Stop being surprised: I’m a physician and a mother

--------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 12, 2017 [Stop being surprised: I’m a physician and a mother] “So, what’s your story?” I knew right away what the medical oncologist was really asking. She and I were meeting for the first time while caring for a mutual patient. While getting to know each other, she asked me if I had children; when I answered in the affirmative, she asked me, “So, what’s your […] [Do primary care physicians increase life expectancy?] U.S. life expectancy declined in 2015 for the first time in more than two decades, according to a National Center for Health Statistics study released last week. The decline of 0.1 percent was ever so slight ― life expectancy at birth was 78.8 years in 2015, compared to 78.9 years in 2014. However, this reversal […] [Involuntary discharge from dialysis: A health care practice like no other] Chronic kidney failure is a serious disease. When progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) occurs, dialysis is required to sustain life. It is shocking, then, that in the United States, it is estimated that over 1,000 patients annually are involuntarily discharged from their dialysis clinics. Further, they are often “blackballed” from other local clinics. The […] [A hospital gown to remember] “Orange is his favorite color. It’s all orange, all of the time in there.” And, indeed it was. Like the deceptively soft glow from a garish, neon storefront light, passing his room, it was impossible for one’s eyes not to be drawn inside. Hunter blaze bedspread, pumpkin spice robe, marigold slippers, and even a persimmon […] [Warning! New Year’s resolutions may be hazardous to your health] New Year’s resolutions have the potential to make our lives new and different and better than ever. But they also can do more harm than good. That’s because we put all our energy into setting the goal and don’t do the homework necessary to meet that goal. By the time February arrives, we’ve relapsed to […] [Are women doctors better than men? Maybe they just see fewer patients.] Do women make better doctors than men? A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine claims that they do. According to the authors, there is a 4 percent risk reduction in mortality for elderly patients treated by women. There is also a small but clinically significant reduction in readmission rates. By their analysis, this difference could […] [Rule #1 of emergency room diagnostics] An excerpt from Malpractice: A Neurosurgeon Reveals How Our Health-Care System Puts Patients at Risk. It is not possible to live life in a way that every choice and decision awaits a definitive, double–blind study with a statistically significant population of subjects to determine the best way to proceed. As a matter of fact, very few […] [The Cures Act comes with some big questions] Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Cures, known simply as the Cures Act. This is thought to be the largest and most powerful health care-related law since the passage of the Affordable Care Act during Obama’s first term. The Cures Act provides for a large increase in funds for boosting biomedical […] [Planned Parenthood and my decision to go to medical school] As my co-workers and I peered out the window of the Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia, we saw over 200 protestors chanting the name of a man who had killed 2 people and injured several others at reproductive health centers the day before. They kept coming closer and padlocked the entrance gate so that we were […] [Massachusetts should reject naturopaths: A message to Governor Charlie Baker] I learned recently that the Massachusetts legislature passed the latest installment of the naturopathic licensing bill S.2335 in the final minutes of the 2016 legislative session. The bill is currently sitting on Governor Charlie Baker’s desk. He has a few days to sign the bill, which would make Massachusetts the 19th state to license naturopaths. If […] [Why physician engagement is code for physician control] Are physicians unruly children? That’s the attitude I see at hospital C-suite meetings. (As in, “Our doctors are protesting our new unproven proton beam therapy center. How cute! They think they know how hospitals work: Even cuter, they think their opinion matters.”) Chuckles all around. That smiling dismissiveness doesn’t surprise me. Call me cynical, but when people […] [How this doctor when from meek to confident] At 5:07 p.m. on July 27 of last year, my pager’s beep pierced the bustle of the hospital hallway: “CARDIAC ARREST. 6GS room 356 bed 2. Need cards STAT.” It was only seven minutes into my first overnight call as a cardiology (“cards”) fellow, and I felt like I’d received a code-dose shot of epinephrine. […] [What a radiologist learned about a thoracentesis from a pulmonologist] It was 1989. While alternating between NCAA basketball tournament games on broadcast television, reruns of an older version of the game show Wipeout on cable, and the 8-bit Nintendo game Top Gun, a child sat in a hospital bed in the middle of rural America wondering why he was there. All he knew was that […] [Not everything is terrible in the U.S. health care system] A couple of weeks ago I started taking medicine to lower my blood pressure and another to reduce my cholesterol. This was a controversial move, given my deep distrust of the practice of medicine, when it is practiced on me, and especially regarding pharmaceuticals. I know that, as a woman of 55 with a very […] [The double meaning of despair in the hospital] How can a doctor resist an essay entitled, “The Sickness Unto Death?” Kierkegaard, the darkest of the bleak existentialists, begins by asking, “Is despair an excellence or a defect?” Can despair be an excellence? It is December in Oregon, the rain comes down in sheets, with only a few hours daily of half-light. Kierkegaard’s winters […] [America needs more Michelle Obamas] As a presidency draws to a close, it is natural to consider the legacy it etches upon the pages of history. For the most part, a first lady’s legacy is a sidenote. There are a few exceptions, of course. Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, and Nancy Reagan come to mind. I believe that Michelle Obama’s legacy […] [Repealing Obamacare faces these 7 challenges] Republicans have been waiting a long time for this moment. After sixty previous attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, their moment has arrived. President-elect Trump and Speaker Ryan believe that they can repeal Obamacare and roll back the clock. It won’t happen. Here’s why. 1. Millions will lose health insurance. […] [Hope: Where can I fill a prescription for that?] “I mean, ever since it happened, I just don’t feel safe anymore … they come out of nowhere … my heart will be pounding and pounding … they can get me at night, even if I’m in my mom’s house. I haven’t worked this whole month, and don’t know how I’ll go back.” Ms. Smith […] --------------------------------------------------------------- [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]