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Suneel Dhand, MD

Articles, page 8

Physician voices

5 things we can learn from the NHS doctor strike

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The United Kingdom’s National Health Service has been facing something of a crisis over the last several months. For those of you unfamiliar with what’s been happening (the issue hasn’t really gained any media traction here in the U.S.), a…

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service has been facing something of a crisis over the last several months. For those of you unfamiliar with what’s been happening (the issue hasn’t really gained any media traction here in the U.S.), a majority of the country’s 55,000 junior doctors have been holding regular strikes. In the U.K., the way in which doctors train is very different from the U.S., with often over …

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5 things we can learn from the NHS doctor strike

Physician voices

Physicians in health IT have to be better communicators

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The chance interaction occurred at a large medical conference I attended recently. I happened to bump into a leader in health care information technology from a major integrated medical system. As soon as I saw him and his name badge,…

The chance interaction occurred at a large medical conference I attended recently. I happened to bump into a leader in health care information technology from a major integrated medical system. As soon as I saw him and his name badge, I thought I would go over and introduce myself, seeing as I have an avid interest in health care IT myself.

He was standing alone having just finished lunch, and there …

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Physicians in health IT have to be better communicators

Health policy

Why Medicare is not the enemy

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With all the changes happening in health care and the increasing weight of federal mandates and requirements, it’s easy to view the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as the big, bad enemy. After all, if they just left…

With all the changes happening in health care and the increasing weight of federal mandates and requirements, it’s easy to view the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as the big, bad enemy. After all, if they just left all physicians and health care institutions on their own, everything would be OK, wouldn’t it? It’s an occasional line of thinking I’ve heard from many esteemed colleagues and also appears to be …

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Why Medicare is not the enemy

Physician voices

The time a 28-year-old MBA told a physician where to round first

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The last couple of decades have seen a dramatic shift of power and clout away from individual physicians and towards administrators and the business side of health care. In many ways, physicians have nobody but themselves to blame collectively; because…

The last couple of decades have seen a dramatic shift of power and clout away from individual physicians and towards administrators and the business side of health care. In many ways, physicians have nobody but themselves to blame collectively; because for any large and respected group of people to surrender so much autonomy so quickly, a lack of strong leadership must always be a factor.

So many different reasons for this …

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The time a 28-year-old MBA told a physician where to round first

Physician voices

What would a patient’s dream doctor look like?

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The practice of medicine has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, with many of the changes unfortunately not so good for patients. It’s a well-known feeling among health care professionals, that among all the new elements of bureaucracy…

The practice of medicine has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, with many of the changes unfortunately not so good for patients. It’s a well-known feeling among health care professionals, that among all the new elements of bureaucracy and information technology requirements and mandates, the one person who is often completely forgotten about is the patient. As someone who has worked up and down the east coast in …

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What would a patient’s dream doctor look like?

Physician voices

Communication is the core of many health care problems

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Despite all the challenges that we, and every other nation, faces with their health care systems, it’s worth remembering that in the broader picture we really have progressed in leaps and bounds over the last several decades. How easy is…

Despite all the challenges that we, and every other nation, faces with their health care systems, it’s worth remembering that in the broader picture we really have progressed in leaps and bounds over the last several decades. How easy is it to forget that only 100 years ago the average life expectancy was in the 20s to 40s in most parts of the world (just as it was for nearly …

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Communication is the core of many health care problems

Health policy

Inpatient vs. observation: We have created a monster of our own making

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A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about my hero patient, a World War II veteran who landed on Normandy beach, and how he had been left in a difficult position by the whole observation versus inpatient situation while…

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about my hero patient, a World War II veteran who landed on Normandy beach, and how he had been left in a difficult position by the whole observation versus inpatient situation while he was hospitalized.

My intention was to draw attention to these types of scenarios and how they cause intense anxiety and concern to our elderly. It’s a horrible …

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Inpatient vs. observation: We have created a monster of our own making

Physician voices

You can’t compare health care to the airline industry. Here’s why.

