May 13th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, Medical Art, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Affected Synovium, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, CTS, DIP, Distal Interphalangial, Family Medicine, Finger Deformity, Fortune Teller, General Medicine, Hand Examination, Hand Lines, Hand Movements, Hand Puppets, Hand Shadows, Internal Medicine, Madam Linda, MCP, Metacarpal Phalange Joint, Nerve Damage, Neurology, Orthopedics, Osteoarthritis, Palm Reading, PIP, Primary Care, Proximal Interphalangial, RA, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Thenar Eminence
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Back to the subject at hand.
To those who are relatively new to this blog, one of the most popular…uh…tolerated series of posts has been my series on the physical exam. If you haven’t done so already, you may want to go back and read the posts to get in the proper mindset (or destroy enough brain cells).
Astute readers will note that doctors are not the only professionals to examine the hand.
Long before we knew anything about carpal tunnel syndrome or the thenar eminence, we had Madam Linda and her cohorts looking at the hand for signs of what the future will bring for the individual that happens to be connected to the hand in question. Just as stars and planets can have a peculiar interest as to whether a person will run into money, the lines on a person’s hand can foreshadow a person’s future. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
May 12th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Children, Discontent, ED, Emergency Department, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Room, ER, Family Medicine, Frustrated Physicians, General Medicine, Hang In There, Internal Medicine, kids, Lack of Primary Care, Leave, Primary Care, Primary Care Crisis, Primary Care Shortage, quit, Stop Practicing Medicine, Struggle, Uncertainty, Unhappy Doctors
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There is discontent in the house of medicine. So many physicians struggle. They seem to wade through uncertainty every day — uncertain about diagnoses, about pain, about disposition. We find ourselves uncertain about our jobs, our futures, our finances.
The consultants we call are uncertain about their practices and whether they can remain viable in the coming years as medicine evolves into something we may find unrecognizable.
Some days, as I enter my 17th year of practice, I don’t know if I can bear to walk around our little department for 10 or 20 more years, like some gerbil on an exercise wheel. I am uncertain if I can bear the weight of more entitlements, more confabulated stories, more regulations, and manufactured drama. I wonder if I can endure decades more of circadian assaults on my brain. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
May 12th, 2010 by AlanDappenMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays, True Stories
Tags: Adjustments In Care, Co-Pay, Cutting Healthcare Costs, Diagnosis, DocTalker, Doctor Office Delays, Dr. Alan Dappen, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, ESR, Face-To-Face, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Good Medical Decision Making, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare System, Internal Medicine, Medicare, Office Visits, Phone Call, Physical Exam, Prednisone, Primary Care, TA, Telemedicine, Temporal Arteritis
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A common problem in healthcare is the number of times that small adjustments are needed in a person’s care. Often for these little changes, a physical exam and face-to-face time have nothing to do with good medical decision making.
Yet the patient and doctor are locked in a legacy-industrialized business model that requires the patient to pay a co-pay and waste at least half of their day driving to and from the office, logging time in a waiting room, and then visiting five minutes with their practitioner for the needed medical information or advice.
Today I’d like to visit the case of a patient I’ll call “DD,” who I easily diagnosed with temporal arteritis (TA) through a 15-minute phone call after she’d spent four weeks as the healthcare system fumbled her time with delays and misdirection via several doctors without establishing a firm diagnosis. Read more »
May 11th, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: Academia, Administrators, Associate Professor, Biomedical Degrees, Cancer Biology, Dean of the Medical School, Dr. Nancy Andrews, Dr. Sally Kornbluth, Duke School of Medicine, Engineering, Faculty, Gender, Leadership Roles, Medical Schools, Medicine, News & Observer, Oncology, Pharmacology, Professional Positions, Ranks, Sarah Avery, Science, Woman of the Moment, Women
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I didn’t turn on the computer yesterday (yes, it was glorious), so I missed Mother’s Day coverage in our local newspaper. When we returned home, I was happy to see that on the front page of the print copy the dean of Duke School of Medicine, Nancy Andrews, M.D., Ph.D., was featured with her daughter in the lab on their “fun Saturdays” together.
Also cited and pictured in the article was Duke vice dean for research and professor of pharmacology and cancer biology, Sally Kornbluth, Ph.D., and her daughter.
Written by News & Observer science editor Sarah Avery, the article describes how women are increasing in ranks in biomedical degrees earned while still lagging at the associate professor level and up. This trend was cited specifically for faculty and administrators in basic science departments of medical schools, but is widespread in academic science and engineering. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
May 10th, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: Alone, Best Doctors, Confused, Consumer Business, Evan Falchuk, Frustrated, General Medicine, Healthcare Consumerism, Healthcare Consumers, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare in America, Healthcare reform, Healthcare System, Lost, Major Barriers, MBGH, Midwest Business Group on Health, Primary Care
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I [recently] gave a speech at the Midwest Business Group on Health’s (MBGH) 30th Annual Conference. The MBGH is one of the country’s leading organizations on healthcare, and its members include the leading innovators and thought leaders on healthcare in America. It was a privilege to present to them.
I spoke about why healthcare just isn’t a consumer business in spite of all of the effort to turn people into healthcare “consumers.”
At Best Doctors, we have a closeup view of what happens to people when they try to find their way through the healthcare system. It’s not a pleasant picture. Healthcare consumers –- if you can call them that –- are often lost, confused, frustrated, alone. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
