Articles
Is Medicine No Longer a Calling?
December 15, 2009 6:42 am | by By: Dr. Val, Medpage Today | CommentsAs I sit here in a medical innovation conference, I find myself becoming more and more angered by one of the speakers. A man with an MBA and fancy title from PriceWaterhouseCoopers is lecturing us about how doctors are essentially money-grubbing, change-resistant, quality-care avoiding “pains in the you-know-what,” obstructing progress in healthcare reform and blocking technology adoption.
Lessons From the War Zone
December 14, 2009 5:27 am | by Pauline W. Chen, M.D. | CommentsOne morning as a medical student on the surgery service, I learned about a patient who had been hemorrhaging on the operating table the night before. The intern who had assisted during the operation took great pains to describe every detail of the failed efforts of several senior surgeons and the final, ultimately lifesaving, maneuvers of the department chairman.
2010 Purchasing Perspectives
December 14, 2009 5:14 am | Spectrum Surgical Instruments Corp. | CommentsIn a question-and-answer session, Rick Schultz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum Surgical Instruments Corp. in Stow, OH, discusses what to expect in terms of operating room purchasing in 2010. December 14, 2009 Surgical Products: How do you see OR purchasing changing in 2010 vs.
HeartPlus
December 8, 2009 9:43 am | by Evan Perriello | CommentsWe do ten before lunch. We cut them. We tag them. We place them in a small pyramid so they don’t roll off the tray. “Whoo,” says Charles, as he pulls off his mask. The top one is still beating, and I look at it a while before pulling off my own. The patient gets up, and he looks too, and we’re all just staring as the heart slows and then stops.
My Grandmother's China
December 8, 2009 6:15 am | by By: Liz O'Brien | CommentsDecember 8, 2009 I feel like an anthropologist. I may have discovered an artifact that holds the clue to the cause of the obesity epidemic. It's my grandmother's china. It's nothing special -- just your inexpensive white dishware dating back to the 1940s -- but it's different in many ways from china today.
Does Skin Marker Type Prevent Erasure Of Surgical-Site Markings?
December 8, 2009 6:09 am | by Mean differences in grayscale contrast by skin preparation | CommentsSite marking is an essential part of the preoperative process to prepare the surgical patient. Currently, surgical associations mandate a time-out to verify the correct surgical site and surgery,[1,2] which is meant to eliminate wrong-site surgery.[3–5] According to the Joint Commission[6], site marking should be within the surgical field after draping and that the time-out be performed just before surgical incision.
Medical Errors, Malpractice And Healthcare Reform
December 7, 2009 6:10 am | by David B. Nash, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.P.; Alexis Skoufalos, Ed.D. MedPage Today | CommentsPreventable medical errors are a critical driver of healthcare costs, both in human and financial terms, so it's in everyone's best interest to improve systems and processes. Quality is always less expensive; government payers and health plans have recognized this and are holding providers accountable by refusing to pay for "never events" such as wrong-site surgery and healthcare-acquired infections.
The Looming Surgeon Shortage
December 4, 2009 7:04 am | by Scott S. Kelley, MD | CommentsThe difference between a good total joint and a great total joint replacement is initially small, but over time the difference can be significant. A good total joint might last 10 years, but a great total joint could last 30 years. Being a total joint surgeon is a profession with little or no room for error in every single hand movement.
Compensating Doctors For After-Hours Call Coverage
December 1, 2009 5:33 am | by By: Dr. Wes | CommentsShould there be a premium added to physician compensation for on-call coverage after hours, or are Medicare rates enough? This appears to be the central question between two competing hospitals in Longview, Texas where a $300,000 stipend was paid to a cardiology group by one hospital and not the other for cardiology on-call coverage.
Q&A: Hand Hygiene
December 1, 2009 5:33 am | CommentsSurgical Products talks with Joan Blanchard of AORN about the importance of hand hygiene and a new initiative to engage and recognize nurses around the country for exemplary hand hygiene compliance. To raise awareness of the deadly risks associated with poor hand hygiene and encourage best practices among nurses and other healthcare professionals, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and 3M Infection Prevention have joined in an initiative to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the surgical setting.
Top 10 Ways To Annoy Your Doctor
November 30, 2009 5:29 am | by Dr. Rob, MedPage Today | CommentsTop 10 lists are back! I forgot about this kind of post, and a reminder by a reader is bringing them back. They are really a fun and easy kind of post to write, so you may see a fair number of them (read: Rob is getting lazy). I thought I’d start back with some suggestions for disgruntled patients (or gruntled ones, for that matter) to make their doctor’s day much worse.
The Value In Team Training
November 14, 2009 11:10 am | CommentsSurgeons do not typically receive training in the areas of leadership, communication and teamwork. A recent study finds standardized training in these areas could be a valuable tool to improve teamwork among surgical teams. November 16, 2009 Senior surgical residents at Christiana Care, an ACS-verified Level 1 trauma center in Newark, DE, are responsible for leading the trauma activations at the facility.
Sleep-Deprived Surgeons
November 14, 2009 11:10 am | CommentsSleep deprivation can negatively impact a surgeon’s performance. A recent study examined the effect available pharmacological stimulants have in countering the consequences of long work hours. November 18, 2009 Sleep deprivation of surgeons can lead to negative effects of the surgical performance and has the potential to hinder patient safety.
Integrating Your Surgical Facility
November 14, 2009 11:09 am | CommentsIntegrating your surgical suite can be a large project. While there are many considerations and decisions to make, here is a list of some of the important factors to think about when it comes to OR integration … November 17, 2009 As surgical procedures advance, the needs of surgeons and surgical teams are changing.
The Other Reason Why Medical Malpractice Reform Is Critical
November 13, 2009 12:23 pm | CommentsBy: Dr. Val Published: There hasn’t been much discussion about serious tort reform in the current healthcare reform debate. That’s probably because most policy experts don’t believe it will make a significant dent in healthcare costs. I happen to believe that tort reform would be a huge boon for healthcare (just ask Ob/Gyns in Texas) and save a lot in defensive medicine practices and unnecessary testing, but even if I’m wrong and it wouldn’t result in cost-savings, there’s another issue at play: access to primary care physicians.
