The Risks of Remote-Controlled Medicine. "It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has. "- Hippocrates Increasingly our Western world culture assumes that most things in medicine can be reduced in to a linear, data-driven, algorithmic processes. One only needs to witness the now-famously heralded article on ICU check-lists to understand the unwavering trust we have in this model.
Yet when we consider medicine nothing more than a rational, scientific, transactional exchange between the doctor and patient we become limited. Doctors and their patients are clearly sensing this shift to the omnibus, bean-counter, centralized approach to medicine. Yet doctors offer little to correct this shifting perception. Humans are a study in contradictions. Both doctors and patients still want and need these intangibles in medicine. -Wes. The Doctor Is Out, but New Patient Monitoring and Robotics Techn. A new generation of medical devices using wireless communications, sophisticated software and data center-driven "cloud" computing promises to deliver health care in ways previously limited to the confines of fancy hospital rooms. These advances, ranging from edible sensors to cordless heart monitors to robotic arms that mirror a doctor's movements, presage sharp falls in cost just as consumers clamor for more affordable health care.
Around-the-clock tracking through wireless sensors, advanced biochemistry and raw remote computing power to mine and match symptom data with likely causes could help doctors band together to make faster, more correct diagnoses, from wherever they are. "These developments encapsulate the work of scientists and technologists across many disciplines," says Gordon Edge, an inventor and former chairman of the Cambridge University–MIT Institute Advisory Board. "It's the fruit of electronics, computing, basic chemistry and microbiology coming together. " Invisible Burden of Family Doctors. The Vanishing Oath. You, your doctor and the Internet.
Preserving Cabrini-Green's images In the sharp sun of an April afternoon, Nate Lanthrum walks through the remains of Cabrini-Green giving away what he has taken. He looks out of place, a white guy carrying a $1,500 Nikon D700 camera, but the residents are used to him by now and greet... Blackhawks thrilled to have Brent Seabrook back Starting with Game 6 Sunday, Brent Seabrook's timeout will be over and the defenseman will be back on the ice — so long as he promises to play nice. The Blackhawks have done pretty well in Seabrook's absence, winning all three games the NHL... NFL draft preview: Defensive ends As the NFL draft nears — it takes place May 8-10 — we're taking an 11-day, position-by-position look at what's out there and what the Bears need. In May 1974, Tribune delivered 2 Watergate bombshells Obama denounces racist comments reportedly made by NBA owner Cubs can't take advantage of Brewers' injuries Northwestern women win at Wrigley Blackhawks thrilled to have Brent Seabrook back.
One-Third of Online Americans Use Social Media for Health. Manhattan’s research’s Cybercitizen Health v9.0 study found that the average patient in the US now relies on a variety of media and resources to research disease, treatment, and health maintenance information. Key in this mix is the online access to information, communications and resources found on the internet, which Manhattan Research collectively calls ‘e-Health.’ Growth of Digital, e-Health The study found that the e-Health consumer market has grown significantly in the past five years, from 90 million consumers online for health in 2004 to nearly 160 million in 2009.
Increasing access, improving technologies, and the expansion of health content online will continue to cement the internet as a critical resource patients’ lives, the firm said. Top Factors Shaping e-Health In the past, consumers primarily used the internet to research new symptoms or disease information. Specific findings about eHealth behaviors: Physician-Patient Relationship Goes Digital. The Joint Surgeon. A close relative recently underwent hip replacement at the Texas Orthopedic Hospital in Houston’s Texas Medical Center. She raved about her surgeon, Dr Richard Kearns. I had the opportunity to sit by her bed while he made his evening rounds (he didn’t know I was a physician until we were introduced at the end of his visit). These are the qualities seem to make him successful: Approachable.He bridged the technical gap that often separates patient and surgeon.
Of course these qualities won’t cover technical incompetence in a surgeon. In the end it was cool to see a good relationship work. The health infosphere is filled with vitriolic banter of unfortunate encounters with physicians. But sometimes it’s just as important to hear about what works as what doesn’t. Doctors Embrace Social Media. Is Good Patient Care About Choice or Collaboration. August 31, 2009 at 10:27 am jimtrevis My July 23, 2009 blog on the ideal relationship between patients and doctors elicited more comments than most of my postings. ePatient Dave was interested enough to repost that blog on his site, which elicited even more comments. One comment from Anne Marie Cunningham suggested that I read The Logic of Care: Health and the Problem of Patient Choice by Annemarie Mol, the Socrates Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Twente, the Netherlands.
Even though this slender paperback cost more than $40 on Amazon, I’m glad I bought and read it. Mol has thought long and hard about how framing the doctor/patient relationship around the question of choice and who has more power misses much of what is important and meaningful in the interaction between professional and patient. The logic of choice summarized in my July 23 blog is well known: supply should follow demand, and care should be guided by what patients want. Like this: Like Loading... When Doing Nothing is the Hardest Decision. ‘Why I Ration Care’ is an important essay published in this week’s Newsweek. Christopher Moore, a father and emergency physician, talks about his recent care of a teen who presented with mild head trauma sustained during a soccer game.
The piece details the decision to manage this low-risk child expectantly. The reflexive head CT was forgone in favor of observation. Moore refers to his decision as a type of rationing of health care resources. I call it a refreshing example of good clinical judgment. If all physicians exercised this level of thinking on a daily basis it’s conceivable that ‘reform’ would be a foreign word. But great judgment is easier said than done. The drive to identify and fix has to be balanced with the patience and courage to watch and wait. Where Have All the Doctors Gone? Obama-administration officials have reportedly become alarmed by doctor shortages, especially since millions of previously uninsured people would gain coverage—and therefore increase demand—if the president manages to pass national health care reform.
To make up for the physician shortfall, which several studies suggest could reach 100,000 over the next 20 years, the Association of American Medical Colleges is recommending a 30 percent increase in med-school enrollment. Why don't we have enough doctors? Blame the baby boomers. Since 1965, the federal government has subsidized medical residencies through Medicare. To grow the population of doctors in the 1970s, Congress approved funds for additional places. The boomers who flooded into the profession back then, and who now represent one-third of the medical establishment, are starting to retire. At the same time, consumer demand for medical services is expected to increase. There's also a distribution problem.