Just Pain
I'm working up a couple of research proposals having to do with chronic pain. This subject is actually challenging clinically and philosophically, which means it also very challenging for physician-patient communication and relationships.There used to be great controversy over the very existence of fibromyalgia, or the usefulness of the label. It just meant people with unexplained, widespread pain. People also would present with unexplained localized pain, such as low back pain or temporofacial pain. They'd get MRIs and what not and doctors could find no physiological explanation. Many people viewed these situations as hav...
Source: Stayin' Alive - November 14, 2014 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
More Focus on Surprise Findings in Medical Tests
Emergency room imaging scans can unearth medical problems unrelated to a patient’s initial complaints. Health care providers are stepping up their tracking of and communication with patients about such ‘incidental findings,’ which are rarely followed up. (Source: WSJ.com: The Informed Patient)
Source: WSJ.com: The Informed Patient - November 11, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: FREE Source Type: blogs
Dying in America: IOM Recommendations and Next Steps for Stakeholders
On September 17, 2014, the Institute of Medicine released the report Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life, in which an expert committee identified “persistent major gaps in care near the end of life that require urgent attention from numerous stakeholder groups.” The committee made comprehensive recommendations in the areas of care delivery, clinician–patient communication and advance care planning, professional education and development, payment systems and policies, and public engagement and education.
On November 10, 2014 (1:00...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - October 16, 2014 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope Tags: Health Care medical futility blog syndicated Source Type: blogs
Patient portals have a future as a patient engagement tool if clinicians are on board and encourage their use
I wrote my first patient portal site, built into my first EMR software, back in 1998. At that time I mistakenly thought that portals would take off and patients would embrace them. What I quickly learned was that patient portals aren’t really portals in the sense of Yahoo! or Google but enterprise software’s customer-facing front-ends. The enterprise software in this case is of course an EHR and the customers are the patients. If patients are the consumers then their expectations are that they can conduct “business” with the practice through the portal. This means messaging, getting questions answer...
Source: The Healthcare IT Guy - September 30, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Shahid N. Shah Tags: Meaningful Use Patient Self-Management Usability patient physician portals patient portals Source Type: blogs
Why Bad Doctors Are Like Bad Writers: The Curse Of Knowledge
Steven Pinker, the Harvard psychologist and best-selling author, has a wonderful essay in the Wall Street Journal about why smart people are so often bad writers. Although the essay doesn’t touch on the subject of doctor-patient communication, every single word applies to doctors and the way they communicate (or fail to communicate) with their patients. Here’s the core of Pinker’s argument. Read the rest of it. And if you’re a doctor and you don’t see how this is relevant to how you communicate with your patients then you need to think again. … Click here to read the full More…...
Source: CardioBrief - September 27, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics bad writing communication Steven Pinker Wall Street Journal Source Type: blogs
Integrating Digital Literacy into Medical Education: AMMC Interview
I was asked by the Association of American Medical Colleges to share my opinions about digital literacy with their readers. I was glad to participate and one line of mine got quite an attention through their social media channels: “Today’s medical professionals must be masters of different skills that are related to using digital devices or online solutions.” I remain confident that is it the case today. They also included the thoughts of one of the best clinician bloggers worldwide, Bryan S. Vartabedian, M.D from the 33 Charts blog.
An excerpt from the interview:
Bertalan Meskó, M.D., Ph.D., a medical futurist w...
Source: ScienceRoll - September 1, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó (MD, PhD) Tags: Interview Medical education Medicine Medicine 2.0 digital digital literacy Source Type: blogs
How To Tell Someone That She Is Dying
Elizabeth’s breast cancer had already spread to her bones and was now invading lymph nodes in her right armpit, causing painful swelling that kept her up at night. Today, however, as she walked into her oncologist’s office, Elizabeth felt like … Continue reading → (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - July 11, 2014 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Peter Ubel Tags: Health Care Critical Decisions Doctor patient communication Medical Decision Making Peter Ubel syndicated Source Type: blogs
If Costs Are Unknown, Can Doctors Still Talk About Them?
