“If it ain’t written down, it didn’t happen.”
We’ve heard that before. And it’s so true. Good medical documentation is essential because it reflects your clinical thought process. Your notes are crucial for continuing care, ensuring you are compliant with billing, and protecting you in case of a lawsuit. Your notes are the expression of your digital identity as a physician.
When I started using templates many years ago, the most obvious …
As is the case throughout the country, central Ohio is in the midst of a viral surge with an unusually high number of ill children for this time of the year, leading to long delays in our urgent cares and emergency departments, in our primary care offices, and with over capacity inpatient units. It’s an extremely busy time for all of us and honestly makes for tiring and stressful days. …
Have you ever gone on a retreat?
I’m not talking about the Scouts of America kind, and I’m not talking about the one day the residents took off training to do team-building exercises and trust walks. Nope, family vacations do not count, as we all know that we need a vacation from our vacation when we get home.
Have you ever just gone away, disconnected from everything else, and connected to yourself?
Does …
When you begin to pay close attention, you notice how what used to be so easy becomes complicated. When you step back and watch things unfold in front of you, you realize that what once was enough is simply too much. Dementia peels back the layers of our lives, and you begin to understand that less becomes more in the world of dementia.
The signs were there for a long time. …
October 27th is the 30th anniversary of the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA). Congress enacted this law to safeguard nationwide access to quality mammography to detect breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages. With this Act, the federal government accredits, inspects, and certifies mammography facilities and standardizes mammography equipment, quality assurance, recordkeeping, and communication of results.
What’s missing from the …
You’ve been swallowing things your entire life: breast milk (or formula), food––maybe a marble or small Lego. But did you know that swallowing pills is different?
Let’s start with how not to swallow a pill.
Sorry, but Bruce Willis in all five Die Hard movies is incorrect. You don’t just take a small handful of aspirin, toss them into your mouth, and jerk your head back while swallowing.
Not to mention, if you have …
In my recent TEDx Talk titled, Why Black Patients Don’t Trust the Healthcare System, I explored racially-based medical algorithms and their impact on health outcomes for Black patients. As a physician, I believe such algorithms have no place in the modern healthcare system, as they can affect how Black patients are diagnosed and the morbidity and mortality rates in the community.
A study published as recently …
The pandemic has brutalized health care such that the term “institutional betrayal” (IB) is becoming part of the physician vernacular. This cringe-worthy term is being used to point a finger of shame at health care leaders and systems who presumably are failing to support and protect their workers adequately.
Indeed, we depend on our employers for our safety and well-being. With staffing shortages, lack of supplies and lower revenue, employees bear …
The Oxford dictionary defines insidious as “proceeding in a gradual, subtle way but with harmful effects.” Most people associate this term with clever criminals. I am writing this to ask you to think about it in another way.
Perhaps the greatest joy a person can experience is welcoming a child into the world with so many dreams and visions for the future. Ideally, those dreams come true. But not always. Sometimes …
According to Psychology Today, wokeism is defined as a system of thought and behavior characterized by intolerance, policing the speech of others and proving one’s own superiority by denouncing others.
In a September 2, 2022, article in the New York Post titled, “Top med school putting wokeism ahead of giving America good doctors,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb and Laura Morgan shed light on recent efforts to allow wokeism to infiltrate the …
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Symptoms of burnout that are plaguing physicians and society include feelings of cynicism, apathy, depersonalization, and fatigue. These are associated with anxiety, depression, and suicide. In fact, more than 400 physicians each year die by suicide.
So much is written about the causes and what can be done to change these statistics. Whether it’s from the leadership standpoint, the autonomy of physicians, the burdens insurance places on physicians and their practices, …
Color is often used as a metaphor for personality and emotion. Terms like “red in the face,” “feeling blue,” and “green with envy” are etched in the vernacular. Great leadership requires emotional intelligence, and the best leaders lead in full color.
Colorful leadership is about seeing the whole picture, unfiltered by our own preferences and experiences. Colorful leaders have been depicted in books, movies, and songs. The “flower exercise” …
This article is sponsored by Mental Health Technologies (MHT), a cloud-based platform that enables health care providers to screen and measure mental health and substance abuse disorders.
Mental Health Technologies (MHT) brings much-needed technological innovation to a space in desperate need …
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Here are tips you can borrow to write concise notes. While keeping them clear and thorough. And spending less time on EMR documentation.
Don’t write paragraphs. You’re not writing a novel. Think bullet lists. They are easier to read.
Cut on pronouns. This is useful when using templates and dot phrases: You don’t need to replace all pronouns.
Use abbreviations. Medical …
It’s never too early – or too late – to create a career that’s your own. It’s always the right time to keep the door open to learning, to try your best, and to allow yourself to grow through experience and time.
Over the last four decades of my career, I’ve learned a lot. And now, as I’m about to retire, I find myself reflecting. I’ve been a pediatrician and started …
As a caregiver or support person for an older parent, partner, or relative, you may be involved in helping that person with medical appointments, perhaps even helping them manage care from several different health care providers. There are a number of strategies that can help you be an effective, respectful advocate for your loved one. These strategies also help ensure that your family member gets the care she or he …
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Jay Baruch is an emergency physician and author of Tornado of Life: A Doctor’s Journey Through Constraints and Creativity in the ER.
We discuss his emergency …
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