All play is not equal. With the power of marketing, play has become increasingly associated with toys, electronic gadgets, television, and video games. Just think about the amount of ads for children’s toys over the holidays. Just think about the things your child might have asked for and the latest trends that become the new must-have of the season.
Without realizing it, we may be intervening in a child’s most natural form of …
How well does your child play?
While I, as a physician, would not perform an abortion unless there was an extreme, medical rational, abortion is a choice. It is a woman’s determination of how best to live and manage her life. Also, while the issue of viability is an important medical topic, and while I believe that any life, from the moment of conception, is of supreme value, some women do not. If they are the …
Granting rights to a fetus at the cost of the mother
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. …
How patients can avoid medical errors
When tragedy strikes, one looks for comfort in many places. When traditional resources–relatives, physicians, clergy members–do not completely satisfy, one may reach out for comfort from unexpected places. Increasingly, people turn to online health and wellness support communities.
My family’s tragedy occurred when my father suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest, or SCA, in 2010. As I watched him lay lifelessly on life-support in that hospital bed, the man who was undoubtedly …
Overcoming tragedy requires a team
The recently instituted 30-hour-shift work restrictions placed on medical residents have created a need for “dayfloat” services to safeguard potentially unsafe handoffs in patient care and help residents adhere to duty hour limits. The past two weeks I’ve been the dayfloat resident for the cardiology inpatient service. My job is to round with the post-call team, help them get out of the hospital on time, and then take care of their …
Making tailored health education standard of care
Our children (and grandchildren) are the future and we are responsible for their growth and development. As responsible parties, we are clearly failing.
That is my interpretation of the report issued a few days ago by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on seven criteria known to the associate with ideal cardiovascular health as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examinination Survey. They are defined, briefly, as 1) a diet …
How many parents are failing their children
I remember like it was yesterday. My patient was a young blond female with two beautiful Samoan dogs. Her name was Margaret. I was only two years younger than she was. The diagnosis was poor. She was friendly when I introduced myself. And she proceeded to tell me about her health issues, how she was diagnosed and what treatment she was receiving. Marge as she wanted to be called was …
The powerful connection of emotions in healthcare
I have not always been excited to hear patient complaints. As a younger manager I absolutely dreaded when a patient wanted to speak to me. I felt that I had little to offer a patient who expressed anger or frustration with something that had happened and I was very impatient to get past the complaint and get back to my “job.”
Now, I can’t wait to hear patients’ complaints. Complaints …
Why patient complaints are an opportunity
Whether you call it Health 2.0, Medicine 2.0, or e-Health 2.0, the Internet is changing medicine in ways that challenge the status quo. This article explores how a group of amateurs who call themselves “health hackers” and “citizen scientists” are trying to use the Internet to connect with other patients, run experiments, and conduct clinical trials on their own diseases.
Dr. Gunther Eysenbach states “Medicine 2.0 applications, services and tools are …
The rise of citizen scientists and patient initiated research
There is a fire burning in America over an issue that at times seems hotter to me than the anger against Wall Street: obesity. Time after time when I talk about taking responsibility for our individual health by eating well, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising more, someone responds in anger.
Many would consider me to be a wellness evangelist. They would be right. For nearly a decade I was sick …
It’s that time of year. The media is filled with stories about people traveling to be with loved-ones. Holiday decorations and yummy recipes abound. But for many people, the holidays are a difficult time of year. This piece is for those of you who face isolation during the holidays, either because you’re unable to be with others at all due to health or financial limitations (which often go hand in …
How to ease the pain of isolation during the holidays
As we get older, having a good doctor in our corner becomes incredibly important.
And you don’t want just any doctor for your parent. Smarts, signs of basic compassion and a few other things are essential for the relationship to work.
Good doctor quality #1: Listening skills
Picture it: Your Mom’s doctor’s office. 10am Tuesday. She reaches into her pocket for her list of three concerning symptoms she plans to mention, if she can …
Good doctor qualities for your aging parent
Well-meaning but clueless person: “Let me know if you need anything.”
Snarky me: “Really? Thanks! Empty your purse and let’s see what you have in there. Wait, is that purse Prada? I need that; I have medical bills to pay and want to look good paying them. Oh, that’s a pretty wedding ring, lots of diamonds, can I have that too?”
What you should say is absolutely nothing. This is a time …
What do you say to a person who has cancer?
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“So the patient has been temporarily paralyzed by the drugs, and you’re the one keeping them alive by squeezing air into their lungs, but … no pressure”.
Gulp.
I was holding the mask as tightly against her face as I could, sealing the rubber to her cheeks in the effort to keep highly oxygenated air from leaking out. Looking down at her from the head of the bed I saw the patient from …
The honor of patient responsibility
It was an invitation that made no sense. I was asked to be a special guest of the South Korean Ministry of Tourism and KMI International, a company that markets medical tourism. Why me, I wondered? As I re-read the invitation, I remembered another strange offer I received in the 1970’s during a tense period in Israeli-Arab relations.
“Hello Dr. Goldberg,” an official from the Jordan Ministry of Education had said. …
If you want to know how well the medicine works, ask the patient
Sam is young man is applying for a summer program, a real resume builder. Among other things, the application asks if he has been treated for a psychiatric disorder. In fact, he’s seen a therapist and he’s felt anxious at times. His internist gave him some Lexapro samples and he feels better. The symptoms of his problems have been limited to his own subjective distress. His anxiety is not something …
When applications ask about your psychiatric history
As a neuropsychologist, I have the chance to talk to patients throughout the week in detail about their medical histories, supplemented by a comprehensive medical records review. Part of this involves discussing which provider the patient has seen and if the provider was changed, why. Sometimes, a provider is changed for a benign reason, such as a move or an insurance …
10 ways doctors can lose their patients
Chief of Medicine
Evanston Hospital
October 23, 2005
To whom it may concern,
I would like to take a moment to express my deep displeasure with one of the interactions I had with a physician in the Church Street location. I use the term “interaction” loosely since the doctor in question, Dr. Jordan, never actually saw me. Apparently he was too busy.
Last Thursday I was shopping in downtown Evanston when I felt the sudden …
Why this doctor moved to private practice
In the U.S., we’re getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. Soon, people around the world will turn their attention to the holiday season. Chronic health problems can take a toll on relationships any time of the year. Most people have to experience unrelenting pain or illness themselves before they understand how debilitating it is, physically and mentally. Loved-ones (by whom I mean family and close friends) may be in some form …
Living with chronic illness during the holiday season
I’m a big fan of the teach-back. To my knowledge, it is the only way to confirm that my patient understands my message. I don’t believe avoiding jargon or creating written materials at a favorable readability level can ensure understanding. So, I’m always left with uncertainty until my patient teaches it back to me.
I’ve been teaching clinicians to do the teach-back for about a decade now. For the same amount …
Teaching clinicians the teach-back for patient education
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