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Physicians must advocate for their patients

Maria Yang, MD

Physician

January 7, 2012

Editor’s note: Please read Dr. Yang’s entire Red Herring series for background prior to reading this post.

***

The patient really is fine.

She returned to the gastroenterology clinic several times for treatments to widen her esophagus. (It’s a neat procedure: The GI doctors insert a small balloon into the esophagus. They gently inflate the balloon to stretch the stricture a few millimeters. With repeated stretching, the esophagus will remain open.) The patient ate more. …

Why the physician shortage is a perfect storm

Patrick W. Hisel, MD

Physician

January 7, 2012

In the past few years, the small rural community where I practice has seen five primary care physicians close their practice. This phenomenon is not an anomaly.

Why do doctors close their practices? There are many reasons. Doctors can be broken down into demographics like everyone else.

Baby Boomers

Most of my boomer patients are not retiring right now. In fact, they are financially hurting and looking for work, or for a second …

Physicians do not receive adequate training in nutrition

Solmaz Amirnazmi, MD

Physician

January 7, 2012

As an MD, nutritious and healthy cooking and eating are very important to me.

We as physicians do not receive adequate training in nutrition, healthy lifestyle choices, and disease prevention in general while in medical school or in residency. On top of that, we work long and difficult hours, often overnight shifts during which we consume processed, fatty foods, void of any nutritious value and we find ourselves suddenly with an …

The 3 types of residents that medical students will encounter

Nonmaleficence

Medical Education

January 6, 2012

Every medical student is a bit apprehensive when he/she knows they will be assigned a new resident. The same questions always come up. Will the resident be nice? Will they understand my busy schedule? Will they make me do a ton of scutwork? Will they make me write all of his/her progress notes? And maybe most importantly, will they let me leave early to study for boards or enjoy the …

Physicians need to wake up to the importance of a good night’s sleep

Steven Y. Park, MD

Conditions and Diseases

January 6, 2012

Studies in the past have shown that when someone complains about not being able to sleep to a doctor, more often than not, a sleeping pill is prescribed. The reason is that young doctors are taught in training that pharmaceuticals like Zolpidem (Ambien) stimulates GABA receptors in the brain, promoting sleep. There’s essentially no mention that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia works just as well for insomnia in the short …

Distance medicine will transform medical practice

Stephen C. Schimpff, MD

Health Technology

January 6, 2012

Distance medicine technologies can be disruptive in the way physicians and other care givers interact with patients and with each other and can fundamentally change how patients are able to interact with the entire health care system. This is of increasing relevance as medicine gravitates toward chronic illnesses where diagnosis and treatment are complex and require multi-specialist teams. It also has potential to alleviate some of the effects of the …

Do positive emotions increase life satisfaction?

Bobbi Emel

Conditions and Diseases

January 6, 2012

The answer is yes and they do it by building resilience. University of North Carolina professor Barbara Fredrickson has spent the past two decades looking into why we have positive emotions and what we do with them. She even has her own term for her work: positivity.

To quote an old commercial, “Why ask ‘why’?” when it comes to positive emotions? Shouldn’t we just enjoy them while they’re around? Sure, but …

Designing a friendly patient portal for consumers

Dave Chase

Health Technology

January 5, 2012

More and more providers see the value of providing patient portals. In an attempt to be responsive, EMR vendors are providing patient portals that have some limited capabilities (get lab results, email your doctor and possibly fill out a form requesting an appointment). However, just as the ability to design an airplane cockpit is radically different from a car dashboard, so to is designing an EMR geared towards medical professionals …

Doctors: Don’t be ashamed about going bankrupt

Kevin Pho, MD

KevinMD

January 5, 2012

Are doctors really going broke?

According to this piece from CNN Money, some are: “Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat. But some experts counter that doctors’ lack of business acumen is also to blame.”

That’s all entirely true.

