September 15th, 2011 by Davis Liu, M.D. in News, Opinion
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One of my favorite movies is Back to the Future starring Michael J. Fox. I must admit after reading this New York Times piece, titled “When Computers Come Between Doctors and Patients” I have to wonder.
Am I fortunate to be coming from the future? Because I completely disagree with Dr. Danielle Ofri, again.
I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to work in a medical group which has deployed the world’s largest civilian electronic medical record and have been using it since the spring of 2006. I don’t see the issue quite as much as Dr. Ofri did. It is possible that she examined patients in her office with a desk rather than an examination room.
If placed and mounted correctly in the exam room, the computer actually is an asset and can improve the doctor patient relationship. It is part of the office visit. The flat screen monitor can be rotated to begin a meaningful dialogue between the patient and me. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
September 10th, 2011 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Opinion
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I’ve been reading A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring written by famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Wooden spends half of his book thanking the people who had a powerful influence on his life, coaching, philosophy, and outlook on life. Important people included his father, coaches, President Abraham Lincoln, and Mother Theresa.
Yes, President Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa.
Though clearly he could have never met the former and didn’t have the opportunity to meet the latter, Wooden correctly points out that as individuals we can be mentored by the writings, words, and thoughts of people we have never and will likely never meet.
Which seems like the most opportune time to thank one of my mentors, founder and former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs.
Now, I have never met nor will I ever meet Steve Jobs. Lest you think I’m a devoted Apple fan, I never bought anything from Apple until the spring of 2010. Their products though beautifully designed were always too expensive. I’m just a little too frugal. I know technology well enough that people have mistaken me for actually knowing what to do when a computer freezes or crashes. Yet, the value proposition was never compelling enough until the release of the first generation iPad. Then the iPhone 4. Finally the Macbook Air last Christmas.
No, thanking Steve Jobs isn’t about the amazing magical products that have changed my life as well as millions of others. It’s more than that. What he has mentored me on is vision, perspective, persistence, and leadership. Nowhere is this more important than the world I operate in, the world of medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
September 8th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Medical Art, Opinion
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Often the simplest solutions to problems are the best. So it would seem when it comes to the impact that increasing patient trust in physicians could have on many of the intractable challenges that face the health care industry everyday like non-adherence, lack of involvement, poor health status, dissatisfaction and so on.
I explore the link between patient trust and outcomes in the following infographic I curated and designed. What surprised me is how a patient’s level of trust in their doctor, like so much of what I talk about in this blog, boils downs to the patient’s perception of the physician’s ability to communicate: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
September 1st, 2011 by EvanFalchukJD in Health Tips
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Billionaire Teddy Forstmann has apparently been diagnosed with a serious form of brain cancer. There’s a tragic twist to the story: according to Fox Business News, Forstmann believes that for more than a year, he had been misdiagnosed with meningitis.
ABC News wonders:
How could such a misfortune befall a billionaire —- a man able to afford the best doctors, best technology and the most sophisticated diagnostic tests?
They’re missing the point. Misdiagnosis happens with shocking regularity – as much as Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at BestDoctors.com: See First Blog*
August 31st, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
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Sometime around 1998 in the Texas Medical Center:
DrV: (enters exam room) Hey, How are you? I’m Bryan Vartabedian (extends hand).
Father: (arms crossed, smiling, leaning against wall) Oh I know who you are, Doc. And I know where you went to school, where you’ve lived, if you’ve been sued and a few other things. And I’m fine, by the way.
DrV: Um, Okay. (Shakes hands with father. Looking to child, scruffing his hair). And this must be Caleb.
An odd moment, for sure. When it happened I didn’t know what it was about. After similar encounters I understood. It was about where patients found themselves in the early days of the information revolution. And there was the father who wheeled into the exam room two large boxes of printouts perched on a dolly. Inkjet validation of his role in the decision about his son’s surgery.
These situations illustrate Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
One of my favorite movies is Back to the Future starring Michael J. Fox. I must admit after reading this New York Times piece, titled “When Computers Come Between Doctors and Patients” I have to wonder.
