Surgery and surgeons

1,974 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 65

Surgeons don’t receive enough training when resident work-hours are capped

November 13, 2009Nov 13, 20097

by Crystal Phend, MedPage Today Senior Staff Writer Limiting surgical residents' work hours has compromised both surgical education and patient safety, according to an analysis concluding that an 80-hour work week isn't enough. The maximum 80-work week imposed in the…

by Crystal Phend, MedPage Today Senior Staff Writer

Limiting surgical residents’ work hours has compromised both surgical education and patient safety, according to an analysis concluding that an 80-hour work week isn’t enough.

The maximum 80-work week imposed in the U.S. for residents is too little to provide mastery in surgery, Gretchen Purcell Jackson, MD, PhD, and John L. Tarpley, MD, …

Conditions and diseases

Will video cameras in the OR decrease the rate of wrong-site surgery?

MedPage Today

November 12, 2009Nov 12, 20096

by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer Rhode Island Hospital, located in Providence, will pay $150,000 and install video cameras in all of its operating rooms after performing its fifth wrong-site surgery since 2007, according to the state's Department of…

by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer

Rhode Island Hospital, located in Providence, will pay $150,000 and install video cameras in all of its operating rooms after performing its fifth wrong-site surgery since 2007, according to the state’s Department of Health.

The hospital will also have to open its ORs to an inspector who will observe surgical procedures and protocols for at …

Conditions and diseases

Does robotic surgery for prostate cancer help patients?

MedPage Today

October 19, 2009Oct 19, 20092

Originally published in MedPage Today by Peggy Peck, MedPage Today Executive Editor Men who opt for minimally invasive prostate surgery -- often with a helping hand from a robot -- are twice as likely to have genitourinary complications as men…

Originally published in MedPage Today

by Peggy Peck, MedPage Today Executive Editor

Men who opt for minimally invasive prostate surgery — often with a helping hand from a robot — are twice as likely to have genitourinary complications as men who have a traditional prostatectomy.

That finding is especially troubling because the use of robotic-assisted minimally invasive prostatectomy has increased exponentially in …

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Health policy

Is incident reporting effective in reducing medical errors and increasing patient safety?

Robert Wachter, MD

October 6, 2009Oct 6, 20098

When the patient safety field began a decade ago with the publication of the IOM report on medical errors, one of its first thrusts was to import lessons from “safer” industries, particularly aviation. Most of these lessons – a focus on bad systems more than bad people, the importance of teamwork, the use of checklists, the value of simulation training – have served us well.

But one lesson from …

Conditions and diseases

Is medical technology making doctors less relevant?

Edwin Leap, MD

September 23, 2009Sep 23, 200913

It happens over and over. I call a surgeon about a patient with abdominal pain. ‘Well, what’s the white count?’ ‘Normal.’ ‘Did you get a CT Scan?’ ‘Yes, and it was normal. But they just look uncomfortable.’ ‘Sounds like nothing…

It happens over and over. I call a surgeon about a patient with abdominal pain.

‘Well, what’s the white count?’

‘Normal.’

‘Did you get a CT Scan?’

‘Yes, and it was normal. But they just look uncomfortable.’

‘Sounds like nothing for me to do. Call the hospitalist.’

It happens in other specialties. Cardiologists who aren’t interested in a patient with a normal stress test, pediatricians unimpressed with negative chest x-rays and normal labs. ENT’s unconcerned if …

Conditions and diseases

How to protect yourself from abdominal aortic aneurysms

Mark Adelman, MD

September 22, 2009Sep 22, 20092

by Mark Adelman, MD While diseases like prostate cancer and heart disease have become household concerns, abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), the 10th leading cause of death in men age 55 and older, have been overshadowed by more prominent diseases for…

by Mark Adelman, MD

While diseases like prostate cancer and heart disease have become household concerns, abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), the 10th leading cause of death in men age 55 and older, have been overshadowed by more prominent diseases for far too long. It’s time we pull back the curtain and take a closer look at this serious disease and how it can be both detected and prevented.

An AAA, which …

Physician voices

How hospitals should deal with disruptive physician behavior

Mark N. Simon, MD

September 20, 2009Sep 20, 200912

What can hospital medical staff leaders learn from University of Oregon football coach Chip Kelly? In the morning of September 4th, Kelly had an opportunity to review video tape from the conclusion of his team’s game with Boise State University the night before. What he saw was his senior running back LeGarrette Blount punch an opponent and then lose his cool with the fans in attendance. He …

Physician voices

A patient dies after doctors fail to communicate in the operating room

Jerry I. Meyers, Esq

September 10, 2009Sep 10, 200931

by Jerry I. Meyers, Esq. Communication is essential between health care providers but sometimes communication fails because of the arrogance or carelessness of the persons involved in the needed medical communication. Several years ago, a female client about to enjoy…

by Jerry I. Meyers, Esq.

