Once a provider realizes the increasing importance of building and managing their online reputation, they need some practical tools and steps. Bear in mind, I am writing this, not for the small percentage of physicians already active with social media, but rather for those of you giving it consideration and looking for some practical advice.Common techniques for managing one’s online reputation include:1. Creation of new content - involvement in social ...
December 2010
All Stories
An ice cream label as a health literacy tool
When is an ice cream label a health literacy tool?When Dr. Barry Weiss decided to use an ice cream label as a tool to asses whether we (patients) are able to understand medical instructions. Funded by Pfizer-backed Clear Health Communication initiative, Weiss’s research resulted in the creation of “The Newest Vital Sign.”A health literacy assessment tool, with findings published in the Annals of Family Medicine.However, the document, Why does ...
The cost of keeping the terminally ill alive
Last year, Medicare paid $55 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives.And it has been estimated that 20 to 30 percent of these medical expenses may have had no meaningful impact. Most of the bills are paid for by the federal government with few or no questions asked. This statistic is from a 60 Minutes story on “The Cost of ...
A physician story of addiction and recovery
by an anonymous physicianI am a physician now in recovery.I don't like that term. The correct thing to say is, I am sober. I am going on a year sober without any problems. Recovery suggests some disease state and I don't think it is that simple. It also suggests an ongoing daily struggle or effort to remain sober, and I don't find that the case, either. I know this ...
How to intubate: Teaching a medical student during anesthesia residency
The first time I let a medical student try to intubate was in August. Now in my final year of anesthesia residency, I had volunteered to mentor a third-year medical student for a week. A few weeks in advance I got an email with the form she had filled out. Anesthesia experience: none. Excited to learn: yes.I met her on Monday morning after she navigated through the preoperative holding area ...
What the perfect EMR would look like
EMR software is a data repository for clinicians. Rather than being just a simple database, what would the ideal software package look like? What exactly is the perfect electronic medical record?Every clinician that interacts with the medical record has a specific need. Whether that is an emergency physician which is looking to track down a specific problem or a family practice physician who is looking to keep track of hundreds ...
Why doctors should embrace mediation for medical malpractice
Mediation has been cited as a way to lower the cost of litigation and compensate injured patients without going through the ordeal of a trial.In post from the WSJ Health Blog, the problem is few doctors are participating.That's a problem.A study from a law journal looked at 31 cases that went to mediation, and found that,
of those cases, 16 were settled at mediation, 5 settled afterward and 10 weren’t ...
Anatomy is a privilege and a joy
I had a nightmare last night about anatomy, the very night before my first dissection. I was in anatomy lab and had my scalpel plunged into an unknown body. As I pulled out the scalpel, a piece of flesh came flying out and shot into my gaping mouth. Needless to say, this morning in lab I was very careful about keeping my mouth shut.I admit that I felt nervous and ...
Why physicians ignore fatigue
Several years ago, I spoke at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where Michael DeBakey, the legendary heart surgeon, was master of the universe for nearly half a century.I heard lots of DeBakey stories during my visit, but one in particular really stuck with me. “A few years back,” someone told me in a voice of hushed reverence usually reserved for descriptions of flawless beach days and single ...
A nurse and the system to deal with medical errors
by Mary Lynn SummerI am a nurse. Like most medical practitioners, I am afraid of malpractice attorneys and view them as a threat to my nursing license. Every hospital has a system in place to deal with medical errors and patient complaints. I used to think they worked, but now I don’t.My mother, in her late 80s, recently broke her hip. She has dementia so is unable to appropriately express ...
The commercial health IT ecosystem and its implications for patients
by Scot Silverstein, MDAt "Background On The 'Ecosystem' of Commercial Healthcare IT" I wrote:
... In reading about HIT difficulties it is important to understand the “ecosystem” of commercial health IT, that is, the identity and nature of the principal constituents and stakeholders, and their interrelationships. Familiarity with this environment is useful in order to place the social and organizational issues affecting HIT diffusion in the proper ...
A poetry reading at Bellevue Hospital
by Danielle Ofri, MD, PhDThe waiting area in Bellevue Hospital was full. Every chair was taken. But the people kept streaming in. More chairs had to be brought in. It wasn't clear if the room could accommodate everyone.This wasn't the emergency room or the clinic waiting area, however. It was the scene of the Bellevue Literary Review poetry and prose reading. More than 100 people ...
Cutting costs under the guise of patient safety
Rationing is a very dirty word in America, evoking grim images of wartime Great Britain and, in the health care context, withholding of needed care from patients based on cost. But cut back on costs we must, and with magical thinking about the deficit becoming every more popular, we’ll have to find other ways to convince folks to do it.Patient safety is a promising guise under which to achieve cutbacks, ...
Medical errors that involve handwritten prescriptions
by Daphne SwancuttTwo people in the United States just died in the last hour. Seventeen more will die in the next 7 to 8 hours. Over a year, that number will accumulate to about 7,000.The reason? Medical errors that include misread or otherwise misinterpreted handwritten prescriptions. Believe it. This means that doctors are being sloppy, pharmacies are making mistakes and people are getting dead.Even more ...
Health reform repeal should make conservatives nervous
Early last year, I wrote that conservatives should have been happy with health reform.Maybe they just didn't realize it yet, because they're rejoicing after yesterday's news of a federal judge ruling the individual mandate unconstitutional.But by supporting repeal, conservatives should be careful what they wish for.The fact is, the Affordable Care Act is a moderate piece of legislation. There's no public option. It leaves private insurers intact. There is ...
