Have you decided to quit your day job and become a coach? A what? A burgeoning new advice industry has emerged. Former, or even current, athletes are now designers of athletic–and sometimes even life–programs for the over-acheiving mind-set. It is a good gig. You can sleep late, and save your legs by working primarily at […]
Author: Dr John
The first link from an email source of medical news reads, “better patient-centered care reduces mortality risk.” It made me think, exactly what do they mean with this new verbiage, “patient-centered care?” And so I learned. Thank goodness, I think my care is indeed patient-centered, even though the terms patient- and family-centered are news to […]
In America, and in the doctor’s lounge, news about the Tour de France parallels news about Lance. But ask bike racers what they think is the most compelling story of this year’s Tour, and Lance is far down the list. That’s OK for me, it doesn’t diminish the most colossal bike race ever. Want a […]
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Yes, your personal records are safe…
Losing your cell phone charger is one thing. But 800,000 personal files is yet another. Oops. Not all that is electronic is best. The files may have included names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, medical record numbers, patient numbers, health plan information, dates of service, diagnoses, treatments relating […]
The man on the other line sits in a cubicle in a far-away city. He is a physician, another “provider,” as we are called on their website. The accent is British (how ironic), and his voice suggests to a trained observer, he is older. All I wanted to do was a simple stress test with […]
The heart of a woman may be much different than that of a man. The “Go Red” campaign would surely agree. As would most masters of the obvious. But in the case of whether female hearts garner the same benefit from a prophylactic implantable defibrillator (ICD), women may be much different than men. As published […]
On our local training rides, it has become a matter of tradition that no matter how hard the tempo, or how high the focus level, we always stop for turtles. I have no idea why turtles garner so much respect. Evolutionarily speaking they have fared very well without much help from humankind. Nonetheless, turtles in […]
I need help. In dealing with obesity as a medical problem, that is. I am pretty solid at arrhythmia management, but as an obesity doctor, not so much. If I was the teacher, and my obese patients were the students, I would surely be fired for poor student test performance. At least, if the core measure […]
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Double counting…
The implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) is a life saving therapy. But, like any medical treatment there are potential adverse effects. With ICDs, we are trying to prevent this…(a slide from the 1980s) But in doing so we sometimes get this… Which is supposed to look like this…(same patient–hours later, with no intervention) ICDs have been […]
Today’s post on the scariness of Dr Berwick’s appointment to lead CMS brought an email response from my Dad. His words are at least a single voice from real-world people, and it seems possible that his opinion may be a representative one at that. Dad is not a doctor, but he likes doctors. Hi John, […]
It happened. Guilty. I confess. Reading about Dr Berwick’s recess appointment to lead CMS induced me to watch a Fox news clip. Gosh, I feel bad about it. It felt good, though. Patients–that’s you and me–should know that CMS controls doctors, nurses and especially hospital/practice managers. They are ten times more scary than the radar […]