Impersonal care from the new generation of physicians

Physician
December 1, 2011

Historically, American physicians and surgeons were fiercely independent practitioners, who owned their own practices, worked long days and maybe longer nights, made a good income, but saw little of their families. They trained in a male-dominated world in “residency,” so named originally because their extended 120 hour/week work schedule demanded them living in dormitory type residence adjacent to the hospital.

They developed long-standing professional commitment to their patients that superceded time …

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I eat lunch with drug company representatives and I’m proud of it

Meds
December 1, 2011

Today, I want to review another article I wrote in last year.  That article started with a confession: “I confessed that I ate lunch with a representative of a pharmaceutical company.”

I must now confess that I often eat lunch with representatives of pharmaceutical companies and I’m proud of it.  At this stage of my career, I can well afford my own lunch.  I could sit quietly and relax over a cup …

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The art of Alzheimer’s disease

Physician
November 30, 2011

Physicians are not trained to interpret paintings, and most patients do not have a lifetime of artwork to analyze. However, a rare opportunity for both to occur is at the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition de Kooning: A Retrospective.

Wilem de Kooning, regarded as one of the most prolific American artists of the twentieth century, grounded himself in the Abstract Expression movement. The AbEx movement is widely associated and recognized with …

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Problems with the Multiple-Mini Interview for medical school

Education
November 28, 2011

Some medical schools have altered their admissions process by replacing the traditional applicant interview with the Multiple-Mini Interview (MMI). MMI resembles speed-dating: applicants rotate through numerous interview stations, where they act out scenarios and solve puzzles, sometimes alone and sometimes in groups. A July New York Times article presented a good overview of MMI, as implemented by Virginia Tech Carillon.

As you might expect, schools that have adopted MMI (UCLA and …

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I will never be the physician that my father was

Physician
November 25, 2011

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Let me start by saying that I love my father dearly. We have an excellent relationship, and talk regularly. So there’s no bitterness in this post, nor any desire to engage in armchair psychology.

My father, now retired, was a general and thoracic surgeon, who was triple-boarded in critical care, and ran a trauma unit in inner-city Philadelphia. He was in private …

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Unsupervised anesthesia care by a nurse anesthetist is a threat to patient safety

Physician
November 17, 2011

No matter how quickly you tried to switch the television channel lately, you probably couldn’t escape the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray or avoid hearing about propofol, an anesthesia drug that can be fatally easy to use.

What you may not have heard is that the American people just dodged a serious threat to their anesthesia care, and most don’t know how near a miss it was.

The Centers for Medicare and …

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Simple tips to improve your blood pressure checks

Conditions
November 13, 2011

A recent study confirmed that the doctor’s office may be one of the worst places to determine if your blood pressure is under control. The automatic rise in tension many people experience when they are being scrutinized contributes to artificially high blood pressure readings. Although many times the only way improve one’s blood pressure is through treatment (such as medication, a low salt diet, and weight loss), other times …

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Billing an established patient visit as a consultation

Physician
November 13, 2011

Until recently, there was a financial difference between performing a “consultation” and a “new patient visit” for office visits (Medicare stopped paying for consultations at a higher rate than new patient visits in 2010).

In specialists’ offices, patients often got billed for the more expensive “consults” when in fact the visit was not a consultation at all.  Let’s just use this understanding as the brief background for what I’m about to say.

I …

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Why do non-profit hospitals compete with each other?

Policy
November 13, 2011

While we are talking about things that drive health care costs up, this one has bothered me since I was in practice years ago. I am a believer in competition, I think it forces us to be creative and provide better, cheaper, more efficient products and services.

But there is the mindset of leadership at play as well. Are we competing to provide better patient services to improve patient care, or …

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The new definition for a medical emergency

Policy
November 9, 2011

The recent budget crisis in many state Medicaid programs has led the directors of these health care programs for the poor to cast about for ways to cut their costs, and many have landed on a ‘solution’ that puts lives at risk and undermine the financial viability of an emergency care safety net that is already severely underfunded and overwhelmed.  Some 21 states use a variation of the old definition …

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Let’s stop degree creep in health care

Physician
November 8, 2011

How long ago was it that we were all content with having the physician have a MD or DO title after their name, the clinic or hospital floor nurse having a RN after her name, the pharmacist having RPh after their name?

