July 28th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: A Patient's Death, A Patient's Funeral, Chronic Disease, Chronic Illness, Compassion, Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctor-Patient Connection, Doctors Are Falliable, Doctors Are Humans, Doctors Are Imperfect, Doctors Have Limits, Failure For A Doctor, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pain and Suffering, Patient Dies, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Primary Care, Sympathy, To Feel With People
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I went to a patient’s funeral this past weekend. I generally don’t do that for people whose relationship I’ve built in the exam room. It’s a complex set of emotions, but invariably some family member will start telling others what a nice doctor I am and how much the person had liked me as a doctor. It’s awkward getting a eulogy (literally good words) spoken about me at someone else’s funeral. This patient I had known prior to them becoming my patient, and his wife had been very nice to us when we first moved here from up north.
But that’s not why I am writing this. As I was sitting in the service, the thought occurred to me that a patient’s funeral would be considered by many to be a failure for a doctor. Certainly there are times when that is the case — when the doctor could have intervened and didn’t, or intervened incorrectly, causing the person to die earlier than they could have. Every doctor has some moments where regrets over missed or incorrect diagnosis take their toll. We are imperfect humans, we have bad days, and we don’t always give our patients our best. We have limits. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
July 28th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
Tags: Dr. Pauline Chen, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Help Doctors Transition, Hospice, Internal Medicine, New Medical Practice Model, New Primary Care Models, Not Enough Time For Patients, Patient-Centered Care, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Patient-Centered Medicine, Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, Pilot Projects, Team-Based Patient Care, Team-Based Primary Care, The New York Times, Transitioning Primary Care
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While the “patient-centered medical home” may be a good idea, it needs a better name. It sounds like a hospice, reports surgeon and columnist Pauline Chen, M.D. She outlines the initial experiences of practices making the transition to the new practice model.
One problem uncovered by pilot projects is that doctors in transition to the practice model have to spend inordinate amounts of time of things other than patients. And while the patients want and welcome the changes, they face a learning curve too, as they move from seeing just the doctor to working with a team of providers for their care.
Physicians suggested using resources from the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a collaborative group set up to help offices make the transition. (New York Times)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
July 28th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: Altruism, Altruistic Behavior, Brooklyn, Chose Not To Help, Emergency Medical Care, Emergency Medical Technicians, Emergency Medicine, EMTs, Eutisha Rennix, Failed To Help, FDNY, Fire Department of New York, General Medicine, Good Samaritans, Healthcare Professionals, Jason Green, Medical Professionals, New York City, On A Break, Patient Dies, Seizure
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A few weeks before Christmas, Eutisha Rennix, a pregnant restaurant worker, collapsed while working. She started having a seizure and her co-workers were screaming for help.
There were two EMT workers in line at Au Bon Pain shop in Brooklyn and they refused to help. They told onlookers to call 911 and they walked out of the store after picking up their bagels, presumably because they were on a coffee break. An ambulance was called and the 25-year-old woman and her baby girl died shortly afterward. She is survived by a 3-year-old son. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
July 28th, 2010 by SteveSimmonsMD in Better Health Network, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays, True Stories
Tags: Becoming A Doctor, DocTalker Family Medicine, Dr. Steve Simmons, Future Doctors, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Joining the Medical Profession, Medical School, Medical Students, Medicine as a Career of Choice, Plans To Become A Physician, Primary Care, Primary Care Shortage, Primary Care Wednesdays, Young Doctors
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As a physician, I’ve had several people ask my “honest” opinion of their plans to become a doctor. I know what my response is to this question, but I wonder what others in my profession would answer. Would your response depend, in large part, on who’s doing the asking — could you answer your own child as you would someone you just met? Be careful, your answer to this question, if honestly given, might shine an unsettling light on your own feelings about your current career choice.
Last week I spoke with a college junior working to fulfill her lifelong plans to become a physician. She told me about a recent conversation with her own doctor where she shared her plans to go to medical school and he’d tried to dissuade her. She couldn’t recall a single cogent reason given for avoiding the medical profession, yet it appeared to me that his odium had negatively imprinted her image of the medical profession, which is a shame. At this time more than ever, we –- doctors and patients alike — need to encourage the most talented of our youth to join the medical profession. Read more »
July 27th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Humor
Tags: Douglas Newman, General Medicine, Medical Humor, Medical Jams, Medicine and Music
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Thanks to the PSP Blog which linked to the “Culture Map” article by By Douglas Newman — Medical jams: From plastic surgery to cancer to sex changes, it’s been rocked about.
Newman has put together the following list with audio links included in his article. I hope you will pop over and give them a listen. Do you have any to add to the list?
“Heart Doctor” by Lee “Scratch” Perry
This late period track by the legendary (and legendarily kooky) Lee “Scratch” Perry finds the reggae/dub artist and producer doling out “advice” to his patients…
“A Nurse’s Life is Full of Woe” by Billy Bragg
An unreleased track taken from the sessions of Talking With the Taxman About Poetry, “A Nurse’s Life is Full of Woe” finds Bragg taking on the plight of the working class…
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*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
