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Be mindful of the language we use in medicine

Health Policy

April 30, 2019

At LGBTQ health conferences, I am always impressed by how much care and consideration is given to providing a safer space for all who are present. For example, the check-in process typically involves a volunteer asking the attendee whether or not they are OK with having their photo taken. Furthermore, a quiet room is usually available if anyone needs to decompress, and attendees are asked to refrain from wearing perfume …

Planetary health has become the major determining factor of human health

Paul S. Auerbach, MD

Physician

April 29, 2019

On the matter of climate change and global warming, the fuse is lit. The current epoch of Earth is the “Anthropocene,” meaning that for the foreseeable future, the destiny of our planet will be mainly determined by human activity. In the past half-century by some accounts, we’ve managed to alter our climate as much as it has changed in all of previously recorded time. And according to accurate records and …

How to choose the right rehab option after a hospital stay

Edward Hoffer, MD

Health Policy

April 29, 2019

This is the scenario. You (or your mother) were admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. On the third day a cheery continuing care nurse comes in and says, “You don’t have a fever, and the doctors feel you can be discharged to finish your course of antibiotics, but your nurse tells me you are still too weak to go home, so we are going to send you to rehab. Here …

A patient’s last 24 hours

Cindy Winebrenner, MD

Physician

April 29, 2019

There are those 25 minutes before my workday begins that I either drive in silence, or blare the radio and jam out to pop hits priming myself for the unexpected hours ahead. When the music is loud, and the tempo is upbeat, it transports me back to being 21 on a summer day in Chicago, before kids and bills, headed nowhere too important, definitely not too fast, stuck in traffic …

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A patient’s last 24 hours

Senator Walsh: Thank you for uniting us

StorytellERdoc, MD

Physician

April 29, 2019

Senator Walsh … thank you.

Because of your flagrant words against some of the hardest-working members of our medical community, we have united to stand against you and rally for our “card-playing” nurses.

Like most of my medical family, I was astounded and frustrated at the belittling ignorance of Senator Walsh’s recent comments about the amazing nurses throughout our great country. Senator Walsh’s comments were felt not only by our hard-working nurses, …

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Senator Walsh: Thank you for uniting us

Our work goes beyond the hospital

Edwin Acevedo, Jr., MD

Physician

April 29, 2019

There is a species of jellyfish that exists only in one lake on this entire planet. Every morning, before the sun rises, these jellyfish travel to the surface of the lake so that algae that live within them can photosynthesize and produce glucose for the jellyfish to survive. Every day, these jellyfish travel from east to west along the surface of the lake, chasing the rays of the sun, chasing …

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Our work goes beyond the hospital

How often did doctors treat you with courtesy and respect?

Joshua M. Rosenberg, DO

Physician

April 29, 2019

During this hospital stay, how often did doctors treat you with courtesy and respect? Seriously? Why is this question even necessary? Obviously, because it doesn’t always happen. Well, that’s interesting. Maybe interesting isn’t the word. Maybe the word is, “shocking.” I can’t fathom treating any patient with anything less than courtesy and respect. I just don’t get it.

I’m not accusing anyone of being rude to patients.

Remember, HCAHPS are not necessarily …

Seeing the effects of the opioid crisis play out live

Praveen Suthrum

Medications

April 29, 2019

Recently, I was at a health care facility in a semi-urban region, less than 100 miles from a major metro. It had a whiff of industry from good times that have long drifted by.

I tried to locate a Starbucks. Google Maps spotted one and took me towards the local university campus. As I drove there, I noticed several pain management clinics advertising themselves in unusual ways for “relief.”

Once inside the …

How one woman prevented a pharmaceutical disaster

James Essinger and Sandra Koutzenko

Medications

April 28, 2019

An excerpt from Frankie: How One Woman Prevented a Pharmaceutical Disaster.

Between September 1960 and November 1961, when the news broke around the world about thalidomide’s responsibility for the birth of deformed babies, Dr. Frances Kelsey — Frankie — of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Cincinnati drug company Merrell, that was desperate to launch its ten million thalidomide tablets on unsuspecting pregnant mothers in the U.S. …

The eyes are a window to the brain

Samuel Pierce, OD

Conditions and Diseases

April 28, 2019

Nothing quite catches our collective attention like clear and dire issues that need solutions and traumatic brain injuries (TBI), the leading cause of death and disability across all population demographics, are no exception.

