Patient voices

1,315 articles · Since 2005

Articles, page 47

Cyberchondria repackaged as new local TV health news

April 4, 2011Apr 4, 20112

So I'm watching the 6 pm local news last night and see a piece on KARE-11, my local NBC affiliate, about "a new buzzword called 'cyberchonrdria'" -- used to describe people who "Google their symptoms online and then worry over…

So I’m watching the 6 pm local news last night and see a piece on KARE-11, my local NBC affiliate, about “a new buzzword called ‘cyberchonrdria'” — used to describe people who “Google their symptoms online and then worry over the multitude of results and possible diagnosis …”

But it’s clear from what they posted online that this was not …

How to make money off the mentally ill

Dennis Grace

April 3, 2011Apr 3, 20117

by Dennis Grace Recognize the title? It’s from Steve Martin’s 1978 stand-up album, Wild and Crazy Guy. Martin lists How to Make Money Off the Mentally Ill as one of the many books he’s written. The joke is supposed to…

by Dennis Grace

Recognize the title? It’s from Steve Martin’s 1978 stand-up album, Wild and Crazy Guy. Martin lists How to Make Money Off the Mentally Ill as one of the many books he’s written. The joke is supposed to be on Martin himself, inviting us to ask, “What kind of disreputable jerk takes advantage of the mentally ill?”

But it’s just a

…

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How to make money off the mentally ill

Wimpy Parent Syndrome, and allowing your child to get mad and cry

Michael Gonzalez, MD

March 30, 2011Mar 30, 201110

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I could not fall back asleep. I had a moment of brilliance laying there in bed. I had discovered a new medical disorder, Wimpy Parent Syndrome (WPS). For…

For years I have been seeing it in clinical practice, but have been unable to put my finger on exactly what was taking place. Then the idea of WPS came to me and everything …

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How much empathy is too much?

Wendy S. Harpham, MD

March 30, 2011Mar 30, 20116

If you're sick, you need people to empathize with you, right? Maybe not. Empathy is one of those words with a wide variety of definitions, especially in academic settings. From Wikipedia: "Empathy ... cover a broad spectrum, ranging from feeling…

If you’re sick, you need people to empathize with you, right? Maybe not.

Empathy is one of those words with a wide variety of definitions, especially in academic settings.

From Wikipedia: “Empathy … cover[s] a broad spectrum, ranging from feeling a concern for other people that creates a desire to help them, experiencing emotions that match another person’s emotions, knowing what the other person is …

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How much empathy is too much?

Does empathy mean giving patients what they want?

Steve Wilkins, MPH

March 29, 2011Mar 29, 20116

Recently, KevinMD.com picked up my post on empathy or should I say the lack of it. I received some engaging comments. One comment in particular caught my attention. The contributor for some reason equated “being empathetic” with “giving in” to…

Recently, KevinMD.com picked up my post on empathy or should I say the lack of it. I received some engaging comments.

One comment in particular caught my attention.

The contributor for some reason equated “being empathetic” with “giving in” to patient requests presumably during routine office visits. Here’s a direct quote:

Give the patients what they want! Antibiotics are OK for colds. The patients want them. So

…

Implications of the surgical buy in when discussing informed consent

Jeffrey Parks, MD

March 28, 2011Mar 28, 2011

Pauline Chen had a post in the New York Times recently about surgical informed consent. Informed consent is an important part of the surgeon/patient communication transaction. Surgeon reviews the proposed operation, the rationale behind it, and the possible complications. For…

Pauline Chen had a post in the New York Times recently about surgical informed consent. Informed consent is an important part of the surgeon/patient communication transaction.

