May 14th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Health Tips, Opinion
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Lots of smart people over the years have been trying to figure out why people stop taking their medications within the first 12 months. Within the first 12-months of starting a new prescription, patient compliance rates drop to less than 50%. This rate is even lower for people with multiple chronic conditions taking one or more prescription medications.
If these medications are so important to patients, why do they just stop taking them? It defies common sense. Sure issues like medication cost, forgetfulness, lack of symptoms, and psychosocial issues like depression play a role in patient non-compliance. But there also something else going on…or in this case not going on.
The problem is that doctors and patients simply don’t talk much about new medications once prescribed. Here’s what I mean. Let’s say that at a routine check-up a physician tells a patient that he/she wants to put them on a medication to help them control their cholesterol. The doctor spends about 50 seconds telling the patient about the medication. The patient nods their head takes the prescription and boom…the visit is over. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
May 13th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Opinion
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A mother called the office today. Her daughter had breast implants placed by a surgeon in another state and the two ladies are not happy. They called for a second opinion.
It is dicey dealing with situation like this as a second opinion consultant. The first question is whether or not the first surgeon did anything wrong. A botched boob job is not any boob job that the patient or mother do not like. “Botched” indicates fault. Sometimes there is fault on the part of the surgeon and sometimes there is not. Sometimes patients ask for surgery on the cheap and decline breast lifting or other associated surgery that might have made things look better. Sometimes the patient choose a surgeon of limited skill or qualifications. Sometimes infection, cigarette smoking or scarring can distort an otherwise good procedure. It is not always clear.
The second question for a consultant is whether or not the patient wants him or her to fix things or just wants to return to the original surgeon. No smart consultant wants to end up embroiled in a patient’s lawsuit with the original doctor. It is a waste of time and time is money.
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
May 13th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News, Research
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Much more practice is needed than gastroenterological professional societies currently recommend, concluded Mayo Clinic researchers in Rochester, Minn.
Current recommendations are that 140 procedures should be done before attempting to assess competency, but with no set recommendations on how to assess it, wrote the author of the research. But it takes an average of 275 procedures for a gastroenterology fellow to reach minimal cognitive and motor competency.
Now, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy is rewriting its colonoscopy training guidelines to reflect the need for more procedures and emphasize the use of objective, measurable tests in assessing the competency of trainees. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
May 13th, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in True Stories
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Ordinarily, I’m wary of all things dental. I had too many cavities as a child. As a young man, I had a root canal done on the wrong tooth, followed immediately by the correct one. My dental memories are a bit tainted. Not an indictment of the entire profession so much as a kind of PPSD…post procedure stress disorder.
But when I moved to South Carolina, my wife and I found a wonderful general dentist in Dr. Ronald Moore, in Seneca, SC. Rarely would I ascribe the words ‘painless dentistry’ to one of the practitioners of that esteemed profession. But I have to give credit where credit is due. His hygenists, and Dr. Moore, have all been the pinnacle of gentility. Even my children aren’t afraid to go for cleanings. And when I need anesthesia, well Dr. Moore is an artist with a needle. Heck, if he were a tattoo artist, I’d think about it…
Sadly, when I was recently in his office for a crown, he felt that I first needed a root canal. The very words inspire vague nausea and general panic. From my own experience, ‘root canal’ is right up there with ‘waterboarding,’ ‘fingernail removal’ and ’shark attack.’ Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
May 13th, 2011 by Glenn Laffel, M.D., Ph.D. in Health Policy, Health Tips
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Like everybody else, physicians are expanding their online personal identities. At the same time, they are trying to comply with codes of conduct that help consumers trust them and their profession.
There’s no problem so long as the personal online activities of physicians don’t jeopardize their obligations as professionals, which means that there is a problem, unfortunately.
In a recent study for example, 17% of all blogs authored by health professionals were found to include personally identifiable information about patients. Scores of physicians have been reprimanded for posting similar information on Twitter and Facebook, posting lewd pictures of themselves online, tweeting about late night escapades which ended hours before they performed surgery, and other unsavory behaviors.
As I mentioned Monday, medical students and younger physicians who grew up with the Internet have to be particularly careful, since they had established personal online identities before accepting the professional responsibilities that came with their medical degree. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Pizaazz*
