Patient voices

1,315 articles · Since 2005

Articles, page 55

Keeping the terminal patient comfortable is the purpose of comfort care

September 28, 2010Sep 28, 20106

Dealing with an incurable illness or terminal condition is an inevitable reality of the practice of medicine. Not uncommonly, especially in the intensive care unit, we care for the patient with no chance for recovery and survival. Keeping that patient…

Occasionally, I hear requests from the family members of the dying patient – “Can you give …

Using denial to control a patient’s anxiety

Alex Lickerman, MD

September 28, 2010Sep 28, 20102

A few years ago, a patient of mine was diagnosed with lung cancer. A metastatic work up revealed a small mass in his liver that had the radiographic appearance of a benign liver cyst. But in the setting of a newly diagnosed lung cancer, we couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a metastatic lesion, so we decided to biopsy it. Due to scheduling issues, we couldn’t get it done for seven …

Confronting the fear of death takes preparation

Brad Stuart, MD

September 28, 2010Sep 28, 20104

Atul Gawande’s brilliant essay in the New Yorker sums up the dilemma we face, whether we’re patients, families, and/or clinicians, as we near the end of life. His point is that we have to face it together: “People die only…

Atul Gawande’s brilliant essay in the New Yorker sums up the dilemma we face, whether we’re patients, families, and/or clinicians, as we near the end of life. His point is that we have to face it together:

“People die only once. They have no experience to draw upon. They need doctors and nurses who are willing to have the hard discussions and say what they …

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Are e-Patients expert in their own diseases?

Dr. Martin Young

September 28, 2010Sep 28, 201020

As an e-Doctor, one with some IT literacy, I welcome the e-Patient movement. I think patients should be equipped, enabled, empowered, engaged, equals, and emancipated, as Wikipedia explains. The link also adds “and experts” and here I have a problem,…

As an e-Doctor, one with some IT literacy, I welcome the e-Patient movement.

I think patients should be equipped, enabled, empowered, engaged, equals, and emancipated, as Wikipedia explains. The link also adds “and experts” and here I have a problem, not because I don’t think patients should have access to knowledge or know a lot about their own disease, but because knowing one pattern of pathology, i.e. your own, does not make you an expert.

No more …

Health and well-being hypocrisy in the health care industry

Edward Stevenson

September 27, 2010Sep 27, 20107

One of the things that drew me towards medicine was the fact that I personally value health and the sense of well being. I would expect that if I inquired of my colleagues that a similar statements of values would…

One of the things that drew me towards medicine was the fact that I personally value health and the sense of well being.

I would expect that if I inquired of my colleagues that a similar statements of values would echo this fact. Yet despite this near universal affirmation of value for health and well-being, a considerable amount of hypocrisy exists in the physician …

What to say to a person who is sick

Lisa Gualtieri, PhD

September 25, 2010Sep 25, 20108

When I ran into Paul S. not knowing he had cancer, I barely recognized him and struggled with what to say. “What happened?” didn’t seem appropriate, although it was my initial reaction. I believe I said, “I barely recognized you,” which was true. I’ve been in many situations where I wasn’t sure what to say to someone who was ill or in distress; I wanted to be supportive …

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What to say to a person who is sick

The $100 question about patient empowerment

Devin Gross

September 24, 2010Sep 24, 201012

by Devin Gross Here’s a question. It’s not a 5¢ or $5 question that anybody can solve on their own without much thought or effort. It’s a $100 ask-an-expert or think-about-it-for-a-second question. What’s the point of patient empowerment? Much of…

by Devin Gross

Here’s a question. It’s not a 5¢ or $5 question that anybody can solve on their own without much thought or effort. It’s a $100 ask-an-expert or think-about-it-for-a-second question.

What’s the point of patient empowerment?

Much of the current discussion of empowerment deals with patients who for one reason or another have had to fight for their care. CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen opens her book, …

Are toning shoes safe or effective?

