August 25th, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: ACP Advocate, American College Of Physicians, Becoming A Doctor, Cynical Time, Doctor's Feelings, Doctor's Point of View, Dr. Don Berwick, Family Medicine, Future Physicians, General Medicine, Humanism, Internal Medicine, Medical Profession, Medical Student, Message to Physician Colleagues, New Generation of Doctors, Physician Behavior, Physician Outlook, Physician Value, Primary Care, Profession of High Calling, Profession of Nobility, Profession of Selflessness, The Gift of Being a Doctor, Voice of Idealism, What Does The Title Doctor Mean, What It Means To Be A Doctor
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I’m going to do something unusual: Reprint in its entirety a commentary from a fourth-year medical student, Jonathan. He posted it in response to comments from other readers to my blog about Dr. Berwick’s commencement address to his daughter’s medical school class.
I tweeted about Jonathan’s post, calling it a needed voice of idealism at a cynical time. This is what Jonathan had to say to his physician colleagues:
“To begin, I am a fourth-year medical student going into primary care and this directly applies to me. We have two options when reading [Dr. Berwick’s] address. We can take, in my opinion, the weak road or the strong road. Our new generation, as well as the one that raised us, is one of apathy and selfishness. We are only concerned about how changes affect us. We have lost the sacrifice and the consideration of our patients and fellow staff. This address, no matter how hard your heart may be, springs up a humanism in you that is undeniable. You can choose to brush it off and make excuses about policies and money, or you can stand up and be the physician that is described. I agree that there are a lot of issues in medicine today (billing, paperwork, bureaucracy to name only a few). However, if those issues render you cold and uncaring, my friend, I strongly suggest you find another profession. This profession is one of nobility. It is one of selfLESSness. This is a high calling. A good book states, ‘To whom much has been given; much will be expected.’ Well, if you are a physician, much has been given to you. What are you going to do with it?”
Today’s question: How would you answer Jonathan?
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
August 25th, 2010 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Digitized Patient Records, EHR, Electronic Health Record, Electronic Medical Record, EMR, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Healthcare IT, Internal Medicine, Medical Chart, Nationwide Database, Online Medical Records, Primary Care, Security of Patient Records, Statewide Registries
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I love computers. Really, I do. Despite my oft-repeated claims about the shortcomings of electronic medical records in their current form, I do believe that information technology has the potential to be of great help to me and other physicians in providing quality care to Americans.
Stop laughing. I really mean it.
I do not believe, however, that IT best serves the medical needs of our patients when used to create non-interactive silos of information sequestered in the offices and clinics of individual doctors. Even hospitals and large integrated health systems information remains stuck within that system, providing limited utility when patients travel, or even go to a doctor not affiliated with the system.
Although some (especially in government) seem to feel that expanding those kinds of integrated systems is the way to go, the problem is that not all patients want to get their care from Mayo Clinic clones across the country. Still, I have an idea for using currently available technology to vastly improve the way medical care is delivered anywhere in this country. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
August 25th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network
Tags: cash-only practices, Doctor Patient Relationship, Dr. Abraham Verghese, Family Medicine, Fee-For-Procedure Incentives, Fixing Primary Care, General Medicine, Getting To Know A Patient, Internal Medicine, Maggie Mahar, Medicare Reimbursement, Paying Physicians Per Hour, Physician Burnout, Primary Care Crisis, Primary Care Plight, Rewarding Primary Care Doctors, Save Money, Scarcity of Doctors' Time, Stanford University, Time Spent With Patients, Unnecessary Tests
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Abraham Verghese is a professor of medicine at Stanford University and one of the most articulate physician-writers today. He recently wrote an op-ed highlighting primary care’s plight, and focuses on the scarcity of time:
The science of medicine has never been more potent – incredible advances and great benefits realized in the treatment of individual diseases – yet the public perception of us physicians is often one of a harried individual more interested in the virtual construct of the patient in the computer than in the living, breathing patient seated on the exam table.Time is the scarcest commodity of all. Patients, particularly when it comes to their routine, day-to-day care, want a physician who has time to understand them as people first, and then as patients.
It’s been frequently discussed on this blog, with solutions ranging from paying physicians per hour to cash-only practices.
There’s no easy answer, and worse, money isn’t even the root of the problem. Often left unaddressed is the burnout that primary care doctors face, practicing in unpalatable environments where the doctor-patient relationship is obstructed by bureaucracy and paperwork. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
August 25th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Doctor-Patient Communication, E-Consults, E-Visits With Patients, Electronic Medical Records, Emailing With Patients, EMR, General Medicine, Interacting With Patients Online, Internet-Based Medicine, Internet-Based Treatment, Luddism, Meaningful Use, Medicine and Healthcare Online, Primary Care
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My recent post on the subject of email from patients raised more eyebrows than I expected. It also put me in a position I’m unfamiliar with: Looking like a luddite.
Perhaps I’m not forward-thinking enough in my reluctance to embrace this advance. Perhaps I’ve gotten conservative as I’ve grown grey. Electronic communication is a great idea (I’m doing it right now), so why not apply it to my medical practice? Has Ned Lud gotten into my circle of influence?
This is, of course, extremely ironic. I lived so much on the cutting edge that my butt developed calluses. The calluses, however, were not just put there by the edge, they also came from occasional kicking.
The problem is I have an addiction: I’m addicted to change. I’m constantly looking for new and perhaps better ways to do things, then impatiently going after anything new and shiny. This served us well in the sense that I got us on EMR, got it working well, and have continued to keep us away from repeating mistakes too often. If something doesn’t work, I’m quick to look for the cause, and more importantly, how to fix it. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
August 24th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: American Chemical Society, Antioxidants, Beneficial Phenolic Compounds, Bruising, Drought, Electricity, Food and Nutrition, Free Radicals, Fresh Produce, Japan, Mechanical Processes to Stress Vegetables, Obihiro University, Polyphenols, Potatoes, Ultrasound
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Antioxidants are important substances that prevent free radicals from damaging cells, and potatoes contain substantial amounts of them.
However, researchers from Obihiro University in Japan thought that more would be better and have developed some innovative methods of boosting the potato’s antioxidant content. By immersing the potatoes in water or salt and subsequently applying ultrasound or electricity for 5 to 30 minutes, they increased the amounts of antioxidants by as much as 50 percent. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
