Patients and caregivers writing on KevinMD about illness and the health care system from the other side of the exam table: navigating care, the doctor-patient relationship, being heard, cost, and what patients want physicians to understand. Physicians who have become patients write here too. For the record of what pain patients and physicians have said to each other about opioids since 2007, with patient authors cited at the same weight as physicians, see Opioids: what physicians and pain patients say, in their own words. For what patients pay and who is left out when physicians leave insurance, see Direct primary care: what physicians say, in their own words. For what patients, families, and physicians have said about dying, hospice, and the decisions families face, see End of life: what physicians say, in their own words. For what physicians and family caregivers have said about growing old, dementia, nursing homes, and caring for aging parents, see Aging and dementia: what physicians say, in their own words.
I have been genuinely blessed by my career in medicine.
When I started medical school, I was living through a very rocky time, dealing with severe, at times suicidal depression. I was working through an outpatient alcohol and drug rehabilitation program, and I was about 40 pounds overweight. I had grown up with a very negative and fatalistic attitude toward life which resulted in chronic misery and a number of personal …
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A community of healthy seniors inspires this physician
by Brian Loew
Travelers with medical conditions hope that the TSA pat-down incidents involving bladder cancer survivor Thomas “Tom” Sawyer, at Detroit Metro Airport, and to breast cancer survivor Cathy Bossi, at Dulles Airport, are isolated incidents. But these reports are already creating a chilling effect on air travel for people with medical conditions and disabilities.
This group of travelers could benefit the most from holiday …
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Travelers with medical conditions fear increased TSA security procedures
by Dennis Grace
For years, if you asked for a recommendation for a physician, the answer included some mention of bedside manner.
I mean, we’re human beings first and patients second, so we think it’s great that she’s a brilliant doctor, but is she pleasant? Is she respectful and patient? Nobody wants to work with a know-it-all, especially one who gets to hear about our bowel movements …
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Bedside manner may need to include cost of care discussions
For five years I worked at GlassHospital’s Student Care Center.
I don’t get no respect, neither.
One of the great things about GlassHospital is that it sits on the campus of a well-known and fairly well-respected former Big Ten university.
Like all colleges and universities, our place acts in loco parentis to the students that grace its campus. This means responsibility for our students’ health and well-being.
I loved working at the Student Care …
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Working at the student care center in college
Viral upper respiratory illnesses, or common colds, are by far the most frequent illness I see in my office.
It is called the common cold because it is, well, common. I typically can make the diagnosis with a high degree of certainty based on the pattern and the timing of the symptoms. Deciphering cold symptoms and knowing when to worry is what a pediatrician does more often than anything else, and …
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Colds teach the immune system how to fight future viruses
by Stephen R. Blumberg, PhD
If you are like many Americans, you are planning or getting ready to take a summer vacation. Sounds very exciting. Aruba. A cross-country jaunt. Or a short trip overnight to the coast!
What is exciting for the panic-free community can be agony for a panic sufferer. Why?
The core fear is being trapped far from safety
Whether it is traveling on a cruise ship, airplane, highway driving, …
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Travel tips for a panic free vacation
No shows. It seems that no matter what we do, we always have them.
Despite the fact that we call every single person on the schedule to remind them of their appointment the day before (the staff personally makes the call. We don’t use an automated system) we found that in 2009, we had 389 no-shows.
Slicing the data
Is 389 a high number of no-shows? I guess it depends on the size …
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Should patients be charged for no shows?
Health care is changing at lighting speed. If you don’t know this, or worse, don’t accept it you’re doomed. No. Really. It’s change or close shop. Whether you like it or not, health care reform is going to change the way we practice from now on.
Many physicians are choosing to work for large group practices to buffer themselves from directly dealing with change. Mental health providers could do the same, …
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How small private practices can still thrive
by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team
For three years running now, many of us bloggers have participated in what we’ve called a “blog rally” to promote Engage With Grace – a movement aimed at making sure all of us understand, communicate, and have honored our end-of-life wishes.
