August 8th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Medblogger Shout Outs, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Adam Marcus, Dr. Ivan Oransky, Embargo Watch, Gary Schwitzer, Health News Blogs, Health News Coverage, HealthNewsReview.org, Medblogs, Niche Blog, Retraction Watch, Reuters Health, Science Journalists, Science Reporting, Scientific Information Embargoes, Scientific Information Retractions
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Ivan Oransky, M.D., executive editor of Reuters Health, somehow found time a few months ago to launch his first blog, Embargo Watch — with the tagline: “Keeping an eye on how scientific information embargoes affect news coverage.”
Now, as evidence he either doesn’t sleep or has roots in Transylvania, Oransky the Impaler launches a new blog, Retraction Watch along with partner Adam Marcus. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 7th, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Quackery Exposed
Tags: Contracts To Deter Doctors, Doctors Speaking Out, Doctors Who Quit, Gagging Orders For Doctors, General Medicine, Healthcare Legislation, London, Medical Errors, Medical Incompetence, Mistakes In Patient Care, Protecting Physician Whistleblowers, Taxpayers' Money, The Independent, U.S. Healthcare System, Whistleblowing Doctors
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From the article “Millions spent on doctor ‘gagging orders’ by NHS, investigation finds” in the “Health & Families” section of The Independent in London:
Hospital doctors who quit their jobs are being routinely forced to sign “gagging orders” despite legislation designed to protect NHS whistleblowers, it is revealed today.
Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money are being spent on contracts that deter doctors from speaking out about incompetence and mistakes in patient care.
Wow. I’m not being snarky here — I really have no idea: Does this happen in the U.S?
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
August 7th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Annals Of Internal Medicine, Doctors' Diagnosis, Failure to Individualize Care, Family Medicine, Fixing Primary Care, General Medicine, Medical Diagnosis, Patient Disclosure, Patient Loads, Patient Social Factors, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Pay Doctors By The Hour, Primary Care Doctors, Primary Care Economics, Saul Weiner, Social Situations of Patients, Socioeconomics, Underlie a Patient's Symptoms
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A recent study from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that doctors often discounted a patient’s social situation when making a medical diagnosis.
Lead researcher Saul Weiner “arranged to send actors playing patients into physicians’ offices and discovered that errors occurred in 78 percent of cases when socioeconomic concerns were a significant factor.”
Evan Falchuk, commenting on the results, provides some context:
It’s hard to expect even the most gifted clinician, trying to make it through yet another week of a hundred or more patient encounters, to get these difficult decisions right. Too much of the context of a patient’s care gets lost in the endless churn of patient visits that the health care system imposes on doctors.I suspect this is enormously frustrating for doctors, although it’s worse for patients. What the researchers call a failure to “individualize care,” a patient might call “not being paid attention to.” It’s a dynamic that anyone who’s been ill has probably seen firsthand.
These findings are entirely unsurprising. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
August 6th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Humor, News, Research
Tags: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Defibrillator, ED, Emergency Department, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Room, ER, Medical Humor, Medical Technology, QRS, Shay Carmon, Toast/e/r
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This clever and funny Toast/e/r (“ER” included in the name) is by designer Shay Carmon. Note the QRS complex grill:
Concept page: Toast/e/r…
(via Gizmodo)
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
August 5th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Apple iPad, Contortionist, Course Content, Environmently Friendly, Ergonomic Nightmare, First-Year Medical Students, General Medicine, Medical Education, Medical School, Not User-Friendly, Stanford School of Medicine, Steve Jobs, Technology and Medicine, Textbooks, Too Heavy
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Stanford plans to provide all first-year medical students with a 32 GB WiFi iPad. The students are already familiar with them, the tablet enhances how they view course content and take notes, it allows better access to textbooks, and it’s environmentally friendly.
Good thing they’ll become doctors, because one blogger says the iPad is an ergonomic nightmare. It’s too heavy to use for long stretches, and even Steve Jobs has to be a contortionist to balance it while reading. (Scope-Stanford School of Medicine, Suite101.com)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