Orly Avitzur, MD

September 23, 2010Sep 23, 20105

Grandmother Pat LaColla, 82, was lured by the hype—"get in shape without setting foot in a gym"—when she bought a pair of Skechers last year, wincing at the $100 price tag. Toning shoes like those she bought are the newest…

Grandmother Pat LaColla, 82, was lured by the hype—”get in shape without setting foot in a gym”—when she bought a pair of Skechers last year, wincing at the $100 price tag. Toning shoes like those she bought are the newest craze in athletic footwear, projected to grow 500 percent to become a $1.5 billion market this year.

Although the designs vary, toners typically have strongly curved, thickened soles. From the moment …

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Are toning shoes safe or effective?

Tips for patients during an emergency department visit

Mark Lachs, MD

September 23, 2010Sep 23, 20104

An excerpt from Treat Me, Not My Age: A Doctor's Guide to Getting the Best Care as You or a Loved One Gets Older. by Mark Lachs, MD Over my twenty-five-year medical career, the route by which people are admitted…

An excerpt from Treat Me, Not My Age: A Doctor’s Guide to Getting the Best Care as You or a Loved One Gets Older.

by Mark Lachs, MD

Over my twenty-five-year medical career, the route by which people are admitted to the hospital for an overnight stay has subtly evolved in ways that most patients (and even many doctors) may not realize. Specifically, the proportion of patients …

Why answering a cell phone during an office visit is a problem

Jill of All Trades, MD

September 19, 2010Sep 19, 201018

Here is an unfortunate, but almost daily not-so-secret occurrence in my practice: I am in the midst of an intricate follow-up visit with a rather complicated patient with diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. I am feeling as though…

Here is an unfortunate, but almost daily not-so-secret occurrence in my practice:

I am in the midst of an intricate follow-up visit with a rather complicated patient with diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. I am feeling as though I am a CIA agent in a rather mission impossible assignment: she is here for lab results, is complaining of low back pain, and presents with an elevated blood pressure of …

Is it the doctor’s fault if an obese patient cannot lose weight?

John Mandrola, MD

September 19, 2010Sep 19, 201030

I need help. In dealing with obesity as a medical problem, that is. I am pretty solid at arrhythmia management, but as an obesity doctor, not so much. If I was the teacher, and my obese patients were the students,…

I need help. In dealing with obesity as a medical problem, that is.

I am pretty solid at arrhythmia management, but as an obesity doctor, not so much. If I was the teacher, and my obese patients were the students, I would surely be fired for poor student test performance. At least, if the core measure was the patient’s BMI.

If a student does poorly on an achievement test, is it the student’s …

Talk to your own doctor when hearing advice on the radio

Adam Linker

September 14, 2010Sep 14, 20103

A doctor at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center recently advised that I submit to genetic testing without ever having met me. It turns out I may harbor a gene that increases my risk of developing prostate cancer. This unsolicited advice was delivered…

This unsolicited advice was delivered via National Public Radio after a story on the JAMA study of preventive breast and ovarian surgery in women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Dr. Kenneth Offit …

A primary care physician who knows history and can relate to people

MedPage Today

September 13, 2010Sep 13, 20105

by Marianne Mattera Recently, a press release from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City landed in my e-mail inbox. "Students with Humanities Background Equally Successful in Medical School as Traditional Students", the headline read. The press release…

by Marianne Mattera

Recently, a press release from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City landed in my e-mail inbox. “Students with Humanities Background Equally Successful in Medical School as Traditional Students”, the headline read.

The press release summarized the findings of a study published in the August issue of Academic Medicine. David Muller, MD, and Nathan Kase, MD, reviewed data on the Mount Sinai …

All patients will soon become e-patients

Daphne Swancutt

September 13, 2010Sep 13, 201040

by Daphne Swancutt I’m having a weird, visceral reaction to all of the recent brouhaha surrounding the term “e-patient.” For some reason, semantically speaking, the term is slipping in to derogatorium. Up there with “cyberchondriac,” which definitely is derogatory. It’s…

by Daphne Swancutt

I’m having a weird, visceral reaction to all of the recent brouhaha surrounding the term “e-patient.”