Communication is essential between health care providers but sometimes communication fails because of the arrogance or carelessness of the persons involved in the needed medical communication.

Several years ago, a female client about to enjoy an important anniversary was admitted to a University affiliated hospital for the purpose of having a colostomy wound debrided.

This was to be a one-day inpatient hospital procedure and was associated with little …

Medical education

Do resident work-hour restrictions increase surgical complications?

MedPage Today

September 8, 2009Sep 8, 200911

by Chris Emery, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today Reductions in resident physician work-hours at teaching hospitals in 2003 were associated with an increase in complications related to surgery to repair hip fractures, a new study found. The rates of pneumonia, hematoma,…

by Chris Emery, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today

Reductions in resident physician work-hours at teaching hospitals in 2003 were associated with an increase in complications related to surgery to repair hip fractures, a new study found.

The rates of pneumonia, hematoma, renal complications, and blood transfusions associated with hip surgery rose disproportionally at teaching hospitals compared to other hospitals after resident …

Health policy

What can health reform in the United States learn from Africa?

Dr. Martin Young

September 2, 2009Sep 2, 20096

As an outside observer of the American health reform debate, I cannot help but notice the disparity of views, the fractured arguments, the protectionism and desperation. My country is in a similar struggle for health care reform, with the main difference being America is a rich nation, and we are poor by comparison. In both debates, however, I have looked for the humanitarian argument, and in many cases found it …

Conditions and diseases

Steve Jobs received a new liver, and the ethics surrounding his transplant

Kevin

June 22, 2009Jun 22, 200913

Orac, a general surgeon who blogs at Respectful Insolence, writes the most comprehensive entry I've seen thus far on Apple's Steve Jobs' liver transplant. For those interested in the medicine behind the transplant, go and read his post in its…

Orac, a general surgeon who blogs at Respectful Insolence, writes the most comprehensive entry I’ve seen thus far on Apple’s Steve Jobs’ liver transplant.

For those interested in the medicine behind the transplant, go and read his post in its entirety. I’d like to highlight some of the potentially questionable ethics surrounding the case.

For one, there is the question why Mr. …

Conditions and diseases

Op-ed: Not all screening tests lead to early, better treatment

Kevin Pho, MD

April 23, 2009Apr 23, 20094

The following op-ed was published on April 23rd, 2009 in the USA Today. As a primary care doctor, it's heartening to hear President Obama call for "the largest investment ever in preventive care." That means more people, for one, will…

The following op-ed was published on April 23rd, 2009 in the USA Today.

As a primary care doctor, it’s heartening to hear President Obama call for “the largest investment ever in preventive care.” That means more people, for one, will be undergoing tests to screen for various forms of cancer. But this might be one of those cases where what sounds like common sense is actually more …

Physician voices

Is Natasha Richardson brain dead? Was an epidural bleed, or “talk and die” syndrome, to blame after her ski accident?

Kevin Pho, MD

March 18, 2009Mar 18, 20096

Tragic news this morning regarding actress Natasha Richardson, who reportedly, suffered a head injury during a ski lesson in Canada.According to reports, she fell on a beginner's ski hill, and did not hit anyone or anything during the fall. There…

Tragic news this morning regarding actress Natasha Richardson, who reportedly, suffered a head injury during a ski lesson in Canada.

According to reports, she fell on a beginner’s ski hill, and did not hit anyone or anything during the fall. There was no obvious sign of injury, and in fact, she was “was walking around and feeling fine for an hour after her accident.”

Things then …

Health policy

Op-ed: Wasted medical dollars

Kevin Pho, MD

September 28, 2008Sep 28, 200811

The following op-ed was published on April 23rd, 2008 in the USA Today. A recent analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that more than half the dollars in our $2.2 trillion health care system are wasted. Medical errors, inefficient use of information…

The following op-ed was published on April 23rd, 2008 in the USA Today.

A recent analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that more than half the dollars in our $2.2 trillion health care system are wasted.

Medical errors, inefficient use of information technology and poorly managed chronic diseases were all cited as factors. Dwarfing these reasons is a phenomenon in which doctors order tests to avoid the threat of a …

Read more…

Op-ed: Wasted medical dollars

Physician voices

Doctors are not gods: a surgeon on empathy with patients

Sid Schwab, MD

June 15, 2008Jun 15, 20088

There's an old joke about a guy waiting in line at the Pearly Gates, slowly working his way forward to sign in with St. Peter. Wearing a white coat, carrying a black bag and with a stethoscope slung around his…

There’s an old joke about a guy waiting in line at the Pearly Gates, slowly working his way forward to sign in with St. Peter. Wearing a white coat, carrying a black bag and with a stethoscope slung around his neck, a man walks past those in line and is waved right into Heaven. “Hey, what’s up with that?” asks the guy in line. “How come that person gets to …

Surgery and surgeons

Articles, page 65

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