Heart and cardiology

1,642 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 41

MKSAP: 59-year-old man with tachycardia and hypertension

May 28, 2012May 28, 2012

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 59-year-old man is evaluated for tachycardia and hypertension six hours after undergoing an uncomplicated open cholecystectomy under general anesthesia. The patient had intraoperative…

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 59-year-old man is evaluated for tachycardia and hypertension six hours after undergoing an uncomplicated open cholecystectomy under general anesthesia. The patient had intraoperative high blood pressure and was treated postoperatively with metoprolol, 5 mg every 4 hours by intravenous bolus. The patient underwent repair of …

Patient voices

Health care journalists have tendencies similar to those of doctors

Katherine Leon

May 13, 2012May 13, 20124

As a patient who was asked to speak at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2012 conference, I felt a bit covert. I wasn't in a "backless gown," rolling my IV pole down the hall of some hospital's cardiac care…

As a patient who was asked to speak at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2012 conference, I felt a bit covert. I wasn’t in a “backless gown,” rolling my IV pole down the hall of some hospital’s cardiac care unit. I wore an official lanyard and badge and mixed among health care journalists, yet I felt more like a dugout mom than savvy reporter.

My goal was to present the …

Drugs and prescribing

The unholy alliance between Big Pharma and the medical profession

Barbara H. Roberts, MD

May 12, 2012May 12, 20128

An excerpt from The Truth About Statins. Like all physicians, I’ve had interactions with pharmaceutical companies. Shortly after I went into private practice in Rhode Island in 1977, I received a telephone call from a drug company representative. He offered…

An excerpt from The Truth About Statins.

Like all physicians, I’ve had interactions with pharmaceutical companies. Shortly after I went into private practice in Rhode Island in 1977, I received a telephone call from a drug company representative. He offered me an all-expense-paid weeklong trip to Germany to attend a medical conference. I was taken aback, knowing that the cost of such a trip would run to thousands of dollars. I …

Real physician voices, twice a week

Free, and one click to unsubscribe.

Conditions and diseases

A shock and recall plan for ICD patients

Kevin R. Campbell, MD

May 8, 2012May 8, 2012

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 …

Conditions and diseases

When a heart attack is textbook perfect, it can be a beautiful thing

Stewart Segal, MD

May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

Participating in a patient’s first heart attack can be an extremely stressful event. Thirty years ago, I was an ER doc. At the end of a typical shift, I would come home to my wife and, often, would remark about…

Thirty years later, I’m the family doc and heart attacks are unnerving. Yes, I know what to do. We …

Physician voices

How money influences our decisions as doctors

Ido Weinberg, MD

April 30, 2012Apr 30, 20127

When you ask young medical students why they want to be doctors, you will probably get all sorts of answers. Some may say they like people and want to interact with them and offer them help. Some students will believe this is their calling. Others still may state they are intrigued by the scientific mysteries the human body is filled with. From my experience, not many medical students just starting …

Conditions and diseases

Our patients live with the fallout of a device recall

Kevin R. Campbell, MD

April 28, 2012Apr 28, 20122

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 recall …

Patient voices

Many medical decisions require shared decision making

Kevin Pho, MD

April 26, 2012Apr 26, 20126

The following column was published on April 1, 2012 in USA Today. I recently saw a middle-age man in my primary care clinic who asked whether he should continue his cholesterol medication. He was reacting to new Food and Drug…

The following column was published on April 1, 2012 in USA Today.

I recently saw a middle-age man in my primary care clinic who asked whether he should continue his cholesterol medication. He was reacting to new Food and Drug Administration warnings on statins, a class of drugs taken by more than 20 million Americans to lower their cholesterol. Though generally safe, …

Physician voices

The emotional effects of device recalls on patients

Kevin R. Campbell, MD

April 24, 2012Apr 24, 2012

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 …

Conditions and diseases

Tips for successful home blood pressure monitoring

Erin Marcus, MD

April 18, 2012Apr 18, 2012

Sometimes, the simplest tools in medicine are the ones that give us the most useful information. Take the humble blood pressure machine, for example. It's been around for years, and it's cheap, compared with a lot of other medical devices.…

Sometimes, the simplest tools in medicine are the ones that give us the most useful information.

Take the humble blood pressure machine, for example. It’s been around for years, and it’s cheap, compared with a lot of other medical devices. It’s simple to use, and it doesn’t require a medical or a nursing degree to operate. But the numbers it reports are valuable in helping predict a person’s risk of a …

Medical education

CME limitations and how we can improve Continuing Medical Education

Behnood Bikdeli, MD

April 16, 2012Apr 16, 20122

Some people critique Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs as spoon-feeding. As a young physician struggling to learn a lot of material, I actually appreciate a bit of ready-to-consume content that I can learn quickly and effectively. The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and other reputable institutions provide CME programs that, overall, help to keep physicians up on the literature and integrate new findings with existing knowledge. However, despite the basic …

Health policy

Why sudden death is good public policy

Richard N. Fogoros, MD

April 13, 2012Apr 13, 20127

When DrRich decided to become an electrophysiologist over 30 years ago, it was because he wanted to help figure out how to prevent sudden death. Sudden death from cardiac arrhythmias is estimated to kill over 300,000 Americans each year, and at the time, some of the more recent victims of sudden death had been DrRich’s friends or loved ones. Because cardiac arrhythmias – even the lethal ones – can virtually …

Read more…

Why sudden death is good public policy

Physician voices

Choosing Wisely is the health reform we need

John Mandrola, MD

April 9, 2012Apr 9, 20129

Let me tell you about a possible paradigm-changing idea in the seemingly hopeless matter of controlling runaway healthcare costs—a topic that has far-reaching implications, not just for healthcare, but for our nation’s economy and vitality. Organizations of doctors have decided…

Organizations of doctors have decided to embrace common sense in the practice of Medicine.

