I took a deep breath. I had to think carefully. It's not that this was unexpected - Johns Hopkins has been anointed the country's best hospital for 21 years running by US News. But I wanted to tell the patient the truth without alienating them or failing to mention the many admirable aspects of my institution.One truth, however, cannot be denied: to call one hospital the best is not simple.Let's ...
Zackary Berger, MD, PhD
Physical exam evidence and whether it’s still useful
A number of respected physicians have called for a renewed emphasis on the physical exam. Perhaps most prominently, Abraham Verghese has joined with colleagues at Stanford University to publicize the Stanford 25, a list of physical-exam maneuvers that they hold should be required of internal medicine residents.These calls reflect in part the fear that checklist medicine will lead to doctors' obsession with what Jerome Groopman calls the "iPatient" (the ...
How should patients decide which hospitals are best for them?
Johns Hopkins Hospital is consistently named one of the best in the country. I can't disagree with that; after all, I just started working there as an internist in September. Coincidentally, in the midst of the raging debate around health care reform, the past few months have seen increasing discussion of a small but crucial question: why do some of the best hospitals spend more money than others? If other ...
