June 17th, 2010 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
Tags: Anti-Virals, BMJ, Bribes, British Medical Journal, CDC, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Conflict of Interest, Dr. Margaret Chan, Family Medicine, Flu Vaccine, Full Disclosure, GBS, General Medicine, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, H1N1, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, Kickbacks, Mike Adams, Natural News, Non-Conflicts, Pandemic, Primary Care, Public Awareness, Public Health, Public Safety, Ties To Industry, True Transparency, Vaccine Conspiracy, WHO, World Health Organization
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On June 11, 2009, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared that the H1N1 flu that was then spreading around the world was an official pandemic. This triggered a series of built-in responses in many countries, including stockpiling anti-viral medications and preparing for a mass H1N1 vaccination program.
At the time the flu was still in its “first wave” and the fear was that subsequent waves, as the virus swept around the world, would become more virulent and/or contagious –- similar to what happened in the 1918 pandemic. This did not happen. At least our worst fears were not realized. The H1N1 pandemic, while serious, simmered through the winter of 2009-2010, producing a less than average flu season, although with some worrisome difference. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
June 17th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: General Medicine, iPhone App, iTunes, Medical Apps, Medical Technology, NEJM This Week, New England Journal of Medicine, Smartphone, Toby Plewak
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Apparently the New England Journal of Medicine was listening yesterday when I suggested to an audience in Chicago that the way to a doctor’s heart is through his smartphone. The NEJM This Week iPhone App went live this morning on iTunes and it’s worth a look.
The App offers four pages covering articles, images, audio and video. According to Toby Plewak, NEJM’s Manager of Product Development, the article page covers most everything available through the print/web version as well as all of the “online first” (early release) articles for the current week. The only articles excluded are those that can’t be delivered effectively on the iPhone.
I just listened to the NEJM This Week audio summary and it’s beautiful (I know what I’ll be doing during my drives to the Texas Medical Center.) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
June 16th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Accuracy, Dictation, Electronic Medical Records, Emergency Medicine, EMR, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medical Chart, Medical Charting, Medical Technology, Nurse Asssessment, Paper Records, Patient Care, Primary Care
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Why do we physicians chart the way we do? Hopefully, we do it perfectly well and have no concerns at all. But where I practice emergency medicine, we are approaching maximum inefficiency in charting.
It all became much clearer when we started using our new EMR system. Let me make it clear, I’m not against EMR. In fact, typing and templates work better for me than dictating. My dictations were usually a mine field of blanks and misunderstood words.
Furthermore, if I wanted to use it, we have a new voice recognition dictation system in addition to our templated chart. Though admittedly, the voice recognition program clearly hates some of my partners, as evidenced by the way they grasp the screen and yell at it (‘Chest Pain, not west rain!’) and by its inexplicable use of profanity in the occasional chart.
But I digress. The problem as I see it is the evolution of the medical record. Why does the medical record exist? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
June 16th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Dr. Karen Li, Family Medicine, Fixing Primary Care, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Lack of Primary Care, Leave The Medical Profession, Leaving Primary Care, Long Hours, Newsweek, Pediatrics, Physician Burnout, Physician Salaries, Primary Care Crisis, Primary Care Doctors, Primary Care Shortage, Smaller Paychecks, Workplace Environment For Doctors
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There’s little question that the workplace environment for doctors is deteriorating. Especially in primary care, where physicians are arguably needed the most.
That’s why is so disheartening to read this Newsweek essay from pediatrician Karen Li, explaining why she left the field. Much of her piece can be attributed to the bad old days of managed care, where doctors were frustrated by the bureaucratic impediments placed before them. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
June 16th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: AP, Associated Press, British Medical Journal, Dr. Abraham Verghese, Dr. Richard Baron, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Healthy Lifestyle, Internal Medicine, Limiting Radiation Exposure, New England Journal of Medicine, Overtesting, Overtreatment, Physician Payment, Primary Care Doctors, Primary Care Shortage, Stanford Medical School, Staying Well, Too Many Tests, Too Much Testing, Unnecessary Testing, Unnecessary Treatment
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The Associated Press has been running a fantastic series of must reads with the latest article highlighting the consequence of too many imaging studies, like X-rays and CT scans, which are the biggest contributor to an individual’s total radiation exposure in a lifetime. Americans get more imaging radiation exposure and testing than people from other industrialized countries.
Reasons for doing too many tests include malpractice fear, patient demands for imaging, the difficulty in obtaining imaging results from other doctors or hospitals, as well as advanced technologies, like coronary angioplasty, which have increased radiation but avoid a far more invasive surgery like heart bypass. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
