Posted by denitzablagev on August 4, 2014 · Leave a Comment
My post on the changing culture of medicine as reflected in the way we talk about our errors in M&Ms is up at kevinMD. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/07/time-bring-back-morbidity-mortality-conferences.html
Category doctor, KevinMD, medical decisions, medical education, Published Elsewhere · Tagged with conferences, days of the giants, Doctors, errors, healthcare, M&M, model of error, morbidity and mortality, swiss cheese
Posted by denitzablagev on March 6, 2014 · 4 Comments
On February 24, 2014 Dr. Robert C. Moellering, Jr. passed away. And then the class emails and Facebook comments flew. We couldn’t believe it. We were all saddened. We had such great memories of him. We knew him so well. And he us! Every one of us. Dr. Moellering was the physician-in-chief and chair of … Continue reading →
Category doctor, dying, medical education, women in medicine · Tagged with BIDMC, chief of medicine, housestaff, housestaff party, in memoriam, internal medicine, Jr., mentoring, physician scientist, resident report, Robert C. Moellering
Posted by denitzablagev on October 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment
My variously named post – “The Weight of Words” or “Our Words Leave The Most Lasting Impression” is now up at kevinmd.com. Check it out at http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2013/10/words-leave-lasting-impression.html
Category doctor, KevinMD, medical education, Published Elsewhere · Tagged with axe, Bear, but words shall never harm me, doctor as patient, doctor patient interaction, Doctors, may break my bones, patient doctor relationship, sticks and stones, words
Posted by denitzablagev on October 7, 2013 · 1 Comment
“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never harm me.” I learned this saying when I came to America, but before that, I learned a different story. A wood cutter got lost in the forest, it was getting dark and cold. He met a bear, who offered him to come to his … Continue reading →
Category doctor, medical education · Tagged with axe, Bear, break my bones, doctor, emergency department, emphysema, ICU, insensitive, intensive care unit, patient, sick, smoker's cough, sticks and stones, The doctor, vulnerability, words, world's worst mother
Posted by denitzablagev on September 20, 2013 · 2 Comments
“I don’t want to quit smoking,” my patient says with her face firmly set. I’m taken aback. “I don’t think that’s true,” I say,” you just told me you quit, then you started again because your brother and grandson died in the past few months and you’re struggling with the loss. I don’t think it’s … Continue reading →
Category doctor, medical education, my tirades · Tagged with alone together, cigarettes, compassion, death, depression, dying, edward hopper, empathy, failing, guilt, help, not quitting smoking, pain, quitting smoking, smoking, still smoking, tobacco cessation
Posted by denitzablagev on May 15, 2013 · 1 Comment
“I think he’s just anxious about it,” the medical student told me a few sentences into the presentation. His patient had had a spontaneous pneumothorax, a leak of air between the lung and chest wall, a few years ago, and now he had some uncomfortable feeling and was worried about a recurrence. I hadn’t heard the full story … Continue reading →
Category doctor, medical education, my tirades · Tagged with anxiety, bad apple, deconditioning, ethnicity, health, history and physical, hubris, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, medical education, medical student, medicine, obesity, pneumothorax, presentation, race
Posted by denitzablagev on May 1, 2013 · Leave a Comment
David Foster Wallace “Infinite Jest” Page 604 …people of a certain age and level of like life-experience believe they’re immortal: …they deep-down believe they’re exempt from the laws of physics … And they’re constitutionally unable to learn from anybody else’s experience: if some jaywalking B.U. student does get splattered on Comm. or some House resident … Continue reading →
Category Denial, doctor, medical education, my tirades · Tagged with counter transferrance, David foster Wallace, death, denial, Doctors, doctors to our family and friends, fear, health, hypochondria, infinite jest, medicine, neurology, old, patients, physicians, psychological denial
Posted by denitzablagev on April 26, 2013 · 3 Comments
The cost of medical care and the cost of education in general is sky rocketing. But it is much worse to be at the nexus of these two endeavors – Medical Education. The current path to becoming a doctor in the US involves four years of university followed by four years of medical school. Each … Continue reading →
Category doctor, medical education, my tirades · Tagged with apprenticeship, board certification, certification, core competency, critical thinking, education, fellow, graduation, health, medical certification, medical education, medical student, medical training, medicine, resident, teaching
Posted by denitzablagev on April 10, 2013 · 1 Comment
We understand very little about the human body. Sometimes I think that the more we learn, the more we learn how much we don’t know. Occasionally, our patients show us. Take Jim*, for example. He came to me complaining of wheezing and shortness of breath. He had been newly diagnosed and treated for asthma over … Continue reading →
Category doctor, medical education · Tagged with Africa, alternative medicine, asthma, bronchoscopy, clinical trials, eosinophilia, estrogen therapy, health, homeopath, logical fallacy, medicine, parasites, peanuts, post hoc ergo propter hoc, richard dawkins, testimonial
Posted by denitzablagev on April 4, 2013 · 3 Comments
“I would want you as my doctor. I just wouldn’t want your life,” I said to the thoracic surgeon. It was after midnight and we were standing in the intensive care unit. I, having urgently intubated a critically ill patient; he, having finished a surgery on a patient we shared. This particular patient had had a lung … Continue reading →
Category access to care, Denial, doctor, medical education, quality improvement · Tagged with carcinoid, cardiothoracic surgery, continuity of care, door to baloon time, fellows, follow up, health, heart attack, hospitalist, intermountain, libby zion, lipoid pneumonia, medical errors, medicine, michael collins, residency work hour limits, residents, sleep deprivation, surgical outcomes, thoracic surgery, work hours
mybetterdoctor 