Category: Hospital-Based Medicine

Think of diagnostic excellence as playing smooth jazz

When we think about clinical reasoning, most talks focus on diagnostic errors and the reasons for those errors. The legacy of Kahneman and Tversky focuses on errors and the many named mistakes we make. We focus on avoiding errors, but their work and to…

A critical discussion is needed about planned death

“Planned death.” When you put it like that, this can only mean one of two things: suicide or murder. For most of us in medicine, the very idea of “planned death” seems safely outside our purview. After all, the bulk of medicine is concerned with stavin…

When should physicians read the House of God?

Many consider the novel the House of God, written by Samuel Shem (pen name for Stephen Bergman), to be a must-read for any physician or soon-to-be physician. A fictionalized account of his internship year, the book details how the accumulated stress, f…

The entire medical education system needs sweeping change

In May 2019, headlines of a study out of University of Michigan hit the lay media: “New Doctors’ DNA Ages 6 Times Faster Than Normal in First Year.”  Using DNA samples submitted by medical residents across the country, the Intern Health Study measured …

Sometimes as physicians, we need to embrace death with open arms

As a community of physicians, I’m sure we have heard the phrase, “I just want to get well, doc,” from our patients. Have you ever wondered what does “get well” really mean to them? As a third-year internal medicine residen…

Sometimes as physicians, we need to embrace death with open arms

As a community of physicians, I’m sure we have heard the phrase, “I just want to get well, doc,” from our patients. Have you ever wondered what does “get well” really mean to them? As a third-year internal medicine residen…

Sometimes as physicians, we need to embrace death with open arms

As a community of physicians, I’m sure we have heard the phrase, “I just want to get well, doc,” from our patients. Have you ever wondered what does “get well” really mean to them? As a third-year internal medicine residen…

5 steps to fix our EMR disaster

The EMR has become a focal point in the physician burnout discussion. Although I believe EMRs are a necessary evil, current iterations of them are just not good. Each click on a mouse is a prick on the many good souls that figuratively bleed until they…

5 powerful words you can say to patients

Our job as health care professionals is not just to diagnose our patients by applying our scientific knowledge and clinical skills, but also to be the “communicator-in-chief,” “listener-in-chief,” and “reassurer-in-chief.” Any doctor who doesn’t fully …

When the standard of care is bad medicine

For the last three decades, the numeric pain score has been the go-to assessment for acute pain in the hospital setting. Since this methodology was developed for research purposes to see if drug “A” had an effect on patient “A,” its clinical utility is…