I've written previously that many doctors are finding the physical exam obsolete, and are favoring more technologically advanced, and expensive, tests.
In fact, I alluded to traditional physical exam advocates as "arguing for staying with a horse and buggy when cars are rapidly becoming available."
In a recent piece from the New York Times, internist Danielle Ofri says we need to look past the lack of evidence supporting ...
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In their most recent piece at Slate, emergency physicians Zachary F. Meisel and Jesse M. Pines tackle the issue of bouncebacks. That is, the re-admission of recently discharged hospitalized patients. They bring up good some good points, and point out that, until recently, hospitals really didn't have any incentive to reduce bouncebacks:
... hospitals have never had a compelling reason to try to prevent bouncebacks. Hospitals are typically paid a flat sum ...
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A recent study from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that doctors often discounted a patient's social situation when making a medical diagnosis. Lead researcher Saul Weiner "arranged to send actors playing patients into physicians' offices and discovered that errors occurred in 78 percent of cases when socioeconomic concerns were a significant factor." Evan Falchuk, commenting on the results, provides some context:
It’s hard to expect even the most ...
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I recently wrote about the hidden dangers of physician social networks, and how private posts can potentially become public at a later date. With the recent controversy surrounding former Washington Post blogger Dave Weigel and Journalist in mind, I commented that,
passionate, controversial debate is frequent on Sermo, along with discussion of patient cases. Part of what makes the site so provocative and insightful is the fact that the conversations ...
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Say the words, "Patient-centered medical home," and you're bound to get a variety of opinions.
On this blog alone, there are a variety of guest pieces critical of the effort, saying it does not increase patient satisfaction, nor does it save money.
And that's not good news for its advocates, who are pinning primary care's last hopes on the model.
Medical homes hit the mainstream media recently, ...
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As more students participate in social media, like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, Bryan Vartabedian asks, "Does Twitter Belong on Your Medical School Application?"
Great question.
I'd say that the majority of doctors and medical schools fail to see the utility of social media, and are generally behind the curve. Indeed, as Dr. Vartabedian writes, "some academics, after all, see social media as a waste of time."
But that's going to change. With ...
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Recently, JAMA published a study concluding that doctors are hesitant to report incompetent physicians or those who were impaired. According to the article,
more than a third of docs don't think they're responsible for reporting those who aren't fit to practice, according to the results just published in JAMA. And only 69 percent of the docs who knew about an impaired or incompetent colleague reported them.To those who advocate that the medical ...
Physician salaries are always a sensitive topic.
A common view among health reforms is that doctors, in general, are paid too much. Various progressive pundits point to statistics showing that American doctors are the highest paid in the world.
For many specialists, that may be true. But not for primary care.
A recent Tweet by Ves Dimov pointed me to an article from the UK, stating that primary care doctors working in ...
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There's little question that medical school debt is rising rapidly, affecting the career choice of medical students.
It's one of the main reasons why the disparity between the number of specialists and primary care doctors is widening. There have been a variety of proposed solutions -- most recent of which are medical schools completely subsidizing their tuition. I think that's a good step forward, but so far, has only been ...
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How effective is direct to consumer drug advertising? Some think that drug ads should be banned altogether, saying that it encourages patients to ask their doctors for expensive, brand name prescription drugs. It turns out, their fears may be overblown. NPR's Shots blogs about a recent study looking at the effectiveness of these ads. The numbers, for the pharmaceutical companies anyways, are not encouraging:
Overall, about 8 percent of the people who were ...
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"A comprehensive and extremely useful roadmap for doctors."
-Eric Topol, MD, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
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Past 6 Months
Dear lawmakers: This is what it’s like to be a doctor today
Matthew Moeller, MD | PhysicianA gun owner responds to Sandy Hook
Edwin Leap, MD | PhysicianIs Chris Christie too obese to run for president?
Jeffrey Parks, MD | PhysicianIf I’m wrong about guns, can you please explain why?
Claire McCarthy, MD | PhysicianPrimary care doctors may no longer be needed
Doug Olson, MD | PhysicianWalgreens moves into primary care, and it’s our own damn fault
Kevin Pho, MD | Kevin's Take