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Next of kin in the medical decision making process

Physician

October 14, 2022

Four years ago, as chairman of the hospital ethics committee, I was asked to convene an emergency meeting brought by a distraught family as medical decisions had to be made for their ill loved one. The hospital, HMO lawyers, the family, three adult children, and their mother were at the meeting.

The father had arrived at the hospital unconscious and was admitted to the intensive care unit, where medical care was …

End printed medical journals [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 13, 2022

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“For the better part of two decades in medicine, I considered printed journals an old friend. Getting my latest medical journal in the mail, opening it, enjoying the feel, look, and even the smell of the journal …

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End printed medical journals [PODCAST]

Why do smart doctors sink money into silly investments?

Marc Arginteanu, MD

Finance

October 13, 2022

People who’ve done what it takes to earn a medical degree are typically pretty special. Most doctors spend reasonably, invest wisely and incubate a healthy nest egg: a recipe for a comfortable retirement. But some doctors are profligate and foolishly fall prey to hare-brained financial schemes. On the outside, they seem just like their financially savvy brethren.

But, neuroscientifically speaking, something is lurking under the surface of the silly-money cohort. Let’s …

Pediatrician and pharmacist agree: Children should be vaccinated against COVID-19

Sharon G. Humiston, MD and Damika Walker, PharmD

Conditions

October 13, 2022

With COVID-19 vaccines now widely available for children six months and older, we join pediatricians and pharmacists across the country and urge parents to vaccinate their young children against COVID-19 as soon as possible.

Schools are open and more activities are moving indoors with the cooler weather, so now is the time to ensure your child’s vaccines are up to date. Vaccinated children are much less likely to be infected than …

My motherland is burning, but patient care can’t wait

Jessica Kiarashi, MD

Physician

October 13, 2022

My relationship with my cultural identity has always been a complicated one. As many children of immigrants can relate, I often felt disconnected from my parents’ country of origin in an attempt to assimilate to American life.

I was born in Manhattan, New York, and have always defined myself as a New Yorker first and an Iranian-American second. From a young age, I have watched from the periphery as Iran has …

What physicians can do in Ukraine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 12, 2022

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“You can talk about Ukraine and the courage of the Ukrainian people as you talk to colleagues and patients and as you talk to family and friends in your community. The U.S. may be divided now, but …

For a better practitioner and better outcomes, we need to start teaching this

Dr. Vivek Podder

Physician

October 12, 2022

Current medical education promotes and encourages the textbook approach to learning, while interactive patient-centered learning rarely happens. Although rote learning plays a critical role in medical education, applying what is learned deepens the understanding and application of rote-learned materials. Undergraduate students can learn with supervision from instructors and patients, so they are prepared to practice medicine with excellence.

These trainees are learning the latest available techniques but lack the experiential wisdom …

Take steps (literally) to prevent dementia

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

Conditions

October 12, 2022

A recent study out of England found that walking just under 10,000 steps a day reduces a person’s risk of developing dementia by 50 percent. Pick up the pace to a “brisk” walk (over 40 steps per minute), and that risk goes down even further. Perhaps most strikingly, the authors found that even a low number of daily steps was associated with a reduced risk of dementia.

The walking study …

Is Google your first responder?

Mary O'Connor, MD and Kanwal L. Haq

Physician

October 12, 2022

An excerpt from Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health.

How many times have you found yourself with an unusual symptom or ailment and then quickly opened your phone to Google what it means? A lot of us do it! Whether we are searching for information for …

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Is Google your first responder?

KevinMD on the Stay Off My Operating Table podcast

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 11, 2022

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In this special episode, KevinMD is on the other side of the microphone as he’s interviewed by cardiothoracic surgeon Philip Ovadia and patient advocate Jack Heald, originally aired on the Stay Off My Operating Table podcast. …

Primary Care 2.0: new thinking and practice redesign

Megan Mahoney, MD, MBA & The Doctors Company

Physician

October 11, 2022

A patient of mine — we’ll call her Ruby — is a 79-year-old woman from the same part of rural Tennessee as my mother. Her recent successful experiences with treatment illustrate some of the themes that my colleagues and I encountered when we undertook an 18-month practice-design-thinking process. Let’s start with Ruby’s example and then dig into Primary Care …

America is a magnet for global STEM talent

Osmund Agbo, MD

Physician

October 11, 2022

This essay is inspired in part by my recent encounter with a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). For starters, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — or NASA for short — is an agency of the U.S. government responsible for America’s space program and aeronautics research. JPL, NASA’s research and development center located in Pasadena, California, produces spacecraft called rovers used in extra-planetary explorations.

It turns out that this …

Bridging the gap between art and science for better health

Olapeju Simoyan, MD

Physician

October 11, 2022

The myth that people are either right-brain dominant (creative and artistic) or left-brain dominant (logical, good at math, etc.) is just that – a myth. The truth is, we only have one brain – and the corpus callosum joins the left and right cerebral hemispheres because they are meant to work together. Numerous examples of people have excelled in both the sciences and arts.

Albert Einstein is remembered for being one …

A pediatrician reflects after a difficult conversation [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 10, 2022

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

“There is silence, then the words from the family flow forth. Angry, accusatory, confused, dismissive, worried, ugly, personal. The words cut deeply, and when I pick up the next chart, I feel as though I am still …

I went to Ukraine to help. Here’s what you can do.

Michael Fine, MD

Policy

October 10, 2022

I went to Poland and Ukraine in April and May of 2022, hoping to support the Ukrainian people in their defense of their country and democracy itself.

Vladimir Putin had put the world in a vise.

“Let me do what I want, or you will risk nuclear war,” was the implication. We’ve seen this before, I thought. Putin is Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin all rolled into one, and he needs to be …

What hospitals can learn from the RaDonda Vaught case

Carmen Presti, DNP, APRN

Policy

October 10, 2022

In response to a medication administration error that led to the death of a 75-year-old patient, RaDonda Vaught, a registered nurse working in Tennessee, was recently found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross negligence of an impaired adult.

As a result, she was sentenced to three years of probation with the promise that her criminal record would be expunged if she successfully completes the sentence.

Months after this …

Working in medicine isn’t an all-or-nothing situation

Nicole M. King, MD

Physician

October 10, 2022

I have recently undergone (yet another) transition and am now back to living at home with my family full time instead of in an apartment half of the time. So wonderful most of the time … I think.

It is amazing and a very big wake-up call that I missed many of my children’s lives. And that those two years I will never get back, but it’s also just so hard …

Miscarriages in a post-Roe world [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 9, 2022

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“The consequences of making miscarriage management unsafe will land most heavily on the marginalized and vulnerable. Our appalling maternal mortality rate in people of color will increase by miscarrying while Black. Our country and health care system …

Health care’s dirty secret

Anonymous

Conditions

October 9, 2022

Health care has a dirty little secret. And if you aren’t part of the club, chances are that you don’t know anything about it. Aside from COVID-19, short staffing, and the lack of hospital beds to accommodate those who need them, another crisis has been overshadowed and hidden from public view.

What is the secret? Health care is dangerous.

In fact, so many doctors and nurses are choosing to leave the bedside …

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Health care’s dirty secret

The focus of the internet of things (IoT) must pivot to achieve health care potential

Frank Fornari, PhD

Tech

October 9, 2022

In many ways, internet of things (IoT) is a double-edged sword: connected devices are capturing huge volumes and varieties of data that can be mined for everything from potentially life-saving health care information to guidance toward peak athletic performance, but it is incredibly difficult to convert that raw data into truly meaningful and actionable insights.

IDC projects that, by 2025, IoT devices will generate more than 73 zettabytes of data globally …