Stop saying these 7 shaming words in medicine. Right now.

--------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the stories you missed on KevinMD. Thank you for your continuing readership. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors [9 tips to bring order to hospital communications chaos]. On-call schedules, patient monitors, and diverse mobile devices all contribute to a web of information that is difficult to navigate and manage. This eBrief offers 9 tips to bring order and improve patient care. [Get the ebrief now]. [Is your hospital communication system trapped in the dark ages?] Just like a medieval page boy, pagers are annoying and inefficient. This leads to delayed patient care, frustrated providers, and potential HIPAA breaches. Learn why you need to ditch your [Page Boy] today. Do we need "air traffic control" to handle the [data overload doctors face from patient wearables]? Here’s a deep dive into the [pros, cons, and risks of all those mobile health apps]. [Case study]: St. Dominic Hospital reduces call abandonment rate to less than 3% with Spok. [Learn how]. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Today: Jan. 9, 2017 [Anti-vaccine Cleveland Clinic doctor just made our jobs so much harder] It is truly unfortunate that Daniel Neides used his platform, and the reputation of a world-renowned institution like the Cleveland Clinic, to propagate fake health news. In this case, he fails to dispel the false connection between vaccines and autism: Make 2017 the year to avoid toxins (good luck) and master your domain: Words on Wellness. […] [Stop saying these 7 shaming words in medicine. Right now.] In medicine, our motto is first do no harm. Words matter. Choose them wisely. Here are 7 words that shame, blame, and injure people who need our help. 1. Don’t say COMMITTED suicide. Committed implies a crime. Committed rape, burglary, murder. Suicide is not a crime; it’s a medical condition that has been taboo for […] [The difference between male and female physicians. Here’s what it means.] About a year ago, Yusuke Tsugawa — then a doctoral student in the Harvard health policy PhD program — and I were discussing the evidence around the quality of care delivered by female and male doctors. The data suggested that women practice medicine a little differently than men do. It appeared that practice patterns of […] [We need a more humane approach to medical education] A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that 27 percent of medical students around the world exhibit symptoms of depression and 11 percent have thought of taking their own lives. Equally troubling is the fact that, among students experiencing depressive symptoms, only 16 percent seek psychiatric treatment. Other studies have […] [How to stop whining in children: What casinos can teach us] Megan, like all parents, hates the whining and nagging: “It’s driving me crazy. My children whine and complain until they get what they want. I try not to give in, but sometimes it’s just impossible. What can I do?” (That’s an excerpt from a much longer message. You get the idea.) Let’s look at whining […] [America’s love affair with opiates] Current reports from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) suggest that the United States is second on the list of countries with the highest per capita consumption of opiates. Data from 2014 quotes U.S. use of opiates at 700 mg per capita per year. The only country that has a higher per capita use is […] [A harrowing C-section, performed on a close friend] We chat about the day, as I use a sharp knife to cut into her. We joke about my kids, as the blood is spurting. We reminisce about our friendship, as I rip open her tissue. For most surgeons, their patients are asleep as they perform their surgery. In obstetrics, however, we want our patients […] [Policy changes in the transgender health care arena] Transgenderism has been catapulted to the forefront in the media, and it is clear we are in the midst of a cultural shift towards greater acceptance of the transgender community. The January 2017 issue of National Geographic was recently released as a special issue entitled, “Gender Revolution,” featuring a nine-year old transgender girl on its […] [5 ways doctors don’t give patients what they really want] The mantra of striving for excellent customer service is a very American concept. I’m reminded whenever I travel around the world and experience general service expectations elsewhere — even in some very advanced nations in Europe — how far ahead we are in the United States. We totally take it for granted that we can […] [Medical students need more interdisciplinary training] The past three and a half years have flown by, and somehow, I’m completely done with clinical rotations! I just finished up on the pediatric infectious disease service, and this rotation was unlike my others in one key way: I was joined on the service by students who are training to be nurse practitioners and […] [The evolution of radiology] James Chang is a radiologist and author of Oh Doctor, The Places You Will Go… He blogs at Poor MD and can be reached on Facebook. Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. [50 ways to lose your coverage if Obamacare is repealed] The Republican congressional leadership appears to be determined to move forward with a high-risk “repeal, delay and replace” plan, very early in the new 115th Congress to repeal (at least on paper) the Affordable Care Act’s key coverage provisions—Medicaid expansion, subsidies to make private insurance sold through the exchanges affordable, the individual and employer mandates, […] [One way to train gritty doctors: Don’t allow them to quit] What is grit? In an article in The Guardian, Angela Duckworth, a psychologist often called the guru of grit, defined it as the commitment to finish what you start, to rise from setbacks, to want to improve and succeed, and to undertake sustained and sometimes unpleasant practice in order to do so. She said in […] [We need more science in hospital quality measures] If you understand statistics and possess the intestinal fortitude to examine a ranking methodology, you will recognize that it involves ingredients that have to be recombined, repackaged and renamed. It’s messy, like sausage-making. This is not to say that the end product — hospital rankings — are distasteful. Patients deserve valid, transparent and timely information […] [Don’t engage in fishbowl emergency medicine] How in the heck would three nurses and I ever orchestrate ECMO in the middle of the night in my community ED? I pondered this over tuna tartare while listening to ivory tower docs discuss cutting-edge modalities like they were part of treatment algorithms everywhere. The conversation turned to REBOA, and I wondered how many […] [We’re all shepherds helping others move through life] Mathew preferred using the more biblical term “shepherd.” After all, he labored his flock through pastoral pastures and meandering meadows. His parishioners, of course, were sheep and not people. After years of leading them, he could discern subtle differences: the slope of a forehead, the stutter of a step or the variation in bleat. He […] [When administrators shadow doctors and nurses, good things happen] I want to share a cool idea used at Mission Health in North Carolina. I recently interviewed Dr. Ron Paulus, CEO of the health system. Three years ago the organization launched “Immersion Day,” when board members leave their corporate meeting rooms to shadow the doctors and nurses in their hospitals. Journalists and legislators are also […] [Every patient is an athlete] An excerpt from Physician—Time to Invest in Yourself: Work-Life Balance, the Needs of the Patient, and Medical-Legal Risk Management. With advances in biotechnology, the average life expectancy is significantly longer today than in the past. As practicing cardiologists, we observe firsthand that even though there are artificial means to prolong our patients’ lives, they are still […] [MKSAP: 29-year-old man with ulcerative colitis] Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 29-year-old man is evaluated during a routine examination. His medical history is significant for ulcerative colitis involving the entire colon, which was diagnosed 4 years ago. His symptoms responded to therapy with mesalamine and have remained in remission on this […] [10 health care myths that need to be debunked] Going outside in cold weather gives you a cold? Eating turkey makes you sleepy? Gum stays in your stomach for seven years? Separate these myths and more from truths. Jamie Katuna is a medical student. She can be reached on Facebook. Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media […] [Medical students need to fail more often. Here’s why.] We need to fail more tests in medical school. I’m serious. In first year, our class had two of the most memorable weeks of our schooling: A crash course on biochemistry taught by a professor who is widely accepted as one of the best teachers in our medical school. His in-class lecture style kept students […] [A young child’s diagnosis of celiac disease. And her mother’s reaction.] “Do you think she’ll have it?” My husband and I lay in bed the night before Kol Nidre, cocooned by darkness. In the adjacent room, my son muttered as he dreamed. Further away, my daughter slept silently. During the Days of Awe, I should have been thinking about repentance, and being inscribed in the Book […] [The 21st Century Cures Act, as seen by a medical ethicist] The blood thinner heparin is not a 21st-century cure. It was discovered 100 years ago by a scientist looking for something else entirely, and is one of the oldest drugs still in regular use. After my daughter was diagnosed with a potentially fatal blood disorder, heparin played a key daily role in her treatment. We’d […] --------------------------------------------------------------- [Follow on Facebook] | [Twitter] --------------------------------------------------------------- You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the KevinMD e-newsletter. If a friend sent you this email and you want to subscribe, go to [KevinMD]. --------------------------------------------------------------- 173 Daniel Webster Highway Nashua, New Hampshire 03062 [Unsubscribe] | [Change Subscriber Options]