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Latest Posts

Physician Learns A Lot Doing AFib Research With No Funding

I learned a lot from putting together an abstract for a national heart meeting.

  • More than just learning how to e-submit, e-upload and e-print a large poster;
  • More than what t-tests and chi-squares measure;
  • More than learning that females respond differently to AF ablation;
  • And surely more than which coffee shop offers the best work place.

Putting this thing together showed me stuff: the process of discovery, it’s role in helping us be better doctors and the difficulties inherent in doing this kind of valuable research in our current system.

So of course…bloggers blog.

First: Many have asked why we bothered doing research? What’s the motivation? Money? Fame? A greater purpose?

It was none of these. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*

Getting The Attention Of Patients In Younger Generations

Surely you’ve read before (perhaps even in our publication) about the challenges of Boomers and younger generations working together. You know the drill– these young’uns are good with computers but they’re all hung up on this idea that they should get to have a life. But Cam Marston, the opening speaker at MGMA put a new spin on the concept– addressing how generational differences can affect the way that you attract, and treat, patients.

A lot of it is pretty obvious. Millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) like getting information by text, Boomers not so much. Younger patients do a lot more of their own internet research.

But some of the advice on how to act on these generations’ well-known differences was Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*

Picture Illustrates What Some Believe To Be Left Brain And Right Brain Differences

This is one of the best pictures I’ve ever seen. I’m almost totally a left brain… What about you?

Left brain: I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.

Right brain: I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feat. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*

Family Practice, Internal Medicine, and General Practice: What’s The Difference?

I get mail, this from a healthy 20-something reader who’s just moved to a new city:

What’s the difference between doctors listed as Family Practice, Internal Medicine, and General Practice?  Also, what are some things I should consider (that I might not already be considering) when finding a primary care physician?

That’s a bit of a loaded question, not because of any bias of mine (perish the thought!) but because each of those terms is used in different ways, by different people, at different times, for different purposes. So here’s the rundown on each of them in turn.

Family Practice

What it’s supposed to mean: Designates a physician who has completed a three-year postgraduate training program in Family Medicine, trained to provide primary care to patients of all ages, presenting with conditions of any organ system, including care of acute conditions and ongoing management of chronic diseases.

What doctors hope people think it means: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*

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 Cartoon

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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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