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How defensive medicine is akin to the war on terrorism

Physician

June 8, 2013

From my interview with Andrew Thompson the other day, the issue of a medical malpractice crisis was raised. Mr. Thompson averred that such a concept is pure myth, a spook story older docs tell young interns around the campfire at night. And he may be right.

In a paper from the Journal of Healthcare Quality, researchers at Johns Hopkins demonstrated, using data from the National Practitioner Data …

Prescription labels need to come in languages other than English

David Margolius, MD

Medications

June 8, 2013

As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” That applies to physicians when prescribing medications, but it also should apply to pharmacies when they’re dispensing medications.

In December, after seven years of exams, lectures and rounds, I received my medical license. Finally, I had the power to prescribe medications without the co-signature of my supervisor. “Be careful,” she advised, “remember the …

MKSAP: 52-year-old man with leg pain and swelling

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

June 8, 2013

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 52-year-old man is evaluated in the emergency department for a 5-day history of right leg pain and swelling. He has never had a previous episode of venous thromboembolism. Following a physical exam and ultrasonography, what is the most appropriate management of this patient’s transition to warfarin therapy?

On physical examination, temperature is 36.5 °C …

The soul of our vocation is to heal our patients

Rose Kumar, MD

Physician

June 7, 2013

As a medical student nearly two decades ago, I remember how excited I was to begin my rotations on the wards. After two intense years in the classroom, I felt that I had a good fund of knowledge that I could finally apply in a clinical setting. Still, very soon after beginning my ward rotations, I noticed that while I was able to adequately manage my patients’ symptoms, I could …

Why I’m skeptical of a test for newly diagnosed prostate cancer

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 7, 2013

Coming to an office near you: a new test that can “confidently” predict whether or not you need to have aggressive therapy for your newly diagnosed prostate cancer.

Really?

That’s what the press reports would lead you to believe. And it’s really going to catch your attention if you’re one of the tens of thousands of men who will …

Is medicine a choice or a calling?

Eric J. Keller, MD

Medical Education

June 7, 2013

Over the last couple months, I have often been asked what I plan to do as a recent college graduate. My response has been that I will be attending medical school in Chicago.

“Oh! Medical school!” many exclaim as their eyes light up, “So you’re going to be a rich doctor.”

This response as well as most others I have received seemed to imply that medicine is an ideal profession if one …

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Is medicine a choice or a calling?

An important step toward cost transparency

Ishani Ganguli, MD

Health Policy

June 7, 2013

How much to treat this pneumonia? The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid took a step towards answering such questions by publicly releasing how much each of 3000+ U.S. hospitals charged Medicare for 100 common medical issues in 2011 and how much Medicare actually paid them.

The charges were remarkably variable, even among hospitals that share a zip code. Massachusetts hospitals tended to charge below the national average (eg. …

The ultimate DIY project: Create your own EMR

Rob Lamberts, MD

Health Technology

June 7, 2013

There was a hole in the wall of our bathroom that was a painful reminder of a bad encounter with a plumber. Yes, that hole has been there about a year, and it has been on my to d0 list for the duration, daring me to show if I inherited any of the fix it genes I got from my father. Why not hire someone to come fix it? I …

When it comes to cancer, laughter and humor can humanize

Don S. Dizon, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 6, 2013

“What do you think?” my nurse, Laura, had asked as we discussed her call from Ms. Lyons (name changed to protect privacy.)

Ms. Lyons, an ovarian cancer survivor whom I have known for years, had called Laura after she had developed a discoloration on her abdominal wall and vague abdominal pain. She thought it might have something to do with her anticoagulation …

Simply knowing about health risks does not change behavior

Arya M. Sharma, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 6, 2013

Exercise is good for you. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Stop smoking. Drink less alcohol. Such messages abound in public health campaigns and there is a firm belief that they will ultimately change behavior. This is based on the assumption that individuals are motivated to change behaviors to reduce their individual health risks.

While healthy individuals may understandably ignore such messages, one would certainly assume that people who already have conditions …

The BRCA mutation: Screening, breast and ovarian cancer prevention

Margaret Polaneczky, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 6, 2013

In an editorial in the New York Times entitled “My Medical Choice,” Anjelina Jolie has come out publicly as a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, which places her at high risk for both breast and ovarian cancer. She has undergone a prophylactic nipple-sparing mastectomy with plans for future removal of her ovaries to prevent ovarian cancer:

I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women …

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The BRCA mutation: Screening, breast and ovarian cancer prevention

To improve patient safety, lawyers need to embrace transparency too

Kevin Pho, MD

KevinMD

June 6, 2013

How do we reduce medical errors?

It’s a question at the forefront of the minds medical and policy leaders today. Entire books have been devoted to the subject, and there is no shortage of suggestions to improve patient safety.

Internist Danielle Ofri recently wrote a New York Times op-ed on the issue, where she reflected on a “near miss” she had during …

Is self-rationing of medications a good or a bad thing?

Trudy Lieberman

Medications

June 6, 2013

In America, the conventional wisdom is that we don’t ration health care. But we do, and there’s no better example than patients rationing themselves when it comes to the medicines they take.

Recently, a young twenty-something I know had a nagging cough—seasonal allergies, her doctor said and prescribed a generic medicine for asthma and allergies. She did not fill the prescription—the $160 price tag was too steep. Although she had health …

Cultivate more upstreamists to transform health care

Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH

Health Policy

June 6, 2013

An excerpt from The Upstream Doctors: Medical Innovators Track Sickness to Its Source.

There’s a story widely known in public health circles about three friends and a river. I retell it this way:

Three friends approach a wide, beautiful river leading to a waterfall. The idyllic scene is shattered by the cries of a small child in the water, flailing his arms while struggling to stay afloat. He’s fast approaching the …

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Cultivate more upstreamists to transform health care

Here are some reasons why physicians lie

Michael Kirsch, MD

Physician

June 6, 2013

Professions that heretofore enjoyed public admiration for pursuing noble work and reputedly insisting on the highest ethical standards have been exposed. The Catholic church could write a few blog posts on this. Police officers, journalists and even teachers have also shown us that they are members of the human species and are subject to its weaknesses and frailties.

The fallacy is to expect certain professions and professionals to be more irreproachable …

Getting tested for the BRCA mutation: 4 booby traps to watch out for

Jan Gurley, MD

Conditions and Diseases

June 5, 2013

The first time I wrestled with the issue of whether to get my breasts cut off, I was in my early forties. Partners in life, my breasts had done right by me. They delighted me in all their underwhelming adolescent glory. Then they’d been a source of panting, wriggling joy for so much of my adult life. They’d amazed me after pregnancy when I became a fount of Bessie-the-cow milk …

Don’t punish all doctors to find a few dangerous physicians

Shirie Leng, MD

Medications

June 5, 2013

One of the things that used to make physicians different from other providers is the ability to prescribe drugs. This is not true anymore, but the majority of prescriptions are still written by doctors. Prescribing practices of physicians vary widely across different populations and specialties. If a doctor takes Medicare patients, his prescribing patterns are part of the mountains of data Medicare collects about it’s patients. In 2003 the government …

What should medical students expect from health reform?

Italo M. Brown, MPH

Health Policy

June 5, 2013

In an ad-hoc poll among classmates, I recently inquired about the most important date (in 2013) to a 2nd year medical student. The overwhelming majority cited their respective USMLE Step 1 exam dates as most important, followed closely by the season finales of ABC’s Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy. While the top three responses all are worth their respective weights, the one date that should bear the most gravity in the minds …

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