10 ways for doctors to think outside of the box

--------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the stories you missed on KevinMD. Thank you for your continuing readership. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors [6 ways to bolster the benefits of your EHR]( While EHRs have enabled caregivers to make well-informed treatment decisions more quickly and more safely, they do not solve the challenges of one critical area of care: clinical communication and collaboration. [Read the ebrief now](. Patient behavior is a factor in [over a third of malpractice claims]( -- but there are ways to change that. [Here’s how we can partner with patients to help us reduce risk](. [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. [Infographic]( 57% of physicians are dissatisfied with current communication methods. [Learn more](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Today: Jul. 10, 2017 [My patient is dying, and I don’t know what to do]( The patient in front of me is trying to die. Elderly and frail, he is lying in bed. His ribs outlined under the skin that should be smooth. His temples are concave where they should be flat. Both are an outward display of internal damage from his lung cancer. More striking than his cachexia are […] [Pre-authorization is hell. Here’s why.]( This April, my turn to take the medical board exam rolled back around, necessary every ten years for maintenance of certification. I studied diligently for the better part of three months preceding the test (and I think I did well). It was actually pleasurable to go back over details that I had forgotten and to […] [10 ways for doctors to think outside of the box]( Thinking outside the box is a somewhat cliché way to illustrate thinking beyond the norm and imagining what “could be” with an innovative mindset. This imagery of being stuck in a box rings true for many physicians, given how many of us are quite literally surrounded by the four white walls of an exam room […] --------------------------------------------------------------- [An inspiring KevinMD keynote]( will make your event memorable. "Kevin's keynote presentation at our annual members meeting was perfect. Extremely rich in content, and a delivery that is world class." [Visit Kevin's new speaking page]( to find out more. --------------------------------------------------------------- [The first time this doctor heard the word, “STAT!”]( Physician-comedian Brad Nieder, MD on the first time he heard the word, “STAT!” See more at the Healthy Humorist. Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. [They said, “Third year of medical school is better.” It wasn’t nearly good enough.]( Everyone says that medical school gets better, especially third year. The traditional four-year curriculum covers basic science in the classroom for the first two years. Then suddenly, third year plunges us into clinical rotations in the hospital, where we’ve all dreamed of working for so long. Third year is when we transition from learning how […] [Drowning in a sea of misinformation: Dry drowning and secondary drowning]( Earlier this month a young child died following days of vomiting. He had been in shallow water in a Texas dike about a week before his death. The story was picked up as an alleged case of a rare condition called dry drowning or secondary drowning. The media accounts went viral, spreading significant fear in […] [5 ways to fix health IT immediately]( Following my latest article on health care information technology, and how tragic the situation has become for physicians, I received a lot of correspondence. As always with articles that express physicians’ frustrations with the current batch of IT systems, there’s typically a lot of sympathy and agreement (although I believe that just nodding our heads […] [The obsession with diagnosing President Trump]( When I first read about neurosyphilis in medical school, I became convinced that Mrs. Thatcher, who I detested intensely because it was fashionable detesting her, had general paralysis of the insane. The condition, marked by episodic bouts of temporary insanity, which indicated that the spirochetes were feasting on expensive real estate in the brain, seemed […] [When your doctor’s computer crashes]( Earlier this week, as I write this, our office lost a skirmish against technology. It was my procedure day, where lucky patients file in awaiting the pleasures of scope examinations of their alimentary canals. A few will swallow the scope (under anesthesia), but most will have back-end work done. We are a small private practice […] [Behind the scenes of a detox scam]( It is surprisingly easy to sell snake oil. I know, because I’ve done it. In 2014, I helped create and sell The Right Detox. This was a bogus detoxification program that purported to improve anyone’s well-being and perhaps, cure disease. I was the face of the scam. I launched The Right Detox at a spring-time […] [None of us should have to choose between MOC and DRexit]( I wish I knew who coined the term “DRexit” so I could send flowers or a bottle of whiskey as a thank you gift. There couldn’t be a more perfect term to describe the growing exodus of physicians from our beloved profession, which is turning into a morass of computer data entry and meaningless regulations […] [MKSAP: 60-year-old woman with substernal chest pain]( Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 60-year-old woman is evaluated for a 3-week history of substernal chest pain. The pain is dull, nonradiating, and unrelated to activities. Sometimes the pain is worse after eating spicy foods and can be occasionally triggered by emotional stress. She has […] [Her patients helped this doctor out of her dispair]( Recently I found myself sitting in my car in the parking lot of my clinic, unable to will myself to open the door. I didn’t want to head into the clinic that morning. Instead, I was filled with despair; overwhelmed with the events of the world. How can I do it? I thought. How can […] [We are not shielding our patients from harm]( You’ve been swindled. At least that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. It wasn’t the hucksters or the snake oil salesman. It wasn’t big business, big medicine, or some greedy hospital administrator. It was most likely pharma with a large dose of helping from your doctor. Plain and simple. I’ve learned quite a bit being a […] [Is the medical profession at its end?]( At the graveside, they still talk about judgment, intelligence, and the wisdom that is the practice of medicine. Deans and health care leaders wax poetic as they tell stories of great cures to lift in memoriam remarkable healers. Yet, though we bow to Hippocrates, Osler, and Salk, the time has come to mark a revolution […] [We’re smart doctors. But why aren’t we so smart about our health?]( As doctors, we are good at lots of things — we are smart, efficient, hard-working, proficient, role models and leaders. Then why do so many of us place our own health and well-being after our jobs? As a physician, my most prevalent discussions with patients always boil down to very simple recommendations: eat right, exercise, […] --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](