November 17th, 2011 by EvanFalchukJD in Opinion
Tags: Business, Business Decisions, Cool, Entrepreneur, Failure, health care, Northeastern University, Success
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What does it mean to be an entrepreneur in health care?
Twice in the last two weeks I had the honor of speaking at Northeastern University’s Health Sciences Entrepreneurs Program. It’s a terrific program, dedicated to fostering the creation of health care businesses by helping the people who build them figure out how to do it. That it exists is a testament to how strong the American spirit of entrepreneurship really is – and how the 21st century economic engine is going to be health care.
But the hundreds of students and alumni who attended the events already knew this. What they wanted to know were the answers to more practical questions – Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at BestDoctors.com: See First Blog*
November 17th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Opinion
Tags: Cancer, Downsides, Guidelines, Gynecology, Intervention, Mammography, Medical, Prostate, PSA, Recommendations, Screening, Specialists, Tests, Urology
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Cancer. Just the word is scary. Actually, that’s the problem. Once you say that word, the average American will do anything — ANYTHING! — to just get it out of my body!!! Whether or not they have it, whatever the actual numerical chances of their ever developing it, no chance for detecting or treating it should ever be neglected. EVER! Ask any Med-mal lawyer. Better, ask any twelve average people off the street (i.e., the ones who are going to wind up on a jury). “The doctor didn’t do every possible test/procedure, and now the patient has CANCER? String him up!”
Hence we have the new guidelines for PSA testing. (Given that many patients with prostate cancer have normal PSAs and lots of patients with high PSAs don’t have prostate cancer, it doesn’t seem semantically correct to call it “prostate cancer screening”.) Surprise! Turns out that not only does PSA testing not save lives, but that urologists don’t really care. Certainly not enough to stop recommending PSAs to just about everyone they can get their hands on.
Nor do breast surgeons have any intention of modifying their recommendations, not only in light of new understandings of the limitations of mammography, but even as Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
November 16th, 2011 by Jessie Gruman, Ph.D. in Opinion, Research
Tags: American Cancer Society, Cancer, cancer recurrence, Cancer Survivor, Institute of Medicine, Jessie Gruman, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente, Lance Armstrong, Oncology, Patient-Centered Medical Home, post-treatment, Primary Care Physician, Treatment
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It is completely understandable if you associate the term “cancer survivor” with an image of glamorous, defiant Gloria Gaynor claiming that She. Will. Survive. Or maybe with a courageous Lance Armstrong in his quest to reclaim the Tour de France. Or perhaps it is linked for you with heroic rhetoric and pink-related racing, walking and shopping.
Phil Roeder from flickr.com
I never call myself a survivor because when I hear this term, I recall my experience following each of four cancer-related diagnoses. It has not been triumphant. It’s been terrifying and grueling. It hasn’t taken courage to get through the treatment. It’s taken doing the best I can. I am not still here because I am defiant. I am here because I am lucky, because I am cared for by good clinicians who treated my cancers based on the best available evidence, and because on the whole, I participated actively in my care. But mostly I am here because each successive diagnosis was made as a result of being followed closely with regular checks and screenings and because my doctors responded effectively to questionable findings and odd symptoms.
There are 12 million Americans living today who have been treated for cancer. Not only are we at risk for recurrences but, as Dr. Julia Rowland, director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute, notes, “Research shows that there are no benign therapies. All treatment is potentially toxic and some therapy may itself be carcinogenic. Today, people are living long enough to manifest the health consequences of efforts to cure or control their cancer.”
Who amongst our clinicians is responsible for helping us watch out for those consequences for the balance of our lives? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
November 16th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Back Pain, Big Breasts, Breast Reduction, Chest, Complications, Cosmetic Surgery, Cost, Decision, Disagreement, Infection, Large, Operation, Plastic Surgery, Problem, Procedure
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Jeanette’s story:
For as long as I can remember my nickname has been ‘Jen Big Boobs’. Friends joke that the first thing they see when I walk through the door is my chest. I know they mean no harm – just as I know that my husband, Steve, adores them – but it’s reached the point where they have got to go. They simply dominate my life. Whether I’m trying to get comfy in bed or walking down the street I can’t forget them for a moment. They are always there, getting in the way of everything I do. In primary school I was the first in class to wear a bra. So when my pals changed in the classroom for PE, I’d change in the loos. Big boobs weren’t a huge surprise – they run in my family. But it was embarrassing and I didn’t like being different. They’ve singled me out for loads of attention. Buying bras has always been and still is a nightmare. I have to order specially-made ones that are ugly and cost up to £50. By the time I was 20 I’d already gone to see my GP about a reduction operation. He was sympathetic but said I was too young for surgery.
Steve’s story:
I love my wife’s big boobs and don’t want them reduced. I don’t mind admitting that Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
November 15th, 2011 by Shadowfax in Opinion
Tags: Balance, Burnout, Career decisions, Doctors, Family, home life, Lifestyle, Long Hours, Overworked, Physician, Priorities, Progress, Retirement, Shift, Skeptical Scalpel, Tired, Work
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Doctors are, famously, workaholics. That’s just the way it’s been forever, at least as far back as my memory goes. You work crazy hours in residency, you graduate and work like a dog to establish your practice or to become a partner in your practice, and then you live out your career working long hours because there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. I remember, growing up in the ’80s, that my friends whose parents were doctors were latchkey kids whose dad (usually the dad, then) was never at home when we were hanging out in the rec room playing Atari.
Yeah, Atari. Look it up, kids.
Not much had changed by the time I went to medical school. There was recognition of the fact that burnout was an issue — that divorces, alcohol abuse and suicides were more common among physicians than in other professions. The unspoken implication was that being a doctor was difficult and stressful, which increased the risk of these consequences of an over-burdened professional life. These stresses were accepted as part of the turf, as a necessary part of “being a doctor.” It wasn’t optional, and indeed, most physician teachers that addressed the matter chose to sublimate it into a mark of nobility. Being a physician was a calling and a duty, and a physician must gladly subordinate his or her own happiness and well-being to the service of their flock.
But things have changed, or at least a slow shift is in progress. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