Now unless the pharmacist has PharmD after their name they can’t be a pharmacist.  And for the nurse, unless they have RN, BSN or RN, MSN after their name …

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Treating Adele’s vocal cord hemorrhage

Conditions
November 6, 2011

Before going any further, the title to a Los Angeles Times story was “Adele to have surgery to treat vocal cord hemorrhage. What is it?”

I sincerely hope that whomever her surgeon is knows not to perform surgery when the vocal cord is in the middle of a hemorrhage. You do the surgery when the hemorrhage is gone and the culprit blood vessel is left behind which likely is the reason …

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Neuropsychologists in the evaluation of ADHD

Conditions
November 6, 2011

Recently, the media has reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has broadened its 2000-2001 guidelines for the diagnosis of and treatment of ADHD. While the prior guidelines focused on children from ages 6 to 12, the new guidelines cover ages 4 to 18. The story is being covered by the media with lead-ins such as saying that AAP is “expanding the age range for diagnosis and treatment.”

This is …

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What happened to the art of medicine?

Physician
November 2, 2011

During our medical training we are taught to use evidence based medicine.  This means using the most up to date scientific research data that has been analyzed and accepted as fact.  But does this mean every patient we see fits into the evidence based medicine algorithm that we have been taught to use?

I hope not.  For this would mean we would only be following half of medicine.  The art of …

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Doctors are reluctant to have end of life conversations

Physician
November 2, 2011

My 64-year-old patient with terminal cancer and less than six months to live wanted to go to Oregon. He was contemplating assisted suicide, which is legal there. “My life has been long and good,” he said. “I believe it is my right. I want the ability to say it’s too much, I can’t do it anymore. A person should have a dignified quality of life.”

Another one of my patients, an …

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How alternative medicine may have killed Steve Jobs

Conditions
October 30, 2011

When they first discovered the tumor in his pancreas in October 2003, his doctors told him an immediate operation was necessary, and could lead to a cure.

As first reported by Peter Elkind in 2008, Jobs decided to think different, declined surgery, and explored alternative medicine treatments for his disease.

Nine months later, in July 2004, the tumor had grown. Only then would he allow his doctors to operate.

Would Steve Jobs be alive today had he consented to surgery when they first discovered …

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How a medical student uses an iPad for patient care and education

Tech
October 23, 2011

iPads have been introduced into medical education mostly during the pre-clinical years. I’d like to share my experience using an iPad during my clinical year. I’ve found it to be exceedingly useful and versatile.

I have an entire medical library in my pocket. With the touch of a button I can pull up essential texts such as Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine or William’s Endocrinology. I get these books and …

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The problem with round the clock hospitalist coverage

Physician
October 21, 2011

Two recent articles, one from the New York Times, the other from The Hospitalist, initiated some 24/7 staffing issue rumination on my behalf.  It stems originally from a recent op-ed by Lucian Leape: “Given the accrediting council’s reluctance to act, the federal government needs to get tougher. If we are serious about curbing the tide of injuries stemming from medical errors, Medicare should make its funding of graduate medical education …

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Makes you want to pull your hair out: Treating trichotillomania

Conditions
October 21, 2011

One of the saddest, but more treatable, causes of hair loss in patients is trichotillomania, the impulse control disorder in which a person repeatedly pulls out hair from their body for non-cosmetic reasons. While some people have never even heard of trichotillomania, according to the Trichotillomania Learning Center, as many as ten million Americans (or 4% of the U.S. population) suffer from the disorder.

According to the Diagnositic and Statistical Manual …

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Why radiology is the cornerstone of any hospital

Physician
October 19, 2011

Radiology is the cornerstone of any hospital. An efficient, high-quality, well-run radiology department increases patient satisfaction as a result of its ability to improve patient care. Over time, a well-run radiology department adds significant patient volumes to the hospital, which, of course, favorably enhances the hospital’s bottom line. Regardless of whether the hospital is not-for-profit or for-profit, a smooth-sailing radiology department vastly increases the profitability of the hospital. The …

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