facebook, I see at least one story posted about the Ebola epidemic and its potential impact on the U.S. public and …

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