Pelvic exam etiquette that doctors need to know

Physician
August 13, 2010

I was in a room full of Family Doctors – who call themselves everything but Family Docs: Family Physicians (FPs) Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) General Practitioners (GPs). It was the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Spring Conference, at a session entitled: “Language Matters: Women-centered talk during pelvic exams.”

Two men amongst 20 women, all interested in learning more about being Politically Correct (PC) whilst conducting a pelvic exam. Session leaders Drs …

Read more…

Pelvic exam etiquette that doctors need to know

Why DTC drug marketing still clings to TV

Medications
August 13, 2010

Top of mind positioning has been replaced with top of page positioning.  The old ad model of informing, persuading and reminding are being replaced by involvement, community and empowerment.  So why are the nightly network newscasts still being subsidized by drug direct to consumer (DTC) ads?

From all the latest research that I have done, coupled with the research from other sources like Manhattan Research, Pew and Rodale, it’s quite clear …

Read more…

Why DTC drug marketing still clings to TV

The 80 hour resident work week balances fatigue and independence

Medical Education
August 12, 2010

How many hours can a doctor work?

The residency regulators are back. About ten years ago, the national organization that accredits residency programs (ACGME) set out its first guidelines about how many hours a doctor-in-training can work. Interns and residents finally achieved the vaunted 80-hour workweek. New York State was 15 years ahead on this, having mandated an 80-hour work week in 1989, stemming from the Libby Zion case.

Every patient wants …

Read more…

The 80 hour resident work week balances fatigue and independence

Medicare needs to take the lead for health care cost control

Health Policy
August 12, 2010

One of the big complaints about the recently enacted health care reform law is that it does little to control costs. There is some truth to that because the major focus is on increasing access to insurance. And yet there is reason for optimism on a couple of fronts:

  • First, with many of the access issues settled, stakeholders can focus directly on cost matters rather than cost-shifting and finger pointing
  • Second, health …

    Read more…

Medicare needs to take the lead for health care cost control

AMA: A roadmap to qualifying for EHR incentives

Health Technology
August 12, 2010

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

by Steven J. Stack, MD

ama_logoThe high cost of an electronic health record (EHR) system, the often challenging process of implementing new technology into a physician practice, and the difficulty in deciding which system best meets a practice’s needs have deterred many physicians from …

Read more…

AMA: A roadmap to qualifying for EHR incentives

Being admitted to the ICU over the weekend increases risk of dying

Physician
August 12, 2010

by Nancy Walsh

Patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) over the weekend face a greater likelihood of dying compared with those admitted on a weekday, a meta-analysis suggested.

The meta-analysis, encompassing more than 180,000 weekend and weekday ICU admissions, found that even after adjusting for disease severity, the odds ratio for death among those admitted to an ICU over a weekend was 1.08 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.13, P<0.001), according …

Read more…

Being admitted to the ICU over the weekend increases risk of dying

Draw a Person test to help with pain management diagnosis

Conditions and Diseases
August 12, 2010

by Leonard R. Friedman, MD

In diagnosing areas of chronic pain for adult pain management, I have come across a helpful test which I have unable to peer review.

It is the Draw a Person test.  Pain management physicians have not used this easily identifiable test to evaluate the subconscious of the patient.  This is done by asking the patient to draw a male and a female, with …

Read more…

Draw a Person test to help with pain management diagnosis

How to prevent and treat mosquito bites in children

Conditions and Diseases
August 11, 2010

Summer has already begun, and LeeAnn has already had enough of mosquitoes. She wants to know, “Does taking Vitamin B1 really help keep mosquitoes from biting? How much is safe for children?”

I remember a trip to the Florida Everglades as a child with school—surrounded by mosquitoes, alligators, and miles of swamp, our teachers told us that mosquitoes are a vital part of the food chain, and essential to the ecosystem.

I …

Read more…

How to prevent and treat mosquito bites in children

Fighting AIDS compelled this student to become a doctor

Medical Education
August 11, 2010

by Timothy Dempsey

One thing changes everything.

While this may be a poor paraphrase of the cheesy slogan ESPN used for the recently finished World Cup, in my life this statement has revealed itself as a universal truth. For me, one book changed everything. It would lead me into research labs, on a trip to disease-riddled Gaborone, Botswana, and pique my interest into an epidemic whose global …

Read more…

Fighting AIDS compelled this student to become a doctor

New osteoporosis screening guidelines from the USPSTF

Conditions and Diseases
August 11, 2010

by Todd Neale

Postmenopausal women of any age with a 10-year fracture risk equal to or greater than that of a 65-year-old woman and no other osteoporosis risk factors should be screened for the disease, according to draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

The 2002 USPSTF guidelines recommended routine screening only for women ages 65 and older, as well as women ages 60 to 64 with an increased …

Read more…

New osteoporosis screening guidelines from the USPSTF

Colonoscopy and other screening options for colon cancer

Conditions and Diseases
August 11, 2010

It’s exceedingly uncommon for a healthy middle-aged man to walk into his doctor’s office and demand a colonoscopy. But even though he lacked a family history, Stanley Thornton, an African-American engineer who was then in his mid-40’s, wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“I was concerned that African-Americans do get colorectal cancer earlier, and I said, ‘hey, let me lead by example,’” he said recently. “We argued about it for a …

Read more…

Colonoscopy and other screening options for colon cancer

Can HSAs restore the doctor patient relationship?

