Jordan Grumet, MD

An internal medicine physician, host of the Earn & Invest Podcast.

187 articles on KevinMD · 2 podcast episodes

jordangrumet.com

Articles, page 8

Physician voices

If only the patient had an advocate

Jordan Grumet, MD

May 1, 2013May 1, 201318

It had all been so easy when Jim was still around. Lisa's ex-husband had many shortcomings, but being a critical care specialist sure came in handy. Any time her mom or dad had a health crisis, he was right there…

It had all been so easy when Jim was still around. Lisa’s ex-husband had many shortcomings, but being a critical care specialist sure came in handy. Any time her mom or dad had a health crisis, he was right there in the middle of it: advocating, interpreting, breaking down the complexities into easily digestible morsels of information. But then Lisa’s father died, and the emotional and physical stress brought the unstable union …

Read more…

If only the patient had an advocate

Health technology

EMR designers: Your actions can kill

Jordan Grumet, MD

April 19, 2013Apr 19, 20132

The ICU hummed as the tech guy waltzed in at two in the morning. A key designer of the EMR himself, the night shift nurses had his mobile and were not afraid to use it. There was a problem reconciling…

The next one in the door was the young CEO …

Read more…

EMR designers: Your actions can kill

Health policy

Doctors should stop being compared to the airline industry

Jordan Grumet, MD

April 3, 2013Apr 3, 201316

We have to stop comparing ourselves to the airline industry. Sitting on the lounge chair at the pool, I can't believe that just hours ago I was sludging the wintry streets of Chicago, rushing to the airport. The kids clucked…

We have to stop comparing ourselves to the airline industry.

Sitting on the lounge chair at the pool, I can’t believe that just hours ago I was sludging the wintry streets of Chicago, rushing to the airport. The kids clucked away happily in the back seat as the adults in front where more subdued. As grownups do, we kept running through our mental checklists even though the ship had already sailed, we …

Health technology

Our most scarce health resources are asked to carry the largest load

Jordan Grumet, MD

March 26, 2013Mar 26, 20139

It happened, of all times, when I was in the car driving the kids to violin practice. My pager buzzed with a message from one of the medical floors. I waited till the car was parked, and dutifully pecked the…

Hello doctor, we have your patient, can you please put admitting orders into EPIC?

I, of course, like most doctors, wasn’t sitting by my phone waiting at a computer terminal. …

Physician voices

Being an asshole is a matter of perspective

Jordan Grumet, MD

March 20, 2013Mar 20, 20135

I could see through the two window shields into her car. Her forehead creased into a petulant frown and she mouthed the words over dramatically. Asshole! Five minutes earlier, I was packing up my papers at the nursing home when…

I could see through the two window shields into her car. Her forehead creased into a petulant frown and she mouthed the words over dramatically.

Asshole!

Five minutes earlier, I was packing up my papers at the nursing home when my pager went off. I fumbled for the desk phone, my arms constrained by the bulky winter jacket I had just climbed into. I tapped my feet and waited impatiently for someone to pick up …

Physician voices

When end of life approaches: 2 pathways of care

Jordan Grumet, MD

March 8, 2013Mar 8, 20132

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. The woman lying on…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.

The woman lying on the gurney was motionless. Her chest moved up and down with a timid but halting regularity. The calmness of her face was in sharp contrast to the panicked despair of the …

Physician voices

I didn’t become a doctor to bankrupt my patients

Jordan Grumet, MD

February 8, 2013Feb 8, 201316

I have come to terms with making difficult decisions. I accept the possibility of committing a mistake that will cost a life. But I never signed on to bankrupting my patients. Never! I had been up all night tossing and…

I have come to terms with making difficult decisions. I accept the possibility of committing a mistake that will cost a life. But I never signed on to bankrupting my patients. Never!

I had been up all night tossing and turning. The stat CT scan was deemed unnecessary by the insurance company. My patient called crying saying he couldn’t afford the thousands of dollars in charges. Never …

Physician voices

Empowered patients need to ask themselves a basic question

Jordan Grumet, MD

January 28, 2013Jan 28, 201315

I have nothing against the patient empowerment movement. In fact, I think an informed and collaborative partnership is mutually beneficial. But I can't help but laugh when I read some of these tweets. Death to paternalistic medicine! The age of…

I have nothing against the patient empowerment movement. In fact, I think an informed and collaborative partnership is mutually beneficial. But I can’t help but laugh when I read some of these tweets.

Death to paternalistic medicine!

The age of paternalistic medicine is over!

True, the era of doctor knows best is long gone. But it’s a mistake to think today’s health care consumer has any more leverage than before. It just seems that …

Physician voices

We must relearn how to practice basic kindness

Jordan Grumet, MD

January 15, 2013Jan 15, 20136

The dictates of human kindness are fickle. The eruption of papers fluttered to the linoleum floor of the bustling hospital corridor. Important persons with grey pressed coats and stethoscopes bouncing against clavicles rushed by without rotating necks downwards to notice.…

The dictates of human kindness are fickle.

The eruption of papers fluttered to the linoleum floor of the bustling hospital corridor. Important persons with grey pressed coats and stethoscopes bouncing against clavicles rushed by without rotating necks downwards to notice. Loosely fitting scrubs clung to contracting muscles, and pudgy abdomens directed bodies hurriedly around the corner with a misplaced sense of purpose.

