Christopher Moriates, MD
Christopher Moriates is a hospitalist.
Is this your author page?
Make it work for you. Your KevinMD author page is one of the highest-ranking results for your name. An enhanced author page turns this page into a premium profile with your photo, biography, affiliations, publications, and links, publishes your accepted articles in 1 to 3 days, includes a listing in Experts by KevinMD, and comes with a guaranteed interview on The Podcast by KevinMD. See an example · See the enhanced author page → Cancel anytime.
Latest articles
Drugs and prescribing
Nearly half a million individuals with opioid use disorders are hospitalized each year in the United States. While they are in the hospital, medical providers often treat complications of this disorder, such as bloodstream infections, but rarely directly address their…
Nearly half a million individuals with opioid use disorders are hospitalized each year in the United States. While they are in the hospital, medical providers often treat complications of this disorder, such as bloodstream infections, but rarely directly address their addiction. That’s like pumping up a flat tire without ever looking for the nail that caused …
Read more…
How hospitals can help with the opioid epidemic
Physician voices
I have a theory. There is a simple thing hospitalists can do that can enhance relationships with our patients, and even, I bet, improve patient satisfaction scores. The catch is it is not something you can do for yourself; you…
I have a theory. There is a simple thing hospitalists can do that can enhance relationships with our patients, and even, I bet, improve patient satisfaction scores. The catch is it is not something you can do for yourself; you can only “pay it forward” for somebody else.
We know patients who trust their physicians are more likely to follow recommendations, and that trust and confidence in physicians …
Read more…
The simple thing hospitalists can do that can enhance relationships with patients
Physician voices
“We are playing the same sport, but a different game,” the wise, thoughtful emergency medicine attending physician once told me. “I am playing speed chess – I need to make a move quickly, or I lose – no matter what.…
“We are playing the same sport, but a different game,” the wise, thoughtful emergency medicine attending physician once told me. “I am playing speed chess – I need to make a move quickly, or I lose – no matter what. My moves have to be right, but they don’t always necessarily need to be the optimal one. I am not always thinking five moves ahead. You guys [in internal medicine] …
Read more…
It’s time to widen the clinical footprint of hospitalists
Physician voices
With the recent election, there has been a new recognition of the various “bubbles” we all seem to be living in. It reminds me of the parable I like to often mention, popularized by the late great writer David Foster…
With the recent election, there has been a new recognition of the various “bubbles” we all seem to be living in. It reminds me of the parable I like to often mention, popularized by the late great writer David Foster Wallace:
Two fish were swimming along when an older fish swam by, nodded his head at them and said, “Mornin’ boys, how’s the water?” The two young fish nod back and
…
Read more…
Quality improvement shouldn’t be dirty words
Physician voices
“You must respect the body you are trying to heal.” I heard this said twice into my headphones, the second time more slowly and firmly than the first, while I sat on the runway about to take off. It continued…
“You must respect the body you are trying to heal.”
I heard this said twice into my headphones, the second time more slowly and firmly than the first, while I sat on the runway about to take off. It continued to echo in my head over the course of the flight. As a physician, the reference to healing a body has obvious resonance. However, as I embarked on yet another gathering …
Read more…
Use generous orthodoxy to drive health care change
Physician voices
There are few worse ways to wake a person than with a needle stick in the arm to draw blood. If you have ever spent the night in a hospital, chances are the first thing that happened in the morning…
There are few worse ways to wake a person than with a needle stick in the arm to draw blood. If you have ever spent the night in a hospital, chances are the first thing that happened in the morning was a vampiric nurse or lab technician, following doctor’s orders, standing over your bed and greeting you with a needle and a set of vials.
Most of us just grit our …
Read more…
Can you cut lab costs and make your patients happier? Here’s how.
Physician voices
There is little doubt that over the next few years we will see a wave of increasingly sophisticated point-of-care tools to help clinicians determine the costs and relative value of their medical recommendations. I welcome that day, but I do…
There is little doubt that over the next few years we will see a wave of increasingly sophisticated point-of-care tools to help clinicians determine the costs and relative value of their medical recommendations. I welcome that day, but I do not intend to idly sit by waiting for it.
Not all solutions need to be based on high-level algorithms or slick, user-friendly apps made for iPhones.
Last month I came across a …
Read more…
What every laboratory should implement tomorrow
Medical education
Earlier this year, we launched the Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely Competition in conjunction with Costs of Care and the ABIM Foundation. Why a competition? Not surprisingly, traditional “literature review” yielded little by way of promising strategies for educators who…
Earlier this year, we launched the Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely Competition in conjunction with Costs of Care and the ABIM Foundation. Why a competition? Not surprisingly, traditional “literature review” yielded little by way of promising strategies for educators who wished to learn how to teach about value.
However, we had all learned of isolated stories of success, occasionally through attending professional meetings, sometimes via networking with colleagues, or more …
Read more…
Finding the most promising innovations to teach value
At a time when one in three Americans report difficulty paying medical bills, up to $750 billion is being spent on care that does not help patients become healthier. Although physicians are routinely required to manage expensive resources, traditional medical…
At a time when one in three Americans report difficulty paying medical bills, up to $750 billion is being spent on care that does not help patients become healthier. Although physicians are routinely required to manage expensive resources, traditional medical training offers few opportunities to learn how to deliver the highest quality care at the lowest possible cost. While the gap is glaring the problem is not new.
In 1975, the …
Read more…
Medical educators: Take charge and help deflate medical bills
Physician voices
I learned a lot of medicine during residency, but perhaps I actually learned even more about how to just get things done in a hospital. If you wanted a right-upper-quadrant ultrasound done for our patient, I was your man. I…
I learned a lot of medicine during residency, but perhaps I actually learned even more about how to just get things done in a hospital. If you wanted a right-upper-quadrant ultrasound done for our patient, I was your man. I had a complicated series of unwritten algorithmic flow diagrams in my head that included handwriting an order, making sure that it was faxed to the right number, calling the appropriate …
Read more…
Waste in medicine is disrespectful to both patients and doctors
Real physician voices, twice a week
Free, and one click to unsubscribe.
Nearly half a million individuals with opioid use disorders are hospitalized each year in the United States. While they are in the hospital, medical providers often treat complications of this disorder, such as bloodstream infections, but rarely directly address their addiction. That’s like pumping up a flat tire without ever looking for the nail that caused …