More and more research is demonstrating the serious and widespread impacts of TBI. Every day, about 153 people die from injuries that include TBI. In 2013 alone, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and …

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The eyes are a window to the brain

It’s time we take physician satisfaction seriously

Edwin Leap, MD

Physician

April 28, 2019

There are a lot of unhappy physicians in a lot of bad situations. I know because I write for them, and they write to me. The thing is, we deal with patient satisfaction all day long. Why not work harder on physician satisfaction? I want my colleagues to have a higher “physician satisfaction score.”

So first off, what makes us dissatisfied? What lowers that score for the hard-working physicians of America, …

Pause before writing your personal statement

Ryan Karmouta, MD

Medical Education

April 28, 2019

Trust me: The time you spend thinking about your personal statement before you start writing will make the actual writing process much, much easier.

Before you even start writing a word, spend some time reading personal statement examples. Read good ones, read bad ones, read strange ones. The reason for this is to give you an intrinsic idea of what you personally liked and didn’t like. Moreover, you will begin to …

Interpreting 2 recent studies involving Alzheimer disease

Ron Louie, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 27, 2019

Two prestigious medical journals published studies involving Alzheimer disease (AD) and amyloid beta in successive weeks; both were paired with guest expert commentaries (editorials). One editorial, about a drug study, also reviewed several other failures in anti-amyloid therapy and stated: “To be blunt, A-beta [amyloid] lowering seems like an ineffective approach….” The other editorial had an encouraging attitude toward amyloid PET imaging as part of …

4 reasons why this physician specialized in infectious disease

Jesse O'Shea, MD

Physician

April 27, 2019

The last sunlight of the day was slanting through Joseph’s hospital window. As the sun descended, it burned the sky crimson, and the mists rolled away, disappearing into Rwanda’s seemingly endless hills. I had just arrived in Kigali for global health work with a goal of medical education and, as I looked out, I felt at peace with my recent decision to apply to an infectious disease (ID) fellowship.

Earlier, while …

Why virtual visits may be an important tool for your practice

Stuart Akerman, MD

Health Technology

April 27, 2019

Telemedicine has been available now for a number of years. Despite being widely accessible, it still struggles to maintain a foothold in the minds of many traditional practitioners. There are many reasons for this, including gaps in knowledge related to billing and reimbursement for virtual visits, as well as varying levels of coverage by insurance providers. This is particularly cumbersome when it comes to Medicare patients, although there is hope …

MKSAP: 62-year-old woman with hypertension

mksap

Conditions and Diseases

April 27, 2019

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 62-year-old woman is evaluated during a routine examination. She feels well and has no exercise limitations. Medical history is significant for hypertension treated with enalapril. She does not smoke. At her last examination 4 years ago, her blood pressure was 122/76 mm Hg. Laboratory studies at that time …

Autism and advocacy go hand in hand

Sharon McCarry

Conditions and Diseases

April 26, 2019

“As soon as I mentioned the ‘A’ word, I knew she would not be calling me back.” This was what one of the parents I met at my preschool told me about what it was like trying to register her son with autism in a non-specialized local community program.

Once the registrar heard the “A word” – autism – they said that another child had already taken the last spot available, …

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Autism and advocacy go hand in hand

Physicians have a right to pursue creativity

Sherry-Ann Brown, MD, PhD

Physician

April 26, 2019

When I mentioned to a colleague and mentee that I would be writing this article, she expressed excitement about it and felt it would be well received by many physicians who might have given up their art — their form of creative expression — for the sake of medicine.

I had recently been encouraging her to continue her passion for writing. Sometimes we need others to encourage us to “keep calm …

How diabetes education programs can help busy primary care physicians

Karen Kemmis, CDE

Conditions and Diseases

April 26, 2019

Busy primary care physicians have a lot on their plates. But when it comes to helping people with diabetes learn how to improve their health, they don’t have to do it all themselves. Diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) programs, led by a diabetes educator, can provide vital assistance by helping people with diabetes maintain a healthy weight, quit smoking, begin an exercise routine and integrate other self-management behaviors into …

When is a check-up not a check-up?

Edward Hoffer, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 26, 2019

Kaiser Health News told the story of a 69-year-old woman who went to a new doctor for her annual check-up, assuming it was covered by Medicare and was happy with the visit until she got a $400 bill.

Most Americans believe in “annual check-ups,” at which your doctor reviews your medical history, gives you a thorough physical and orders lab tests. The actual value of such visits has been questioned, but …

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When is a check-up not a check-up?

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