Controversy Over BMJ Paper Hints at Print Medical Journal Demise
By now, you must be aware of the Canadian mammography study that appeared in the BMJ last week. It...
Read MoreFeb 18, 2014
By now, you must be aware of the Canadian mammography study that appeared in the BMJ last week. It...
Read MoreFeb 10, 2014
Imagine you are sick and live in the upper Manhattan section of New York City. Your doctor tells...
Read MoreFeb 3, 2014
Some well-intentioned researchers from West Virginia University published a small study claiming...
Read MoreJan 27, 2014
According to a study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 146 papers appearing in the New England...
Read MoreJan 20, 2014
A couple of months ago, a post called “Everything’s my fault: How a surgeon says...
Read MoreJan 13, 2014
A reader asks: We had an independent nurse evaluate us for upcoming JCAHO [Joint Commission on...
Read MoreJan 6, 2014
Back in September, I blogged about a case of a man in Tennessee who was sedated, intubated, and placed on a ventilator without his consent so that an emergency physician could perform a rectal exam looking for drugs. The court...
Read MoreDec 30, 2013
Finding out which hospitals are best is like “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Are you tired of seeing conflicting ratings from such once respected sources as Leapfrog, Medicare Compare,...
Read MoreDec 23, 2013
I’ve been pondering that question ever since this revelation splashed across the Internet. Like most of these groundbreaking discoveries, this one got plenty of media attention. Despite the numerous articles mentioning the...
Read MoreDec 16, 2013
I just found out about an article that appeared in Forbes online 7 months ago. It said that a...
Read MoreDec 2, 2013
Media outlets (Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo) are again reporting that automation is degrading...
Read MoreNov 25, 2013
In case you missed it, there was a brief romance between thyroid surgeons and robots. Thyroid...
Read MoreNov 18, 2013
I’m a pretty staunch defender of surgeons. I tend to take their (our) side on most issues, but a recent case from England raised some conflicting thoughts for me. David Sellu, a consultant (attending) colorectal surgeon at...
Read MoreNov 11, 2013
As I exist on the brink of extreme crankiness every day, it doesn’t take much to push me over the edge. Here are some things that do. Why do history and physical write-ups sound like transcriptions of interrogations?...
Read MoreNov 3, 2013
I say, “No.” Here’s why. There is way too much to learn in 3 years. Unless medical education is radically changed, it will be impossible for students to memorize all the unnecessary stuff they still have to...
Read MoreOct 28, 2013
This has been bothering me for many years. No, pain is not the 5th vital sign. It’s not a...
Read MoreOct 21, 2013
Now that the government shutdown is over, it’s time to focus on the Affordable Care Act. Many have written about website sign-up difficulties including the apparent mother of all the bad ones, healthcare.gov. Here are some...
Read MoreSep 30, 2013
A concept that has been percolating in the medical literature boiled over into the mainstream as the New York Times published this story, “Chicago’s Intern ‘Boot Camp’ ” is a rehearsal for life or...
Read MoreSep 23, 2013
Some doctors, tired of often capricious, inaccurate, and statistically flawed ratings of their performance, have decided to fight back. “Pa-Rate,” is a new service that enables physicians and their office staffs as...
Read MoreSep 16, 2013
Give me a minute, and I’ll get to the cows and sharks. You would be surprised at how few doctors are familiar with even the most basic statistics. Medical journal articles often have statistical errors that are missed by...
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