The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American College of Physicians. by Steven Weinberger, MD, FACP The New England Journal of Medicine‘s March 11 issue included an interesting “Clinical Decisions” article. Looking at a…
The New England Journal of Medicine‘s March 11 issue included an interesting “Clinical Decisions” article. Looking at a hypothetical case of an endocrinologist with time-unlimited board certification, the editors posed the question of whether he should voluntarily …
by Brian Eule While the debate continues to rage over the health care reform bill in Washington D.C., today at Noon Eastern time, the newest class of 15,000-plus graduating medical students will get their marching orders, beginning their lives working…
by Brian Eule
While the debate continues to rage over the health care reform bill in Washington D.C., today at Noon Eastern time, the newest class of 15,000-plus graduating medical students will get their marching orders, beginning their lives working in medicine.
It’s called Match Day and each year, on the third Thursday of March, the nation’s graduating medical school students gather with their classmates and wait for an envelope with their …
Originally published in MedPage Today by Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington Correspondent More that a year after the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report calling for mandatory naps for medical residents, the organization responsible for implementing -- or…
by Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington Correspondent
More that a year after the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report calling for mandatory naps for medical residents, the organization responsible for implementing — or rejecting — the IOM’s controversial recommendation has yet to make a decision.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which has …
The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American College of Physicians. by Steven Weinberger, MD, FACP In December 2008 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report entitled “Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision,…
In December 2008 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report entitled “Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision, and Safety,” in which it proposed a number of changes to the current regulations developed and enforced by the …
Originally published in HCPLive.com by Jeff Brown, MD A quick look at a newspaper will tell any doc just how important physician leadership has become, and increasingly so, in having a say in our economic futures. But our titular leaders…
Originally published in HCPLive.com
by Jeff Brown, MD
A quick look at a newspaper will tell any doc just how important physician leadership has become, and increasingly so, in having a say in our economic futures. But our titular leaders are in a historically weak system complicated by being only one group of voices struggling to be heard in the rush to deal with national health care reform. There are many docs …
Early last year, my boss Talmadge King and I were at an ABIM meeting (we’re both on the board), and the group was debating a controversial topic. Another participant at the meeting, like Talmadge the chair of a prominent department…
Early last year, my boss Talmadge King and I were at an ABIM meeting (we’re both on the board), and the group was debating a controversial topic. Another participant at the meeting, like Talmadge the chair of a prominent department of medicine, said, “We polled 250 people at our grand rounds last week, and they said ‘X’.” The audience gasped – ‘X’ was a completely unexpected …
General medicine is not sexy. Less than a fourth of the doctors in the United States are currently primary care providers like Pediatricians, Ob/Gyns, and Internists. According to a recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association,…
General medicine is not sexy. Less than a fourth of the doctors in the United States are currently primary care providers like Pediatricians, Ob/Gyns, and Internists. According to a recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, only 2% of medical students intend on pursuing a career in general internal medicine. So when health-care reform becomes a reality, and the 46 million uninsured men, women, and children …
The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American College of Physicians. by Steven Weinberger, MD, FACP At times of calendar transitions, e.g., at the onset of a new year or a new decade, the…
At times of calendar transitions, e.g., at the onset of a new year or a new decade, the popular press often takes a broad view in looking retrospectively at the outstanding or defining events and people of the past …
How many physicians do you know who have chosen to leave their clinical practice? There's no doubt that physicians are getting burned out. Many are tired of fighting insurance companies and even more physicians are getting discouraged about reductions in…
How many physicians do you know who have chosen to leave their clinical practice?
There’s no doubt that physicians are getting burned out. Many are tired of fighting insurance companies and even more physicians are getting discouraged about reductions in reimbursement. This has caused some physicians to drop Medicare and Medicaid. Others have switched to cash-only or concierge/boutique practice models. Then you have your group of physicians who have simply decided …
After the LA County + USC Medical Center closed my Pain and Palliative Care Service because of budget cuts in 1995, I spoke out publicly about the dysfunctional financial reimbursement system funding charity care in LA County. For example, when…
After the LA County + USC Medical Center closed my Pain and Palliative Care Service because of budget cuts in 1995, I spoke out publicly about the dysfunctional financial reimbursement system funding charity care in LA County.
