Practice Fusion Violates Some Physicians’ Trust in Sending Millions of Emails to Their Patients
When Practice Fusion asked their users to prepare for some new “patient communication tools”, the outcry from many doctors was for Practice Fusion to stop focusing new features on patients and instead focus on unsolved physician requests that were made years previous. What I found when I started digging into Practice Fusion’s focus on patients through its launch of Patient Fusion was a much more important story where Practice Fusion’s actions were violating some physicians’ trust and might have issues with HIPAA.
The story starts in early April 2012. With little fanfare (only a generic blog po...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - August 22, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: John Lynn Tags: EHR Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR HealthCare IT HIPAA General Medical Privacy Chief Medical Officer CMO Patient Fusion Physician Ratings Physician Reviews Practice Fusion Source Type: blogs
Nurses and State Health Exchanges
This article originally appeared on Campaign for Action (Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care)
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - July 22, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Advocacy Nurses Patients Policy Source Type: blogs
Interprofessional education: The answer to better healthcare communication
by Dr. Courtney H. Lyder
In a recent editorial in The New York Times, Theresa Brown wrote about how clinical hierarchies and the impact of conflict between nurses and physicians can be deadly for a patient. She said "when doctors and nurses don't get along, it's the patient who suffers."
A lot of studies show that poor communication is linked to adverse patient outcomes. For example, of the 1,243 sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission in 2011, communication problems were identified in 60 percent.
By its very nature, healthcare is complicated; it is a rapidly changing environment and unpredictable. Professional...
Source: hospital impact - July 5, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
The primary care debate requires defining terms
Any debate requires a careful definition of terms. How can we converse if our words are vague or misunderstood. This wonderful paragraph makes the concept clear.
“If you wish to converse with me,” said Voltaire, “define your terms.” How many a debate would have been deflated into a paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms! This is the alpha and omega of logic, the heart and soul of it, that every important term in serious discourse shall be subjected to the strictest scrutiny and definition. It is difficult, and ruthlessly tests the mind; but once done it is half of any task. Will Durant, The...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - June 30, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Using healthcare's hidden curriculum for good
by Alicia Caramenico, FierceHealthcare
With medical school graduates beginning residencies next month, a recent article in Slate painted a harrowing picture for physicians-in-training.
In it, Danielle Ofri, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine, describes the "hidden" medical school curriculum that sends future doctors into the field jaded and embittered. The lessons taught include healthcare hierarchies, prioritizing efficiency over patient care and the hypocrisy of doctor-patient communication.
The article raises concerns about how the hidden curriculum can hurt empathetic care. Those unin...
Source: hospital impact - June 21, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Why don't Indian patients ask their doctors questions ?
During the consultation, I encourage my patients to ask
me questions . However , I often find that some of them are quite reluctant to
do so , and I think this is for two reasons - one which has to do with patients;
and the second which has to do with doctors .
Because most doctors don’t encourage questions, patients
are not used to being told by the doctor to ask them questions ! This is why
when I tell them to ask questions , they find this little bit startling and unusual
and they are not sure how to respond . In a perfect world, doctors would routinely encourage patients to ask queries,
so they could c...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - June 17, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: patients doctor patient communication doctors patient questions Source Type: blogs
Are patients stupid ?
Sometimes doctors get very upset by how poorly informed their patients are . They find it very frustrating when patients know so little about their medical problems ; and they feel that the time they have to spend on explaining the basics of human anatomy and physiology to their patients could be better used making the right diagnosis or doing treatment procedures. They believe that every patient should have enough background knowledge about their own body – and cannot understand why patients are not willing to take the time and trouble to learn more about their most precious possession – their own body. The general pe...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - June 12, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: doctor patient communication stupid patients caring doctors Source Type: blogs
Heart Rhythm Society Meeting 2013 — Hyde Park Lecture
Hi Everyone,
This may be the longest I have ever gone between posts. As all bloggers do, I will tell you the reason.
I was preparing for my invited lecture at HRS 2013. It was a Hyde Park Talk. This means you stand in one of the busiest parts of the convention, and just start talking. You have a mic and the more you talk, the more people gather around. It’s different.
My topic was ICDs, goals of care and end-of-life conversations.
