One of my favorite conferences is The Conference on Practice Improvement hosted by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) and American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
For all the upset and negativity there seems to be toward doctors, these family docs are in it — each and every one that I’ve met — for the good of their patients. And that is why I think every one of them …
Every patient is an immigrant in the doctor’s office
by Karen Basen-Engquist, PhD
The next time you’re on your couch contemplating whether to watch your favorite sitcom or get up and exercise, remind yourself that being active for at least 30 minutes every day can help reduce your chances of getting certain types of cancer.
Physical activity fights cancer because it reduces body fat, and lowers hormone levels that raise breast and endometrial cancer risks. It also keeps the digestive system …
As a marketer it’s important to be able to take a step back and look at the marketing environment from a patients perspective. Over the last couple of weeks, for example, consumers have read:
Patients do not voluntarily search for health information online
I was enjoying lunch at a local café when I overheard one staffer say to another that she was facing her twenty fifth birthday soon. She went on to say, 25 is the last “real” birthday, after that “you’re just getting old”. I had to laugh, since I’m well past that age and holding up. Sure, there are some wrinkles and gray hair to contend with, that’s life.
I remember my …
Aging is a blessing, a gift to be treasured
by Mark Hendrickson
One sport that really bothers me is Major League Baseball. Why? It seems as though the hard-headed people calling the shots, and games for that matter, would rather keep their pride than make the right call.
Instant replay is no secret. It isn’t a new, untested technology—its been around since the mid 50’s and every professional sports league uses it with game-changing results, except the …
Electronic medical records and usability affect implementation
When a health system asked me to facilitate a Board discussion on physician alignment and integration on November 12, 2010, I was already committed to giving a keynote on the future of health care for the American Institute of CPAs in Las Vegas on November 11. Although I usually fly Delta or USAir where I have priority frequent flyer status, the only way I could get to the Board meeting …
Change of culture in a rapidly evolving health care environment
This semester is coming to an end and we are almost halfway done with first year. I say semester, but technically we use the block system. What’s the block system? Here, it refers to dividing the academic school year into single subject blocks. Instead of taking concurrent, year-long courses, we spend several weeks on one course. For instance, we started off with 5 weeks of only biochemistry, then 8 weeks …
Social medicine and its role in medical school curriculum
The OR was hushed on Friday.
Normally, it is a loud, busy place. The staff and surgeons are almost like a big family; we chat with each other and banter cheerfully with patients to help get their minds off the imminent ordeal of surgery. Chaplains pray with patients and families. Sometimes there are disagreements, as in any workplace. But everyone cares about everyone else.
Because of that caring, it was hushed. Instead …
Tragedy of cancer in a small child
We recently discussed the plight of young medical faculty. It appears that their plight is even worse than we imagined.
Recently, an abstract was presented at the Annual Conference on Research in Medical Education at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges, in a session entitled, “Your Career is More than Your Specialty.”
The authors described a large survey, of over 5000 faculty at 26 US nationally representative …
US medical education is in moral crisis
My old Canadian friend toxicologist Cliff Walberg was right when he famously said, “there is absolutely no limit to how revolting things can be.”
Remember that. It comes in handy, in addition to strong swear words, when stuff happens.
Case in point: I believe that every American deserves the right to choose to have a death with dignity and as pain-free as medical science and practice can provide.
To achieve that, patients and …
Every American deserves the right to have a death with dignity
Dr. Erdoc happened to look up when the internist walked into the emergency department.
“Oh no,” he murmured under his breath. The consulting psychiatrist was sitting next to him, typing a note. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
“I hoped it wouldn’t be him. Unlike his colleagues, Dr. Internist seems to have a deep loathing for us emergency docs,” Dr. Erdoc explained as he stood up. Dr. Internist was frowning …
ER and internal medicine docs, arguing over a patient admission
“We have a patient on a ventilator here who is stable enough to transfer to your ICU, if that’s OK with you.”
This call, coming from the transfer coordinator, is emblematic of an insurance generated “medical care” coverage issue. I am salaried under the patient’s insurance carrier so the insurer wants this patient back under its wing as soon as possible.
The community hospital has been keeping Stella Norris (not her real …
The care was futile, and the patient’s wishes
Like most everyone else, I took a break from my evening chores the past few nights, and watched Jeopardy!
IBM’s super-computer, Watson, was taking on Jeopardy! phenoms Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. [SPOILER] The computer won handily.
After watching, I began to study for my upcoming board re-certification exam.
But, then, I wondered. Why?
In the New York Times, applications for Watson are …
Why Watson makes board certification exams obsolete in medicine
ADVERTISEMENT
I just finished another inpatient service stretch at our community hospital with some great cases and lots of good medicine. While attending rounds may have changed a lot in the last 40 years as highlighted in a recent Annals of Internal Medicine article, some things have not changed – the focus on medical student presentations during attending rounds.
Students spend hours through their call nights preparing for …
How medical students should present patients to their attendings
Every illness is unique, and every person faces illness in his or her own way.
Anna Deveare Smith, in her one-woman Broadway show “Let Me Down Easy,” slips into the persona of twenty individuals who have faced an aspect of illness or death. In ninety minutes, Deveare Smith takes the audience on an existential scavenger hunt, allowing us to observe, and occasionally pluck, insights from this gathering of individuals.
These individuals do …
Let Me Down Easy and facing illness and death
I was puzzled by a Health Affairs article showing the public finds arguments against treatment guidelines a lot more compelling than arguments in favor. But after reading the technical appendix, which contains the full text of the survey, I think the problem is that the researchers framed the question poorly. In particular, the researchers portrayed guidelines as unrealistically rigid.
In A National Survey Reveals Public Skepticism About Research-Based Treatment …
Treatment guidelines pros and cons
A bill given emergency status by Texas Governor Rick Perry is the largest invasion of the patient-physician relationship that I am aware of. Proposed by Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston) and supported by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the bill as originally written would require physicians to perform a ultrasound and explain the physical characteristics of the fetus to anyone contemplating an abortion.
Physicians would be required to inform women about alternatives to …
Requiring an ultrasound and counselling before an abortion
While DrRich is a conservative American, and has made plain the difficulties he has with the Progressive program in general and with Progressive healthcare reform in particular, at times he is forced to admit that, on occasion, the Progressive way of looking at the world has certain merits. And as DrRich contemplates a question that has been bothering him lately, a question that no doubt plagues many American physicians who …
Clinical guidelines in healthcare reform
As part of the routine scut of the overnight call team, I was sent up to the floor to preop an add-on for the next day’s OR schedule.
The Preoperative Anesthesia Assessment form has tidy little boxes for cardiac, pulmonary, renal, hematologic and an assortment of other complaints, and spaces for height, weight, allergies and personal or family history of untoward reactions to anesthesia. I put a single slash through the …
Time with your patients in the hospital and time with your children
by Daphne Swancutt
Last year, I was part of a group judging hospital and healthcare organization marketing campaigns for a national awards program.
I left disgruntled. Not because of the experience itself. The coordinators were great; the other judges were thoughtful, thorough and serious about their roles. There was a nice camaraderie.
But the work we were judging was predictable and unmemorable. For me, at the center of “why” were three …
Social marketing strategies and tactics in hospitals
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
