Hospital medicine

5,188 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 66

Why physicians should be their own brand

November 2, 2017Nov 2, 20172

Health care in America and the practice of medicine has undergone a sea change over the last couple of decades. It used to be about Dr. Johnson’s office around the corner that would serve you and your whole family. Nowadays, it’s about mega-specialty groups and large health care conglomerates. It’s about mergers and hostile corporate takeovers. Statistics now suggest that over 50 percent of physicians are employed rather …

Physician voices

This doctor became her colleagues’ patient

Patricia Martin, DO

November 1, 2017Nov 1, 2017

According to a recent publication by the Robert Graham Center, the number of family physicians practicing high-volume obstetrics (more than 50 deliveries per year) dropped by over one-half from 2.3 percent of practicing family physicians in 2003 to 1.1 percent in 2016.1 In small corners of the country, though, innovative training programs continue to foster these skills among learners and build supportive communities for family …

Health policy

How did this health care system add a personal touch?

Chip Heath & Dan Heath

November 1, 2017Nov 1, 2017

An excerpt from The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Defining moments shape our lives, but we don’t have to wait for them to happen. We can be the…

An excerpt from The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Defining moments shape our lives, but we don’t have to wait for them to happen. We can be the authors of them. What if a teacher could design a lesson that students were still reflecting on years later? What if a manager knew exactly how to turn an employee’s …

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Physician voices

What I’ve learned from 547 doctor suicides

Pamela Wible, MD

October 31, 2017Oct 31, 201790

Five years ago today I was at a memorial. Another suicide. Our third doctor in 18 months. Everyone kept whispering, “Why?” I was determined to find out. So I started counting dead doctors. I left the service with a list…

Five years ago today I was at a memorial. Another suicide. Our third doctor in 18 months.

Everyone kept whispering, “Why?”

I was determined to find out.

So I started counting dead doctors. I left the service with a list of 10. Now I have 547.

Immediately, I began writing and speaking about suicide. So many distressed doctors (and med students) wrote and phoned …

Physician voices

Fix the system to address physician burnout

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

October 31, 2017Oct 31, 20172

The prevalence of burnout among physicians is estimated to be more than 50 percent and has grown in recent years. This alarming trend is largely due to changing patient demographics, increasing cost constraints, new federal and state regulations, and other external factors that have reshaped the daily work experience of physicians. Too often today, physicians spend more time on data entry than in direct …

Medical education

Empathy is better felt than defined

Brian Schnettgoecke

October 31, 2017Oct 31, 2017

Empathy is a cryptic term. Those in the health care profession can certainly spout off a variety of phrases and metaphors that are typically used to describe the concept of empathy in the educational setting. Throughout my medical education thus far it has been described as “putting yourself in another’s shoes” or “sharing in another’s emotion.”

We are also taught early on what empathy is not. Empathy is not feeling sorry …

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Empathy is better felt than defined

Physician voices

The key to health care is to have a great team

Heather Hansen, JD

October 30, 2017Oct 30, 2017

I was a chubby kid, but my parents still introduced me to lots of sports. Soccer, swimming, tennis, basketball; so many sports, when all I wanted to do was read and eat Doritos. I wasn’t particularly good at any of them, but some of my teams were better than good. We were champs. My swim team won the Cape Cod Summer League, my soccer team won its division one year, …

Physician voices

Resist! The invasion of computers in health care

Taison Bell, MD

October 30, 2017Oct 30, 20176

I walked into the ICU amidst a chaos of harried residents, chirping alarms, and the whir of the portable X-ray machine. Aromas ranging from old coffee down to vomit and stool mixed together in the usual fashion. In other words, it was a typical morning. I watched as my team gathered into a semicircle around me outside the first patient’s room and I got into my morning rounds stance: leaned …

Physician voices

Women doctors: Speak up, because #MeToo

Anonymous

October 29, 2017Oct 29, 2017

“Aren’t you cute,” he said as he smiled and squeezed her cheeks. On the start of a new rotation, a medical student walked into clinic and introduced herself to the attending physician. With all of the news surrounding the Weinstein…

“Aren’t you cute,” he said as he smiled and squeezed her cheeks. On the start of a new rotation, a medical student walked into clinic and introduced herself to the attending physician.

With all of the news surrounding the Weinstein debacle, Alyssa Milano has urged women to share their stories of sexual harassment or abuse using the words “me too.” What has transpired is that a whole community of women from …

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Women doctors: Speak up, because #MeToo

Physician voices

10 golden communication tips for doctors. And 3 things they shouldn’t do.