For some reason, semantically speaking, the term is slipping in to derogatorium. Up there with “cyberchondriac,” which definitely is derogatory. It’s kind of like research—one day, omigod, it’s Mecca; the next day, it’s the scab on a rotting wound.

Whatever.

I have a chronic condition—I’m not dying, it’s not …

Bringing a friend or family member on doctor’s appointments

Diana E. Lee

September 9, 2010Sep 9, 201016

by Diana E. Lee Most of the resources I've read about how to prepare for a doctor's appointment recommend bringing a loved one with you so that person can help you remember what the doctor said and make sure you…

by Diana E. Lee

Most of the resources I’ve read about how to prepare for a doctor’s appointment recommend bringing a loved one with you so that person can help you remember what the doctor said and make sure you get your questions and concerns addressed.

But when I read Paula Kamen’s book All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable and …

Forgiveness shaped by the stories of people’s lives

Jeffrey Knuppel, MD

September 8, 2010Sep 8, 201033

If you had asked me what I thought forgiveness was when I was a young adult, I probably would have said that it is something you do for others—others who have wronged you in some way, to give them a…

As I’ve matured emotionally over the years, my view of forgiveness has evolved significantly. Some of …

Anecdotal accounts of patient experiences with local physicians

Kevin

September 8, 2010Sep 8, 20106

by Liz O’Brien A long time ago -- when managed care-style employee healthcare benefits were a new thing -- we worker bees learned we might have to throw our old family doc under the bus. We were given a booklet…

by Liz O’Brien

A long time ago — when managed care-style employee healthcare benefits were a new thing — we worker bees learned we might have to throw our old family doc under the bus.

We were given a booklet of providers on the network panel, and if the faithful retainer who had served our family for years wasn’t on that list, it was sayonara — unless we …

Improve patient safety and cut costs with clinical pharmacists

Emmanuel King, MD

September 8, 2010Sep 8, 20107

by Emmanuel King, MD What if you could improve patient safety, cut costs, broaden your medical knowledge and find 20% more time in your workday? On October 1, 2010, that is just what we can expect when clinical pharmacists move…

by Emmanuel King, MD

What if you could improve patient safety, cut costs, broaden your medical knowledge and find 20% more time in your workday? On October 1, 2010, that is just what we can expect when clinical pharmacists move from the back room to the bedside in ten general medical units at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

As we all know, medications play an intensely complex and ever-growing …

Moments of internal struggle in the ER

StorytellERdoc, MD

September 5, 2010Sep 5, 20105

I walked into Room 22 to find a very interesting patient who presented to our ER with complaints of abdominal pain and associated nausea and vomiting. The patient sat on her cot with her pant legs rolled up above her…

I walked into Room 22 to find a very interesting patient who presented to our ER with complaints of abdominal pain and associated nausea and vomiting.

The patient sat on her cot with her pant legs rolled up above her knees, refusing, according to her nurse, Gwen, to put on a treatment gown. Her left leg hung in the air, her ankle crossed over the knee of her right leg. Her …

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Moments of internal struggle in the ER

Tips to make your appointment as fast and efficient as possible

Michael Gonzalez, MD

September 1, 2010Sep 1, 20108

We all hate it when the cable company tells us that the technician will be at our house sometime between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Fantastic! Going to the pediatrician's office can be the same way. Your appointment may be…

We all hate it when the cable company tells us that the technician will be at our house sometime between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Fantastic! Going to the pediatrician’s office can be the same way.

Your appointment may be at 9 a.m. but you may not get out of the office until noon. Unfortunately, this is the nature of running a medical practice. What should take ten minutes for one reason or another …

Patient voices

Articles, page 55

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