August 25th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
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Perhaps the biggest challenges facing the next generation of physicians is information overload. The problem: Unlimited information on limited human bandwidth. There’s simply too much to read and see. For physicians the problem is compounded by a perceived responsibility to keep up.
But the idea that we actually can have our hands around everything is reflective of a time when doctors actually could know all there was to know. Many of today’s physicians were raised at a time when a paper inbox and a pile of journals represented their only information inputs. But things are very different now.
Here are a few ideas on controlling your inputs: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
August 15th, 2011 by Berci in Opinion
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Recently, I’ve had an interview with a national newspaper and the woman who performed the interview told me she was surprised that I seemed to be the first doctor in her life who was happy about patients using the internet. Well, she surprised me with this statement as I’ve never thought about that before. But she must be right. There are many doctors who get upset when they find out the patient tried to find information online. They are frustrated as they don’t even know how to use these online tools and have no idea how to help the patients in this perspective.
Myself, I’m pretty much happy about it. I love to hear patients Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
August 13th, 2011 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in News, Opinion
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Great blog piece in Forbes by Tom Gillis — VP of Cisco’s Security Technology Business Unit — on how hospital Chief Security Officers (CSOs) are having issues with managing physician use of mobile devices at work. He had dinner with the CSOs of five major healthcare providers, who stated their biggest headache is how Doctors love their iPads and want to use them for work.
Gillis is in the business of enterprise security, and he gives an insider’s perspective on mobile device use in the hospital setting. He writes about the fundamental shift in how physicians are consuming content. Before the proliferation of mobile devices, hospitals had complete control of managing the “endpoint” — how the content was consumed. This is no longer the case, and since these personal devices have created a new paradigm, IT teams are left playing catchup.
It was refreshing to hear Gillis talk about how the solution Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
August 11th, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
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The American College of Graduate Medical Education has enacted further restrictions on resident work hours. No more than 80 hours per week of work for resident physicians, averaged over one month. And no more than 16 hours of continuous work for first year residents (24 after that), which includes patient care, academic lectures, etc.
Whenever they do this sort of thing, everyone seems excited that it will make everyone safer. After all, residents won’t be working as much, so they’ll be more rested and make much better decisions. It’s all ‘win-win,’ as physicians in training and patients alike are safer.
I guess. The problem of course is that after training, work hours aren’t restricted. There is no set limit on the amount of work a physician can be expected to do, especially in small solo practices, or practices in busy community hospitals.
I understand the imperative to let them rest. I understand that fatigue leads to mistakes. I get it! But does the ACGME get it? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
August 7th, 2011 by DrWes in Opinion
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This morning in the Chicago Tribune’s business section appeared an article entitled “Just What the Doctor Ordered” that included an interview with Dr. Howard Bauchner, the new editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). He plans to pursue a strategy of “intelligent innovation” for the journal:
…looking for ways to get information to doctors and consumers through several new platforms, such as social media, video and other forms. “If you look at TED or Big Think, they have been experimenting with video clips,” Bauchner said. “I could imagine having some of our authors do video clips where they speak about the meaning of their research for eight or 10 minutes, and then that’s easily linked to a smart phone.”
He also wants shorter on-line version of articles that condense the topic to 500 words from the typical 2,500- to 3,000-word articles not too dissimilar, I suppose, to the abstract.
Which leads to the inevitable end result: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
Perhaps the biggest challenges facing the next generation of physicians is information overload. The problem: Unlimited information on limited human bandwidth. There’s simply too much to read and see. For physicians the problem is compounded by a perceived responsibility to keep up.
