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Why patients with implantable defibrillators deserve their data

Health Technology

February 2, 2012

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law on February 17, 2009.

The objective of Measure 12/15 of Meaningful Use regulations of the HITECH act which refer to electronic health records, states that eligible professionals “provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information (including diagnostic test results, problem lists, medication …

Understanding the pain of fibromyalgia

Kim Kristiansen, MD

Conditions and Diseases

February 2, 2012

Many healthcare professionals find fibromyalgia difficult to believe as “a real disease” and most of all difficult to handle, and to be honest it is not so difficult to see why. Doctors and other healthcare professionals have learned how to search for diseases based on the specific symptoms the patients present, but fibromyalgia – and several other chronic pain syndromes – do not fit into that model.

The patients are presenting …

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Understanding the pain of fibromyalgia

How a doctor uses Google to market and recruit patients

Jamie Cesaretti, MD

Health Technology

February 2, 2012

When I relocated my radiation oncology practice from Jacksonville to Tampa, Florida, I had to figure out how to compete against urologists in a market that was radically different from the one I had left. Unlike their peers in Jacksonville, Tampa urologists owned their own radiation centers, guaranteeing I wouldn’t receive referrals from them.

To break the referral pattern, I updated and posted my physician profile for free on an online …

A medical student is forced to step beyond the things he knows

Rick Pescatore, DO

Medical Education

February 1, 2012

There comes a moment when you’re forced to step beyond the things you know. It’s a split second — an instant adjustment from the safety of recollection to the insecurity of the unknown. Day after day we head into the library, hunching over twice-reviewed notes and hidden behind piles of books yet to be read. We push ourselves to work harder, study longer. We toil knowing that each page holds …

3 best practices for both physicians and patients to treat diabetes

Alan L. Plummer, MD

Conditions and Diseases

February 1, 2012

As diabetic patients and their physicians continue to work together to combat this metabolic disorder, researchers and medical organizations are uncovering new ways to fight this illness. With 26 million Americans currently battling the disease and 79 million already diagnosed with pre-diabetes, this disease poses a serious threat to our society and our overall healthcare system.

With these startling statistics in mind, the Northern States Ambulatory Research Network (NORTHSTAR), a practice-based …

How adopting an EHR is like treating cancer

Margalit Gur-Arie

Health Technology

January 31, 2012

EHRs are not ready for prime time. EHR benefits are questionable and there are documented instances where patients’ deaths were directly attributed to an EHR. EHRs are cumbersome and slow. They are unnecessarily complex and built on very old technology. The people who build EHRs have no concern for the end user and therefore EHR usability is pretty abysmal. And EHRs are expensive to buy and expensive to maintain, not …

Are physicians addressing the root causes of health problems?

Ricky Choi, MD

Physician

January 31, 2012

While in residency, I took care of a toddler who was hospitalized following an anaphylactic reaction. During a diaper change at home the child suddenly developed lip swelling and severe difficulty breathing for no apparent reason. The child was urgently brought to the hospital by ambulance and initially treated in the emergency room. By the time I met her on the inpatient floor her breathing and swelling had significantly improved. …

Analyzing what the President said about health care

Dominic A. Carone, PhD

Health Policy

January 31, 2012

President Barrack Obama delivered a 6,944 word State of the Union address to the American people. Of the speech, less than .01% was devoted to healthcare, which is remarkable considering the major changes in healthcare that are on the horizon if Obamacare survives a challenge in an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case. During the speech, there were only three sentences that mentioned healthcare.

The first was this: “I will not go …

Be aware of your food choices, especially when pregnant

Eric Marcotte, MD

Physician

January 31, 2012

I come back into the exam room, keeping my best poker face, sit down and turn to face her. She’s on the edge of her seat, nervous and barely able to contain herself, maybe not even sure which answer she wants.

“Congratulations,” I say. She lets out her breath and smiles, huge.

“Thanks!”