Quit smoking in 2011: 5 steps you need to know
by Paul M. Cinciripini, PhDIf you smoke, quitting the habit is the best New Year’s resolution you could make — and keep — in 2011. That’s true even if you’re just a social smoker.A new report from the Surgeon General shows that even occasional smoking and secondhand smoke cause immediate damage to the body.The good news is that people who stop smoking before age 50 cut their risk of ...
Infant resuscitation in the ED
by VeronicaB, MDA baby died today; a very small infant. One minute I’m excited by the end of my overnight shift quickly approaching, and the next I am hearing the words you never want to hear come over the radio, “En route to home for infant not breathing.” I think the whole ED staff stopped for a minute waiting for the next report.Then we begin to ...
Solving treatment resistant depression
About 60% of patients suffering from depression do not find any benefit from their first antidepressant. Up to 20% of patients find depression impossible to overcome even after 1 year. Assertive treatment of depression from the get go is essential to helping recover from depression.Psychiatrists don't have a shared definition of treatment resistant depression. However, most would agree that your depression may be treatment resistant if it has not resolved ...
Physician time should be considered a resource
Being a physician always has been a busy job.This is especially true for primary care physicians who set as their goal the delivery and coordination of comprehensive care for patients. Achieving such a goal requires availability, a broad spectrum of medical knowledge, effective use of the local health care system, and attention to both the “big picture” and the details of a patient’s life and ...
The Ulcer Rap: Beware of the ulcers NSAIDs can cause
ZDoggMD, the internist and medical satirist who brought us Manhood in the Mirror and the Safe Sex Song, is back with The Ulcer Rap.Enjoy.width="430" height="266" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0">
Kevin Pho, MD
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Why more primary care doctors are referring patients to specialists
According to a recent study from the Archives of Internal Medicine, primary care physicians are referring more patients to specialists than ever...
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Should Google censor anti-vaccine claims?
One of the reasons there is such a movement against vaccines is the democratization of information, perpetuated by search engines like Google....
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Radiologists who cheat on their board exams: Who’s to blame?
In a widely circulated CNN article, many radiologists have been found to cheat on their board exams: "Doctors around the country taking an...
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Doctors: Don’t be ashamed about going bankrupt
Are doctors really going broke? According to this piece from CNN Money, some are: "Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising...
Physician
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Patients will understand an honest mistake if the doctor tells the truth
It was 1976 and I was a junior resident in urology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. I was assigned...
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Diagnosing an illness is an art
Diagnosis is the foundation on which all care and treatments rest. If the diagnosis is wrong, most probably so is the treatment. ...
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Physicians have a natural role as advocates
As physicians, we are often called upon to be advocates for our patients. Sometimes they have no other person to turn to....
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Our society expends huge sums on futile care
Mike was a runner, outdoors-man, and fitness nut. This was not so much as for health reasons as for "feeling good", but...
Patient
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How will the Baby Boomers age and die?
I love listening to life stories. As a hospice chaplain, I loved sitting with our patients and their loved ones engaging in...
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Patient engagement is the holy grail of health care
For health care professionals, patient engagement is the holy grail of health care. It is the key to patient adherence – a...
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Why do doctors delay hospice referrals?
This is a response to Deb Discenza's article requesting a one page informational sheet informing a patient about hospice or palliative care. This would...
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How touch can calm patients
So, Megen at Not Nurse Ratched wrote post recently about therapeutic presence. The following passage really caught my attention: "Question is: are...
Policy
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Improve patient safety to improve healthcare quality
It has taken 13 years for us to revisit the issues in To Err Is Human, the 1999 landmark government report that...
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A lack of incentive for medical schools to train primary care doctors
A social media movement is happening before our eyes with action starting to take shape. The #occupyhealthcare movement has begun within to...
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What should be the stated aim of health care in America?
The triple aim of health care, as defined by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is: improving the experience of care, bettering...
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How Moneyball applies to healthcare
The storyline is familiar. An organization is challenged to achieve better results without spending more money. An executive is committed to obtaining...
Tech
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New classes of devices to diet and exercise
For many celebrities, their livelihoods depend on their physical appearance and they rely on armies of personal assistants, schedulers, stylists, trainers and...
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Repetition is the curse of the doctor-patient engagement
How many times as a doctor do you ask the same questions over and over again as part of the routine process...
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Why the prognosis of patients is difficult
Many clinical decisions in older persons are dependent on life expectancy. For example, as life expectancy declines, cancer screening is likely to...
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Innovative technologies can markedly enhance safety
“To Err Is Human” is the title of the now famous book from the Institute of Medicine on patient safety published about...
Social Media
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The Internet is where patients go for pre-visit consultations
As a physician, technology cannot replace you, but it can make you more efficient and effective. This was the message from Richard...
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5 ways doctors can benefit from professional connections
Looking ahead to the next several months, I’ve found myself frequently wondering how many physicians will make this their year to take...
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Twitter Is my third office location
The physician’s decision to first dive into social media can be stress-inducing. Issues of time management, maintaining professionalism, and determining a return...
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The impact of social media on a physician assistant
The impact of social media on medicine could arguably be compared to the impact of the industrial revolution on the human condition....
