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 5th, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Dogma-Based Medical Models, EBM, Evidence Based Medicine, Hard Science, MCAT, Medical College Admission Test, Medical School, Medical Students, Pre-Med Students, SBM, Science Based Medicine
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One of the recurring themes of this blog, not surprisingly given its name, is the proper role of science in medicine. As Dr. Novella has made clear from the very beginning, we advocate science-based medicine (SBM), which is what evidence-based medicine (EBM) should be. SBM tries to overcome the shortcomings of EBM by taking into account all the evidence, both scientific and clinical, in deciding what therapies work, what therapies don’t work, and why.
To recap, a major part of our thesis is that EBM, although a step forward over prior dogma-based medical models, ultimately falls short of making medicine as effective as it can be. As currently practiced, EBM appears to worship clinical trial evidence above all else and nearly completely ignores basic science considerations, relegating them to the lowest form of evidence, lower than even small case series. This blind spot has directly contributed to the infiltration of quackery into academic medicine and so-called EBM because in the cases of ridiculously improbable modalities like homeopathy and reiki, deficiencies in how clinical trials are conducted and analyzed can make it appear that these modalities might actually have efficacy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
July 29th, 2010 by Kimball Atwood IV, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: AANP, American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, CAM For Smarties, Dr. Josephine Briggs, Emunctorology, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Lack of Evidence, Medical Quackery, Medications From Plant Sources, NACCAM, National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Naturopathic Doctor, Naturopaths, Naturopathy, NCCAM, ND, Non-Evidence-Based, Pseudomedical Pseudoprofessional Organizations, Pseudomedicine, Pseudoscience, SBM, Science Based Medicine, Thomas Kruzel
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Josephine P. Briggs, M.D.
Director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Dear Dr. Briggs,
As you know, we’ve met twice. The first time was at the Yale “Integrative Medicine” Symposium in March. The second was in April, when Drs. Novella, Gorski and I met with you for an hour at the NCCAM in Bethesda. At the time I concluded that you favor science-based medicine, although you are in the awkward position of having to appear ‘open-minded’ about nonsense.
More about that below, but first let me address the principal reason for this letter: it is disturbing that you will shortly appear at the 25th Anniversary Convention of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP). It is disturbing for two reasons. First, it suggests that you know little about the tenets and methods of the group that you’ll be addressing. Second, your presence will be interpreted as an endorsement of those methods and of that group—whether or not that is your intention. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
July 27th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Bad Backs, Benefits Vs. Harms, Christopher Snowbeck, Diagnostic Radiology, Doctor-Patient Encounter, Driving Up Healthcare Costs, Gary Schwitzer, General Medicine, Good Medical Decision Making, Healthcare Cost Drivers, Healthcare Decision Making, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare reform, Healthcare spending, HealthNewsReview.org, Imaging Tests, Jeremy Olson, Lower Back Pain, Medical Imaging, Medical Overuse, Medicare Data, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota, Minnesota Hospital Association, MRI, Neurology, Orthopedics, Overtreatment, Rate of Utilization, Shared Decision-Making, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Too Many Medical Tests, Too Much Testing
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Kudos to Christopher Snowbeck and the St. Paul Pioneer Press for digging into new Medicare data to report that the state the newspaper serves is out of whack with the rest of the country in how many expensive MRI scans are done on Minnesotans’ bad backs.
Snowbeck artfully captures the predictable rationalization and defensive responses coming from locals who don’t like what the data suggest. Because what they suggest is overuse leading to overtreatment. So here’s one attempt a provider makes to deflect the data:
“The Medicare billing/claims data, which this report is generated from, would not capture conversations between a patient and provider that may have addressed alternative therapies for lower back pain,” said Robert Prevost, a spokesman for North Memorial Health Care. “It’s important to recognize the limitations of this data.”
No, data don’t capture conversations. But wouldn’t it be fascinating to be a fly on the wall during those many patient-physician encounters that led to an MRI to see what level of truly informed shared decision-making (if any) took place? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
July 26th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed
Tags: Caring For Patients Independently, Clinical Experience, Creighton University, DNP, Doctor Nurse Practitioner, Dumbing Down, Educational Standards, Family Practice, General Medicine, Healthcare Education, Internal Medicine, Medical Entrance Exam, Medical School, Medical Thesis, Medical Training, Nebraska, No Physician Oversight, Nursing Academics, Nursing Education Requirements, Nursing Profession, Omaha, Post-Graduate, Primary Care, The Future of American Healthcare
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I’m embarrassed to say this, but the nursing profession is making a mockery of healthcare education by downgrading the post-graduate degree process. The nursing education requirements in the advertisement seen here are an embarrassment to the nursing profession.
Mrs. Happy pointed out an advertisement from her nursing magazine offering advanced nursing education opportunities. This advertisement for the doctor nurse practitioner (DNP) training track at Creighton University is a mockery of the rigorous educational requirements necessary to care for patients independently. Check out the nursing education requirements on their advertisement: No entrance exam required? No clinical experience? No thesis required? What has this world come to?
These are professionals who are going to be taking care of patients in less than two years. Some states allow NPs to manage patients independently with no physician oversight. That is just plain scary. This is an embarrassment to the foundation of anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, neuroanatomy, microbiology, pharmacology, genetics — and on and on — required to care for patients independently. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
