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.
Fiduciary responsibility is the obligation for people entrusted with financial affairs to act in their client’s best interest, theoretically being both transparent in their dealings and accountable for them. Typically, this applies to CPAs, lawyers, financial advisers and the like. Would that it were also true for our legislators, but that’s a story for another day. To the point, physicians do not usually think …
by Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American Correspondent
It’s 1984. A 20-year-old homosexual man walks into the clinic complaining of swollen glands.
It could well be a death sentence.
It is only three years since the first handful of cases of what would come to be known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) were described. Little is known about …
by Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American Correspondent
Brazilian researchers have found three distinct patterns of lung damage in patients who died of the H1N1 pandemic flu.
They also found evidence of a so-called “cytokine storm,” a runaway immune response associated with the lung damage, according to Thais Mauad, MD, PhD, of Sao Paulo University Medical School, …
Hormonal contraceptives have a variety of noncontraceptive uses, ranging from common problems such as dysmenorrhea to severe conditions such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder, according to a new practice bulletin from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
“Combined hormonal contraceptives can correct menstrual irregularities resulting from oligo-ovulation or anovulation and …
When a team misses out on an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl, World Series, Final Four, or something similarly trivial, these words may be appropriate. When the person, who has been the center of your life dies, what is more insensitive than, We’re sorry for your loss?
What kind of language is that to use when providing some of the worst news we could imagine? True, we …
by Crystal Phend, MedPage Today Senior Staff Writer
Many women at elevated breast cancer risk may refuse MRI as part of their screening program, largely because of fear and inconvenience, researchers found.
Among eligible women with dense breasts who were at intermediate to high risk for breast cancer, 42.1% refused additional MRI screening as part of a …
Receiving a cancer diagnosis is an upsetting experience for the patient, as well as his or her family and friends. Cancer patients are thrust into a new world with new language and new rules. Knowing where to turn and who you can trust is a huge concern.
One of the first things a cancer patient will discover is that he or she will not be treated by only one …
Medical teams should take a lesson from airplane crews, a new study concludes.
Medical personnel who used procedural checklists modeled after preflight checklists used by airplane crews were more likely to report safety-related incidents and feel empowered to address safety issues, according to an online report in the Dec. 21 …
Lawrence Jones started smoking Kool Menthols when he was playing Rhythm and Blues in the ‘70s, as a way of fitting in with his bandmates and the in crowd at the clubs where he played.
The band broke up after a few years, but the cigarettes remained. Instead of being a way to look sophisticated, smoking became a means for Jones to relax and, he says, to feel he was “in …
The rapid advance in digital video and still camera technology has found its way into the operating room.
There is the potential to capture and record just about every minute of every surgical procedure in some way. The newest endoscopic camera systems and operating microscopes have integrated systems to record video footage. Storing all that data is just the press of a button away.
The advantages for surgeons are obvious, like the …
It’s beginning to look like health care consumers are going to have to take lowering health care into their own hands since no answers are coming down from above.
Here are ten tips for lowering your costs.
One, encourage your employer to offer a health savings account with a high deductible. Encourage the employer to pay half the deductible. Your premiums will be much lower, and your employer will save up to …
by Katrina Woznicki, MedPage Today Contributing Writer
Hospitalized patients were often clueless when asked about their medications, with almost all of them unable to name all their medications and many leaving out as many as a half-dozen drugs they have been prescribed, according to a small survey of patients in a Colorado hospital.
A medical malpractice case was recently filed against me.
I received the thick envelope from noble and altruistic Cleveland barristers about 6 weeks ago. Once again, I saw my name in the good company of many other physicians and our local hospital. I reviewed my medical records and felt comfortable with the care I had provided. In a medical malpractice case, quality of medical care is important, …
“Angelina Gomez,” the medical assistant hollers out to the crowded waiting room. As always, I cringe when I hear this. It sounds so harsh, so cattle-like. I know that the assistant is actually a gentle and caring person, and I understand that he uses a loud voice so that he can be heard over the general din of a large waiting room.
Nevertheless it feels horrible to me, so demeaning, like …
Pump up the volume. That’s what physician practices would like to do, and it has nothing to do with louder music. An increase in patient volume is the goal of virtually every practice. Even though the economy is struggling, there are still things physicians can do to increase the foot traffic passing through the practice’s corridors. And according to Drew Stevens, PhD, a practice management …
Asthmatic smokers who quit the habit can reverse lung damage that exacerbates their breathing difficulties, regardless of how long and how often they smoked in the past, a Dutch study found.
The lungs of asthmatics who stopped smoking were in similar condition to those of asthmatics who never smoked, based …
I have always been very intrigued by the various forms of radiation therapy and used to relish the day that I would take my basic oncology class to the radiation oncology department for a tour. I learned something every time. But now, with the advent of new technology and the trend for facilities to advertise that they have the biggest and best …
There has been a great deal of commentary profiling medical applications that are useful for healthcare providers. However, there hasn’t been much talk about how mobile medical applications can enhance the doctor-patient experience and in turn help optimize your practice’s overall experience. In future posts, we’ll focus more on applications for medical providers, but this post will discuss applications centered around the physician-patient relationship.
As the first decade of the 21st century comes to an end, it is interesting to look back and reflect on the most significant medical advances we’ve seen. I’d like to present 12 medical advances that I consider to have been the most important over the past decade, and I’d like to ask you, the wider world, to contribute in two ways:
– Add your nomination in the comment field regarding …
Most primary care physicians don’t see enough Medicare patients to determine statistically significant differences in cost and performance between practices, researchers found.
In fact, nearly two-thirds (65.7%) of primary care doctors worked in practices that saw too few Medicare patients to provide reliable comparisons with national benchmarks for cost and …
