Modern medicine has become so complex, bureaucratic, and forbidding that it’s little wonder that patients—already ailing—don’t grasp the risks and consequences of treatments they prescribe. Overwhelmed patients also don’t demand that doctors fully brief them. And shame on physicians for failing to help patients more in this critical area of caregiving, two doctors have written….
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3 DC-area teaching hospitals rate poorly on preventing central line infections
Three Washington, D.C.-area teaching hospitals have ranked in the lowest-scoring group nationally on preventing infections when their patients are hooked up to central lines, intravenous tubes that supply fluids, medications, and nutrients to those in dire need. Two institutions in the region rated highly. Consumer Reports deserves credit for its continuing reporting on hospital acquired….
Continue ReadingCan hospitals cure life-saving intensive care units of their risky high-tech chaos?
The spots in hospitals where patients in the direst shape receive specialized treatment are themselves in need of urgent care, experts say, explaining that antiquated intensive care units (ICUs) contribute to needless harm. But how exactly to yank them and the therapies they provide into the 21st century? Usha Lee McFarling, a Pulitzer Prize winner,….
Continue ReadingMDs get it wrong on medical malpractice, surgeon training
After four years of undergraduate education, four years of medical school, and then internships and residencies for several years after, doctors should be a well-informed lot, right? But they can get themselves into some downright dumb stuff. This includes their wrong thinking about the prevalence of medical malpractice litigation, and their head-scratching revisiting of a….
Continue ReadingWhy Hospitals Perform Procedures They’re Not Equipped to Do
Hospitals love new technology and new treatment initiatives because using them can result in better outcomes for patients. But hospitals also like them because they can charge more for an expensive or complicated surgical tool or protocol, and leverage that use for promotional purposes. Unfortunately, as we’ve often pointed out, new and complicated treatments sometimes….
Continue ReadingSuggested Reading: Hyping Hypothyroidism?
Twelve in 100 Americans will be diagnosed at some point in their lifetimes with a thyroid disorder. Hypothyroidism, or under-active thyroid gland, is treated with the drug levothyroxine, which has been called the second-most frequently prescribed drug in the U.S. As a long and interesting article in TheAtlantic.com discussed, one of the hottest controversies in….
Continue ReadingPatients Send Mixed Signals About Student Doctors
In theory, people support the presence of trainees for medical procedures. But when it comes to personal practice … not so much. So says a study in the Archives of Surgery, which examined patient perceptions and willingness to participate in resident education. More than 8 in 10 patients consented to having an intern participate in….
Continue ReadingOSHA to consider limiting medical residents’ time on the job to 80 hours per week
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the main federal agency charged with the enforcement of workplace safety and health, is looking at limiting the number of hours medical residents can work to 80 hours a week. The decision to consider such limits came after OSHA received a petition filed by Public Citizen; the Committee….
Continue ReadingAnesthetist or Anesthesiologist: What You Need to Know Before Surgery
Nurse anesthetists have been proven to deliver about as safe and high quality care as physician anesthesiologists, but there’s still a key question every patient should ask before being put to sleep by a nurse anesthetist. “Is there a doctor anesthesiologist nearby in case there’s an emergency during my surgery?” That’s the question you need….
Continue ReadingInexperienced Resident Doctors to Receive More Supervision in Malpractice Prevention Effort
A newly minted M.D. doctor wandering the halls of a hospital, working long hours with little sleep as he or she begins years of residency training, can be a potential disaster waiting to happen. That’s the source of the old bromide about July being the most dangerous month to get sick, since that’s when residency….
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