July 30th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Attractive Physician, Doctor-Patient Connection, General Medicine, Good-Looking Doctor, Handsome Mechanic, How You Pick Your Doctor, Medical Humor, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Physical Features
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I found this sign while driving past a mechanic’s shop the other day. Of course, now I get it. How do women pick their mechanic? This sign explains it all. Just look for the “Handsome Mechanic ‘Now On Duty'” sign. I wonder if it works for doctors, too.
Be honest. If your doctor had exceptionally good-looking physical features by most people’s standards, would you be more likely or less likely to keep him or her as your doctor? Would you be more likely or less likely to think of them as highly intelligent? Would you be more likely or less likely to sue them when something goes wrong?
We know that babies respond to good-looking parents differently even as newborns. So why would we expect adults to respond to handsome mechanics and doctors any differently?
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
July 30th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Humor, News, True Stories
Tags: Cardiac Arrest, Cardiology, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Cardiovascular Health, Chris Wuebben, CPR, George Linn, Heart Attack, Heart Patients, History of Heart Problems, Medical Humor, Order Pizza Delivered, Paramedic, Pizza Deliveryman, Returned From Iraq, The Associated Press
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… because the pizza deliveryman might just save your life. From The Associated Press:
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Ordering a pizza may have saved George Linn’s life.
Linn’s wife says he had just gone into cardiac arrest Friday when the pizza deliveryman knocked on the door of their Colorado home to bring their order. Kami Linn says she opened the door to “some burly-looking dude” and immediately asked for help.
The deliveryman, Chris Wuebben, happened to be a paramedic recently returned from Iraq.
Kami Linn says Wuebben performed CPR on her husband and revived him. Other paramedics who later arrived then took over. George Linn remains hospitalized in the intensive care unit.
Kami Linn says her husband has a history of heart problems.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
July 28th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: A Patient's Death, A Patient's Funeral, Chronic Disease, Chronic Illness, Compassion, Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctor-Patient Connection, Doctors Are Falliable, Doctors Are Humans, Doctors Are Imperfect, Doctors Have Limits, Failure For A Doctor, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pain and Suffering, Patient Dies, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Primary Care, Sympathy, To Feel With People
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I went to a patient’s funeral this past weekend. I generally don’t do that for people whose relationship I’ve built in the exam room. It’s a complex set of emotions, but invariably some family member will start telling others what a nice doctor I am and how much the person had liked me as a doctor. It’s awkward getting a eulogy (literally good words) spoken about me at someone else’s funeral. This patient I had known prior to them becoming my patient, and his wife had been very nice to us when we first moved here from up north.
But that’s not why I am writing this. As I was sitting in the service, the thought occurred to me that a patient’s funeral would be considered by many to be a failure for a doctor. Certainly there are times when that is the case — when the doctor could have intervened and didn’t, or intervened incorrectly, causing the person to die earlier than they could have. Every doctor has some moments where regrets over missed or incorrect diagnosis take their toll. We are imperfect humans, we have bad days, and we don’t always give our patients our best. We have limits. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
July 28th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: Altruism, Altruistic Behavior, Brooklyn, Chose Not To Help, Emergency Medical Care, Emergency Medical Technicians, Emergency Medicine, EMTs, Eutisha Rennix, Failed To Help, FDNY, Fire Department of New York, General Medicine, Good Samaritans, Healthcare Professionals, Jason Green, Medical Professionals, New York City, On A Break, Patient Dies, Seizure
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A few weeks before Christmas, Eutisha Rennix, a pregnant restaurant worker, collapsed while working. She started having a seizure and her co-workers were screaming for help.
There were two EMT workers in line at Au Bon Pain shop in Brooklyn and they refused to help. They told onlookers to call 911 and they walked out of the store after picking up their bagels, presumably because they were on a coffee break. An ambulance was called and the 25-year-old woman and her baby girl died shortly afterward. She is survived by a 3-year-old son. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
July 28th, 2010 by SteveSimmonsMD in Better Health Network, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays, True Stories
Tags: Becoming A Doctor, DocTalker Family Medicine, Dr. Steve Simmons, Future Doctors, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Joining the Medical Profession, Medical School, Medical Students, Medicine as a Career of Choice, Plans To Become A Physician, Primary Care, Primary Care Shortage, Primary Care Wednesdays, Young Doctors
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As a physician, I’ve had several people ask my “honest” opinion of their plans to become a doctor. I know what my response is to this question, but I wonder what others in my profession would answer. Would your response depend, in large part, on who’s doing the asking — could you answer your own child as you would someone you just met? Be careful, your answer to this question, if honestly given, might shine an unsettling light on your own feelings about your current career choice.
Last week I spoke with a college junior working to fulfill her lifelong plans to become a physician. She told me about a recent conversation with her own doctor where she shared her plans to go to medical school and he’d tried to dissuade her. She couldn’t recall a single cogent reason given for avoiding the medical profession, yet it appeared to me that his odium had negatively imprinted her image of the medical profession, which is a shame. At this time more than ever, we –- doctors and patients alike — need to encourage the most talented of our youth to join the medical profession. Read more »
