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Latest Posts

Deep Thoughts: Wisdom From The ER

If you’re alleging assault, don’t get loud with the Officer there to take a report. Especially if you have Felony warrants.

*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*

Plastic Surgery Addiction: Tips For Surgeons

A few years ago I wrote about the “Suitability” of a patient for plastic surgery. I was reminded of this topic by two cases in the recent lay media:

The first involves Heidi Montag, 23, who in November had multiple surgical procedures and is being compared to Joan Rivers.

According to People, Montag even kept her family in the dark about her intended transformation to become her “best me.” Telling only her husband Spencer Pratt, Montag had a nose job revision, chin reduction, mini brow lift, Botox in her forehead and frown area, fat injections in her cheeks, nasolabial folds and lips, neck liposuction, ear pinning, liposuction on her waist, hips, inner and outer thighs, buttock augmentation and breast augmentation revision. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Twitter Recommendations For Doctors

Thanks to Medscape for including my take in their recent article, “Is Twitter a “must” for doctors?

I discuss some common sense tips doctors should follow while using Twitter:

1. Patient privacy is paramount. Do not discuss individual cases or provide patient advice via Twitter.
2. Use Twitter to point your patients to trustworthy online health information sources.
3. Use Twitter as a tool to promote your practice’s brand. More and more patients are using Twitter; those who do are likely to feel positive about their physicians using it as well. More than just a fad, Pho says that Twitter is here to stay and offers tremendous potential.
4. Remind your patients using Twitter: Be careful whom you follow. Anyone can sign up for Twitter claiming to be a physician. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

Tips To Become An Empowered Health Consumer

Empowered health consumers know how to take charge of their health and are proactive in their care.

Whether they’re surfing the web for health information, visiting their doctor or health care professional, or a patient in the hospital; empowered health consumers know how to question and communicate.

This blog is a continuation of the “He Said, She Said” post where I promised to give you tips about how to be an empowered health consumer.

Sabriya Rice, CNN Medical Producer had a similar idea.

Here are my 3 tips to help you become an empowered health consumer: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*

Ten Ways to Annoy Your Doctor

Top 10 lists are back!

I forgot about this kind of post, and a reminder by a reader is bringing them back.  They are really a fun and easy kind of post to write, so you may see a fair number of them (read: Rob is getting lazy).  I thought I’d start back with some suggestions for disgruntled patients (or gruntled ones, for that matter) to make their doctor’s day much worse.

1.  Require the doctor to keep things secret from your child or your elderly parent. Insist that they can’t know about their cancer, depression, ADD, or foot fungus.  Call the medication the doctor prescribes “vitamins.”  Alternatively, you can threaten your child by saying that if they don’t behave better, the doctor will give them a shot. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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