The simple thing hospitalists can do that can enhance relationships with patients

Physician
August 21, 2018

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 …

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The simple thing hospitalists can do that can enhance relationships with patients

It’s time to widen the clinical footprint of hospitalists

Physician
March 11, 2018

“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] …

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It’s time to widen the clinical footprint of hospitalists

Quality improvement shouldn’t be dirty words

Physician
December 15, 2016

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 …

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Quality improvement shouldn’t be dirty words

Use generous orthodoxy to drive health care change

Physician
November 1, 2016

“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 …

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Use generous orthodoxy to drive health care change

What every laboratory should implement tomorrow

Physician
February 13, 2014

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 …

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What every laboratory should implement tomorrow

Waste in medicine is disrespectful to both patients and doctors

Physician
November 5, 2012

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 …

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Waste in medicine is disrespectful to both patients and doctors