May 12th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Research
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There’s been a lot of commentary on a recent article from the New England Journal of Medicine, detailing the undocumented tasks that a typical primary care physician performs.
For those who haven’t read the piece, entitled, What’s Keeping Us So Busy in Primary Care? A Snapshot from One Practice, it’s available free at the NEJM website. I highly recommend it.
To summarize, primary care doctors are responsible for much more than seeing patients in the exam room. In the cited practice, which has a fairly typical makeup, physicians were responsible for an average of over 23 telephone calls and 16 e-mails per day. Many practices don’t engage their patients over e-mail, so it’s conceivable that the number of telephone calls is lower than average here. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
May 8th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Humor, News, Opinion
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What’s one of the fastest growing healthcare fields? A professional nitpicker — as in the profession of picking lice out of hair.
In a recent New York Times story, it’s becoming apparent that parents will do anything to get rid of lice. Part of it is the stigma associated with it, part of it is the “ickiness” factor. As a parent myself, I certainly understand the sentiment. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
May 5th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
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Doctors often have a communication disconnect with their patients. A recent piece from the New York Times encapsulates the issue, citing a recent New England Journal of Medicine perspective.
According to oncologist Ethan Basch, “Direct reports from patients are rarely used during drug approval or in clinical trials. If patients’ comments are sought at all, they are usually filtered through doctors and nurses, who write their own impressions of what the patients are feeling.”
There are a variety of reasons for this. Some doctors feel they have a better sense of the patient’s symptoms than the patient himself. Biases can affect how doctors and nurses perceive symptoms. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
May 3rd, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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Hospital rankings matter. Specifically, those published in U.S. News & World Report carry additional weight. Hospitals use these numbers in advertising campaigns, and patients often choose hospitals based on these rankings.
But does a high place really mean you’re getting better care? Not necessarily. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
April 30th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Humor, News, Opinion, True Stories
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Donkey Kong has a new recordholder — and he’s a plastic surgeon.
Hank Chien, M.D., scored 1,061,700 points in 2 hours and 35 minutes, breaking the world-record score for the classic arcade game.
Read the piece to learn how he did it, and more interestingly, the painstaking steps he had to take to verify his score.
The feat does lend some anecdotal support linking video games and the hand-eye coordination required for surgery. There are small studies linking the laparoscopic skill of surgeons with how well they do on video games. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
