Change and the Case for Being a Medical Conservative:

When my favorite podcaster, the economist Tyler Cowan, asked Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel what nonobvious advice he would give to medical students today, the answer surprised me. The famous bioethicist said:  I do think that this is probably the most exciting time in American medicine in a century, since really about 1910, 1920. And it causes a lot of anxiety for people, so I want to be sympathetic to that…. …We would prefer no change. But I do think, if you can go with the change, this is a super exciting time when lots of things are changing, and you can have a real positive impact in shaping the future, probably for at least half a century.”  I am not precisely sure what change he refers to, but you can feel change.  Electronic records have replaced paper charts;More patients contact me via electronic sources; I often crowdsource (with colleagues across the globe) difficult cases in real time;Advanced practice clinicians are replacing physicians, especially docs without a specific procedure or skill;Clinicians increasingly serve as translators of medical evidence. But one thing that will never change about the practice of medicine is that there is a right way to do it. Three colleagues and I recently described the right approach. It is The Case for Being a Medical Conservative.[1] My co-authors: Andrew Foy is an academic cardiologist at Penn State. He got it started with an outline. Adam Cifu, an academic internist ...
Source: Dr John M - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: blogs