Pressure on reimbursement, combined with a lack of …

Our healthcare system is unfair and unbalanced

Mark Ryan, MD

Health Policy

January 5, 2012

About six weeks ago, while in clinic, I developed pain in my stomach — specifically, in my right upper quadrant, just below the ribs. I had experienced this a few times before, but this time it seemed more persistent than usual. Following the rule that physicians make the worst patients, I kept working through it until my nurse told me I looked poorly, and made me see my own primary …

Risks and benefits of direct access to lab results

Patricia Salber, MD

Physician

January 5, 2012

I am a big fan of DIY (do-it-yourself) healthcare, at least for the bulk relatively minor issues that plague people. I think the days when doctors were needed to control, interpret and dole out health data and information are waning. There are simply too many ways, primarily via the internet, to get good, reliable, easy-to-understand information about our own health.

The Quantified Self (QS) people who use sensors, mobile apps, …

ACP: Making transitions better for patients

Fred Ralston Jr., MD

Physician

January 5, 2012

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Many patients see multiple doctors and receive care in a variety of settings. Some patients receive care in more than one hospital. As an internist who is in the process of transforming into a patient-centered medical home, I have been taking steps to help my patients when they …

The lack of underrepresented minorities in STEM

Kunmi Sobowale, MD

Medical Education

January 4, 2012

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (aka STEM) represent the fields in which the U.S. continues slip in their ranking worldwide. These fields are crucial for the U.S. to remain competitive in an increasingly global market. Workers in these fields spur innovation, have very stable job security. Students in these fields earn more money than non-STEM graduates. Indeed, improved STEM education is a priority of the Obama administration.

Despite the benefits of pursuing study in these areas, …

Requiring doctors to give orders on patients they have not seen

Steven Reznick, MD

Physician

January 4, 2012

To meet Federal patient satisfaction goals, our hospital administration is requiring community based physicians to give patient admission orders before we have a chance to see the patient. Patients who self-refer themselves to the emergency department, are evaluated by the emergency room staff, and who are determined to require admission must be admitted by their community physician within 20 minutes of receiving a call from the ER staff advising the …

How our emotions can affect our decision making ability

Peter Zafirides, MD

Physician

January 4, 2012

In a recent therapy session, one of my patients described her emotions in a way that totally blew me away. I really felt compelled to share her story with you.

A little background however before we go any further. Mary (not her real name) is in her mid-50s and has struggled her entire life with both chronic depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder manifesting itself as hoarding. She has struggled with these emotional …

It’s time to look critically at the concept of board certification

Edwin Leap, MD

Physician

January 4, 2012

In 1994 I was thrilled to become certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. I had worked very hard. I studied and read, I practiced oral board scenarios and even took an oral board preparatory course. It was, I believed, the pinnacle of my medical education. Indeed, if you counted the ACT, the MCAT, the three part board exams along the way and the in-service exams, it was my …

I wish my patients could see what I see

Stewart Segal, MD

Physician

January 3, 2012

I wish my patients could see what I see. I see through a lens sharpened over 30 years of experience. I see the present and often the future. Yes, I’m a fortune teller! Many times, the picture of the future I see is bleak.

It’s my job to predict the future and then try to change it. A friend once told me that he believed life was a movie playing on …

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I wish my patients could see what I see

How patients can avoid medical errors

Howard Luks, MD

Patient

January 3, 2012

Most of you are quite familiar with the rather astounding facts regarding medical errors. There are many reasons why medical errors occur in healthcare. There are errors in omission, there are errors because of poor communication, there is the ever present risk of human error and perhaps the ever increasing stress on physicians to see more and more patients in less and less time. …

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How patients can avoid medical errors

Should healthcare providers hug their patients?

Dominic A. Carone, PhD

Physician

January 3, 2012

Imagine this scenario. You are a male health care provider and you complete an evaluation of a woman close to your age. You establish good rapport as you always do, she laughs at some of the same jokes you make with all patients, and she expresses delight that you are listening to her problems (unlike those other providers she says she has seen), feels you are helping her, and is …

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