Are chaperones a hindrance to patient privacy?

Patient
December 28, 2010

Chaperones are increasingly recommended for routine use in Western medicine.  There are semi-official recommendations in both the UK and USA.   The AMA has long had this.

The rationale for using chaperones is twofold.  In theory their primary purpose is to protect, comfort and assist the patient.  In reality though, the usual purpose is to protect the physician against claims of sexual assault or harassment.

Preferably, chaperones should be real professionals, ideally …

Read more…

Are chaperones a hindrance to patient privacy?

Reduce phone calls in your medical practice

Physician
December 28, 2010

A physician approached me at the end of a talk on optimizing practice efficiency and improving service to patients and said, “I dream of an office with no phones.”

Do you have days where the phones are ringing off the hook? Or the phone message forms in your in-box seem to be reproducing? Maybe it’s been one of those days when you can never get your nurse’s help because she’s been …

Read more…

Reduce phone calls in your medical practice

Responsibility, respect and relationships are important for patients

Patient
December 28, 2010

At the risk of dating myself, I recall a time when “The Three Rs” summed up American education. In case you aren’t familiar with this phrase, it stands for “Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic.”

I think it’s high time we develop “Three Rs” for patients. Right now, Patient World is ruled by “E” words such as “empowered” and “engaged,” with “empowered” the big one. I think “empowered” is turning into a label, …

Read more…

Responsibility, respect and relationships are important for patients

Patient complaints do not fit the primary care office visit

KevinMD
December 28, 2010

Primary care physicians often have to see patients with a litany of issues.  Often within a span of a 15-minute office visit.

This places the doctor in the middle of a tension — spend more time with the patient to address all of the concerns, but risk the wrath of patients scheduled afterwards, who are then forced to wait.

And, in some cases, it’s simply impossible to adequately address every patient question …

Read more…

Patient complaints do not fit the primary care office visit

Posts of the year on KevinMD.com, 2010 edition

Potpourri
December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!

I’d like to thank everyone for your continued readership.

Doctors, patients and other health care professionals need to be heard, and there’s no better place to do so than here, on social media’s leading physician voice.

This year, KevinMD.com had a regular rotation of 175 guest contributors, and surpassed 1.75 million visits, 2.95 million pageviews, 33,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter, and 40,000 RSS subscribers.

I am truly …

Read more…

Posts of the year on KevinMD.com, 2010 edition

Successful surgery rotation tips

Medical Education
December 24, 2010

I recently finished my two months of surgery rotations.

I am happy to say that I really enjoyed my surgery rotations. I thought I was going to be intimidated by the OR, but I found it fascinating. I am relieved, since surgery is a big part of OB/GYN.

Here are a few things I learned on my surgery rotation:

  • Scrub in before the surgeon but after the OR nurse.
  • Before you scrub in, introduce …

    Read more…

Successful surgery rotation tips

Minimize the potentially harmful effects of DTC advertising

Medications
December 24, 2010

Part 3 of a series.  Please read part 1, DTC advertising, and its history with the FDA, and part 2, Economic and commercial impact of DTC advertising.

In the first two parts of this article, we explored the historical and legal contexts of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, the effects of these ads on prescribing behavior, and the economic incentives to advertise.

In this final installment, we will …

Read more…

Minimize the potentially harmful effects of DTC advertising

A surge in demand for physicians from newly insured patients

Health Policy
December 23, 2010

The Affordable Care Act is the most important piece of federal health care legislation since the Social Security Act of 1965 established the Medicare program. It assures that 32 million Americans will have access to health insurance for the first time. But who will care for these people?

Our health care system was plagued by a severe and worsening physician shortage even before the new law took effect. In fact, a …

Read more…

A surge in demand for physicians from newly insured patients

Say goodbye to your patients the right way

Patient
December 23, 2010

When I realized that I would be moving to a different county within Southern California and would have to change jobs, I knew it would be inevitable that I would have to say goodbye to my patients. I was dreading this. I mean, really dreading it. I don’t like goodbyes.  I feel as though I am breaking up, and in a way I am.

Like any other relationship, my patient-physician relationships …

Read more…

Say goodbye to your patients the right way

Maximizing enrollment in insurance exchanges is essential

Health Policy
December 22, 2010

Massachusetts’ Connector, operational since 2006, is the prototype for PPACA’s insurance exchanges. Connector boosters have claimed it is a vital and successful part of Massachusetts’ health care reform; its critics have noted its failure to influence either benefit or administrative costs or to attract significant enrollment. However, whether success or failure, the Connector offers lessons for other states.

