Complications & Collateral Damage
“Collateral damage: the effect of patient complications on the surgeon’s psyche”...
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Author: SkepticalScalpel
Words Mean What I Say They Mean
Apparently a few years ago someone decreed that “non-compliant” was no longer a politically correct term to describe patients who did not take their medicines or follow instructions. The newspeak to use is now “non-adherent.”...
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Overuse of Proton Pump Inhibitors is Expensive & Dangerous
Let’s talk about proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). These drugs, successors to the innovative H2...
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An Error Occurred. Suspend All Surgery in the U.S.?
Here is an extreme “system error” type of response to an event that seems to have been a human...
Read More68% of Physicians Unsatisfied with Affordable Care Act
A recent survey from staffing company Jackson Healthcare found that 68% of physicians gave the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a C, D, or F grade, believing that the ACA will neither decrease the cost of healthcare nor improve...
Read MoreWhat Happens When a Doctor Is Paged
It’s 8:15 p.m. I am at home. My beeper goes off, and I check it instantly. It reads, “555-1212” [Number changed to comply with HIPAA regulations]. It’s the inpatient surgical floor. Within 10 seconds, I have dialed the number....
Read MoreAre You Afraid to Be Wrong?
Richard Smith, a former editor of the British Medical Journal, wrote a thoughtful essay offering guidance for new medical students. (Full text here.) Although it was published in 2003, someone just brought it to my attention via...
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Wide Disparity in Hospital Charges for Appendicitis. Why?
If you wonder why hospitals are under fire for outrageous and often baffling accounting practices,...
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