Looking through the open cockpit door as I boarded a Southwest flight, I noticed the pilot and copilot huddled over a clipboard. I had plenty of time to watch; a delay in boarding caused by a passenger trying to shove a steamer trunk into an overhead bin caused our line to grind to a halt. […]
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Tag Archives: health care
The Doctor Will See You NOW!
January 26, 2011 
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If you’re looking for the front door of a hospital and assume it’s under the grand awning, straddled by ornate Corinthian columns and under a brightly lit sign reading “St. Elsewhere,” you’d be wrong. Most hospital administrators might not like to admit it, but the front door is really through the emergency room. By far, […]
Continue readingEMR and the Falling Patient
January 19, 2011 2 Comments
Is Mom at risk of falling? Electronic medical records (EMR) efficiently capture physician’s keystrokes—yes or no—to this question and tuck it along side other data about our so–called medical lives. The physician’s judgment has to take into account many factors: is the patient elderly and ‘frail,’ do they have an orthopedic or neurological problem causing […]
Continue readingThe Neverending Story
January 2, 2011 1 Comment
We’re hearing a lot about the use of electronic medical records (EMR) in medicine. The government is all for it—providing financial incentives for those with EMRs and disincentives for those still relying on paper charts to make their way through the world. Most health professionals, especially new physicians in training, simply can’t imagine a world […]
Continue readingShare and Share Alike
December 15, 2010 1 Comment
She looked at me through red-rimmed eyes. Whether from lack of sleep, or from constantly rubbing her frontal sinuses, her eyes were a giveaway that she was ill. “My ears are full, my sinuses are clogged,” she began, “my throat is raw and I can’t stop coughing and this (as she pointed to her head) […]
Continue readingDollars for Donuts
December 8, 2010 0 Comments
Those crazy Brits. It seems that health authorities in the United Kingdom recommended against using the PSA (prostatic specific antigen) blood test to screen for prostate cancer. The UK National Screening Committee began looking at the results of several major studies and determined that the blood test generated more false positives—the test suggesting cancer, when […]
Continue readingWhen I’m 64
December 5, 2010 0 Comments
“Will you still see me next year?” Her question threw me, as I thought the visit had gone well. She’s been my patient for the past four years. She originally came to me when her earlier physician decided to join a concierge practice. His new medical practice doesn’t take insurance and patients pay cash if they […]
Continue readingOn This Eve of Giving Thanks
November 24, 2010 0 Comments
We’re living in thoughtful times. Everyday in healthcare I am humbled by the care, compassion and thoughtfulness exhibited by the staff at our hospitals and clinics. They don’t show this because it’s prescribed in a handbook, or policy and procedure. They’re not after a high rating on the next patient care survey. They don’t need […]
Continue readingUnintended Consequences
November 21, 2010 1 Comment
Joe is a guy that never really cared about his health. He is overweight, according to any objective standard, and always attributes this to “bigger muscles” (it isn’t). He dutifully comes in once a year, but admittedly only because of his wife’s insistence. She worries about his lack of exercise, his growing abdominal midsection (“muscle”) […]
Continue readingAccounting for Taste
November 14, 2010 0 Comments
Today I’m feeling like the lyrics in the country song: “Can’t explain, there’s something strange about the early Fall. It’s a comfort leaving me without a care. I remain but everything around me hears the call. And tonight, I feel a change in the air.” Only the change that I’m feeling is the sweeping health reforms brought to […]
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