Recent Posts
Medical Innovations for the Real World – the Universal Anesthesia Machine
What happens when you take a $75,000 anesthesia machine from a hospital in the developed world and drop it in a 3rd world hospital that suffers an average of 16 power outages a month and has no spare parts?
What seems like a really cool charitable donation to a needy 3rd world country is not only useless … is downright dangerous. It is NOT GOOD when your anesthesia machine stops working while your belly is wide open. The machines break down and end up in a back room of the hospital in a First World Medical Technology Graveyard.
Medical School Burnout is a negative influence on the Attitudes and Professionalism of the Majority of US Medical Students
Burnout was found to be present in the majority of over 2000 US medical students surveyed in 2010 and leads to measurable negative consequences as reported in a Mayo Clinic supported study..
This study reported in JAMA surveyed 4400 medical students with a 61% response rate for 2682 respondents.
Here are the highlights:
Tags: Physician Burnout
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Healing the Healers … My Story …
The mother of the dead baby sat in her husband’s arms and simply asked “why?” over and over through the Vietnamese interpreter. I had no way to answer the question. I didn’t know why. There was nothing to point to. No defect in the child or mother or the actions taken in L&D.
All I could do was say “I am so sorry” … for your baby, for you … for everyone involved.
It was a nightmare … losing a baby during childbirth in my family practice residency. It was THE thing each of us dreaded the most. What happened afterwards was even more devastating in the long run. What happened was … nothing.
Tags: Physician Burnout
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Antibiotics for a Virus – Effective Communication of “NO”
This sketch from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life movie first released in 1983 – nearly 30 years ago now … is just as funny as the first time I saw it.
the Doctor will SKYPE you now
Telemedicine, video technology and the need for speed collided in my brain today when I was researching a local Urgent Care Startup and found their “the doctor will skype you now” visit page.
Energy Vampires and Physician Burnout – stop the downward spiral
I recently heard that term for the first time on a popular online Physician Website. Energy Vampires are those patients (you know the ones) who seems to suck your life energy away every time you are near them.
Tags: physician wellness, Physician Burnout, Physician Coaching, physician stress
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Disney World in FL, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield teamed up recently to create an exhibit called “Habit Heroes”, for the Disney World resort. Its purpose was to encourage kids to improve their health by choosing healthier foods – and reducing costs (and increasing profits to insurers) by doing so.
Death with Dignity
Peter Goodwin, a Family Practice Doctor who championed Death With Dignity laws in Oregon for many years, took his own life on Sunday using drugs obtained under a law he promoted.
Goodwin was diagnosed in 2006 with a rare brain disorder, corticobasal ganglionic degeneration, that progressively robbed him of his movement. He has talked publicly about what he would do if he received a terminal diagnosis. In his words …
“I don’t want to go out with a whimper. I want to say goodbye to my kids and my wife with dignity. And I would end it,”