Health Policy
August 11, 2010

by Charles W. Patterson, MD

Is it possible that some do not understand that to promote Healthcare Savings Accounts is the most effective thing we could do to preserve traditional medical practice? In a true doctor-patient relationship only doctors and patients discuss the options agree to the treatments and handle the money. No third party touches any of these.

If everyone had a HSA it would be just like the good old …

Read more…

Can HSAs restore the doctor patient relationship?

Meaningful use letter for the hospital board and senior leaders

Health Technology
August 10, 2010

In January, I wrote a Do it Yourself presentation on meaningful use for folks to use with their Board and Senior leaders.

Now that its August, there is a different kind of Do it Yourself document – a letter to your Board and Senior leaders outlining your plan and timeframe for certification, measurement of meaningful use, and collection of your stimulus funds. We cannot be completely certain about every detail, …

Read more…

Meaningful use letter for the hospital board and senior leaders

ADVERTISEMENT

Doctors need to confront end of life care

Patient
August 10, 2010

“Avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism”

Recognize this phrase? It’s from our Hippocratic Oath, the one I took, standing beside my newly assigned cadaver, in my second year of medical school.

“What Broke My Father’s Heart“, recently in the New York Times Magazine, is an exquisitely painful story of medicine and our Oath gone awry in the United States. I urge you to read it.

End-of-life care is a …

Read more…

Doctors need to confront end of life care

The Empowered Patient: Finding Dr. Right

Patient
August 10, 2010

An except from The Empowered Patient.

by Elizabeth Cohen, MPH

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Elaine gets into trouble at the doctor’s office? While she’s waiting in the examining room, she sneaks a peek at her chart and notices that it says she’s “difficult.” When the doctor comes in, he whips the chart out of her hands.

DOCTOR: You shouldn’t be reading that.

ELAINE: …

Read more…

The Empowered Patient: Finding Dr. Right

What cyberbullies have in common with their victims

Conditions and Diseases
August 10, 2010

by John Gever

So-called cyberbullies share many of the psychosocial features as their victims — and in fact many bullies were also victims themselves, researchers from Finland said.

A population-based cross-sectional study surveyed more than 2,000 seventh- and ninth-graders in two Finnish communities and found that cyberbullies had higher than average rates of self-perceived difficulties in life, headache, feeling unsafe at school, and perceiving teachers as uncaring, among other problems, reported Andre …

Read more…

What cyberbullies have in common with their victims

Today’s new physicians are unable to improve patient safety

Medical Education
August 10, 2010

It has been 10 years since the landmark Institute of Medicine report “To Err is Human” uncovered disturbing deficiencies in the quality of our nation’s medical care.

Progress in correcting these deficiencies remains frustratingly slow, and it has become clear that achieving the quality and safety improvements we seek will require us to examine our approach to medical education.

Although today’s newly minted physicians are well prepared in the science of medicine …

Read more…

Today’s new physicians are unable to improve patient safety

Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: Facing death, with hope

Patient
August 9, 2010

An excerpt from Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig.

laughsingLast month Dave deBronkart, known on the internet as “e-Patient Dave,” released his first book, Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: How an Empowered Patient Beat Stage IV Cancer (and what healthcare can learn from it) (www.LaughSingBook.com).

It’s his personal cancer story – excerpts from the journal he kept …

Read more…

Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: Facing death, with hope

Male hormone treatment and testosterone replacement concerns

Conditions and Diseases
August 9, 2010

One of my medical school professors was an internationally renowned subspecialist, whose ward occupied the entire top floor of the medical tower at Academy Hospital in Uppsala.

He had cadres of residents working for him, and for two glorious months I rotated through his ward as part of my internal medicine training in medical school.

One thing that stands out in my memory, to this day, from those two months is how …

Read more…

Male hormone treatment and testosterone replacement concerns

Sharing medical records with patients can save lives

Patient
August 9, 2010

Regina Holliday’s husband, Fred, age 39, died of cancer in June 2009 leaving his wife, and his two young, beautiful children behind.  During their journey through the healthcare system to try to get Fred the help he needed, too many hurdles were put in their way.  Their story makes you want to scream.

Among the horrors of their journey was the fact that Fred was transferred …

Read more…

Sharing medical records with patients can save lives

1561
pages