Suneel Dhand, MD

October 28, 2017Oct 28, 20172

It’s something that’s not taught anywhere near enough as it should be in medical school, but every practicing physician quickly realizes that communication is everything in health care. It’s the foundation of the doctor-patient relationship, and what patients will judge you on. Sure, doctors are among the busiest professionals out there. We do an incredibly hectic job. But it’s so imperative to remember the importance of that interaction with your …

Physician voices

Online physician reviews: A physician does a study on himself

Christopher Johnson, MD

October 28, 2017Oct 28, 20174

In theory, of course, it’s a great idea for people to give their opinions and rate their experiences with any goods or services they buy. The notion goes back long before the Internet with publications like Consumer Reports, which is now itself online. Sites such as Angie’s List are very popular and can give you testimonials about providers of everything from home renovations to car repair to daycare. So it’s not surprising several …

Physician voices

Residency and family: How this resident finds balance

Kerri Vincenti, MD

October 27, 2017Oct 27, 2017

It was 5:30 a.m., and I was startled to feel the nudge of my husband’s hand on my arm while vaguely hearing the sound of my alarm going off in the background. Although I was not prepared mentally to get up for another day, I quickly jumped out of bed so as not to allow the sound to wake my sleeping daughter in the next room. I cherished no actually, …

Physician voices

The smallest human acts can have a lifetime of impact

Karmen Wielunski, DO

October 27, 2017Oct 27, 2017

My dad died on May 11, 2003. It was Mother's Day. I was 18 years old. Those are the easy facts. The more difficult ones are those detailing the events that led to his death. My dad was so many…

My dad died on May 11, 2003. It was Mother’s Day. I was 18 years old. Those are the easy facts. The more difficult ones are those detailing the events that led to his death. My dad was so many things — a brilliant geologist, a loving father, an inventor, a pilot, and a Vietnam veteran — to name a few. He survived three tours on the front lines in …

Physician voices

Doctors have a responsibility to outline options. Patients make the final decision.

Don S. Dizon, MD

October 26, 2017Oct 26, 20172

As an oncologist, I want to provide the best treatment for everyone. That should mean the best chance at a long-lasting remission, if not cure. Whatever that might take. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy -- a dark tunnel that I hope…

Health policy

Why Medicare cannot stay solvent: a case study

Steven Reznick, MD

October 26, 2017Oct 26, 20172

My spry, 90-year-old patient decided she had a urinary tract infection two weeks ago. She had difficulty urinating and the constant urge to void with no fever, no chills, no back pain, no bloody urine. She was advised to come in for an appointment the same morning, but this didn’t suit her. The alternative choice was to see her urologist who made time available that same day. She decided this …

Physician voices

My heart goes out to all of the first responders

Edwin Leap, MD

October 25, 2017Oct 25, 2017

It’s hard to put into words the horror we all feel about the events in Las Vegas. So I won’t try. But what I will try to do is point out an often unspoken reality. Which is that those who…

It’s hard to put into words the horror we all feel about the events in Las Vegas. So I won’t try. But what I will try to do is point out an often unspoken reality. Which is that those who work in emergency care constantly face terrible things with courage and skill and keep coming back for more. And everyone needs to remember that all those folks society counts on …

Medical education

An open apology to medical students from a resident

Karen Tran-Harding, MD

October 20, 2017Oct 20, 20173

Dear medical student, I’m sorry. You had just finished two years of didactic learning and couldn’t wait to feel like a “real” doctor. You finally were starting your clerkships, that is, ultimately working with patients and getting deep in the…

Dear medical student, I’m sorry.

You had just finished two years of didactic learning and couldn’t wait to feel like a “real” doctor. You finally were starting your clerkships, that is, ultimately working with patients and getting deep in the trenches.

You were bright-eyed as you pulled on your pristine short white coat. You got to the hospital at 5:15 a.m., 15-minutes early for the first day of your very first third-year …

Physician voices

The police didn’t care when this PA was verbally abused

Alex Carvson, PA-C

October 20, 2017Oct 20, 20178

I never thought I'd be in a position where I would feel scared at work, but then — it happened. I started writing this piece a long time ago, far before Utah nurse, Alex Wubbels, was assaulted on camera by…

I never thought I’d be in a position where I would feel scared at work, but then — it happened. I started writing this piece a long time ago, far before Utah nurse, Alex Wubbels, was assaulted on camera by a police officer. It certainly reminded me to work on this again.

A few years ago when I was very green, I was working in inpatient on a …

Physician voices

A physician’s experience with burnout, and what she learned about it

Janice Boughton, MD

October 19, 2017Oct 19, 2017

Physician burnout and physician suicide have been getting more attention in the last several years. Suicide among physicians is horribly tragic, and maybe moreso because of several factors. Suicide is the quintessentially most preventable fatal event. In order to prevent suicide, the person killing him or herself needs only not do it. To anyone who knows the victim/perpetrator, it seems that if only the right words had been spoken, the …

Physician voices

The high cost of hospitalists

Richard Young, MD

October 18, 2017Oct 18, 201710

Hospitalists, doctors who only see patients in the hospital, almost always in a shift work model, are the fastest growing “specialty” in medicine, from nothing about 15 years ago to about 50,000 today. There were some studies that I won’t review much here that showed some benefits from hospitalists compared to “usual care” in highly controlled environments, outcomes such as a 0.4 per day decrease in length of stay with …

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The high cost of hospitalists

Hospital medicine

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