Complications & Collateral Damage
“Collateral damage: the effect of patient complications on the surgeon’s psyche”...
Read More
Author: SkepticalScalpel
Words Mean What I Say They Mean
Apparently a few years ago someone decreed that “non-compliant” was no longer a politically correct term to describe patients who did not take their medicines or follow instructions. The newspeak to use is now “non-adherent.”...
Read More
Overuse of Proton Pump Inhibitors is Expensive & Dangerous
Let’s talk about proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). These drugs, successors to the innovative H2...
Read More
An Error Occurred. Suspend All Surgery in the U.S.?
Here is an extreme “system error” type of response to an event that seems to have been a human...
Read More
68% of Physicians Unsatisfied with Affordable Care Act
A recent survey from staffing company Jackson Healthcare found that 68% of physicians gave the...
Read MoreWhat Happens When a Doctor Is Paged
It’s 8:15 p.m. I am at home. My beeper goes off, and I check it instantly. It reads, “555-1212” [Number changed to comply with HIPAA regulations]. It’s the inpatient surgical floor. Within 10 seconds, I have dialed the number....
Read MoreAre You Afraid to Be Wrong?
Richard Smith, a former editor of the British Medical Journal, wrote a thoughtful essay offering guidance for new medical students. (Full text here.) Although it was published in 2003, someone just brought it to my attention via...
Read More
Wide Disparity in Hospital Charges for Appendicitis. Why?
If you wonder why hospitals are under fire for outrageous and often baffling accounting practices,...
Read More