November 19th, 2009 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: ePatients, Gastroenterology, Online Health, open-source, Pediatrics, Physicians, Social Media, Tooth Pick, What To Do
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Last week someone posted on Twitter that they had swallowed a plastic toothpick. What to do? So they turned to the hive for help. “What should I do?” I thought as I read my Twitter feed. I was paralyzed in a way. I wanted to share my experience with hundreds of patients had swallowed pins, toothpicks and other pointy things. I specialize in just this sort of thing. But short of a random comment about gastric emptying, I kept to myself. Why? Because once I lend a hand I’m all in.
The simple offer of patient-specific advice constitutes a relationship in the eyes of the law. Once involved, I potentially share responsibility in whatever happens to someone. Crazy but true. It’s just a matter of time before slip-and-fall lawyers hold physicians accountable for helping out in the social sphere.
Doctors aren’t the only ones wearing targets. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
November 18th, 2009 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Checking References, Emergency Medicine, Evaluation, Hiring, Interpersonal Skills, Nursing, Personnel, References, Residency
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In a comment on my last post, faithful reader and frequent commenter Anonymous asked, “How do you get a good reading on interpersonal skills in a brief interview?”
That’s a good question. I suppose the simplest answer is, you don’t, at least not in any sort of comprehensive way. In some cases you can — a person who is warm, engaging, and able to hold up their end of a lively conversation in an interview setting is always going to be near the top of my list. But I make a lot of allowances for people in their interviews — they are nervous, know they are being watched and judged, it is a high-stakes encounter for them, and most people are a lot more constrained in an interview than they are in their day-to-day lives. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
November 17th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Domestic Violence, Emergency Medicine, Nursing, Screening, Women
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Browsing through my October ENA Connection the other day, I noticed the theme was “Government and Advocacy”. Came across an article on domestic violence. It’s a short article, written by Carrie Norman, RN, CEN, member of the Government Affairs Committee. The quotes below are taken from Carrie’s article.
“The CDC estimates that 37 percent of women who sought emergency department care were victims of domestic violence.”
What? 37 out of every 100 women I have triaged?
Seriously?
“Domestic violence victims are more likely to seek treatment for chronic and psychological conditions.”
Okay. But no way have I been taking care of victims of domestic abuse – I mean, hello, wouldn’t it be obvious? The hovering, overbearing abuser who answers all the questions for the patient? The bruises that aren’t explained by the story? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
November 16th, 2009 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion
Tags: Annoy, Doctor Patient Relationship, Interaction, Voicemail, Waiting Room
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Someone suggested I was being mean or making fun of patients in my previous post. Those of you who read this blog regularly (aside from needing serious psychiatric evaluation) are aware that I am quite sympathetic of my patients’ position in this relationship. Mine is a position of power, while they are coming to me with an admission of weakness. There is no doubt that I would rather sit in the doctor’s chair than that of the patient – and that’s not just because my chair has wheels on it.
My intent in writing this blog is to show the doctor/patient interaction through the eyes of a physician – a perspective most people don’t get very often. Even though I have lots to be thankful for in my profession, I still have things that regularly annoy me. For me to voice that annoyance in a light manner is meant to both educate people of my perspective, and entertain those who share it.
Enough of that. Now it’s time to move on to the strategies we physicians use to get back at patients for their shenanigans. You may not realize it, but we have a special class in medical school dedicated solely to the ways to annoy and embarrass our patients. It’s an art, really. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
November 16th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Congress, Healthcare reform, Insurance Companies, Self-Insured, Small Businesses
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Health care reformers say they want to improve the quality and affordability of health care.
It sounds good. But it’s not like there’s no one out there trying to do that. Employers of all sizes have been working on this problem for a long time, and they’ve come up with a great many interesting successes and failures.
So what’s the problem?
Well, it seems like reformers in Congress are completely uninterested in these things. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