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There’s been a lot of talk for quite some time in health care quality improvement circles about why health care can’t be as safe as airline travel. Some of the reasons behind asking this question are very valid, as there…

There’s been a lot of talk for quite some time in health care quality improvement circles about why health care can’t be as safe as airline travel. Some of the reasons behind asking this question are very valid, as there are many things health care can learn from the aviation industry. Others, however, are complete fallacy; because on so many levels, it’s like comparing apples to oranges.

Over recent weeks, I’ve …

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You can’t compare health care to the airline industry. Here’s why.

Physician voices

Why the best administrators are doctors and nurses

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Over the last several years since I graduated from residency, I’ve worked in many different hospitals up and down the east coast. These have ranged from large urban medical centers to rural community outposts. In all of these places I’ve…

Over the last several years since I graduated from residency, I’ve worked in many different hospitals up and down the east coast. These have ranged from large urban medical centers to rural community outposts. In all of these places I’ve felt the inevitable conflict that exists between physicians and administrators — to varying degrees.

It almost seems like a rite of passage that the world of clinical medicine and administration are …

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Why the best administrators are doctors and nurses

Health policy

When debating inpatient vs. observation, remember this history lesson

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The observation versus inpatient distinction is rightly getting more media and public attention with each passing month. In a nutshell, for anyone reading who is not familiar with what this is all about, it’s essentially a way of categorizing people…

The observation versus inpatient distinction is rightly getting more media and public attention with each passing month. In a nutshell, for anyone reading who is not familiar with what this is all about, it’s essentially a way of categorizing people when they get admitted to hospital.

You are either deemed an inpatient (basically a more complex case) or an observation (a less serious case). The individual reasons and checkboxes that have …

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When debating inpatient vs. observation, remember this history lesson

Physician voices

Is there a Donald Trump at your hospital?

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When Donald Trump announced that he was running for president last summer, most people didn’t know quite what to think. Was this serious or some sort of publicity stunt? Would he be in the race for more than just a…

When Donald Trump announced that he was running for president last summer, most people didn’t know quite what to think. Was this serious or some sort of publicity stunt? Would he be in the race for more than just a few weeks of intense media spotlight? Would he be able to stand on a stage and debate other politicians? No matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, …

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Is there a Donald Trump at your hospital?

Health technology

3 immediate ways health IT can improve

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We’ve got a long way to go before information technology solutions at the frontlines of health care fulfill their enormous potential. The suboptimal, clunky and cumbersome design of most IT systems is responsible for much misery among physicians and nurses…

We’ve got a long way to go before information technology solutions at the frontlines of health care fulfill their enormous potential. The suboptimal, clunky and cumbersome design of most IT systems is responsible for much misery among physicians and nurses on a daily basis. Part of the problem is that hospitals and clinics have rolled out these solutions rapidly and somewhat haphazardly to fulfill meaningful use requirements and gain much-needed …

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3 immediate ways health IT can improve

Physician voices

The stories have gone from medicine and that’s a shame

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I was at a dinner meeting for our hospital last week, and before everyone went in to sit at their tables and hear the evenings’ speeches, there was some time for the usual networking over wine in the reception room.…

I was at a dinner meeting for our hospital last week, and before everyone went in to sit at their tables and hear the evenings’ speeches, there was some time for the usual networking over wine in the reception room. I got chatting to an established local primary care physician, a respected member of the hospital staff who has been in practice for over 30 years.