The rally is timed to coincide with a weekend when most of us are with the very people with whom we should …
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Talk with your family about their end of life wishes
There are some lessons we learn and keep re-learning in medicine. For me some of these recurring lessons are,
- Listen to your “gut.”
- Pay attention to the clues.
- Listen to your team.
- Don’t be afraid to call for help.
and
- Stick to your guns when advocating for your patient.
I encountered a young patient recently, just at the cusp of adolescence and adulthood, who had undergone a procedure related to a sports injury. Other people had been …
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Never forget to advocate for your patient
It was kind of amazing how little coverage the recent report on healthcare in our prison systems got. Heck, you may be thinking, I don’t think that’s amazing – why waste airtime on that topic – why should I fret and worry about the healthcare that prisoners get when my child is burning up with fever and coughing up a lung and I can’t even afford to take her to …
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Why you should care about prison healthcare
The following op-ed was published on October 27th, 2010 in USA Today.
When I ask new patients how they found me, frequently they say on the Internet through search engines such as Google.
Out of curiosity, I recently Googled myself. Numerous ads appeared, promising readers a “detailed background report” or a “profile” of me. Among the search results was information about my practice, whether I was board certified, had any lawsuits against …
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Do online physician rating sites help patients to choose a good doctor?
It has been said that depression is the epidemic of the 21st century. Certainly the rates of diagnosis have increased over the last 10-15 years. Some claim that this is due to better recognition of the issue and that actual rates are unchanged. Others feel that we are collectively more depressed than in years gone by.
The number of Americans prescribed an antidepressant doubled between 1996 and 2005 and those being …
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Depression and whether a behavioral problem is mental illness
The Disease Management Care Blog received this posting from an experienced nurse with a background in clinical and administrative medicine.
We’ve all seen them. Those vacuous workplace posters exhorting teamwork, creativity and other forms of inspiration and accomplishment. A version has begun to creep into our nation’s health care facilities. reminding everyone of the need for privacy, how infections can be spread and the importance of patient service. And if my …
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Do posters in the hospital really help patients?
One commonly heard propositions to combat the obesity epidemic is to tax soft drinks. No doubt, sugary soft drinks are a common and important source of “empty” calories, but will taxing soft drinks really reduce obesity rates?
This assumption was now examined by Yale University’s Jason Fletcher and colleagues, in a paper just published in Contemporary Economic Policy.
The researchers collected information on taxation of soft drinks with respect to specific excise …
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Taxing soft drinks to combat obesity
Mr. B, the patient who first stirred my interest in family medicine, was a spry former World War Two fighter pilot who came to the ER complaining of an irregular heart beat. I remember him regaling me with stories about the Battle of Britain while his wife dutifully stood by his side in the chaos of the crowded emergency room at a private hospital affiliated with my medical school.
It was …
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Caregiving requires that caregivers need practical and emotional support
To celebrate your 50th birthday you head to your doctor’s office to get your yearly exam. He rewards you for your diligence by poking and prodding you, sticking you with needles, and arranging for a colonoscopy (happy birthday!). He also sends you for a stress test out of concern about your strong family history of premature heart disease.
A slightly abnormal treadmill test leads to …
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Never hesitate to seek a second medical opinion
A malpractice lawsuit claims that a doctor treated a patient negligently and that this treatment caused harm, and it seeks monetary compensation. Negligence means that a physician failed to provide the standard of care expected by the prevailing medical custom. Juries decide cases that are tried, but most cases are settled or dropped. Lawyers get paid (typically 35 percent) only when they win or settle a case.
A successful malpractice system …
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Our malpractice system needs to focus on patient safety
The holidays are a great opportunity to ask family members about their health history.
Learning about your family’s health history can help you answer your doctor’s medical history questions. It can even help your doctor determine if you may be at risk for an inherited cancer like breast, colorectal, ovarian, prostate or endometrial cancer, which sometimes run in the family.
Keep in mind that just a small portion of cancers – about 5 …
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How to create your medical family tree