Surgeon reviews the proposed operation, the rationale behind it, and the possible complications. For example— a patient comes in with biliary colic. We describe the anatomy and pathology. We aver that surgical resection will lead to …

Life at a needle exchange

Jan Gurley, MD

March 27, 2011Mar 27, 20113

I went to needle exchange to hang out. You may be asking yourself what a soccer mom from the burbs is doing perched on a folding chair in the parking garage of 101 Grove on a dark November night, surrounded…

I was there as a guest observer because I’m working on a series of articles about mortality and homelessness, as part of an Annenberg California Health Journalism Fellowship I …

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Life at a needle exchange

How can research capture the complexity of tiny moments?

Claudia M. Gold, MD

March 24, 2011Mar 24, 20112

Recently, as I listened to leading researchers grapple with the question of how to design a feasible study of intervention for postpartum depression, I held in my mind an image of a particular moment in my office. I was sitting…

I was sitting on the floor with 10 month old Madison and her mother Nancy, who was struggling with postpartum depression. Nancy spoke of the strain Madison’s refusal to take a bottle and her …

Giving the patient and family precious minutes to say goodbye

Richard Sheff, MD

March 24, 2011Mar 24, 20119

An excerpt from Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil. by Richard Sheff, MD Dorothy suffered a second heart attack, leaving more of her heart muscle damaged and causing her to slip into congestive heart failure. There was not much we…

An excerpt from Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil.

by Richard Sheff, MD

Dorothy suffered a second heart attack, leaving more of her heart muscle damaged and causing her to slip into congestive heart failure. There was not much we could do to reverse the many blockages in her arteries. Yet she was cheerful, as were her four children.

One morning Mary came to find me. “Dorothy says …

Patient volume and money instead of quality patient care

Linda Burke, MD

March 24, 2011Mar 24, 201121

To everything there is a season and mine comes to an end today. For 720 weeks I attempted to give quality care to my patients. The task was not always easy especially when most of my patients held the unenviable position of having a high risk pregnancy and receiving Medicaid or being uninsured. Babies have a right to be born healthy …

Being a physician is not just about medicine

Sunjay Devarajan

March 23, 2011Mar 23, 201111

by Sunjay Devarajan "Mrs. Adams" slowly ambled into the family medicine clinic on a Wednesday afternoon. I immediately noticed her slight hunch as she made her way into the lobby. “A case of back pain?” I thought to myself. “Perhaps…

by Sunjay Devarajan

“Mrs. Adams” slowly ambled into the family medicine clinic on a Wednesday afternoon. I immediately noticed her slight hunch as she made her way into the lobby.

“A case of back pain?” I thought to myself. “Perhaps an exacerbation of the scoliosis she’d had since childhood?” I shrugged my shoulders and carried on with my …

Doctors should ask the people what they want for health care

Pamela Wible, MD

March 22, 2011Mar 22, 201113

Americans typically rely on elected officials to uphold the will of the people. Now physicians—traditionally confined to exam rooms—are taking direct action to fulfill community needs. In 2004 I decided to meet face to face with citizens in my hometown.…

Americans typically rely on elected officials to uphold the will of the people. Now physicians—traditionally confined to exam rooms—are taking direct action to fulfill community needs.

In 2004 I decided to meet face to face with citizens in my hometown. I thought, “Why wait for legislation? I’m a board-certified physician. What’s stopping me from serving the public?”

So I led town hall meetings and invited ordinary citizens to create the clinic of …

Emotional issues that come with cancer during the teenage years

Stephen C. Schimpff, MD

March 18, 2011Mar 18, 2011

When Clarissa was 13 she entered Johns Hopkins Hospital to be treated for relapsed acute leukemia knowing full well that she had only a 40% chance of survival. Today she is 16 and in excellent health. But it took 2 1/2 years of incredibly rigorous treatments to get there. Equally importantly it meant riding an emotional roller coaster for her and her parents.

