I am very blessed. The hospital where I practice, while concerned with patient satisfaction, does not worship at its altar. That is, so far our administrators seem to understand that people will occasionally be angry or unsatisfied, and that such dissatisfaction is within the realm of real life. We still have people storm out of the emergency department, prattling on about lawyers and lawsuits, promising to go to another hospital in the future (which we heartily encourage). On the whole, we do a bang-up job of keeping the right people happy, and an adequate job of making the right people unhappy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
It’s the fastest growing “specialty” service in medicine: hospitalist medicine. These are the doctors who limit their practice to the care and management of patients admitted to the hospital. It has been wildly popular because it adds a shift-like work schedule to medical care for physicians while supposedly preserving their personal life. It also moves patients through the hospital faster, shortening length of stays. As one of our more esteemed hospitalist bloggers likes to boast: it’s a “WIN-WIN!”
At least until the hospitalist service gets too busy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
I took this picture a couple of years ago during a trip to Iowa. This is the old Clarinda Asylum for the Insane. The name was changed for obvious reasons a long time ago to the Clarinda Treatment Complex. I grew up in Iowa, so let me tell you a few things about my home state. Among other things, Iowans grow corn, raise hogs, and sometimes elect people to the Iowa State House who need a little schooling about mental illness and the needs of the mentally ill.
Iowa currently has four state hospitals for the mentally ill. Now that number is being cut down to three. Iowa State Legislators, who have no clue about what they’re doing, ordered the head of the Department of Human Services, Charles Krogmeier, to shut down one of the state’s mental hospitals. The Clarinda facility and three other hospitals were put on the chopping block. Krogmeier didn’t want to shut down any of the hospitals. He said that the move wouldn’t save money or improve patient care, but the politicians gave him no choice. Mr. Krogmeier suggested the elimination of the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute. Read more »
When a patient comes in with an infection related diagnoses, efforts are often undertaken to keep that pathogen from spreading to other patient rooms. In British hospitals they’ve banned ties and long sleeves. At Happy’s hospital we place a dedicated stethoscope in the patient’s room which is then shared by all health care workers caring for the patient. And that stethoscope shall remain forever in that patient’s room.
At Happy’s hospital, the dedicated stethoscopes look like they were made in a Chinese toy factory. Read more »
Ed Bennett is the Director of Web Strategy at the University of Maryland Medical System and the real expert of how hospitals use social media. He has just published his recent slideshow focusing on this issue.
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I took this picture a couple of years ago during a trip to Iowa. This is the old Clarinda Asylum for the Insane. The name was changed for obvious reasons a long time ago to the Clarinda Treatment Complex. I grew up in Iowa, so let me tell you a few things about my home state. Among other things, Iowans grow corn, raise hogs, and sometimes elect people to the Iowa State House who need a little schooling about mental illness and the needs of the mentally ill.