For example, when my consultation service controlled the pain and distressing symptoms of over 400 terminally ill cancer and AIDS patients per year and discharged them to home hospice programs, the hospital lost about …
Originally published in MedPage Today by Todd Neale, MedPage Today Staff Writer With the amount of research being published in medical journals and presented at meetings, it should not be surprising when a new finding slips by a busy physician.…
Originally published in MedPage Today
by Todd Neale, MedPage Today Staff Writer
With the amount of research being published in medical journals and presented at meetings, it should not be surprising when a new finding slips by a busy physician.
Nor should it be surprising, then, that some decisions about patient care might be made without benefit of the most recent evidence.
It's official. America hates fat people. Human beings are constantly searching for socially sanctioned reasons to feel superior to others and in 2009, those who are thin feel mighty superior to those who are not. How else could a college…
It’s official. America hates fat people.
Human beings are constantly searching for socially sanctioned reasons to feel superior to others and in 2009, those who are thin feel mighty superior to those who are not. How else could a college dare to make body mass index (BMI) a graduation requirement?
According to James DeBoy, the chair of Lincoln’s Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, the point of the new policy is …
Originally posted in MedPage Today by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer Medical students are frequently stuck by needles, and few report their accidents, researchers say. In a survey, about 60% of surgery residents reported being stuck with a needle…
Medical students are frequently stuck by needles, and few report their accidents, researchers say.
In a survey, about 60% of surgery residents reported being stuck with a needle while they were in medical school, Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues reported in the December issue of …
Among the many differences between the U.S. and the French health-care systems is the approach to medical training. While U.S. medical school graduates in 2008 had an average debt of $154,000, French medical students receive their training virtually for free.…
Among the many differences between the U.S. and the French health-care systems is the approach to medical training. While U.S. medical school graduates in 2008 had an average debt of $154,000, French medical students receive their training virtually for free. For example, first-year medical students at the Faculte de Medecine Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris have only one mandatory cost for this year: an enrollment fee of $264.
Originally published in MedPage Today by Nancy Walsh, MedPage Today Contributing Writer Opportunities to learn how to perform skin cancer examinations during medical training are inadequate, a survey of residents found. More than half (55.3%) of residents said that they…
Opportunities to learn how to perform skin cancer examinations during medical training are inadequate, a survey of residents found.
More than half (55.3%) of residents said that they had never observed a skin cancer examination, 75.8% said they’d never been taught to perform one, and 57.4% had never practiced doing …
by Chris Emery, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today A large number of U.S. medical schools say students have posted unprofessional material on Web sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, but few schools have adequate policies in place for dealing with…
A large number of U.S. medical schools say students have posted unprofessional material on Web sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, but few schools have adequate policies in place for dealing with such behavior, a new study found.
Of 78 U.S. medical schools that responded to a survey, 60% reported incidents of …
Here's an excerpt from a lovely little book by John D. Barrow called One Hundred Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know; Math Explains the World. This selection has a great lesson about statistical inference. The chapter is entitled,…
Here’s an excerpt from a lovely little book by John D. Barrow called One Hundred Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know; Math Explains the World. This selection has a great lesson about statistical inference. The chapter is entitled, “Why does the other queue always move faster?”
You will have noticed that when you join a queue at the airport or the post office, the other queues always seem to …
The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American College of Physicians. by Steven Weinberger, MD, FACP In his column in the June 1 issue of The New Yorker, Dr. Atul Gawande used the example…
In his column in the June 1 issue of The New Yorker, Dr. Atul Gawande used the example of McAllen, Texas, to illustrate the widely disparate spending on health care around the country. This oft cited article captured the attention of President Obama, who reportedly has made it required …
I was seeing patients during the actual speech, so I had to rely on the transcript. The points that interested me the most were any language pertaining to malpractice, addressing the AMA's recent concerns about the public plan option, and…
I was seeing patients during the actual speech, so I had to rely on the transcript.
The points that interested me the most were any language pertaining to malpractice, addressing the AMA’s recent concerns about the public plan option, and reforming the physician payment system.
I think he did pretty well.
Regarding the physician payment system, he again addressed McAllen, Texas, which is fast becoming the symbol of what’s wrong with American …
Abraham Verghese will be answering your questions at my next live Q&A.Dr. Verghese, a Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, is one of the most accomplished and admired physician educators today.…
Abraham Verghese will be answering your questions at my next live Q&A.
Dr. Verghese, a Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, is one of the most accomplished and admired physician educators today. His pieces have appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and one of his recent articles, entitled Culture Shock, …
The New England Journal of Medicine‘s March 11 issue included an interesting “Clinical Decisions” article. Looking at a hypothetical case of an endocrinologist with time-unlimited board certification, the editors posed the question of whether he should voluntarily …
