How are you feeling today? Do you feel a bit under the weather? Maybe you have some aches and pains, or a miserable flu, or maybe you have some chronic condition like diabetes or asthma, or some other ailment. Perhaps you could benefit from medical attention, but then again getting medical care is so darn inconvenient and expensive and time consuming, and everybody knows that our health care system is ...
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I would like now to delve into what I consider critical elements of patient-centric care. They all involve technology to various extents.
1. There must be buy-in from providers. I am including payers, healthcare systems as well as clinical providers in this category. While I realize that much of healthcare is devoted to satisfying legal and regulatory mandates, there is great opportunity to improve the care experience (and dare I say ...
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In her post, “The only thing that truly separates doctors from nurses,” Dr. Leng is right that our current system creates a great deal of confusion for patients. Clothing, titles and even the word “Doctor” are no longer clear enough for people to understand which member of the health care team is caring for them. However, her suggestion that ultimate responsibility for the patient is the only distinguishing feature ...
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I recently spoke at the Student National Medical Association’s (SNMA) Annual Medical Education Conference in Louisville, KY. Accompanying me was former SNMA President Bryant Cameron Webb, MD, JD. We covered three main topics in our workshop: medical education, the practice of medicine, and the underserved.
Medical education
Many people believe that there is, or soon will be, a physician shortage. There are nearly 1 million physicians scattered across America representing a ratio ...
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The shortage of primary care physicians in the U.S. has become a national theme. A common proposed solution to this shortage – and a central component of the patient centered medical home – is team-based care that utilizes various non-physician health care professionals as well as electronic communication. The idea is that many functions carried out by physicians can be done by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and others on ...
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If I were asked “Why should a clinician prescribe an app?” I would answer as follows: Because it’s likely to help the patient reach his or her most important health goals, and is a good fit within an over-arching medical management plan. In other words, if the goal is to provide sensible medical assistance to patients and families, the use of an app should be likely to:
When I was growing up in the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, there was always some smart aleck boy on the playground who had "facts" to share about the Soviets. His recitation was meant to emphasize how weird, how different, how other our arch enemies were. "They make you wear all brown and gray there." "They eat only boiled cabbage and potatoes." "They tell you what to ...
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1. Docs Need to Speak Up on Gun Control. Physicians need to do a better job at promoting the data that supports stronger gun-control laws.
2. Most Adults Ignore Fitness Recommendations. Just over 20% of U.S. adults get as much aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercise as recommended in government guidelines.
3. Chaotic Home Impacts HbA1c in ...
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Every primary care doctor has been faced with this situation. A patient reports vague symptoms and is very worried that they are a sign of a catastrophic illness. The symptoms aren't even slightly suggestive of the disease the patient is worried about, but the patient's neighbor's brother-in-law was just diagnosed with the same disease, and so the patient is pretty sure that ...
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I have found that many physicians have a strong desire to serve, yet often don’t know where to begin or if it is the right move for them both personally and professionally. I believe that by answering a few simple questions, a physician can decide if a mission is right for them.
1. Decide where you want to help. Hailing from Africa, I wanted to return to the poorest regions such as ...
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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
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