Suneel Dhand, MD

Suneel Dhand is an internal medicine physician, author, and co-founder, DocsDox. He can be reached at his self-titled site, Suneel Dhand, and on YouTube.

Fixing health care really depends on the economy

Suneel Dhand, MD

Policy

May 24, 2015

Recently, I was back in the United Kingdom for a short trip home. It happened to be the week of the general election, and after a long campaign the country finally went to the polls on Thursday.

For those of you unfamiliar with U.K. politics, for the last five years there’s been a coalition government between David Cameron’s Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats (the first coalition government for 70 years). The …

How health IT is a barrier to patient satisfaction

Suneel Dhand, MD

Tech

May 19, 2015

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I was recently talking to a patient about having some extra help at home when she left the hospital with home nursing services. The elderly lady — highly intelligent and fiercely independent — politely declined with the reply: “No, I’m fine thanks Dr Dhand — all they’ve done before is just come in with their computers, barely talk to me, enter …

This doctor didn’t support Vivek Murthy. And it’s not because of what you think.

Suneel Dhand, MD

Policy

May 13, 2015

Recently, the new surgeon general of the United States, Vivek Murthy, was officially sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden. Congratulations to him, it’s quite an achievement at the relatively young age of 37. Nobody can doubt the hard work, intelligence and passion that must have gone into reaching such a height.

His nomination was first put forward at the end of 2013, and he faced something of an uphill political …

What Uber drivers can teach health care

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

April 27, 2015

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A couple of months ago I finally joined the swelling ranks of Uber customers. Several friends had been trying to persuade me for some time to start using the service, but me being generally skeptical of new technology (what they call a “late adopter”), it took an extreme situation to get me to finally download the app.

It was a freezing February …

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What Uber drivers can teach health care

A physician spends the day on Capitol Hill. See how it went.

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

April 21, 2015

Recently, I was honored to spend a day on Capitol Hill as part of an advocacy event with the Society of Hospital Medicine. The organization, which I am proud to be a part of, held their annual meeting in Washington DC. The event involved a group of hospital physicians going to Capitol Hill to meet our congressional representatives — both in the House and Senate — to discuss the issues …

Good health care leaders have these 3 traits

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

April 14, 2015

In my travels up and down the East coast, I’ve worked with a number of health care administrators (and even temporarily been one myself, although quickly discovered that it wasn’t quite my cup of tea). The experiences that I’ve had have been highly variable, and I’ve seen the full spectrum of administrators ranging from the brilliant to the quite dire. As someone who has read many autobiographies of famous leaders, …

The old school physician is who we should aspire to be

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

April 9, 2015

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A couple of weeks ago I was on-call and had to go down to the emergency room to see a patient. Before I entered the room, I was told that the patient was accompanied by her long-time physician who was a bit “crazy and old school.”

“Hmm … that’s strange … why would her physician be in the room with her?” I …

Hospitalists: It’s time to be more exclusive

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

March 31, 2015

Our specialty of hospital medicine has grown exponentially over the last decade and now finds itself at the forefront of American medicine. I’m proud to be part of such a growing movement and must say that I find the job just as rewarding as when I first became an attending physician when the specialty was still in its fledgling stage.

As the number of us soars towards the 50,000 mark, the …

Nurses are the superheroes of health care

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

March 23, 2015

Being a nurse is one of the most important jobs in any society. It is also one of the most respected. Public opinion polls consistently rank nurses as the most trusted profession — usually ranking well above physicians. And it’s for good reason. Patients in hospital may forget who their doctor is, but they will rarely forget their nurse. The doctor …

Why we need less virtual medicine

Suneel Dhand, MD

Tech

March 19, 2015

The world of health care will likely look very different in a decade, owing to a variety of diverse factors including; medical breakthroughs, political reform and not least of all the tremendous advances in technology that are occurring at breathtaking pace. The traditional model of the doctor-patient interaction will also continue to change dramatically (as it already has over the last several years). The days of an unchecked paternalistic relationship …

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Why we need less virtual medicine

5 things patients say that should make doctors sit up and listen

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

March 12, 2015

In the busy world of hospital medicine, where doctors and nurses find themselves rushed off their feet for most of the day, time to sit down and actually listen to patients is at a premium. Every doctor knows that our primary focus has to be on the most important aspects of the history and clinical examination in order to get to …

How can we make the EMR note more legible? Here are some ideas.