Led by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation and joined by many other medical societies, the Choosing Wisely movement aims to …

Physician voices

Always treat your patient with compassion

Yann Meunier, MD

April 7, 2012Apr 7, 20122

Year: 1979 Setting: George Washington University Hospital Position: Intern In sharing my global health background, I would be remiss if I did not talk about some of my American experience. After all, Washington, D.C., is remote from Palo Alto and…

Year: 1979
Setting: George Washington University Hospital
Position: Intern

In sharing my global health background, I would be remiss if I did not talk about some of my American experience. After all, Washington, D.C., is remote from Palo Alto and Paris! I am in my late 20s and an intern at George Washington University as an exchange student from Brazil. My mentor, Stanley Talpers, MD, has organized a rotating program for the interns, …

Physician voices

The problem of regulatory oversight and ICD implantation

John Mandrola, MD & Wes Fisher, MD

April 2, 2012Apr 2, 2012

Slightly over a year ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an investigation of a large number of institutions regarding concerns that implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) procedures were performed for reasons outside of the criteria set forth in Medicare’s National Coverage Decision (NCD). This investigation occurred just after Al-Khatib and others published a report January 4, 2011 in JAMA that suggested as many as 22.5% of implantable defibrillators implanted …

Health technology

Small opportunities to use mobile technology in medicine

Karim Jessa, MD

March 30, 2012Mar 30, 20122

As citizens of the 21st century, we seem to have adapted personal technology for every conceivable use -- Siri, the iPhone’s newest darling, can literally remind us to call a proctologist. But as physicians, we may be missing some of…

As citizens of the 21st century, we seem to have adapted personal technology for every conceivable use — Siri, the iPhone’s newest darling, can literally remind us to call a proctologist. But as physicians, we may be missing some of the best opportunities to derive “meaningful use” from technology.

I am an emergency physician, and a few nights ago I worked a shift in the ER. It was a typical, …

Patient voices

Who do you blame for the success of The Heart Attack Grill?

Dominic A. Carone, PhD

March 13, 2012Mar 13, 20127

If you go to Las Vegas, one of the many restaurants you will encounter is the Heart Attack Grill. It is probably the most extreme and unhealthy place to eat in the United States and deliberately courts controversy with its…

If you go to Las Vegas, one of the many restaurants you will encounter is the Heart Attack Grill.

It is probably the most extreme and unhealthy place to eat in the United States and deliberately courts controversy with its use of extreme menu item names, unusual promotions, and unique themes. An example of the extreme food names include Flatliner Fries (French fries made with pure lard), Butterfat Shakes, and the …

Health technology

Cardiac device patients should lead patient portal adoption

David Lee Scher, MD

March 13, 2012Mar 13, 2012

I have previously focused on issues specific to patients with implantable cardiac rhythm devices who deserve to access their device’s own data directly via patient portals or PHRs. What I would like to suggest is that if this PHR becomes a reality soon, that it will lead to widespread adoption of patient portals in general. Remote monitoring of implantable cardiac rhythm devices was the first widespread use of remote …

Physician voices

Does leaving against medical advice stick patients with a bill?

John Schumann, MD

March 8, 2012Mar 8, 201211

(All names and identifying features of characters in this story have been changed.) Nora, a third year medical student, came to me in moral distress. Ms. DiFazio, one of the hospitalized patients on her internal medicine rotation, was frightened to…

(All names and identifying features of characters in this story have been changed.)

Nora, a third year medical student, came to me in moral distress.

Ms. DiFazio, one of the hospitalized patients on her internal medicine rotation, was frightened to undergo an invasive (and expensive) medical procedure: cardiac catheterization.

The first year doctor with whom Nora was paired, Dr. White, vented to her:

“These patients come to us seeking our help and then refuse …

Conditions and diseases

Improving diabetes and hypertension outcomes in Medicaid patients

Fred Johnson

March 7, 2012Mar 7, 20123

Medicaid patients with diabetes and hypertension need better outcomes. To achieve better outcomes, physicians need more consistent information on their patients’ real health behaviors. State legislators are pressing to get healthcare costs under control, while Medicaid administrators need to invest thinly stretched resources simultaneously in direct care and broad public health programs that will keep hospital readmissions down. As director of a network of managed primary care systems (Northern Piedmont Community Care) …

Heart and cardiology

Articles, page 41

Real physician voices, twice a week

The Podcast

Latest episodes

Most popular

The Podcast

Latest episodes

Most popular