Sure you are comfortable with your current doctor, after all you are still alive and kicking. Besides it has taken you years to figure out what you can safely tell your doctor and when it’s ok to speak up.
Yes, the fact that your doctor is often late and never seems to listen to you bothers you just a little. You aren’t displeased enough to stop giving your doctor high Read more…
Why patients should change their doctor
Skin cancer is the most common kind of cancer in the United States, affecting more than 2 million Americans every year. It is estimated that one in five Americans will develop a skin cancer in their lifetime.
There are three main types of skin cancer. Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer, which can be fatal if not treated early. While melanoma accounts for a very small percentage …
The best defense against skin cancer is prevention
Over 1.5 million Americans travel abroad each year for medical procedures.
Services typically sought by travelers include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as cardiac surgery, dental surgery, joint replacement, and cosmetic surgeries. However, virtually every type of health care, including alternative treatments, psychiatry, convalescent care and even burial services are available.
U.S. based healthcare providers have taken notice as have self-funded employers and health plans. The …
Domestic medical tourism saving employers money and improving outcomes
In the Chicago Tribune recently, Bruce Japsen has an excellent article addressing Accountable Care Organizations, quality of care issues, and the change in how physicians will be paid in the future.
Clearly, the government and insurers have decided that physicians will not be paid for services rendered. Physicians will be paid based on patient outcomes and will share in any losses insurers sustain due to poor patient outcomes. There are …
Applying to medical school is really annoying, expensive, and hard for no reason. I’d like to share some wisdom I picked up along the interview trail.
Become an expert stalker. You have had plenty of practice stalking your friends on Facebook. Use those skills to find out everything you can about the school. Admissions officers tend to ask you why you would like to attend their institution. In order to …
7 tips for students applying to medical school
Dr. Eric Appelt was born to be a superstar. During his career, he has redefined what it means to be committed to medicine, and he embodies the practice of perseverance on a daily basis. I am proud to say that he is one of my role models as I continue my medical education.
As a young man growing up in Brenham, TX, Appelt was the kind of son every parent …
Eric Appelt and his extraordinary commitment to medicine
Being a physician is an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling profession. I’ve been a physician for over 20 years and I still find joy in my work because I’ve learned to adapt to the changes we are experiencing in the medical field. And, I’ve use the tips I’m sharing with you to operate the best medical practice and provide the best health care possible.
Know the “99” codes like the back of …
5 ways to succeed as a new provider, guaranteed
There have been scores of recent articles about Congresswoman-elect Kathy Hochul’s upset win in New York’s 26th Congressional District special election. They all seem to share a thread of incredulity, followed either by chortling or spin depending on the source. These stories also share the sense that her victory was truly an underdog performance destined to become legend.
According to The New York Times, “Two months ago, the Democrat … was …
Our growing ability to prolong life and our shrinking ability to pay for it
If someone asked me at this point in the year, which happens to be nearly the end of my first one, what I liked most about medical school, it would have to be the patient’s stories.
I could do without the hours of science classes and my utter lack of motivation to learn any subject that I am told is important. I could also do without the people who need …
The side effects of cancer treatment go beyond losing your hair
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) is celebrating its 25th anniversary. APSF is a patient advocate organization whose mission is to improve the safety of patients during anesthesia care by encouraging and conducting: safety research and education; patient safety programs and campaigns; and the …
The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation improves patient safety
Does it really matter how many ribs Michelle Obama ate on her vacation? For too many conservatives, the answer seems to be yes, with pundits poking fun at the anti-obesity guru’s dinner choice. But conservatives need to give it a rest: many seem to prefer scoring easy points against the First Lady to arguing about the best way to attack the obesity epidemic — and some even claim that …
Why obesity should concern conservatives
As a medical student I have come to appreciate two core goals of health care:
1. Health: The delivery of medical knowledge, assessment or treatment to a patient
2. Care: The compassionate approach to any patient
In my medical training, I have also witnessed clinical medicine practiced across a spectrum of situations. Taking my time to reflect on these experiences, I am not certain we are meeting our goals. Too often …
Are we providing health care, or just delivering health?
Sooner or later, it happens to every patient advocate or navigator who works with patients on the medical aspects of their care (as opposed to other forms of advocacy, like billing or legal advocates).
One of “our” patients — someone whose hand we have held, who we have protected from problems in the hospital, who depended on our advocacy expertise as a way to make the …
It’s not an advocate’s job to save a patient’s life
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I delivered a keynote presentation a few weeks ago entitled “Personalized Medicine: Tailoring Healthcare in the Information Age” to a group of parents who had taken their kids to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Science Horizons summer science camp.
Aside from the jolt the parents received from my presentation regarding anticipated changes in 21st century healthcare, especially involving the myriad ELSI issues that would confront medical practices as a …
In a meeting with senior management at Harvard Medical School, one of our leaders asked, “What is our cloud strategy?”
My answer to this is simple. The public cloud (defined as the rapid provisioning and de-provisioning of CPU cycles, software licenses, and storage) is good for many things, such as web hosting or non-critical applications that do not contain patient or confidential information.
At Harvard Medical …
Public and private cloud computing at a hospital
When we think of vaccines we need to divide the world into the industrialized countries, those with transitional economies and the developing countries.
In the developing world, the proportion of the population less than 15 is very high, e.g., Mali has about 50% of its population under age fifteen compared to about 15% in the industrialized countries. This suggests that the emphasis in the …
Vaccines in the developing world
I was paged by labor and delivery three times during the 10-minute drive from my house. I headed straight from the parking lot to the labor ward expecting a patient of mine to be close to delivery. I was wrong.
The chief resident and attending obstetrician were waiting. They looked tired and worried.
A woman had arrived on Friday with ruptured membranes. She was 21 weeks along in her pregnancy, and now …
I don’t like that you do abortions, but if you didn’t, I would probably be dead
The non-compliant patient who sues his physician for an adverse clinical outcome is a storied malpractice bogeyman. After failing to follow a screening regimen, show for appointments, undergo recommended tests, make health-related lifestyle changes, or take their medications, these patients (now plaintiffs) have the audacity to blame the doctors and nurses for not being adequately clear or assertive.
Are they real?
Yes and no. Not every “difficult” patient is a potential …
Do non-compliant patients really sue their doctors?
What if I were to tell you that Washington is trying to balance the budget by making cuts to a program that covers 70% of the nation’s nursing home costs and 43% of all births in California? Well they are.
The rancorous debate over how to balance the federal budget includes drastic cuts to Medicaid. And while this program may seem distant to people in power and the general public, …
Medicaid represents our nation’s moral commitment to help the poor
I love being a family physician. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t change a thing.
I love the breadth of family medicine. I love being able to take care of just about every person that walks through the door. Even when another doctor is the right person to take care of a niche need, I love knowing that I was usually the person that …
Why I love being a family physician
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