Originally published in MedPage Todayby Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American CorrespondentThe strain of caring for a disabled spouse is associated with an increased risk of stroke, researchers found.
The risk is increased for men, and especially African-American men, according to William Haley, PhD, of the University of South Florida, in Tampa, and colleagues.On the other hand, there was no significant ...
January 2010
All Stories
Can we grow organs instead of transplanting them?
Anthony Atala's lecture at TEDMED 2009, discussing how his state-of-the-art lab grows human organs - from muscles to blood vessels to bladders.Amazing.classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="430" height="295" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0">
Should society consider purchasing and selling tissues and organs?
by Michael Kirsch, MDChoose the best answer.To stimulate organ donation, we should provide organ donors with:* Cold, hard cash * Upgrades to business class on any flight within the continental United States for 1 year * College tuition discounts for up to 3 children * Income tax relief * First row Bruce Springsteen concert tickets * A certificate of appreciationThere is a reason that we don’t ask families of kidnapped victims what our policy should ...
How many Americans received the H1N1 vaccine?
Originally published in MedPage Todayby Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American CorrespondentAs 2009 ended, an estimated 55 million Americans had been infected with the H1N1 pandemic flu and roughly one in five Americans had been vaccinated against the disease, the CDC said. The immunization data works out to about 61 million people, the agency said in an early release issue ...
5 reasons why Apple’s iPad will have trouble in health care
Originally published in HCPLive.comby Colin CrawfordThe Steve Jobs iPad Tablet media show held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco was always going to have a hard time living up to the ridiculous pre-launch hype that's been circulating around the Web.
Steve's presentation was more moderate than at previous product launches as he tried to manage expectations ...
How can doctors stop drugs prescribed by other physicians that are no longer effective?
Here are two vignettes illustrating the failure of doctors to master the obvious and maybe a window onto the future struggles to control medical costs.A 90-year old is referred for care due to "end stage dementia." End-stage dementia is medical speak and as such does not really convey the appropriate imagery. It means a skeletal man, in a wheelchair or mostly in bed, with diapers, who has does not know ...
How can doctors make America a better place to live?
What can physicians do to make American a better place to live, die, afford, and receive care? What can we do to bring about practical reform? What can we contribute?These may seem odd questions, After all, we deliver care. Care goes through us. But Medicare, Medicaid, and private third parties are big players. They dictate terms of engagement and payment. But the answers lie at the core of the physicians’ ...
Risks, benefits and efficacy of bariatric surgery
Originally published in InsidermedicineA new model that takes into account the risks of surgery, the risks of obesity, and the efficacy of bariatric surgery helps clarify which patients are likely to live longer as a result of this intervention. The research is published in the January issue of the Archives of Surgery.id="play_continuous_flvs" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="385" height="239" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0">
Will New York’s ban on salt really make patients healthier?
Originally posted in MedPage Todayby Mike HimowitzI have a libertarian streak that compels me to shout “Nanny State!” when local governments put up speed-trap cameras to extort money from otherwise law-abiding citizens who drive a few miles over artificially low limits. Same for legislators who want to make me a criminal for calling my wife on my cell phone to ask her if I should pick up anything at ...
Why are doctors so reluctant to discuss end of life care?
A recent study suggests that doctors may put off holding end of life care discussions that involve subjects like advance directives, hospice or site of death.Recommendations suggest that physicians hold these conversations when patients have about a year to live, but the data shows those guidelines aren't being followed.Why?According to the study's authors, they suggest that doctors "may not be comfortable discussing it,” and, “these conversations are time-consuming and ...
Health care reform requires listening to doctors and patients; my New York Times take
Did President Obama say enough in last night's State of the Union address to improve the perilous state of health care reform?
I discuss what needs to be done to help reform's prospects in a piece from the New York Times' Room for Debate blog:
A recent Gallup poll noted that 73 percent of patients trusted their doctor’s opinion on health ...