Here is the thing that put me under so much pressure:
The names on that list are the biggest in the field. These talks are usually (and after mine will probably revert back to being) give...
Source: Dr John M - May 10, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John Source Type: blogs
Why don't you ask your Doctor ?
I enjoy providing a free second opinion as an IVF expert . I find patients are often confused and need an expert to provide them with an unbiased, objective second opinion, so they know they are on the right track. However, I sometimes get frustrated when patients ask me questions which they should be asking the IVF doctor who is treating them ! After all, it is their doctor’s job to provide answers – and often I do not have enough specific medical details to be able to provide intelligent answers.
So why do patients turn to me for a second opinion ? Why do they find it hard to ask their own IVF doctor these basic que...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - May 6, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: doctor patient communication malpani complaints dr malpani complaint Source Type: blogs
The other side of the stethoscope
Everyone acknowledges that improving doctor-patient communication will go a long way towards improving healthcare. A lot of misunderstandings occur because of communication gaps, which is why there has been a lot of emphasis on teaching doctors how to communicate better with their patients . Doctors are being told to learn how to be empathetic ; and they attend courses on how to improve their soft skills ; and are exhorted to improve their health literacy skills , so that patients understand what they are talking about .
However, I think patients also need to understand what their doctor feels and thinks - after all, ...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - May 1, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: doctor patient communication Empathy empathetic patient Source Type: blogs
Aligning incentives to achieve health IT adoption
Pursuing a career in health care was inspired largely by my family – whether they know it or not. My father was a biochemist and neuroscientist, my mother a dietitian and health care researcher, a sister is a physical therapist, and a cousin is a pharmacist. My path in health care has been different from theirs, with an emphasis on health care strategy, innovative business and program development, and executive leadership of both non-profit and for-profit companies.
In my experience, one of the biggest challenges in improving the performance of our health care system is to reduce the wide and inexplicable variations ...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 24, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: HIT/Health Gaming EHR health IT HIE Source Type: blogs
TechTool Thursday 025
TechTool review of drawMD – Anesthesia & Critical Care by UrologyMatch on iPad Website: – iTunes - Website drawMD is a beautiful app for the iPad that allows you to explain procedures and illnesses to your patients by using customised diagramatic visual aids. The app provides templates for anatomical explanations and you can customise these by adding extra stamps or your own drawings.Clinical ContentThe app has 11 basic background pictures to get you started and any details can be added on top of this. These include: arm, chest, spine, heart and abdomen.To illustrate an example (see the images below)...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 18, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tessa Davis Tags: eLearning Emergency Medicine Featured application iOs iPad Reviews Source Type: blogs
TechTool Thursday 025
TechTool review of drawMD – Anesthesia & Critical Care by UrologyMatch on iPad
Website: – iTunes - Website
drawMD is a beautiful app for the iPad that allows you to explain procedures and illnesses to your patients by using customised diagramatic visual aids. The app provides templates for anatomical explanations and you can customise these by adding extra stamps or your own drawings.
Clinical Content
The app has 11 basic background pictures to get you started and any details can be added on top of this. These include: arm, chest, spine, heart and abdomen.
To illustrate an example (see the images ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 18, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tessa Davis Tags: eLearning Emergency Medicine Featured application iOs iPad Reviews Source Type: blogs
How to earn your doctor’s respect
The commonest complaint patients have about doctors is that they do not take the time or the trouble to explain to them what's happening . Doctors are notorious for cutting off patients right in the middle of a sentence. They also use a lot of jargon, thus obfuscating matters and confusing patients. This causes patients to become frustrated and unhappy , because they feel doctors are not being transparent ; and are not willing to share information.
It's not that doctors are trying to hide information from their patients . Doctors are busy people , who obviously want to increase their throughput , and see as many patients...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - April 16, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Health Ask an Expert In vitro fertilisation patient Question The Doctor (film) Services Physician Source Type: blogs
Being Schooled
An interesting phenomenon is occurring in media circles these days. No doubt others have seen it, too.
Lately, doctors are being schooled by the media.
From how to learn empathy, to improving communication with patients, the breadth and depth of what we should do for our patients is endless. Why, some even have our own colleague "experts" tell us how we should really do things.
These (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - April 10, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Tags: narcissistic rage hostile dependency media Source Type: blogs
