May 12th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Health Tips
No Comments »
Recently I attended a CME course entitled “Dealing with Difficult Colleagues.” It was part of my medical malpractice company’s risk management series to teach physicians/nurses how to lessen our risk of being sued.
This lecture was given by Linda Worley, MD who is a psychiatry professor at UAMS. She is a good speaker, easy to understand, engages the crowd, and knows her subject.
My only complaint would be that it focused only the “angry” or “frustrated” physicians who exhibit unprofessional behavior and did not include the ones whom you suspect might be difficult due to impairment (illness, drugs, alcohol).
Difficult colleagues can impact a team (in office, OR, or hospital) by creating low morale, high staff turnover, inefficiency, decreased patient satisfaction, increased risk for poor patient outcomes, and increased risk of litigation.
Here are some of the A-B-C-D strategies given for handling “horizontal” hostility (or hostility handed from one person to another to the next in the team): Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
May 12th, 2011 by GruntDoc in Humor, True Stories
No Comments »
Laugh if you want, this helps my life, at least at work.
For months after starting my current gig, I would sometimes get to work with everything in all my pockets, and sometimes not.
I’d forget my ID, or my pen, or my phone, or my…well, there you go.
Then my OCD started to kick in, and, a Mental Checklist was born.
I now have to get 6 things, and set them on the table or I screw it up every time.
- ID
- stethoscope
- my phone
- work phone
- pen
- sharp stick (I’ve written about this before, but cannot find it. You should search an ER blog for the word ‘knife’ and then wonder why you bothered).
Last week I apparently went against the checklist, and halfway through the shift realized I’d lost my ID. Of course, after about a combined half-hour of fruitless search I gave up, and found it in my bag on the way out. Geez.
Yeah, it sounds stupid. But if it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid.
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
May 12th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News
No Comments »
NBC News obtained from sources in Pakistan a list of drugs found in Osama bin Laden’s medicine cabinet, after Navy SEALs left the scene of the raid and Pakistan officials took over the compound.
The list shows that bin Laden was a fairly typical–almost American–consumer of over-the-counter medications. There was nothing to indicate he needed dialysis or had diabetes or Marfan syndrome. He did have secondary osetoporosis, according to physicians who examined photos of him over time. (That’s an actual job, by the way, for physicians who’d want a career drawing up profiles about the health of world leaders or terrorists and feeding that information to intelligence analysts.)
Bin Laden stocked pain relievers for kids living at the compound, some home remedies for nerves and gastrointestinal upset, and Avena syrup, which is an extract of wild oats that’s been associated with enhancing sexual desire. Much hay has been made from those wild oats, such as who might have been taking them.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
May 12th, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
Largesse: (Form thefreedictionary.com):
1. a. Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner.
b. Money or gifts bestowed.
2. Generosity of spirit or attitude.
Two days into last week’s Heart Rhythm Society meeting, Propublica, an independent online investigative journalism-in-the-public-interest endeavor published a series of high profile articles as part of their Dollars for Docs series. Their marquee piece, published prominently in the USA Today, chronicled the strong financial ties (the ‘largesse’) that bind medical societies to industry. Reporters Charlie Ornstein and Tracy Weber highlighted the meeting’s ‘mansion’-sized exhibits, intense advertising, and the fact that most of the opinion leaders, officers of medical societies and guideline writers, the experts, have financial ties with medical device companies. More than half of HRS’ revenues came from industry.
Well.
I’ll offer four simple thoughts about all this conflict:
1. Nothing about industry influence at medical meetings is new news. I have been attending medical meetings for nearly twenty years, and industry has always been there. And here’s something you don’t read much about: it was far worse then. That’s all I will say about that. I won’t tell you how cool it was seeing the Charlie Daniels Band play at a medical meeting for free.
You can quibble with the extent of these current-day “cozy” relationships, or the glitz of exhibits at our gatherings, but you should also know that there is progress. The show is now out in the open. There is infinitely more disclosure. Smart people are now watching, tweeting, and reporting. Any doctor who’s been around more than a few years will agree that things have grown increasing more transparent. Which I believe is an improvement. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
May 12th, 2011 by DrWes in True Stories
No Comments »
It was interesting lunchtime conversation. A lone doctor listening to some highly experienced and capable nurses, reflecting on their work:
“If the patient’s nice, it’s a lot easier to want to go back in that room with them. Their reputation travels at the nurses station. But if they’re mean, well, it’s not as easy to go back in there, so I might not stop by as often.”
“I agree, it’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar.”
Words to live by.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
