Sunday, April 4, 2010
Coronation Street star speaks out on her thyroid condition
We are grateful when awareness of thyroid health can be raised. Britain's CORONATION STREET and LOOSE WOMEN star Sherrie Hewson has done us all a great service by speaking out about living with an underactive thyroid gland. Link
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Penalty for maltreatment of patients? A Pension
From the UK's TIMES online, but we know that similar cases exist in Canada:
"In healthcare, social services and education, those responsible for shocking treatment of the public remain untouched and even flourish. The report on the scandal in Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust points to up to 1,200 unnecessary deaths, including four from one family alone within 18 months. Patients were left lying on the floor in their own filth, sobbing with humiliation. But not a single individual has been publicly blamed in this officially “elite” NHS organisation. Indeed, Martin Yeates, its former chief executive, has since left with a £1m pension pot, six months’ salary and a reported £400,000 payoff."
Link
Perhaps this is a step in the right direction
Link
This article lists the salaries of some of the highest paid hospital and medical administrators in Canada.
Take a look and see if you think they are worth all that and a bag of chips - your taxes pay for this.
Is it possible that a pathologist makes about $10k a day?
"In healthcare, social services and education, those responsible for shocking treatment of the public remain untouched and even flourish. The report on the scandal in Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust points to up to 1,200 unnecessary deaths, including four from one family alone within 18 months. Patients were left lying on the floor in their own filth, sobbing with humiliation. But not a single individual has been publicly blamed in this officially “elite” NHS organisation. Indeed, Martin Yeates, its former chief executive, has since left with a £1m pension pot, six months’ salary and a reported £400,000 payoff."
Link
Perhaps this is a step in the right direction
Link
This article lists the salaries of some of the highest paid hospital and medical administrators in Canada.
Take a look and see if you think they are worth all that and a bag of chips - your taxes pay for this.
Is it possible that a pathologist makes about $10k a day?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Patient of the Future
Doctors don't like it, but e-Patients - concerned and engaged health researchers and partners - are here, and more are coming.
And - unlike physicians of today - they haven't been educated by the pharmaceutical corporations.
There will be a lot, my friend.
More than can be counted.
How many?
Like the stars.
~ DANCES WITH WOLVES
Slideshow
e-Patients.net
e-Patients PDF
And - unlike physicians of today - they haven't been educated by the pharmaceutical corporations.
There will be a lot, my friend.
More than can be counted.
How many?
Like the stars.
~ DANCES WITH WOLVES
Slideshow
e-Patients.net
e-Patients PDF
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
NYT: Holding Doctors Accountable for Medical Errors
From the article:
"Q. Has this erosion of trust had a detrimental effect on the patient-doctor relationship?
A. The chaos of everyone doing things their own way is incredibly dangerous, and it is that chaos which gets in the way of the relationship. You can make health care better, safer and less expensive while strengthening the core of the patient-doctor relationship. You can standardize certain parts of care based on clear evidence, which will free up doctors to focus on those pieces of the health care puzzle where there is no data — those issues that are uniquely human and that require judgment, expertise and empathy.
The challenge, though, is to standardize care in a way that will improve safety while retaining the parts that make medicine human. The last thing we want to do is to regiment empathy or to create something so regulated that doctors cannot do something nuanced or innovative for patients.
Q. What are the roles of patients and of doctors in the patient safety movement?
A. If I were a patient or a loved one, I would do what everyone recommends — have a loved one by your side, look for signals that a hospital is safe, check that a physician is board certified. But I am also intensely ambivalent about how responsible patients should be for safety and the prevention of error. Medical mistakes are our bad. Why should patients bear the responsibility to receive the right medication or to have the correct leg amputated? When I get on a plane, I don’t worry about safety and errors.
As for doctors, patient safety can’t happen if physicians aren’t smack in the middle of it. We can either facilitate safety or we can stand its way. We will stand in its way if we embrace our historical approach to these problems, if we instinctively engage in finger-pointing, if we aren’t willing to listen to others.
We have a huge role in creating the kind of environment where people will feel comfortable questioning anything that seems strange or out-of-place and where doctors are open to different opinions from others.
