Tag: doctors
News (68)
July 18, 2012 9:52 am
‘July Effect’ Revisited: Why Experienced Docs May Not Deliver the Best Care (TIME)
“Don’t get sick in July.” This is a common refrain in teaching hospitals. It’s driven by the academic calendar: July is when the new interns — fresh out of medical school — start work. It’s also when the senior trainees, the residents and fellows, graduate to supervisory, self-managed patient care roles. In other words, it’s when everyone is most inexperienced. The worry is that this inexperience leads to mistakes.
July 13, 2012 1:09 pm
Turkish doctors face fines for elective caesareans (The Guardian)
Itil is concerned that doctors might not be ready to opt for surgery once the law is in place: “How can a law decide when a patient requires a certain treatment? This is against medical ethics, and the art of medicine in general. Turkey will set a very negative example with this law.”
July 12, 2012 12:35 pm
Patients reluctant to disagree with doctor's advice (Chicago Tribune)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Although most people who participated in a new survey preferred making medical decisions together with their doctor, the majority said they wouldn’t speak up if what they wanted conflicted with their physician’s recommendations.
July 11, 2012 6:50 pm
Professionalism: Social media mishaps (CMAJ)
One of the primary reasons medical professionalism is lagging online is that the doctors who use social media the most are from a different generation than those who know the most about maintaining the reputation of the profession. “People who have a blog or are on Twitter and Facebook tend to be on the younger side. People with more wisdom about professional boundary issues tend to be on the older side. There is a bit of a gap there and a lack of training and mentorship in this area,” says Dr. David Brendel, a psychiatrist practising in the area of Boston, Massachusetts, and a sought-after educator on matters of medical ethics and professionalism (drdavidbrendel.com).
July 9, 2012 9:08 pm
Hospitals 'letting patients die to save money' (The Telegraph)
Hospitals may be depriving elderly patients of food and drink to hasten their deaths as part of cost-cutting measures to free up bed space, leading doctors warn. The six doctors are experts in elderly care and wrote the letter in conjunction with the Medical Ethics Alliance, a Christian medical organisation. They say that many members of the public have contacted them with examples of inappropriate use of the pathway, which is implemented in up to 29 per cent of hospital deaths.
June 29, 2012 6:15 pm
Your health care is covered, but who's going to treat you? (CNN)
When the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act in a 5-4 ruling Thursday, the American Medical Association was quick to release a statement in support of the “historic” decision that will give more people access to health coverage. But (and there’s always a “but”) medical professionals across the country are wondering: When an additional 32 million Americans get medical insurance, who exactly is going to treat them?
June 26, 2012 3:53 pm
How Doctors Can Ethically Harness the Placebo Effect (Discover Magazine (blog))
In a recent commentary in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Cory Harris and Amir Raz of McGill summarize the data from recent surveys of physician use of placebos in clinical practice in several nations. They find that prescribing drugs like antibiotics or supplements like vitamins as placebos is now a widespread practice. This is happening without any public guidelines or regulations for placebos’ use, which raises an important question: How, exactly, should physicians be using the placebo effect to help patients?
June 18, 2012 6:54 pm
Is honesty the best policy when giving placebos to patients? (American Medical News)
Surveys of physicians in recent years have found that doctors frequently recommend placebo treatments to mollify patients and describe them in deceptive ways, despite ethical guidelines urging them to steer clear of those practices. Now questions are being raised about whether it may be OK for physicians deceptively to use placebos in certain situations and what should count as a placebo.
June 7, 2012 1:58 pm
Should doctors withhold bad news? (Salon)
As doctors, we are — by any ethical standard of modern medicine — obligated to tell our patients the truth. (Richmond’s physician does tell Wright that he’ll tell the councilman he is paralyzed.) But study after study of physician behavior suggests that’s not always the case — especially when the details are about grave diagnoses like paraplegia, cancer or dementia. In reality, the Truth between doctors and patients has always beenmorally hazy territory.
June 6, 2012 12:06 pm
The Doctor Will See You In Walmart (InformationWeek)
Officials at Telemed Ventures told InformationWeek Healthcare that Walmart recently began a pilot program at its Bensalem, Penn., store that allows doctors to examine patients with minor illnesses. The retailer also plans to offer telehealth services at its supercenter in Willow Grove, Penn., which is currently under construction. Walmart hopes to expand the service to other stores across the country, eventually offering primary care services to millions of Americans at a lower cost than traditional clinics and small physician practices.