March 2011

All Stories

Diagnostic errors and their role in patient safety

by | in Physician | 4 responses

American Medical News published an informative essay by Kevin B. O’Reilly on December 13, 2010, about errors in diagnosis and why doctors make them.According to Gordon Schiff, MD, associate director of the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, “The problem of diagnostic errors has gotten short shrift in the broader patient safety movement.” The article ...

How social media will change mental health care

by | in Social media | 2 responses

Social media is changing how we communicate and how we define  "relationship." I was speaking to someone last week who said to me, "Social media isn’t coming it’s here!" He’s right.And while many voices in our professional communities are wary about social media, I see positive opportunities at every turn. Here are just 5 ways social media will change ...

Medical professionalism affect how hospitals perform

by | in Physician | no responses

In my estimation, professionalism has a lot to do with personal values. Thus, when individuals or clinicians are aggregated into groups, their personal values form the base of their organization’s values and culture.It’s not surprising to this sociological-thinking individual when studies show that the differentiating factors between low- and high–performing institutional and ambulatory clinical practices are an organization’s values, ...

Wimpy Parent Syndrome, and allowing your child to get mad and cry

by | in Patient | 10 responses

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I could not fall back asleep.  I had a moment of brilliance laying there in bed.  I had discovered a new medical disorder, Wimpy Parent Syndrome (WPS).For years I have been seeing it in clinical practice, but have been unable to put my finger on exactly what was taking place.  Then the idea of WPS came to me and everything ...

How much empathy is too much?

by | in Patient | 6 responses

If you're sick, you need people to empathize with you, right? Maybe not.

Empathy is one of those words with a wide variety of definitions, especially in academic settings.From Wikipedia: "Empathy ... cover[s] a broad spectrum, ranging from feeling a concern for other people that creates a desire to help them, experiencing emotions that match another person's emotions, knowing what the other person is ...

A boxing fight physician experience

by | in Physician | 2 responses

I received a phone call from the Broward Sheriff’s Office Police Athletic League Youth Boxing Program asking if I would help them out and be the fight physician at their upcoming youth boxing tournament.Their usual physician, a member of the Boxing Hall of Fame, had another commitment.  However, he was willing to train me in advance and show me the ropes on the day of the event.State law and the ...

What is stuttering, how is it treated, and The King’s Speech

by | in Conditions | 3 responses

One of the "Crown Jewels" of the 2010 holiday movie season may be The King’s Speech.  The film centers on  Colin Firth, who plays King George VI of Britain, and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, the speech therapist who helps the king deal with his stutter.Born Albert Frederick Arthur George, the second son of King George V, he spent most of his early years out of the spotlight, which centered ...

Does empathy mean giving patients what they want?

by | in Patient | 6 responses

Recently, KevinMD.com picked up my post on empathy or should I say the lack of it.  I received some engaging comments.One comment in particular caught my attention.The contributor for some reason equated “being empathetic” with “giving in” to patient requests presumably during routine office visits.  Here’s a direct quote:

Give the patients what they want! Antibiotics are OK for colds. The patients want them. So ...

Why medical education needs to be more affordable

by | in Education | 12 responses

I was talking to a young man who is starting medical school this fall. His tuition at one of South Carolina’s newer schools will be $40,000 per year. That’s admittedly on the high end. On the low end, it runs a paltry $33,000 per year.And this is all after college, of course. He and others like him are taking out loans to the tune of $240,000 to pay for their ...

Implications of the surgical buy in when discussing informed consent

by | in Patient | no responses

Pauline Chen had a post in the New York Times recently about surgical informed consent. Informed consent is an important part of the surgeon/patient communication transaction.Surgeon reviews the proposed operation, the rationale behind it, and the possible complications. For example--- a patient comes in with biliary colic. We describe the anatomy and pathology. We aver that surgical resection will lead to ...

Treatment for plantar fasciitis is expensive and ineffective

by | in Conditions | 32 responses

There are nearly 2 million cases of plantar fasciitis in the United States every year. As an orthopaedic surgeon, I’m quite familiar with this issue since nearly 20 percent of my patients come to me about plantar fasciitis.Although there is a surefire way to fix the problem, the current treatments aren’t really addressing the issue, and they are costing millions for those who suffer from the heel pain. Many are ...

Calling in sick serves as a reminder for compassion for this doctor

by | in Physician | 4 responses

One of my Facebook updates on my private account was that I "have a love-hate relationship with interleukin-6. Yes, macrophages and T cells, I know you are doing your job, but how many proinflammatory cytokines does it really take to fight this thing? What's that? Be grateful you guys are even working? Oh, all right. I'll shut up and eat my soup now."Yes, I've been sick this week. It started ...

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