He’s quite a presence and a …

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The stories have gone from medicine and that’s a shame

Physician voices

When it comes to positive change, physicians are their own worst enemy

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Physicians are an interesting and eclectic bunch of people who have sacrificed a lot to get to where they are. Just getting into medical school alone is an academic achievement to be proud of. And that’s just the start of…

Physicians are an interesting and eclectic bunch of people who have sacrificed a lot to get to where they are. Just getting into medical school alone is an academic achievement to be proud of. And that’s just the start of the journey. What follows is one of the most rigorous courses of study in existence. Test after test, exam after exam. And when you’re finally done with medical school and …

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When it comes to positive change, physicians are their own worst enemy

Health technology

Health IT’s woes are a moral problem that needs to be solved

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I was dining at a friend’s house recently after a long day in the hospital. He has just bought a beautiful new home with his rapidly expanding family, and like anyone who has just moved into a new house, his…

I was dining at a friend’s house recently after a long day in the hospital. He has just bought a beautiful new home with his rapidly expanding family, and like anyone who has just moved into a new house, his spare time is invariably spent working on getting everything in order and undertaking small upgrades to make the new place as perfect as possible.

He’s quite DIY-oriented (unlike myself) and was spending a lot of …

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Health IT’s woes are a moral problem that needs to be solved

Physician voices

Watch out and be informed: There is dishonesty in every profession

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Within the last several weeks, I’ve had two plumbing issues that have caused me to reflect on the honorability of various professions and the way in which people go about earning an honest day’s crust. Let me take you back…

Within the last several weeks, I’ve had two plumbing issues that have caused me to reflect on the honorability of various professions and the way in which people go about earning an honest day’s crust.

Let me take you back to the beginning of the story. I was actually working nights a couple of months ago when I noticed, just before I was about to leave for the hospital, that my …

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Watch out and be informed: There is dishonesty in every profession

Health technology

Health care is about relationships. Health IT fails to understand that.

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The promise that information technology holds for health care is, quite literally, amazing. So far, it has enabled us to get rid of paper charts (not to mention the age-old problem of illegible doctors’ handwriting), negated the need to trawl…

The promise that information technology holds for health care is, quite literally, amazing. So far, it has enabled us to get rid of paper charts (not to mention the age-old problem of illegible doctors’ handwriting), negated the need to trawl through mountains of files to find old clinical data, and introduced much-needed safety improvements such as medication alerts.

But anyone practicing at the frontlines of medicine over the last few years …

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Health care is about relationships. Health IT fails to understand that.

Health technology

A 2016 wish list for health care IT

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As the New Year arrives and health care continues its rapid evolution, one of the most critical challenges that we face is the interaction of information technology with frontline clinical medicine. If you were to ask, at the start of…

As the New Year arrives and health care continues its rapid evolution, one of the most critical challenges that we face is the interaction of information technology with frontline clinical medicine. If you were to ask, at the start of 2016, any physician (or even nurse) what their biggest daily frustrations are — most would list health care IT at or near top of the list. And it’s not just …

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A 2016 wish list for health care IT

Health technology

Health IT needs to be seen but not heard

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You may be forgiven after reading some of my articles for thinking that I’m somehow "anti-health care information technology." It’s a subject that I’ve written a lot about over the last couple of years, mainly because I feel passionately that…

You may be forgiven after reading some of my articles for thinking that I’m somehow “anti-health care information technology.” It’s a subject that I’ve written a lot about over the last couple of years, mainly because I feel passionately that our use of information technology at the frontlines of health care needs to drastically improve.

But let me start first by making a confession: I love information technology. I am just …

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Health IT needs to be seen but not heard

Physician voices

Hospitals and doctors should better prepare for winter. Here’s how.

With the depths of winter just around the corner, doctors and nurses everywhere know what’s about to hit them over the next few months. The inevitable surge in hospital admissions during colder weather is almost as predictable as knowing the…

With the depths of winter just around the corner, doctors and nurses everywhere know what’s about to hit them over the next few months. The inevitable surge in hospital admissions during colder weather is almost as predictable as knowing the leaves will be falling off the trees in the fall.

As someone who has worked in several different hospitals over the last few years, ranging from small rural institutions to large …

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Hospitals and doctors should better prepare for winter. Here’s how.

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