Nobody will be held accountable if healthcare reform fails
I must admit I’m a little weary of the entire debate on health-care reform. But something still haunts me. And that something is accountability. Of course, over the almost twenty years that I have borne the title ‘MD,’ I’ve learned a few things about accountability.I understand that, almost without fail, the buck stops with me. The nursing home director knows the elderly lady wasn’t seriously hurt in that fall, but ...
Why antibiotic dosing should be tailored to patients’ physical characteristics
Originally published in InsidermedicineThe dosing of antimicrobial agents should be tailored to patients' physical characteristics in order to achieve maximal effectiveness and safety, according to a Viewpoint argument made in the The Lancet.id="play_continuous_flvs" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="385" height="239" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0">
Apple’s iPad health impact for doctors and hospitals
Apple just yesterday introduced the iPad, essentially an iPhone on steroids that bridges the gap between smartphones and small computers.
Will this be the platform that accelerates eHealthcare on the provider side (hospitals, doctors, medical education, etc.)?I say yes. Here’s why:First of all, the pace at which doctors are using smartphones as part of their practice (and especially iPhone/iPod Touch) ...
Why health IT won’t help with medical risk management
by Satish Misra and Iltifat HusainThe march is on across the American healthcare landscape to implement electronic health records that also function as decision-support systems.These “advanced” electronic health records will both provide centralized records and assist providers in making care decisions such as implementing therapy and utilizing evidence-based practice on the individual patient level. And anyone that has had the opportunity to work with some of the systems out ...
The difference between regret and apologies in health care
I've written recently that "I'm sorry" are the hardest words for doctors to say.Good piece in The New York Times, observing that the health care industry, in general, has a hard time apologizing. In many cases, hospitals and drug companies simply state they "regret" the situation.Is there a difference? Of course there is: "The difference between apologizing and simply offering a 'regret' may seem semantic. Yet ...
How to make your medical grand rounds thrive
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 ...
How to stop theft from your medical practice
Originally published in HCPLive.comby Ed RabinowitzThere’s a great scene in the movie The Big Chill where the main characters are having a discussion on the topic of rationalizations. One individual comments that he doesn’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. That may be true. But when a rationalization involves taking things from the office or workplace, and that office just happens ...
How President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech will impact healthcare reform
Originally published in MedPage Todayby Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington CorrespondentPresident Barack Obama's State of the Union speech Wednesday night will likely focus on job creation and the economy and not -- as many Democrats once hoped -- on congratulations for the passage of healthcare reform. In the week following the election of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. ...
Doctors who are not on Facebook, Twitter and blogs risk becoming irrelevant; my USA Today op-ed
My latest USA Today op-ed was published this morning: Doctors ignore Internet at their own peril.
I discuss how social media, like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, have the potential to improve patient-physician communication:
Social media websites that encourage reader interaction are playing an increasingly ...
Kevin Pho, MD
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Why Priscilla Chan may become the country’s most influential doctor
Who has the potential to be the most influential physician of our generation? It's Priscilla Chan, who not only recently graduated from...
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Confused about prostate cancer screening? Make a shared decision
In a widely anticipated move, the USPSTF officially recommended against prostate cancer screening in healthy men. Case closed, right? Hardly. The prostate...
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When it comes to doctors and social media, hospitals fail miserably
When it comes to medicine and social media, much of the attention is negative. Doctors losing their hospital privileges because of Facebook....
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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...
Physician
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Why test recalls should not be considered cheating
I was appalled recently by the coverage of radiology “test recalls” by CNN, amplified by Dr. Gary Becker of the American Board...
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Why physicians are susceptible to hardball tactics
I was invited to a medical staff leadership conference sponsored by our hospital. A company specializing in training physician leaders ran the...
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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...
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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What should America’s health care vision be?
America has this paradox of excellent biomedical science, innovative drug manufacturers and entrepreneurial device developers along with outstanding providers but at the...
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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...
Tech
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When patient care becomes secondary to filling out the medical record
The policeman was two cars in front of me. I meandered down the road cautiously adjusting my speed a few ticks above...
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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...
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...