Low enrollment means failure

As Massachusetts discovered, it’s impossible for the exchange to influence …

Read more…

Maximizing enrollment in insurance exchanges is essential

Solve the obesity crisis to ensure our country’s financial stability

Patient
December 22, 2010

If I was Surgeon General, I would follow the lead of our country’s first Mom.

This is serious folks.

We, as an American society, need to solve the obesity crisis.  Not just for our physical health, but for our country’s financial stability.

Reducing the spiraling costs of health care is wanted by all.  So far, prevention of the diseases which contribute most to our health care costs, (heart disease, cancer and orthopedic issues, …

Read more…

Solve the obesity crisis to ensure our country’s financial stability

Physicians need to take responsibility for their actions

Physician
December 21, 2010

As the saying goes, when you’ve got a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Send a patient to a surgeon, and he very well might get surgery. Send a patient to a psychiatrist, and he very well may end up on psychotropic medication.

As physicians, we need to take responsibility for our own actions. We should not prescribe or perform procedures unnecessarily. However, even if we are responsible for our own …

Read more…

Physicians need to take responsibility for their actions

How an iPad is replacing medical textbooks

Health Technology
December 21, 2010

by Kal Shah

Kal Shah, a first year medical student at the University of California Irvine who received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in Bioengineering, has given iMedicalApps the scoop on how the iPad is being used by himself and classmates.

He highlights how medical textbooks are being utilized, along with an app he feels is better at note taking than the popular Read more…

How an iPad is replacing medical textbooks

ADVERTISEMENT

Pay close attention to what doctors say to patients

Patient
December 20, 2010

In a report from the Archives of Internal Medicine, it was reported that most hospitalized patients (82%) could not accurately name the physician responsible for their care and almost half of the patients did not even know their diagnosis or why they were admitted.  Of the physicians, 67% thought the patients knew their name and 77% of doctors thought the patients “understood their diagnoses at least somewhat …

Read more…

Pay close attention to what doctors say to patients

Progressive commercialization of American medicine

Health Technology
December 20, 2010

by Lucas Restrepo, MD

There is only one fundamental problem with American medicine: its progressive commercialization.

Every other problem derives from it centrifugally. Medicine, wrote William Osler, is “a calling, not a business.” Patients are not clients, nor physicians businessmen. People do not spend over a decade studying medicine ―living years in poverty or overburdened with debt― merely hoping to get rich. While it is perfectly …

Read more…

Progressive commercialization of American medicine

Natural lifespan and whether a woman is designed to give birth

Conditions and Diseases
December 19, 2010

Advocates of alternative health attribute all sorts of fantastical properties to the human body. The body supposedly “knows” how to live a long healthy life; the body is supposedly “designed” to work perfectly. The tenets of natural childbirth philosophy also invoke these fantastical properties. The body “knows” how to give birth; a woman’s body is “designed” to give birth.

On their face these claims are obviously false. The body doesn’t “know” …

Read more…

Natural lifespan and whether a woman is designed to give birth

Physician barriers to EMR acceptance

Health Technology
December 19, 2010

Recently, I had my first visit with my new primary care doctor.

I picked him based on recommendations (plus he’s one of the few that accepts my insurance), and also because he seemed to be an eager adopter of electronic medical records (EMR). On his website, there was a portal for making appointments on-line, asking questions of the doctor and staff by e-mail and once a registered patient, I could also …

Read more…

Physician barriers to EMR acceptance

Everything about medicine is now big business

Health Policy
December 18, 2010

Med­i­cine used to be different. Doc­tors couldn’t do too much for you. They didn’t get paid very much and they were focused more on helping than on managing a business.

Hospitals were community-based not-for-profit or public entities. Drugs and devices were not as sophisticated or expensive, and they weren’t marketed directly to consumers. Well Toto, we’re not in Kansas any­more.

After witnessing our “health­care reform” process you must have seen that almost …

Read more…

Everything about medicine is now big business

Giving children probiotics

Conditions and Diseases
December 18, 2010

I’m becoming more of a believer in giving children probiotics. Not for everything and not for everyone; I really don’t think we should put them in the water.

Probiotics, essentially live “good” bacteria we use to supplement our diet (usually Lactobacillus Acidophilus in the US), are becoming more and more available and recommended by more and more physicians. The role microbes play in our health is a hot …

Read more…

Giving children probiotics

Medical school and medical training in Ireland

Medical Education
December 17, 2010

I recently spent a week in Ireland, taking in the sights and spirits.

I was actually there for work too – visiting the University College of Dublin and the Mater Miserecordia Hospital – or the original Mercy Hospital as they refer to it.   As the future of primary care, residency work hours, and the healthcare insurance system continue to cause angst in the US, we often find ourselves referencing what our European …

Read more…

Medical school and medical training in Ireland

1562
pages