Once the adrenaline settles down and she can hear me again, …

How changing patient workflow can make using an EMR fun

Margaret Polaneczky, MD

Health Technology

January 30, 2012

One day, about 5 years into using the electronic medical record in my practice, I came to the realization that I wasn’t having fun anymore. I was sitting throughout most of every office encounter facing a computer screen, my back to the patient on the exam table across the room. The joy of face to face interaction with people, the real reason I went into medicine in the first place, had been replaced with …

Natural language processing in EMRs can improve disease tracking

Jaan Sidorov, MD

Health Technology

January 30, 2012

Years ago, if you were elderly, had diabetes, high blood pressure, low back pain, needed a yearly flu shot and came to see this electronic health record-enabled physician (now with the nom de plume “Disease Management Care Blog”), you would have had your diabetes, high blood pressure and low back pain reassessed, you would have been given a flu shot and, for good measure, the DMCB would have tossed in a discussion …

How algorithm driven medicine can affect patient care

Jeffrey Parks, MD

Physician

January 30, 2012

Whenever someone is scheduled for an operation, the assigned nurse is required to fill out a “pre-op checklist” to ensure that all safety and quality metrics are being adhered to. Before the patient is allowed to be wheeled into the OR we make sure the surgical site is marked, the consents are signed, all necessary equipment is available, etc. One of the most important metrics involves the peri-operative administration of …

Good communication in health care is about listening

Rev. George Handzo

Patient

January 30, 2012

A great deal of effort in the current health care environment is being put into improving communication – between patients and families and members of the health care team, among family members, and among members of the team. The case can be made that good communication is at the heart of patient safety, cultural sensitivity, and the pillar of palliative care — aligning patient’s wishes and goals with treatment plans.

So …

Appreciating the beauty of a time out in the OR

Allison A. Greco

Medical Education

January 29, 2012

If you’ve ever spent time in the operating room, you are already familiar with the words the circulating nurse uses to signal the time out – the few minutes before a procedure begins when the surgical and anesthesia teams review a patient’s case. If you’re a non-medical type, or a medical student whose surgical rotations are scheduled late in the 3rd year, then you’re just as clueless as I was …

The sense of loss extends beyond the death of a patient

Don S. Dizon, MD

Physician

January 29, 2012

At the end of the year, I find myself thinking about patients usually—and especially those that have passed away. I wonder how their families are coping, how their children are, and whether each day has gotten easier. I think about how my patients died—and whether or not I did enough to ensure that they did not suffer.

It’s an odd thing …

New classes of devices to diet and exercise

Michele R. Berman, MD

Health Technology

January 29, 2012

For many celebrities, their livelihoods depend on their physical appearance and they rely on armies of personal assistants, schedulers, stylists, trainers and chefs to plan, manage and measure their diet and exercise regimens.

Obviously, most of us don’t have the time or resources to diet and exercise like celebrities do, but new technologies are closing the gap. As an introduction to some of these new platforms and methods, we describe and …

Improve patient safety to improve healthcare quality

Pearl Korn

Health Policy

January 29, 2012

It has taken 13 years for us to revisit the issues in To Err Is Human, the 1999 landmark government report that shocked our nation with its revelation that 98,000 people died yearly in hospitals due to doctors’ errors. For decades, and through one administration after another, the lack of safety in our healthcare system has gone un-addressed, placing us at greater and greater risk. Hospitals have disappeared, …

How will the Baby Boomers age and die?

Rev. Amy Ziettlow

Patient

January 28, 2012

I love listening to life stories. As a hospice chaplain, I loved sitting with our patients and their loved ones engaging in what many hospice teams call “life review.” When did you meet your spouse? When was Reggie born? What is your favorite holiday? When did you learn you were ill? A few simple questions and the stories come pouring forth.

Of late, I’ve been listening to the life stories of …

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How will the Baby Boomers age and die?

Repetition is the curse of the doctor-patient engagement

Dr. Martin Young

Health Technology

January 28, 2012

How many times as a doctor do you ask the same questions over and over again as part of the routine process of taking a history from your patient? And how often as a patient do you have to answer those same questions each time you see a new doctor? How long does this take, given that doctors and patients both complain that there is too little time for the …

Patients will understand an honest mistake if the doctor tells the truth

Neil Baum, MD

Physician

January 28, 2012

It was 1976 and I was a junior resident in urology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. I was assigned to a rotation in pathology where my job was to process specimens taken at surgery, dictate a gross description of the specimen and then place the specimens into the cassettes that would be used to make the permanent sections. I was transferring a prostate biopsy, approximately 0.5mm x …

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