And the poor woman bent down helplessly, and struggled to collate …

Physician voices

Suffering at the end of life is not a requirement

Jordan Grumet, MD

December 14, 2012Dec 14, 20123

It was really a rather arrogant presumption so early in my career. The secret sauce of medicine, I figured, was becoming an excellent diagnostician. I devotedly memorized the signs and symptoms, the pathways and algorithms. I strained to differentiate the…

It was really a rather arrogant presumption so early in my career.

The secret sauce of medicine, I figured, was becoming an excellent diagnostician. I devotedly memorized the signs and symptoms, the pathways and algorithms. I strained to differentiate the pain in the chest due to suffocating myocardial cells from the stretching of the pleura or the lack of serotonin in the brain. I cut my teeth on those early patient encounters. Each experience …

Physician voices

Why aren’t all primary care doctors palliative care practitioners?

Jordan Grumet, MD

October 29, 2012Oct 29, 20128

I wouldn't call myself a palliative care expert. I kind of happened into the job. The nursing home had a need, and the local hospice/palliative care program didn't have the available staff. I had always been good at handling end…

I wouldn’t call myself a palliative care expert. I kind of happened into the job. The nursing home had a need, and the local hospice/palliative care program didn’t have the available staff. I had always been good at handling end of life and pain issues, so I stepped up. Of course, there are finer points that I could have learned in a fellowship program. I don’t want to pretend that my …

Physician voices

I’m sorry I was your last memory before dying

Jordan Grumet, MD

October 18, 2012Oct 18, 201210

I'm sorry. I really am. No one deserves breast cancer. Especially the kind that spreads to your liver, lungs and brain. The fact that you lived to your eighth decade doesn't detract from the sadness. You deserve to live. I…

I’m sorry.

I really am. No one deserves breast cancer. Especially the kind that spreads to your liver, lungs and brain. The fact that you lived to your eighth decade doesn’t detract from the sadness. You deserve to live. I can’t blame you for not being ready to go.

I apologize that our meeting was so abrupt. I was consulted to see you in the nursing home to address various issues. I …

Physician voices

A tragedy based on administrative decisions

Jordan Grumet, MD

July 30, 2012Jul 30, 201214

I gently rotated his arm as the beads of sweat formed on his forehead. The pain came in waves. His face contorted and relaxed in repetitive spasms. I wondered if my exam was in vain. The cancer had spread from his lungs to his liver and into his bones. Once the blood stream had been tainted, the aggressive cells took flight and landed in various organ systems.

We already had the conversation. I …

Health policy

If the government was a physician

Jordan Grumet, MD

July 16, 2012Jul 16, 20128

If the government was a physician, it wouldn't be an ordinary doctor like you or I. It would be a sexy actor like the ones we see on those medical melodramas that have become so popular over the last few…

If the government was a physician, it wouldn’t be an ordinary doctor like you or I.

It would be a sexy actor like the ones we see on those medical melodramas that have become so popular over the last few years. His hair coiffed, his jacket pressed and free of stains, and his manor confident he would rush into the trauma bay. As the beeping monitor flat lines, he would sweep the nurses …

Read more…

If the government was a physician

Physician voices

Most physicians today feel like they are continuously under the gun

Jordan Grumet, MD

June 22, 2012Jun 22, 201212

As I write this post a frail sickly patient awaits anxiously by the phone for a call from her doctor that will never come. Every day, countless people leave their physicians office angry, confused, and feeling abandoned. Yet when I think back to my medical school class, I feel nothing but pride. I couldn’t imagine a more caring, conscientious group of young learners.

I remember my fellow residents working long hours. They abandoned their families …

Physician voices

Doctors are quietly and incrementally bowing out

Jordan Grumet, MD

June 6, 2012Jun 6, 201223

We talk of disruptive change in health care as a tectonic cataclysm. We're hanging by the moment for that one innovation that will flip flop the practice of medicine and bring better, more efficient care. But if you ask the…

We talk of disruptive change in health care as a tectonic cataclysm. We’re hanging by the moment for that one innovation that will flip flop the practice of medicine and bring better, more efficient care. But if you ask the poor lowly physician struggling on the front lines, we might tell you something different. We are suffering through a sustained, insidious, devolution. I see great change.

Reform takes place in fits …

Health technology

When patient care becomes secondary to filling out the medical record

Jordan Grumet, MD

May 22, 2012May 22, 201221

The policeman was two cars in front of me. I meandered down the road cautiously adjusting my speed a few ticks above the limit. I lamented the forced, measured pace as the road lazily formed a long straight path. The…

A sports car motored around a curve and flew past us unaware. The cop switched on his lights and tried …

Physician voices

Being a physician is like trying to parent two thousand teenagers

Jordan Grumet, MD

May 9, 2012May 9, 201236

I walked down the hospital corridor listlessly. My feet dragged as they fought each attempt to lift off the ground. My body was tired and achy. The phone calls the night before had been relentless. Each stolen moment of sleep…

I sat at the nursing station flipping through charts. A colleague across the table was staring intently at …