I was recently in the break room at the hospital scarfing down a power bar between three-hour cases. The truth is, I was multi-tasking: eating, writing on a chart, and checking my email in my phone.
I had received an email from a businesswoman, whom I have known for a few years. She wanted to know if I wanted to join her for lunch next week.
I had to laugh out loud.
The …
Doctors experience the world a bit differently
How many times have you popped into the exam room for a quick re-check of a patient, only to get hit with a barrage of new symptoms and concerns?
My guess is that at least a third of my day is spent wading through new symptoms, rather than focusing on the problem that originally brought the patient to me in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong. I get it that once …
Teach patients to prioritize their problems
The first thing we need to do is analyze what’s broken.
Let’s approach this problem as if it were a patient in our office. It’s our job to deliver a diagnosis based on the patient’s problem.
That’s easy; we’re doctors, after all.
“So, what seems to be the problem today, Mrs. Smith? How can I help you?”
“Well, it seems that no matter how hard I try, I can’t make progress. I want to …
What is it about today’s medical care system that isn’t working?
Recently, after a fairly long day of surgery where everything was going well, I was finishing my fourth case. It was about 2pm on a Friday, and we were running on schedule, which made me happy.
As I walked out to the waiting area in search of the family of the elderly woman on whom I had performed an elective procedure, I noticed her husband sitting in the corner. He stood …
It’s scary when our loved ones have surgery
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