May 6th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in True Stories
Tags: Doctor-Patient Communication, Empathy, M.D. Anderson, Oncology, Patient Experience, Patient Satisfaction, What Makes A Good Doctor
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I had a WOW experience yesterday when I accompanied my wife to interview a new doctor for her. As some reader may know she is being seen by specialists at MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston for Stage IV lung cancer. She has not had a local oncologist for the past 6 years…but she does now. And we both love this guy!
You need to understand that I have been very underwhelmed by the local oncologists I had met up till now. I am sure they were clinically proficient…but as a group not a one could muster a smile….or any sense of interest or curiosity in my wife’s medical condition. I held out little hope that this new doctor would be any different.
After being ushered into the exam room, a Physician’s Assistant came into the room to get smart about my wife’s history and records (which she brought). Three things surprised me about the PA. 1) She was incredibly thorough actually reading the radiology reports and reflecting with my wife on what she learned, 2) her empathy – as she read the reports she actually used terms like “bummer” when she read how my wife developed pneumonia during her treatment, and 3) she faithfully summarized the results of her review to the doctor before he came in. In other words – the PA listened and heard what my wife shared with her!
Now enters the doctor. He has a warm smile on his face while he extends a hand to my wife and me. He says just enough for us to know that he has talked to the PA. He asks my wife to sit on the exam table and does a physical exam (also a rare event these days). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
May 4th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Denied, Drug-Seeking, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medical, Opiates, Phone Call, Phone Prescription Request, Tramadol, Vicodin
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9:00 pm:
Hello. It’s Mrs. Mumbledimumbler; I need the doctor to call me right away. My hip is driving me crazy. Please call me.
I listen to the message three times so I can sort of make out the name. The problem is that even though I think I can understand it, I don’t recognize it at all. But I call her because she said she needed me to call her right away.
Hello. I need you to call me in some tramadol right away.
“What was your name again?”
She repeats it clearly enough for me to confirm that I really don’t recognize it.
“Have I ever seen you in the office?”
No.
Let me get this straight: it’s 9:00 at night and your hip is hurting, so you call a doctor who’s a complete stranger and insist that they call you in a powerful painkiller without ever having seen you, taken your medical history, or examined you? I don’t think so.
“Um, I’m sorry ma’am, but I really can’t do that unless you’re an established patient in my office.”
Oh, okay; never mind.
I suppose I should count my lucky stars that she didn’t want vicodin.
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
May 3rd, 2011 by Happy Hospitalist in Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Bariatric Bathrooms, Bathroom, Hospitals, How America Is Changing, Modifications For The Obese, Obesity, Pregnancy
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America’s handicap bathroom definition has officially left the train depot for the next station. In America, we are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Oh yeah, and bariatric rated bathrooms. I snapped this picture of a bariatric rated “handicap bathroom” at the hospital Mrs Happy delivered Zachary
A part of me feels for folks who struggle through life outside their home in search of a toilet adequate enough to do their thing. Bathrooms and toilets simply aren’t made to hold the weight or size of 300, 400 or 500 pound people and neither are the hospital toilets.
Part of me wants to believe these bariatric rated bathrooms are for the oversized pregnant women on the floor. But the rational side in me knows otherwise. America is fat. And we have the bariatric rated handicap bathrooms to prove it.
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
May 3rd, 2011 by KerriSparling in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Children, Confessions, food, Hiding Broccoli, kids, Nutrition, Pediatrics, Tastes Change, Type 1 Diabetes, What Kids Eat
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Growing up, we had these large, potted plants in our dining room, within throwing distance from the dining room table. (Stick with me – this is an important detail.) The plants were big and had wide, draped leaves and they made the corner of the dining room look like a veritable jungle.
Also, these suckers were really convenient for hiding food.
When I was little, the “diabetic diet” school of thought was based on the exchange program. This meant that my meals were structured around my calorie needs and the needs of my (then) peaking insulin doses. An average dinner would include one meat exchange, two starch exchanges, a dairy exchange, a fat exchange, and a fruit exchange. (Exchange, exchange, exchange.) When I was on insulins like Regular, NPH, and Lente, I needed to consume these portions in proportion, or I would end up with a very high, or very low, blood sugar.
So my mother (bless her anecdotal-medical-degree’d heart) would carefully measure out these exchanges and that would be my dinner. EXACTLY one meat exchange, and those two starches, etc. She worked very hard to make sure my meals were calculated and well-balanced.
And in response, I would hide my vegetables – aka “gross things” – in the dining room plants. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
May 3rd, 2011 by DavidHarlow in News, True Stories
Tags: Facebook, HIPAA, Hospitals, Physician Fired, Physicians, Privacy, Privacy Violation, Rhode Island, Social Media
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In recent years many health care providers and managers have told me, time and again, that the health care world is accustomed to managing confidential patient information, and therefore doesn’t need much in the way of social media training and policy development. This week brings news that should make those folks sit up and take notice. A physician in Rhode Island, who was fired for a Facebook faux pas, has now been fined by the state medical board as well. The physician posted a little too much information on Facebook — information about a patient that, combined with other publicly available information, allowed third parties to identify the patient. The details of the story are available here and here.
The key takeaway from this story — and the Johnny-come-lately approach to health care social media taken by the Rhode Island hospital in question and the Boston teaching hospital that the Boston Globe turned to for comment — is that prevention is the best medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
