Traditionally, a physician’s reputation was best established and passed along by word of mouth. Discussions among friends or at church, sporting events or civic groups often provided the information necessary for potential patients to choose a healthcare provider. Today, most patients and consumers of healthcare get information about medical conditions and physicians online.
Some …
In today’s healthcare environment, nearly half of all new physicians are salaried employees of a hospital or healthcare system. Now, more than ever, physician leadership is of paramount importance. With increasing pressure to increase care quality and simultaneously lower healthcare delivery cost, it is essential that physicians and administrators work together. Physicians must continue to grow into executive roles and lead both healthcare systems as well as manage other doctors …
Recently, I decided to take up surfing again. As a 20-year old kid, I was pretty good at most things that required athleticism (even surfing).
However, as a 42-year old, things come a little harder. My daughter began taking surfing lessons about 9 months ago from a young professional surfer. She quickly was able to get up on the board and was soon riding waves (upright) to shore. I decided that …
Having a major cardiac event can be a stressful, life changing occurrence. Often, the psychological impacts of having a heart attack (myocardial infarction) are underestimated and can be long lasting. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that these that the emotional stressors that occur post-MI are consistent with symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD has been shown to be associated with higher rates of recurrent coronary events and …
All of us hate waiting in lines. Our society breeds a “me-first” attitude. Often the lines in which we wait are slow to move and, we become irritable and angry. Somehow there is always someone who is able to outsmart the system and get served ahead of their place in the queue. In the typical queue at the grocery store, (or at the apple store genius bar) we become impatient because …
While reading the New York Times I stumbled upon an article by Pauline Chen addressing issues with doctor patient communication.
In the article, Dr. Chen describes a highly educated, articulate patient who was unwilling to speak up and discuss care related issues with her doctor. The reasons given for not wanting to speak up included not wanting to anger the physician and not giving the perception of questioning judgement.
I immediately began …
As a cardiac electrophysiologist, I have had to discuss bad news with patients and families more times than I would like during my career. How a physician goes about this process can make an enormous impact in the lives of those affected by the news that must be delivered.
Precious little time is devoted to teaching this essential communication skill in the training of physicians today. I can remember back to …
Much has been written about the positive benefits of communication between patient and physician. Today, in the increasingly time-pressured medical work environment, physicians are pushed to see more patients in less time. Patients are moved thru clinics as if on an assembly line. There are fewer opportunities for conversation and many patients and providers never really get to know each other on a “human” and interpersonal level. Care often suffers …
In the last several weeks there has been much discussion concerning the St. Jude Medical Riata lead Class I recall. Prior to the Riata , there was the Medtronic Sprint Fidelis lead recall. Prior to Fidelis, there were multiple recalls involving Guidant (now Boston Scientific) devices. The common thread to all of these recalls is our patients. Our device patients have endured all of these events. How exactly does the …
As most of the electrophysiology (EP) community is aware, device and lead recalls are a reality in today’s EP practice. In the last 5 years, both Medtronic and St. Jude Medical have had significant lead failure issues. The public responses to these recalls have been varied and quite different. As physicians who care for device patients, we must learn to quickly sort through the rhetoric put forth in the New …
I recently came across two articles in the press concerning doctor-patient relationships and communication. I began to reflect on what makes communication between doctor and patient most successful and many questions surfaced.
In the New York Times, a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine was referenced. In this study, the way in which doctors communicate non-verbally was examined. Non-verbal communication was often discordant to the message being relayed, particularly …
When dealing with patients and families coping with life threatening illness, one of a physician’s greatest interventions may be that of empathy. Defined simply, empathy is the responsiveness to the emotional state of another person—we try to understand another’s experience. It is a process that requires effort and intention. Sympathy is an awareness of another person’s situation and is an almost “autonomic” type response. Sympathy is important and is part …
In these days of decreased reimbursement, increased workload, and non user-friendly EMRs, physician burnout rates can be quite high.
Stress, depression, and overwhelming fatigue associated with burn-out can interfere with our ability to care for our patients. If we, as providers, are not emotionally healthy, we are not able to provide the very best of ourselves to our patients. When we allow ourselves to become over extended and over committed without …
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