As doctors, we have to admit first that we don’t deliver care that is of the quality and safety our patients deserve. Then we have to get past our professional arrogance. We don’t have the answers to all of these issues, and we have to be open to others who may have the answers or who can approach it from different angles."
Link
"Q. Has this erosion of trust had a detrimental effect on the patient-doctor relationship?
A. The chaos of everyone doing things their own way is incredibly dangerous, and it is that chaos which gets in the way of the relationship. You can make health care better, safer and less expensive while strengthening the core of the patient-doctor relationship. You can standardize certain parts of care based on clear evidence, which will free up doctors to focus on those pieces of the health care puzzle where there is no data — those issues that are uniquely human and that require judgment, expertise and empathy.
The challenge, though, is to standardize care in a way that will improve safety while retaining the parts that make medicine human. The last thing we want to do is to regiment empathy or to create something so regulated that doctors cannot do something nuanced or innovative for patients.
Q. What are the roles of patients and of doctors in the patient safety movement?
A. If I were a patient or a loved one, I would do what everyone recommends — have a loved one by your side, look for signals that a hospital is safe, check that a physician is board certified. But I am also intensely ambivalent about how responsible patients should be for safety and the prevention of error. Medical mistakes are our bad. Why should patients bear the responsibility to receive the right medication or to have the correct leg amputated? When I get on a plane, I don’t worry about safety and errors.
As for doctors, patient safety can’t happen if physicians aren’t smack in the middle of it. We can either facilitate safety or we can stand its way. We will stand in its way if we embrace our historical approach to these problems, if we instinctively engage in finger-pointing, if we aren’t willing to listen to others.
We have a huge role in creating the kind of environment where people will feel comfortable questioning anything that seems strange or out-of-place and where doctors are open to different opinions from others.
As doctors, we have to admit first that we don’t deliver care that is of the quality and safety our patients deserve. Then we have to get past our professional arrogance. We don’t have the answers to all of these issues, and we have to be open to others who may have the answers or who can approach it from different angles."
Link
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Patient Empowerment in Medicine
Many medical professionals are often years behind in their reading; understandably they don't like empowered patients.
Some doctors don't like patients who challenge them. Such patients take time and make a doctor work hard. Most doctors want to be considered the authority - even if it kills you.
If you see annotations in your medical file - "patient is getting information from the internet" - it is probably time to move on for the sake of your health and wellness.
Link
Some doctors don't like patients who challenge them. Such patients take time and make a doctor work hard. Most doctors want to be considered the authority - even if it kills you.
If you see annotations in your medical file - "patient is getting information from the internet" - it is probably time to move on for the sake of your health and wellness.
Link
Pristiq for Menopause?
If you are a middle-aged woman and your primary care physician or endocrinologist is offering you antidepressants for symptoms, this article
on the marketing of Pristiq may explain why.
Make sure you have your thyroid checked... menopause troubles may be myxedema.
on the marketing of Pristiq may explain why.
Make sure you have your thyroid checked... menopause troubles may be myxedema.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Teenage Children and Other Abnormalities - Laughable Excerpts from Actual MD Notes
Teenage Children and Other Abnormalities - Laughable Excerpts from Actual MD Notes
This list is reproduced from MDs' actual writings on charts, published in the Mpumalanga Hospital Register (South Africa), courtesy of Veven Bisetty.
It contains a memorable thyroid notation.
Note: This information may not have been evaluated by the FDA.
This list is reproduced from MDs' actual writings on charts, published in the Mpumalanga Hospital Register (South Africa), courtesy of Veven Bisetty.
It contains a memorable thyroid notation.
1. The patient refused autopsy.
2. The patient has no previous history of suicides.
3. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
4. Patient’s medical history has been remarkably insignificant with
only a 11 kgs weight gain in the past three days.
5. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was
very hot in bed last night.
6. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
7. On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
8. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to
be depressed.
9. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
10. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
11. Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
12. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
13 She is numb from her toes down.
14. While in ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.
15. The skin was moist and dry.
16 Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
17. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
18. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
19. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life,
until she got a divorce.
20. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
21. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
22. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
23 The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
24. Skin: somewhat pale but present.
26. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
27. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
Note: This information may not have been evaluated by the FDA.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
