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Should You Give Your Physician A Gift?

I used to get lots of gifts from patients during the holidays.  Not so much anymore.

I’m more patient-centered than ever.  And the older I get the more relaxed I get with my patients.  I’d like to think
that I’m more likeable.  But still fewer gifts than ten or fifteen years ago.

So what gives?

Times have changed.

Doctors nowadays are dispensable.  If a patient doesn’t like what they’ve got they can move on.  But this is probably a good thing.   Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

Half Of Teens Contract A Sexually Transmitted Disease Within 2 Years Of First Having Sex

This is a very scary reality. A recent study from the Indiana University School of Medicine suggests that half of young urban women will get a sexually transmitted infection (STI) shortly after sexual debut, while screening typically begins years later.

Researchers conducting the eight -year study found that by age 15, 25 percent of the adolescents in the study had acquired an STI, half within two years, and most often Chlamydia. The results also reflect a high repeat infection rate, with 25 percent of the teens getting at least one reinfection or other STI within 4 to 6 months.

The results, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine call for health practitioners to inquire about sexual activity and screen teens, preferably every 3 to 4 months.

This post, Half Of Teens Contract A Sexually Transmitted Disease Within 2 Years Of First Having Sex, was originally published on Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..

Reflections On The State Of Online Healthcare

As 2009 draws to a close, the US health care system is ailing and quasi-reform proposals are frantically being debated and voted on. Although some type of reform is likely in 2010, we will have only scratched the surface of what still needs to be changed.

One particular aspect relates to the ease with which patients can use the internet to improve their health care. At eDocAmerica, we’ve been using the internet to improve the health of our users for over a decade. Ten years ago, I predicted that patients would routinely use internet messaging to interact with the health care industry by now, but I was wrong. Although, increasingly, web 2.0 approaches are providing innovative communication and health management tools for patients, the growth of interaction between patients and doctors has been much slower than I predicted it would be. And the future still remains cloudy. The issues are nothing new and include: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at eDocAmerica*

Primary Care & The Advantage Of Continuous Communication

A Case Report: Even a Doctor Needs to Talk to His Doctor

I love the following battery of questions I hear from doctors and patients alike regarding telemedicine:  “Don’t you think it might be dangerous to answer a patient’s medical questions by phone or email?” and “Shouldn’t you handle all issues in the office with a face-to-face visits like most other primary care physicians (PCPs)?” and then “Isn’t medical care by phone or email impersonal, shoddy, and second rate?

I however argue that everyone with these assumptions is wrong, Wrong, WRONG!
Read more »

Do EMRs Increase The Risk Of Being Sued?

Doctors are pushed to adopt electronic medical records harder than ever before.

However, costs are often the prohibitive obstacle, and whether the current generation of EMRs improve patient care remains in question.

But what about liability? Surely, more complete, legible medical records would reduce the risk of being sued. Right?

Well, it’s not that cut and dry. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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