More bureaucratic idiocy pervading hospitals today.
October 2007
All Stories
The pharynx
Dr. Rob's excellent physical exam series continues.
SWOTing medicine
And the analysis doesn't look good.
An MRSA primer
With MRSA being in the news lately, here's a nice back-to-basics guide.
Update:
Here's a case of the infection up-close. (via Graham)
Dr. RW on the media hype surrounding MRSA.
The FDA’s war on cold medicines
Don't they have bigger fish to fry?
Hospital beds and MGH
Once you're admitted, the fight for a hospital bed only begins. This often leads to hours of waiting in an ER bay. The Boston Globe went behind the scenes at Massachusetts General Hospital to find out why.
The annual physical
More press on whether it's really needed. There is no data that backs up its efficacy, but a visit simply to focus on preventive tests is certainly helpful.
Squeezing in routine screenings during acute visits, or visits for other reasons, is not realistic.
Head lice
Mmmm . . . nits. With picture goodness.
Hand dystonia
A plastic surgeon gives a lesson in neurology.
Sid Schwab, coming through in the clutch
Using his surgical skills to fix a cake, averting certain disaster.
Calling out the quacks
Ads for quackery are starting to use some scientific-sounding terms. To help tame the spread of this misinformation, all it takes is a simple phone call. (via Schwitzer)
Quality measures
Are they dumbing down clinical medicine?
. . . one hazard of adopting core measures is that the achievement of minimum standards trumps the pursuit of excellence.
ER follow-up
I certainly get my share in the clinic. #1 Dinosaur stresses the importance of this concept.
Bill Gates and the real, physician world
Microsoft's Bill Gates recently prescribes more technology as a cure to our ailing health system. Others have parroted his sentiments.
It all goes to show how little they know about what really goes behind the scenes in medicine. When non-physicians try to fix health care, their efforts are doomed from the start.
Tough, sad day
A young boy from his burns. Chris Coppola continues his must-read blogging from Iraq.
Burst appendix, single-payer style
Time from diagnosis of appendicitis to surgery: almost 1 1/2 days. Health care horror in Canada.
People want free health care
Newsflash: The majority believe health care is a right, and that someone else should pay for it.
Heart surgeon retires at age 102
I wonder when he actually stopped operating. (via Dr. Wes)
The politician most in need of plastic surgery?
Anthony Youn humbly suggests Senator Check Hagel.
Drug reps on the Exubera disaster
Always an entertaining read over at Cafepharma. (via John Mack)
Kevin Pho, MD
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Warren Buffett’s prostate cancer choices aren’t right for every man
A version of this column was published on April 24, 2012 in USA Today. There has been a recent uptick of elderly men...
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Many medical decisions require shared decision making
The following column was published on April 1, 2012 in USA Today. I recently saw a middle-age man in my primary care clinic...
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Patients deserve a medical malpractice early offer
The following column was published on March 25, 2012 in the Nashua Telegraph. Medical malpractice historically has been a contentious issue. Doctors...
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Discussing whether tests actually help patients or cause more harm
The following column was published on April 11, 2012 in CNN. When you visit the doctor, chances are you are given a...
Physician
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How we deliver bad news is critical to how families deal with grief
As a cardiac electrophysiologist, I have had to discuss bad news with patients and families more times than I would like during...
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His father’s suffering had already been too great
He looked dead. The paramedics brought him down the hall toward one of my critical care beds, and for a moment I...
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Diversity provides color to the tapestry of human experience
I was recently appointed the Assistant Director of the Yale Cancer Center with the portfolio of Diversity/Disparities. While I’m not sure I’m...
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Necessary is a word best defined when looking back in time
How do you define a “good” doc? I was reading the patient responses to an article here on KevinMD.com and was saddened...
Patient
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How death can be a beautiful experience
I was honored to be part of a beautiful experience in late January of 2011. It was the death of my mother-in-law...
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What meaningful encouragement can be given to someone who is dying?
Theirs is a lonely journey; to be moving towards the separation and end of all things known and loved. Being with a...
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Health care journalists have tendencies similar to those of doctors
As a patient who was asked to speak at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2012 conference, I felt a bit covert....
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Adaptation can be painful, but it can also be a gift
Nothing will force you to live life on your own terms faster than almost losing it. In 2008, I was on fire....
Policy
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Hospitals around the world aim to remain relevant to patients
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." So begins a story called A Tale of Two...
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Repairing the tear in health care’s safety net with social media
The nation’s “safety net” hospitals are designed to ensure that uninsured, lower income and indigent populations receive adequate medical care – a...
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Look to technology to reduce health costs
Technology to lower costs rather than accelerate them. Smart phones to increase physician and other providers’ productivity. Fewer primary care physicians but...
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How to save a trillion dollars in health care
It is both conventional wisdom and factual truth that, unimpeded, American healthcare cost inflation will bankrupt the United States economically, educationally, socially,...
Tech
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Doctors, use Google to get more patients in less than 7 minutes
Every month, hundreds of thousands of people look for a doctor on Google. As an amazing practitioner, your site deserves to be...
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The user interface for EHRs should be uniform
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the physician’s office were the tall cabinets filled with manila folders, tabbed with...
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EMR liability needs to go further than just the physician
This example of a disaster waiting to happen, in the form of an error-promoting CPOE, is a poster example of why the...
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AMA: Changes are needed in the stage 2 meaningful use EHR proposal
A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Continuing our efforts to move medicine forward while prioritizing patient care and minimizing...
Social Media
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We need to see the potential harm of social media
Prior to 1794, farms across the world could only pick cotton as fast as humanly possible. In the late 18th century, Eli Whitney...
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Why social media may not be worth it for doctors
Social media in healthcare is all the rage these days. You can’t visit even one physician-oriented website without someone breathlessly advising you...
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Transparency defines social media success for doctors
Want to understand social media? Physicians wanting to learn about social media must learn transparency. We must learn transparency on a personal...
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How Twitter was used in a potential mass casualty scenario
It was my first ER shift in charge of the resuscitation area. Needless to say, my adrenaline and nerves were firing like...
