On a 12-hour shift in the hospital, I recently spent a mere hour with patients, with the rest glued to a computer screen, to the “iPatient.” When a patient comes to the hospital, speaking to them has become an afterthought to reading extensive medical records, physical exam findings from the emergency room, and synthesizing laboratory data. I, as a millennial doctor, have been on the cusp of this shift. My …
I think it’s the best job there is in the house of medicine, melding the most ancient of medical traditions (abandoned by many modern practitioners) with the most cutting edge tools of medical technology. And really I never love it more so than at this time of year. I went into this field …
Our current health care system will fail; it’s simply a matter of time. Yet the delivery of efficient, quality, and progressive health care is quite possible once we shift our thinking. A true paradigm shift in medicine begins with first establishing that each pillar in health care has an equal responsibility in making a new system work: patients, providers, and places (facilities).
This article pertains to only the provider portion.
Is it medically professional for a non-profit organization to use physician testing fees to “choose wisely” a $2.3 million luxury condominium complete with a chauffeur-driven BMW 7-series town car? In my view, obviously not. To most people, such an action would conjure up images of hypocrisy, waste, and corruption.
After a review of public and tax records, it appears to me this is exactly what has happened.
One of the things that I love about my job as a hospitalist is the ease with which we can develop friendships with colleagues from other disciplines. Since I am an inpatient physician, it’s not surprising that some of my good friends are cardiologists, nurses, endocrinologists, physical therapists and, of course, other hospitalists. In fact, I met my neurosurgeon husband while co-managing his patients at the hospital. While thinking about …
Her right pointer finger slowly traced the edges of the metallic trinket. It was tucked far enough into her pant pocket that only the longest digit could reach. Back and forth, her hand moved caressingly, pausing from time to time to inspect any irregularity, any imperfection. In such a manner Julie built a mental image of the old forgotten piece of jewelry. Her hands visually occupied …
“Good afternoon officer, is there something wrong?”
I was a second-year medical resident on the way to my father’s birthday dinner. It had been a very long week and I was dressed casually in a T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. Finally, I could kick back and be “normal” for a day. At least that’s what I had thought prior to being pulled over.
I had previously experienced the occasional purse clutching woman, a few …
Home health care is in many ways a fantastic service, especially for those Medicare beneficiaries who are essentially homebound due to frailty or illness.
But it often feels surprisingly hard to synergize with home health care.
The main problem, as I see it, is that home health care agencies have set themselves up to provide only administratively required communication with the ordering doc. (There are rules governing home health care, you know!)
A woman delivered a baby boy at 30 weeks’ gestation at a Boston hospital. After birth, the infant required a ventilator for 3 days. The family visited every day, traveling over 45 miles each way, for the first 2 weeks of their baby’s life. After her husband went back to work, the mother visited infrequently because she relied on friends and family members to transport her to the hospital as …
As I sit home spending Christmas with my family this year, I look back on the past few years of my practicing medicine and realize how much of a luxury this is. While most jobs allow employees time off for particular holidays, health care is a profession where we are called on numerous occasions to sacrifice our time in order to care for others. Frequent are the calls we make …
Dr. Mehmet Oz, also known by many as America’s doctor, is a very influential face within American medicine. An accomplished cardiac surgeon and Columbia University faculty member, Dr. Oz has impressive academic credentials.
However, in the last year, Dr. Oz has received significant criticism for claims he has made about nontraditional medical treatments on his nationally syndicated television show where he has …
In the United States, we train health care providers on poor people. This is no secret — most medical schools and residencies are in lower income areas. If you have Medicaid or no insurance, you are more likely to find care in an office or hospital where medical students, residents, nursing students, and other trainees rotate; Blue Cross patients don’t let interns watch their childbirth. Even though my residency emphasized …
We are currently in the last year of med school, and I’m wondering; what are some practical, everyday things we can do to keep our marriage strong? Especially with intern year coming up.
Answer:
Don’t confuse character with situation. When the demands of life become overwhelming, it is easy to attack your spouse’s personality when in reality it is the situation you are angry …
I was on call over a holiday weekend and Friday night at 10 o’clock I was paged by the emergency department about a nosebleed. A man in his 30s had a bloody nose Friday morning and over the course of the day had developed red spots all over his legs. The ED checked his blood and his platelet count was near zero.
Blood looks red because of the oxygen-carrying red blood cells, …
The enormous push continues to reduce readmissions, due in no small part to stiff financial penalties from CMS for the worst performing hospitals. The most commonly cited statistic is that about 1 in 5, or 20 percent, of Medicare patients are readmitted within 30 days. A staggeringly high number when you think about it. Having discharged thousands of patients and seen the characteristics of those patients that are frequently readmitted …
A few years ago, the United States Navy launched a new recruiting and marketing campaign using the slogan: “America’s Navy: A global force for good.” The line was apparently a flop, and the Navy threw it overboard for “protecting America the world over,” but I liked it. I thought it captured a deep truth about the Navy, which is that it is undoubtedly a global force and that the force exists for …
In the world of medicine, we often feel like we’re swimming upstream without a paddle. Like we’re the only ones having problems out there. With no one to lend a hand. No wonder health care providers suffer from major burnout.
You would think when one is away on a great vacation, it’d be easy to rein in that feeling, to appreciate what truly matters.
Physician–assisted suicide: the collaboration of two through a professional relationship, to cause the death of one.
Ever since Socrates took hemlock, suicide has been part of society, sometimes supported, often condemned. Today, many argue that we have a right to die, sort of an infinite extension of free speech or thought. Regardless, to actively involve doctors is a unique distortion of the medical arts, as if stopping a beating heart can somehow …
There once was a kind, humble physician who worked for years in an office building across the street from the hospital, toiling day to day to take exceptional care of his patients. He was open and deliberate, calm and thoughtful. He himself hired every secretary and medical assistant, every nurse, and biller. His staff formed a protective family who fiercely advocated …
What is it worth to be treated in a hospital with a stellar patient safety record rather than one with lower performance?
For a large majority of survey participants in a recent study by researchers from the Altarum Institute and Drexel University, the answer is quite a lot. Published online last month in the Journal of Patient Safety, the study found that most respondents would choose a hospital with a …