Suneel Dhand, MD

Tech

March 2, 2015

Despite the well-known rollout problems for hospitals and clinics across the nation, there are many palpable and welcome advantages to using electronic health records.

Chief among these are the ability to access the chart from anywhere, rapidly search for information needed, and reducing the centuries-old problem of illegible doctors’ handwriting. But with the good comes the bad, and in these still relatively early stages of health care information technology adoption — …

What hospitals can learn from snow preparedness

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

February 23, 2015

Significant snow in New England every winter is about as certain as sun in Florida every summer. When I moved to the USA from the south of (old) England to do my medical residency in Maryland, my first few years living in the United States were relatively snow-free.

But when I started my first job as an attending physician in central Massachusetts, I was in for a big shock. I had …

Solving the physician shortage requires these 3 things to happen

Suneel Dhand, MD

Policy

February 16, 2015

The nationwide shortage of physicians is a very real crisis across all 50 states, causing a huge strain at all levels of health care. Hospitals and clinics are struggling to hire, current physicians are overworked, and ultimately patients have to wait longer.

There are a number of reasons why this has happened, but one thing’s for sure: With the aging population, the …

You’re lucky to be a patient in America. Here are 3 reasons why.

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

January 29, 2015

As part of the increasing push for health care quality improvement, a lot of energy is being focused on improving our communication with patients and making sure that patient-centered care is more than just a buzz phrase. Gone are the days when the doctor-patient interaction was a wholly paternalistic one, where the doctor’s word was taken as final and absolute, and patients weren’t encouraged …

About to be discharged from the hospital? Here’s 3 things you should know.

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

January 21, 2015

The world of health care has made tremendous progress in the last several years in raising the quality and safety of clinical medicine. Despite this, the discharge process (when patients are discharged from hospital) is still fraught with potential pitfalls and opportunities for things to “slip through the net.”

If you ask most patients who are discharged — particularly the elderly with multiple medical problems — they will tell you that …

5 health care wishes for the New Year

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

January 11, 2015

Happy 2015! Health care in the United States continues to change faster than any of us can keep pace with and this shows no signs of slowing down. Having written a lot in 2014 on a variety of different topics, I wanted to focus on my own 5 wishes for hospital care this New Year. A lot of you may think that what you’re about to read sounds like wishful …

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5 health care wishes for the New Year

3 ways to help reduce hospital readmissions

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

January 2, 2015

The enormous push continues to reduce readmissions, due in no small part to stiff financial penalties from CMS for the worst performing hospitals. The most commonly cited statistic is that about 1 in 5, or 20 percent, of Medicare patients are readmitted within 30 days. A staggeringly high number when you think about it. Having discharged thousands of patients and seen the characteristics of those patients that are frequently readmitted …

5 ways to improve patient engagement in hospitals

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

December 27, 2014

Improving patient engagement is a subject that’s being talked about in hospital boardrooms across the country. It’s become the in-fashion political buzz phrase. Certainly sounds very well and good, but what exactly does it mean?

Likely different things to different people depending on what angle they approach it — all the way from a care assistant up to the hospital CEO. In a nutshell, it’s all about allowing the patient to …

Don’t quit medicine. Here are 5 reasons why.

Suneel Dhand, MD

Physician

December 18, 2014

There’s been a lot of talk recently about low morale and disgruntlement among doctors. A recent article on focused on a list of reasons when doctors know it’s time to quit. I found the article a bit sad and unfortunate, but I’m sure the feelings behind it were sincere.

Another excellent article in the Wall Street Journal last week extensively discussed the factors behind …