What it's like to be a doctor in the heroin capitol of America

--------------------------------------------------------------- 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](. Take note: Scribes are the fastest growing medical field -- but there is no standard training or certification. [Does that make them a risk to safe patient care?]( [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. 24, 2017 [What it’s like to be a doctor in the heroin capitol of the U.S.]( I am a practicing hospitalist physician in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton has emerged in the last year as the city with the highest per capita death rate from opioid overdoses. When we measure the number of deaths here we talk about how many there are per day, not per week or month. We have been inundated […] [In this world of burnout, doctors have to remember why they do this]( Recently, I had the privilege of presenting the Clinical Specialty Award for General Surgery at the 2017 Graduate Awards Celebration at Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP-NW). It was amazing to hear all the accomplishments and meet so many wonderful new doctors in this year’s class. I also […] [How Twitter is a vital tool in medicine]( Recently, Twitter exploded with angry commentary directed at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) after the organization actively attempted to censor what was posted on Twitter during their annual sessions in San Diego. The fiasco began when an attendee posted a picture of slides on Twitter — in an attempt to “live Tweet” during a session […] --------------------------------------------------------------- [Physician Coaching by KevinMD]( Define your online reputation. Grow your social media platform. Be a dynamic keynote speaker. Find out more about [personal, 1-on-1 coaching]( with KevinMD. --------------------------------------------------------------- [5 ways to make dealing with death easier]( My husband, the anesthesiologist, came home one evening, he was solemn, affected, not himself. His patient died in the recovery room. It was sudden and unexpected for my husband. Despite the team’s swift efforts and perfectly executed code, the patient died anyway. It’s relevant to note that his patient was an almost 90-year-old man with […] [A physician’s journey about the complexities of gender]( Entering the dimly light room, I could hear soft music playing in the background. The laboring room was so peaceful, it was hard to believe the patient in the bed was in active labor. But once up close, you could hear her breathing become deeper and louder every three or four minutes as she rode […] [Cheaper health care isn’t hard]( I have never wanted to be the medical advice columnist. “Dear Dr. Leap: My feet sweat all the time. I’ve tried everything! What should I do?” Nope, I’m not your guy. Nor do I want to opine on study after study about statin drugs for cholesterol or discuss whether women should take estrogen. There are […] [A part of patient care that I was not taught in medical school]( A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Recently, I’ve been thinking about how physicians express condolences. This weekend, I attended calling hours to visit with the family of a recently deceased patient. As I drove back from the funeral home, I tried to recall when I started to attend my […] [A biker’s heartbreaking story]( A lone figure stood at the entrance to bed 14, intensive care unit 2, floor 15-North. Though it was 2:30 a.m., he stood with rapt attention. He looked out over the hallway, eyes scanning. He looked like a gargoyle brooding over his castle, protecting it. He looked unlike anyone I’d ever seen in an ICU. […] [Senator McCain has brain cancer. Here’s what that means.]( By now, most readers already know that Senator John McCain has been diagnosed with a brain tumor — specifically, a glioblastoma. I take no pleasure is suspecting such a diagnosis, as I wrote a few days ago, based on a bit of medical logic and observation rather than what the media reported. This is a devastating […] [Are patients really the problem?]( “Doctors are not the problem. Patients are.” Anyone who has ever thought the above statement is true has not tapped into the vast well of knowledge and intellect found in their own patients. Training patients to be better patients brings the joy of medicine back into your practice. All of us, at one time or […] [Having a baby in a hospital? Here are 10 things you must know.]( 1. You might get sent home. If you show up pregnant with your first baby, and it turns out you aren’t 4 cm dilated yet, you will get sent home because you aren’t in active labor. Please don’t cuss out the charge nurse. Yes, you are in pain — we aren’t denying that. But, there are […] [We need a more comprehensive approach to investigating medical mistakes]( From the wrong diagnosis to the incorrect medication, medical mistakes kill as many as 250,000 people annually in the United States — and injure thousands more. This figure could be much higher, considering there’s never been an actual count of how many patients experience preventable harm. We only have an approximate figure, which may indeed […] [Want a cure for physician burnout? Take care of yourself.]( The recent celebration of Employee Well-being Month got me thinking a lot about how physicians are treated as employees with regard to well-being. There is a general consensus that the issue of physician well-being needs to be addressed at both the level of the individual physician and the level of the system in which physicians […] [Physicians must treat patients with the utmost respect with regards to their spiritual beliefs]( Scientific evidence pointed to an extremely poor prognosis. Numbers and statistics emphatically declared her imminent demise. My 33-year-old patient was not going to survive. The physicians presented the data to the mother and recommended withdrawal of care, but she remained indecisive. She struggled for two days with the possibility of her young daughter dying. Her […] [Health reform everybody could love]( As our new president has said, health care is complicated. Republicans call for Obamacare’s repeal, but are hard-pressed to come up with a workable alternative. Democrats recommend improving Obamacare, but are largely silent as to how they would do that. Americans are caught in the middle of this apparent health care quagmire. But for America […] [Residency as a series of mini-interventions against physician suicide and depression]( They say you never forget your first crush. Or your first date. Or your first kiss. And you don’t. Just as we have landmarks events that shape us in the adolescence of our personal lives, physicians also have landmark events that shape them in the adolescence of medical training: residency. Continue reading ... Your patients […] [The decline and fall of informed consent]( Margaret Edson’s 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning play, Wit, tells the story of the final hours of Vivian Bearing, PhD, an English professor dying of cancer. Early in the course of her disease, one of her doctors sees the value of her case from a research point of view and asks her to enroll in a […] [Algorithms and detective work in medical care]( Dr. Leon Pedell discusses algorithms and detective work in medical care. Courtesy of Before the Floors. Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. [MKSAP: 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes]( Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes presents to clinic requesting more information about use of a closed-loop insulin-delivery system (artificial beta cell). Although her HbA1c is at goal, she notes frequent hypoglycemia as an issue. In addition, she would like […] [Physician spouse speaks out against dangers of prescription opioids]( The impact of the opioid crisis struck home within the Missouri physician community on Dec. 15, 2014. That’s the day when, just two months shy of his 30th birthday, Derek succumbed to an opioid overdose. The news was devastating for his mother, Kelly O’Leary, a longtime volunteer with the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society Alliance, […] [The problem of generic regurgitation]( I spent 20 minutes listening to Michelle and asking her questions to understand why she was not taking her insulin as recommended. The appointment was for 15 minutes, 5 of which were used by the medical assistant who had to check the vitals and “do an A1c.” I did not ask Michelle whether her feet […] [He was fine when I discharged him, now he might die]( It’s 1 a.m., and I’m afraid this guy is going to die. He’s gasping for air, hunched over a table as I poke his chubby back and try to find a rib. Oxygen is flowing through nasal prongs at six liters per minute, and it’s barely making a difference as his oxygen saturation hovers around […] [Don’t call me “Mrs.” Call me “Doctor.”]( My smile freezes on my face as my patient says to me, “I’m so glad you’re back – that I get to see Mrs. Lycette today!” He has been my patient for several years, and I am perplexed to hear him address me as “Mrs.” rather than “Doctor.” At the same time, I really do […] --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](