Christmas morning at 1:30 am the phone chimes away. What the … I’m not on call.
“Please call Dr. Dred for patient Selma, perforated colon at local ER,” read the text message.
Why are they calling me, I’m not on call. Dr. Young is. Maybe something’s happened and they can’t find him.
So, I called. It was just as reported. There was a fifty year old female with abdominal pain for three days, ...
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Throughout the course of my career I have probably been with hundreds of people as they transitioned into and out of death. Although I am familiar with what this journey looks like, I have not yet been privy to the journey myself. Rarely though, I have had the pleasure of listening to someone who has journeyed back from death and arrived with a story to tell. Regardless of your position ...
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Danielle is a 20-year old college student at the New England Conservatory. She came to the ER because of a ...
Recently, there was a bit of hue and cry regarding Mayor Bloomberg's report on the matter of prescription drug abuse and restrictions on new prescriptions for painkillers through the emergency department.
Initially, I was concerned. I completely agree with the comment from the linked article: “Here is my problem with legislative medicine,” said Dr. Alex Rosenau, president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians ... “It prevents me from being ...
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To treat observation care as simply a loophole that allows hospitals to avoid the Medicare penalties from readmissions -- as Brad Wright, an assistant professor of health management and policy at the University of Iowa did earlier this month -- is to take a short-sighted approach to a complex health issue.
Observation care in fact aims to address several of healthcare’s thorniest challenges head on. In the process, a ...
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An article written by two physicians in Time questions whether we should blame doctors for the large number of chronic pain patients and the abuse of prescription pain medications.
There are two frames of reference to this article.
First, no one can argue that prescriptions for pain medications in this country are excessive. The article notes that in 2011, "enough hydrocodone was ...
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May is a recent divorcee in her early sixties. She was working out at the gym when she began to feel queasy and lightheaded. She awoke in the back of an ambulance, and soon, she was in an ER getting blood drawn. “We need to make sure you don’t have a heart attack,” she was told.
As the day went on, May underwent test after test to “rule out” ...
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Dear hospitalists,
This is just a note to say that we, in emergency medicine, appreciate you. Like all of us, you are stuck in an endless loop of unending residency. Don’t worry, it isn’t an episode of The Twilight Zone. It’s just your life. No, it’s our life!
As specialty after specialty withdraws from the practice of medicine, you, and all of us, ...
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This series is brought to you by MedPage Today.
1. ER Visits Common After Hospital Stay. Nearly one-fifth of hospital patients returned for acute care within 30 days of discharge, with emergency room (ER) visits accounting for 40% of those encounters.
2. PET Scan Spots Brain Trauma in Ex-Athletes While Alive. A new imaging technique has allowed detection of tau protein abnormalities in the concussed brains ...
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Chatting with some med students, a good question was raised: how do we, as doctors, deal with the emotional baggage we encounter in our profession? It's high stress, we see disturbing things, and sometimes we make mistakes that can result in harm to patients. The pressure and responsibility can be very hard to handle.
These stresses, if unmanaged or poorly managed, can ...
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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