It was 1976 and I was a junior resident in urology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. I was assigned to a rotation in pathology where my job was to process specimens taken at surgery, dictate a gross description of the specimen and then place the specimens into the cassettes that would be used to make the permanent sections. I was transferring a prostate biopsy, approximately 0.5mm x ...
Neil Baum, MD
Each patient has something special that they can share with us
It was January 12, 2007 during rush hour traffic in the metro station in Washington, DC. A nondescript man wearing a baseball cap and khakis began to play the violin. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that at least a thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Nearly everyone ...
A urologist responds to the new prostate cancer screening guidelines
"U.S. Panel Says No to Prostate Screening for Healthy Men" was the title of an article on the front page of the New York Times on October 6, 2011. The article goes on to suggest that healthy men should no longer receive a PSA blood test to screen for prostate cancer because the test does not save lives over all and often leads to more tests and treatments that needlessly cause pain, impotence and incontinence ...
7 ways to make patients like you
Patients want to be cared for by doctors who show an interest in them as individuals. It has been a well-known statistic that the average doctor interrupts a patient within 16 seconds after the doctor-patient interview begins. You know full well that few patients can learn to develop an emotional attachment in 16 seconds. This article will discuss 7 steps to develop rapport that will make patients like you, will make them ...
See more patients with same day appointments
No one knows for certain what the future holds for American medicine. With cutbacks again on the horizon, we do know that reimbursements are going to decrease in the near future resulting in a decrease in income. An effective way to maintain our incomes is to increase the volume of patients seen but also to increase the income per patient that is seen in our offices. One of the best ...
The day my mother became a saint
It was 1976 and I had just started my solo practice. I employed only a receptionist and a nurse. My nurse was absent because of an illness and I asked my middle-aged mother to come and serve as my chaperone for the afternoon.The first patient was a young lady and I asked her to give a urine specimen and place it in the turnstile in the restroom. My mother, wearing ...
Why technology should never takeover the patient encounter
Today, healthcare is criticized by the public as too high on technology and too low in touch. Computers take patients histories, provide differential diagnoses, and even supply educational materials to patients. A new specialty, tele-medicine, offers healthcare services to rural areas that were previously underserved or couldn't afford the latest diagnostic technology.A humorous story about technology occurred when a patient’s secretary called to say that her boss was too ...
Women with these 5 pelvic symptoms should call their doctor
For most women, a couple of irregular menstrual cycles or an occasional yeast infection are just a part of life -- nothing that time or simple treatment won’t cure.However, there are a few symptoms that warrant a call to the doctor. This article will cover when you should call your doctor for problems "down there"?1. Pelvic pain. Pain at the time of ovulation, is referred to as Mittelschmerz. However, if ...
Patients want and need to take a greater role in their medical care
Today the patient is far different than the patient of a few decades ago. Patients can find healthcare information just as easily as a physician and many patients are taking a greater role in their healthcare and want to be involved in the decision making and work with the doctor as a team with the doctor being the captain of the healthcare ship. This new attitude has been referred to ...
Patients could use more group hugs from their doctors
Today, healthcare is criticized by the public as too high on technology and too low in touch. Computers take patients histories, provide differential diagnoses, and even supply educational materials to patients. A new specialty, tele-medicine, offers healthcare services to rural areas that were previously underserved or couldn't afford the latest diagnostic technology.A humorous story about technology occurred when a patient’s secretary called to say that her boss was too ...
Pay attention to the color and smell of your urine
Most of us are uncomfortable talking about our waste products, urine and feces. However, changes in the color and odor may signify disease that can be treated or prevented. This article will review causes of discoloration of urine and when there is a change in the odor of urine.For hundreds of years doctors have looked at urine as a barometer of what is happening in the body. The urine can ...
Transfusing a Jehovah’s Witness during surgery
I was in practice about five years and was about to do a radical nephrectomy on a patient.I met with the patient and his son in my office and the son informed me that he and his father were Jehovah's Witnesses and that he didn't want his father to receive any blood or blood products before, during, or after surgery. I asked the father if that was his wish and he ...
Physician reputation management in the age of social media
What is the physician's most precious possession? Some might answer that it is his patients.Others might respond it is the training and education that the physician has obtained to practice his (or her's) craft.But the real answer is that it's the physician's reputation.Doctors live and die by their reputations. Reputations take years to build but are so fragile that they can ...
Lifestyle changes to control the symptoms of prostate enlargement
Prostate enlargement, or benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), is a common, non-cancerous condition affecting nearly 14 million men over the age of 50.The symptoms of prostate gland enlargement include a decrease in the force and caliber of the urinary stream, frequency of urination, urgency, a feeling of not emptying the bladder despite urination and nocturia, or the need to get up at night to urinate. Although lifestyle changes will not cure ...
How you can reduce preventable mistakes in your medical care
There are nearly 1.5 million Americans who suffer each year from preventable mistakes. A report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors.Most of these errors are related to drug mistakes. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your doctors and hospitals are trying to reduce these errors by using by using ...
