July 25th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Smartphones and tablets have reached 80% of physicians across all practice types, locations and years in practice, and 25% of users are “Super Mobile” physicians who use both types of mobile devices. This is far beyond the general population’s 50% adoption of smartphones and 5% adoption of tablets.
QuantiaMd, a free, online learning collaborative, released survey results that showed 44% of physicians who do not yet have a mobile device intend to buy one this year.
While younger physicians have higher adoption rates than older ones, current use of mobile devices by physicians longest in practice is above 60%, the survey showed. Among physicians with 30 years or more of practice, almost 20% already use a tablet device for work, and another 25% say they are extremely likely to do so. Physicians in their second decade of practice use Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
May 27th, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Humor, True Stories
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As the country wrestles with the cost of health-care, and as various media outlets address the role of emergency departments, I thought this little guide-might be helpful! I pulled it out of my archives from several years ago. Enjoy!
All too often, I discharge a patient and think to myself, What instructions can I give for this? Sometimes there are problems and questions that don’t have obvious solutions or answers. And in these situations, coming up with something useful for the patient to read at home is, to say the least, difficult. I’ve come up with a few based on some of the enigmas I see at Oconee Memorial Hospital.
Virginity evaluation: The emergency physician has not determined the status of your daughter’s virginity. In fact, the emergency physician does not wish to know the status of your daughter’s virginity. Furthermore, this doesn’t constitute an emergency. Unfortunately, no one has so far developed any simple home kits for making this determination. If you do, please notify the emergency department so that we can refer other families to your product. If you wish to know more about your daughter’s sexuality, try talking to her. If you found her naked in bed with a boy, you don’t need us.
Drug use evaluation: The emergency physician has not performed a random drug test on your teenage son. He has no complaints, is not suicidal, and has no apparent medical problem. This is not a family counseling center. If you want to know if he is using drugs, talk to him. Admittedly, he is a surly, unpleasant, disheveled, and foul-mouthed young man, whose multiple piercings make him look like a Stone Age erector set. But finding out if he is using drugs simply doesn’t constitute what we like to call an emergency. If he isn’t using drugs, be certain that repeated trips to the emergency department accompanied by screaming parents will certainly give him good reason to start.
Whole body numbness: It simply isn’t possible to be awake, walking, talking, and functioning and be entirely numb from head to toe. Admittedly, your ability to overcome the sensation of sharp needles and other painful stimuli is impressive, and may herald a future career with the CIA. For now, however, our physician has determined that the one thing likely to be numb on your person is your skull. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
May 13th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News, Research
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Much more practice is needed than gastroenterological professional societies currently recommend, concluded Mayo Clinic researchers in Rochester, Minn.
Current recommendations are that 140 procedures should be done before attempting to assess competency, but with no set recommendations on how to assess it, wrote the author of the research. But it takes an average of 275 procedures for a gastroenterology fellow to reach minimal cognitive and motor competency.
Now, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy is rewriting its colonoscopy training guidelines to reflect the need for more procedures and emphasize the use of objective, measurable tests in assessing the competency of trainees. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
April 11th, 2011 by Nicholas Genes, M.D., Ph.D. in Medical Art, Opinion
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I made my first PowerPoint presentation in 1997, and actually used Microsoft’s application to prepare 35mm Kodachrome slides for a carousel projector. Since then, I’ve seen thousands of PowerPoint presentations (and a few dozen Keynotes), and had a hand in creating many, myself.
Not since a conference a decade ago have I needed to make Kodachrome slides. Yet almost everyone still uses software built around printing slides, making a linear progression of topics. The impact of this format on human thought is substantial — PowerPoint was fingered as contributing to the Columbia disaster and has spawned a lot of discussion and linkage, even here, regarding effective communication (probably all conceived of during dull PowerPoint presentations).
While compelling presentations are possible with Powerpoint (using the Lessig Method, for example) those kinds of talks require planning, and a mastery of the material. And some great stock photos. My experience in school and training is that the PowerPoint is often made as the presenter is learning the content and so is bound to lack the organization and expertise necessary for a Lessig-style presentation. People procrastinate about public speaking, and when crunch time comes it’s just too easy to flip through a a textbook, call up a Pubmed abstract, and churn out another verbose PowerPoint slide. With practice, it’s possible to whittle down the number of words and bullets per slide — but who has time for that? Much easier to read the talk from the slide itself. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*
March 27th, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
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My column in Sunday’s Greenville News.
‘Medical education shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.’
I was talking to a young man who is starting medical school this fall. His tuition at one of South Carolina’s newer schools will be $40,000 per year. That’s admittedly on the high end. On the low end, it runs a paltry $33,000 per year. And this is all after college, of course. He and others like him are taking out loans to the tune of $240,000 to pay for their medical educations. Another young woman I recently met is in residency and her loan payments are around $2000 per month.
Thinking back on my own medical education, it seems my tuition was around $5000 per year. But then, what with all the Saber Toothed Tigers, Neanderthals and stone surgical tools, things were simpler.. These days, I don’t know how students will do it.
The thing is, American healthcare is expensive. But so is medical education. As we embark on this century, what are the odds that physicians with $240,000 loans for medical school will be able to offer inexpensive care? What are the odds they will enter low-paying specialties? They might be interested in charity care at first, but when the first loan payments come due all the good intentions in the world won’t change the fact that lenders want their money back. Likewise, it won’t change the hard reality that it will be extremely hard for these young physicians to pay for their student loans, buy a house, have a practice (pay malpractice) and raise a family; at least without making a large amount of money in their practices. And then there’s this striking (but seldom mentioned) fact: student loans are non-bankruptable. Student loans are friends for life, or until payed off. Whichever comes first. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