I have been writing a bit lately on the need for healthcare providers to talk with their patients about healthcare costs, if for no other reason than to enable patients to determine whether they can afford to pay for the healthcare that … Continue reading → (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - June 17, 2014 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Peter Ubel Tags: Health Care Doctor patient communication health policy healthcare costs Medical Decision Making Peter Ubel syndicated Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Cardiology EHR Selection Checklist for Small Practices
Software developers have been working hard the past couple of years to be ready for the heightened interest in EMR/EHR systems. The initial focus was on "generic" systems that could work in various practices. Basic functionality isn't always enough to impress medical offices – especially medical specialists such as cardiologists. The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, a nonprofit group that vets EHR systems for compliance with performance standards, has also noted that a one-size-fits-all approach to electronic health records does medical practices a disservice.
Knowing what features you need and...
Source: EMR EHR Blog for Physicians - June 6, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Alok Prasad Source Type: blogs
Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 25th March, 2014.
Here are a few I have come across the last week or so.Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.General CommentSocial Media and the regulation of doctors communication with patients has been causing some consternation. Interesting to see how long it will be before AHPRA decides to properly fix the issue.Other than that the non e-Health minister announces an e-health app and we have some other interesting positioning of various e-health infrastru...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - March 25, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Dr David More MB PhD FACHI Source Type: blogs
Funny ICD-10.2 Codes Never Before Discovered!
UPDATE: ICD-10 has been delayed until October 1st, 2015.If you have never had a chance to cruise through the 68,000 ICD-10 codes set to go live on October 1st, 2014, you're missing out on some great humor. What does ICD stand for? ICD stands for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Medicaid.gov provides a nice brief review of the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. If you do a Google search for funny ICD-10 codes, you'll find some healthcare related websites claiming to describe the best, funniest, strangest, most outrageous and colorful codes in the b...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - February 17, 2014 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
Social Media in Clinical Practice: Chapter 16, Social Bookmarking
When I realized Springer made the individual chapters of my book, Social Media in Clinical Practice, available, I thought it would be useful for future readers to get some insights about each chapter one by one.
Here is the short summary of what you can read about and an excerpt of the sixteenth chapter, Social Bookmarking:
Communication with patients and colleagues and being up-to-date in a field of interest can be time consuming and solutions saving time and effort are very much needed in the medical profession. It is also a common case that medical professionals have to work on different computers, laptops or mobile...
Source: ScienceRoll - February 15, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó (MD, PhD) Tags: Medicine Medicine 2.0 Social Media in Clinical Practice Web 2.0 Source Type: blogs
Interdisciplinary? Or serial monotherapy?
This report, somewhat old now but still relevant, found that IDTs are better for mental health of members and there is lower staff turnover. This report, from 2013, finds that the data are not yet clear about cost effectiveness.
What seems evident is that the more complex a patient’s problems, and the more chronic, the greater the need for interdisciplinary teams, and the more cost effective the outcomes.
For more information on interdisciplinary teams – the District of Columbia Area Health Education Center has an excellent module on IDT
Open access to the Canadian Pharmacists Review article on interdiscipli...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - February 2, 2014 Category: Occupational Therapists Authors: adiemusfree Tags: Interdisciplinary teams Professional topics Research Chronic pain healthcare pain management teamwork Source Type: blogs
Conference on Communication, Medicine and Ethics (COMET) in Switzerland
As member of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) I receive a monthly newsletter with relevant Public Health news from the region. I have previously criticized EUPHA for their lack of focus on public health communication (see blog post “European Public Health Association and the missing communication category”). I maintain my critic, but must also congratulate them when public health communication does sneak its way into for example their newsletter.
Thus, in the January 2014 newsletter under Upcoming Courses and Conferences attention is given to the Conference on Communication, Medicine and Ethics ...
Source: Biomedicine on Display - February 2, 2014 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Nina Bjerglund Andersen Tags: public health science communication COMET Communicating Risk and Uncertainty conference Conference on Communication Conference on Communication Medicine and Ethics doctor-patient communication EUPHA European Public Health Association hea Source Type: blogs
More unintended consequences of healthcare reform
Conclusion
The Affordable Care Act was created to enhance quality and access, lower cost, secure coverage for the un or under insured, extend the life of Medicare, and prohibit denial of coverage based upon pre-existing conditions. The law of unintended consequences has proven once again that intent does not equal impact and that healthcare leaders will need to continue to innovate their healthcare systems on the ground to ensure they can respond to economic and quality exigencies in a responsive and adaptive way while the private and public sectors seek better tools to guide the necessary changes that must occur to creat...
Source: hospital impact - December 5, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
