The premise of the book When Doctors Don’t Listen is that increasingly doctors are adhering to algorithms and protocols, known as “cookbook medicine”. In the process, doctors are not listening to patients. Instead, doctors are hearing what they want to hear, ignoring the patient’s story, which results in medical evaluations and treatments which are erroneous. The consequence can be delay in care, unnecessary tests and worry, and at times the path taken is so far astray that patients need to fend for themselves. In one anecdote, a patient flees the emergency room after being evaluated for a headache after a hangover and discovers that her treatment is on the pathway to be evaluated for a possible life-threatening (and highly improbable) subarachnoid hemorrhage which includes an invasive lumbar puncture. Too far fetched? Do these problems affect a no name hospital? No. What makes the patient stories most interesting is where they […] Read More »
Category Archives: Other
Book Review – When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests
Posted on February 5, 2013
Why Vaccines and Immunizations Matter – Don’t Forget History
Posted on January 15, 2013
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Most of us have not had personal experience with illnesses like measles, mumps, German measles, or polio. Thank goodness for that. It is because a generation ago individuals, families, and doctors choose a different path. They witnessed loved ones stricken with these diseases. When the opportunity arose to protect themselves from these viruses in the form of vaccinations, they took them. Before the measles vaccine, annually there were about 450,000 cases of measles. About 450 people died. Imagine having a loved one die of measles. Since the licensing of the vaccine in 1963, the number of cases has dropped by 98 percent! Today small outbreaks still occur primarily in communities that declined the measles vaccine, among high school and college students who were inadequately immunized, or among travelers visiting countries, typically developing countries, where the illness is still common. […] Read More »
The Truth About The Flu Vaccine – A Tale of Two Patients
Posted on January 13, 2013
When it comes to vaccinations, patients often ask me a couple simple questions. Here are the answers. I’ve gotten my flu shot annually since medical school. Both my children have gotten their vaccinations as scheduled. As a doctor, I understand the scientific reason for vaccinations. Only until recently, during a particularly bad flu season, did I feel and see the amazing protective power of the vaccinations. Her story was fairly typical. A young woman in her 20s was accompanied by her mother. The patient wore an overcoat which covered her pajamas. She curled up on my exam table looking particularly ill. Looking exhausted, she reporting having a high fever at 104 F, profound body aches, and a dry hacking cough. “I feel like I’m dying.” Anytime a young adult is accompanied by her mother, someone is understandably worried. It isn’t the young adult. Despite her youth, she looked quite ill. […] Read More »
Doctors Must Lead Change in Gun Control and Mental Illness by following our Founding Fathers
Posted on December 17, 2012
I haven’t give much thought about gun control, but since the horrific unspeakable tragedy which occurred in Sandy Hook, Connecticut where 20 children and 6 adults were killed, I like many others are. Increasingly, crime scenes are now including movie theaters, malls, and schools, places where people escape reality, find gifts, goods or services for themselves, loved ones, or friends, and where the next generation of pupils learn. This trend must stop. For me, this tragedy is far more personal. I used to live not too far from the picturesque quintessential New England town, Newtown. My children are roughly the same age as those children lost. The medical students I mentor aren’t much younger than the teachers killed. As a practicing doctor, I believe that this event will forever change the way the country views gun control. It is becoming a public health issue. As doctors, we pledge to do […] Read More »
Physician Leadership Matters – Learnings from the New England Patriots – Part III
Posted on December 14, 2012
It is always a treat, particularly when living on the West Coast, to watch the New England Patriots football team play on national television in their home stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts. On Monday Night Football, the match-up was between the Patriots and the Houston Texans, which had the best record in the AFC and undefeated in all away road games. As previously posted, there is much health care can learn from the mastery of execution led by head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady and many others. It continues to be a story about leadership, a culture of excellence, loyalty, and setting high expectations. Although a regular season game, the story unfolds as the Texans with one of the NFL’s best records entered Foxborough wanting to make a statement of their arrival among the elite teams and the Patriots, a team with a tradition of consistently high performance and excellence. […] Read More »
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