Clarissa had …

Label the interaction as difficult, not the patient

Maria Yang, MD

March 17, 2011Mar 17, 20116

Kevin Pho, at KevinMD.com, posted a commentary about encounters with "difficult patients." He correctly notes that physicians themselves contribute to these interactions. To reduce the likelihood of these encounters, he suggests that physicians would benefit from more training in "psychosocial…

Kevin Pho, at KevinMD.com, posted a commentary about encounters with “difficult patients.” He correctly notes that physicians themselves contribute to these interactions. To reduce the likelihood of these encounters, he suggests that physicians would benefit from more training in “psychosocial skills.”

Kudos to Kevin for adjusting his own language by the second sentence of his post: He makes the distinction between difficult patient and difficult encounter.

A vital step in decreasing …

Why this patient recommends her family physician

WarmSocks

March 15, 2011Mar 15, 201110

"Do you know a good doctor?" is a question tossed around in conversation sometimes. If the person is reasonably nice/intelligent, I’m happy to hand out my doctor’s name and phone number. Recently, I referred more friends to my all-time favorite…

“Do you know a good doctor?” is a question tossed around in conversation sometimes. If the person is reasonably nice/intelligent, I’m happy to hand out my doctor’s name and phone number.

Recently, I referred more friends to my all-time favorite doctor. Instead of just taking his name and phone number, the couple wanted to know why I like him. That’s a fair enough …

Bullying among nurses needs to stop

Sarah Beth Cowherd, RN

March 14, 2011Mar 14, 201118

I do not wish simply to use the buzz word of the hour. Nor do I wish to assert that I have all the answers. I genuinely desire to bring to light an interesting conflict that has plagued the nursing…

I do not wish simply to use the buzz word of the hour. Nor do I wish to assert that I have all the answers.

I genuinely desire to bring to light an interesting conflict that has plagued the nursing profession for decades.

Bullying.

Why in a profession centered around the concepts of compassion, caring, and healing has a mindset of bullying permeated the culture. Even more confusing is that most often, this …

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Bullying among nurses needs to stop

Danger of multiple emergency room visits to different hospitals

Jeffrey I. Kreisberg, PhD

March 13, 2011Mar 13, 2011

If you are one of the more than 100 million Americans who visit emergency rooms (ER) at least once a year, you’re not alone. Americans, insured and not, make ample use of hospital emergency rooms. One out of every five…

If you are one of the more than 100 million Americans who visit emergency rooms (ER) at least once a year, you’re not alone.

Americans, insured and not, make ample use of hospital emergency rooms. One out of every five visited an ER at least once in 2007, the latest year for which the National Center for Health Statistics …

Achieving balance in life with cerebral palsy

Erin Breedlove

March 13, 2011Mar 13, 20113

As in anyone’s life, the hardest thing to achieve in life is a balance. Whether it’s work, school, home, or play, it’s just plain tough. For those of us with challenges such as cerebral palsy, it brings a new set…

Task execution takes longer. Where it might take my sister thirty minutes to get herself ready and out the door in the mornings, it will take me …

Mental illness in men, and how physicians can prevent suicide in males

Sujatha Prabhakaran, MD

March 8, 2011Mar 8, 2011

Suicide is arguably the most preventable cause of death. It is also a tough thing to talk about. But talk we should, because suicide costs Americans a lot. In 2000, self directed violence cost $1 billion in medical costs and $32 billion in lost productivity. Self-directed violence affects men and women of all racial/ethnic groups. However, as highlighted in the 2011 CDC Health Disparities …

EMR, a patient’s perspective

Ann Silberman

March 8, 2011Mar 8, 201114

My oncologist's office implemented a new EMR system when I was in the middle of chemo. Once the nurses learned the system, I saw no difference in the care I got from them. Not quite so with the doctor. My…

My oncologist’s office implemented a new EMR system when I was in the middle of chemo. Once the nurses learned the system, I saw no difference in the care I got from them.

Not quite so with the doctor. My experience with him changed dramatically.

Before EMR I would enter the exam room and sit on a chair, play Angry Birds on my iPhone and wait. My doctor would walk in, make …

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EMR, a patient’s perspective

Patient voices

Articles, page 47

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