by June Parker Beck
At age 73 I have definitely seen the evolution of the whole “doctor” experience, from Ob/Gyn, to pediatrician (have 5 children) to specialist, to internist.
I’ve learned to accept the fact that in this high tech age, we aren’t going to be chatting with our doctor about the grade school bake sale. The biggest lesson learned, however, was that if you are treated …
Doctors need to be aware of their office staff behavior
A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
As physicians, we prioritize the health of others often at the expense of our own health. Our patients’ health is our priority and why we chose the profession of medicine. The International Conference on Physician Health, held earlier this month in Chicago, gave physicians the opportunity to make their health a priority and provided them with tools to make …
AMA makes physician health a priority
by Thomas Goetz
Enough about patients: What is a doctor to do?
In the past few months, since The Decision Tree book came out, I’ve had the privilege to talk with many doctors about the opportunity and challenge of engaging patients in their own health. Some physicians, not surprisingly, have been suspicious, and even hostile to the idea that patients have a …
How can doctors successfully engage their patients?
by Travis G. Bias, DO
Throughout my involvement in organized medicine, I’ve met friends who I hold in high regard, and colleagues for whom I hope to one day work. One of my favorites, a neurosurgery resident buddy of mine, claims specialists should be paid more than primary care physicians. But, I am a third-year family medicine resident, preparing to enter the practicing world. And …
How to meet the primary care demand in the next decade
by Ruben J. Rucoba, MD
Has it come to this? Do we really need, as a profession, to measure ourselves against others like a bunch of schoolboys? After reading Dr. Son’s article, “Does being a lawyer or journalist stack up with being a physician?”, I feel compelled to reply.
As a practicing pediatrician, I, too, feel the nobility and privilege of my profession, and count myself lucky …
A physician’s worth doesn’t need a professional hierarchy
When I was a resident in internal medicine many years ago, I saw an elderly woman who came to the ER complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. She had a history of heart disease. When I listened to her chest, the crackles I heard emanating from her wet lungs told me she had congestive heart failure. I treated her chest pain and gave her diuretics to help her get rid of the water that was making …
Reduce medical malpractice and create a culture of patient safety
It would be difficult today to be connected to medicine as either a provider or a consumer and not be aware of the existence of free-standing ambulatory care centers.
Their usual habitat is along a suburban commercial strip, and their presence is generally announced by a well-lit sign displaying a hyphenated medical name, corporate-logo style. The ambulatory care center, known to much of the public as the “walk-in clinic,” is less …
Doctors working in an ambulatory care clinic
Something happened to the public perception of health and medicine in the 1970s. People began to adopt — and financial interests and the media began to profit from – “healthy lifestyles.”
This was not without consequences.
• Americans became increasingly preoccupied with diet, exercise, and health habits.
• There was a big uptick in the use of alternative “medicine” and stress reduction practices – acupuncture, chiropractic, herbalism, naturopathy, nutritional therapies, yoga, massage, biofeedback.
• …
How a tyranny of health is bad for both patients and physicians
The rise of the e-Patient movement has the potential to change the practice of medicine, in my opinion, for the better. e-Patients demand to be taken seriously, to be “equipped, enabled, empowered, engaged, equals, and emancipated.”
My recent post on KevinMD.com suggested the need for e-Doctors as well, in response to the growth of the e-Patient movement.
So how do you become an e-Doctor? I believe you, and I, need to be equally …
I don’t think there is anything nobler than being a physician. In it’s most prime form it is service to life’s most basic needs.
Certainly there are professions and lives with similar dedication. But lawyers and journalist I can’t reasonably place amongst them. This from someone who favors liberty and transparency in society above most else; certainly things that lawyers and journalists can help foster.
And yet, for all the respect thrown …
Does being a lawyer or journalist stack up with being a physician?
“How many staffers should we have per doctor?” was the opening question in a recent column. We looked at the impact of staff on provider productivity and ultimately practice profitability as an approach to address that question.
In that piece, we focused primarily on clinical staff, but in this column, we’ll dig even deeper into medical practice operations, looking at the way a practice utilizes nonclinical support staff for traditionally …
How medical practice operations impacts productivity and profitability
by Dennis Grace
The last time I visited my physician for an epidural injection, as the doctor’s assistant was situating me under the fluoroscope, the doctor was feverishly dictating notes on his previous patient’s procedure. No doubt your physician has a similar work schedule: when not dashing off notes from one patient or burrowing through medical research to diagnose another, he’s performing delicate medical procedures …
Trust your doctor but review your medical bills
“What does it take to be good at something in which failure is so easy, so effortless?” asks Atul Gawande in his book, Better. For medical students who will soon have responsibility over people’s lives, it’s a daunting question. It draws out our fears of messing up and making mistakes. Of getting a lower grade than our peers on a Structure Function exam. Of answering a question incorrectly and embarrassing …
How to foster a cycle of excellence in medicine
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Dr. Kirsch at MD Whistleblower has written about his recent unpleasant experience with malpractice litigation. Despite having full access to the patient’s chart and medical records, the plaintiffs attorney chose to include Dr. Kirsch in the suit … apparently … just because … he had seen the patient.
In Ohio – where this case was filed – a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case is required to obtain …
Medical malpractice and how legal waste increases overall costs
One of my docs was telling us about a patient’s experience at another practice. Apparently, the parent was at her wits end with her crying baby. She called the on call doctor to ask for advice and the doctor told the patient, “your baby has colic’s; turn on the vacuum and stop calling.”
It turned out the baby had some gastric condition (not colic) and needed treatment. The patient ended up …
Why doctors have poor customer service
One of the simultaneously most enjoyable and exasperating aspects of being an infectious disease specialist is the large volume of “curbside” consultations we get from colleagues.
For example, here’s this week’s tally — and it’s only Tuesday — done from memory and without systematically keeping track of emails, pages, phone calls, etc.:
Why specialists don’t do more curbside consults
Interesting article recently from Health Affairs about the clinical equivalence between the care provided by anesthesiologists and CRNAs. The article concludes by advocating that CRNAs be given permission to practice anesthesiology without physician supervision. It’s more cost effective. And there is no compromise to the quality of care delivered to patients.
We recommend CMS return to its original intention of allowing nurse anesthetists to work independently of surgeon or …
Should CRNAs practice anesthesiology without physician supervision?
My wife and I were invited to dinner at the home of one of my daughter’s friends. My daughter is a graduate of the International Baccalaureate program of Murphy High and her friends tend to be interesting.
This particular friend is majoring in pre-med and has parents who immigrated from Vietnam following the fall of Saigon. As is usual when one has a physician dinner guest (and perhaps when one doesn’t) …
Our love affair with technology holds primary care back
Let’s say you develop some heart problem and get sent to me for an evaluation. You show up to the office, check in, get ushered into an exam room, then you wait and wait and wait. When I finally come into the room I seem terse, impatient and rushed, and you end up visiting with me for less than 5 minutes. I provide you with a diagnosis, order a couple …
Finding a doctor using ratings is a sound idea, but poorly executed
“How many staffers should we have per doctor?” That’s a question I’m asked at almost every seminar I present. Of course, like many good consultants, I almost invariably respond “it depends.”
One of the factors that needs to be considered is what jobs we’re talking about — clinical or front office. It’s staffing in the clinical area that will do most to enhance a physician’s productivity, so that’s what we’ll focus …
How much staff should a doctor have?
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