Overcoming the resistance to same day appointments

Physician
July 2, 2013

This past weekend I spent time relearning some life lessons.

On Saturday, I picked up a couple screens from the hardware store to reinstall them after they were nearly destroyed by our neighborhood bear. The bear seems to think she will find the birdfeeder that used to hang nearby, so she stands on our deck and leans on whatever is nearby (our screened porch) while she looks for it. Then she heads …

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Overcoming the resistance to same day appointments

2 ways technology will improve patient care

Tech
January 20, 2013

When I completed my internal medicine residency, my fellow trainees knew I was headed for a rural practice in Vermont. Much to my surprise, they gave me a traditional doctor’s black bag – a beautiful leather bag with pockets inside for instruments, tongue depressors, syringes, prescription pads, and all my tools. It was an extraordinarily meaningful gift that acknowledged a launch …

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2 ways technology will improve patient care

Palliative care physicians can enhance patient decision making

Policy
October 7, 2011

Data from the Dartmouth Atlas show patients with chronic illness in their last two years of life account for about 32 percent of total Medicare spending, with much of that expense going toward physician and hospital fees associated with repeated hospitalizations.

Opportunities to reduce medical expenditures during the last 2 years of life are often looked upon as a way to reduce the cost of healthcare while actually improving the …

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Palliative care physicians can enhance patient decision making

The benefits of successful patient self-management programs

Physician
July 22, 2011

The emerging literature on chronic disease management suggests that successful programs rely on patient self management skills. Having been in the primary care role for 20 years, that initially seemed self evident and a bit “so what?” to me, thinking it meant that we just need to teach our patients a bit more in the primary care office.

However self-management skills refer to specific curricula of skills that can …

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The benefits of successful patient self-management programs