The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Please email your suggestions for inclusion to clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Logic is not good enough. We need evidence. Why should performance measures receive a pass on evaluation?
We once thought it was logical to give antiarrythmic drugs to patients after they had a myocardial infarction. We once thought that beta blockers were contraindicated in systolic dysfunction. We consistently follow logic and conventional wisdom, yet find out that we were wrong. Why should performance measures receive a pass on evaluation? From db's Medical Rants: http://buff.ly/16uF3j7
Has Twitter Changed? Remember when Twitter was a great place to have conversations?
When people now want to have a little bit deeper discussion, they send me an e-mail, or even a text to my phone - and the conversation takes place off the "public" airwaves. But why?
In my opinion, here are reasons why "rich engagement" has gone private: Political Correctness prevents deep analysis; This hyper-partisian world leaves little room for the "middle of the road" opinion; Being taken "out of context" is no longer the exception, it is the rule. From Family Medicine Rocks: http://bit.ly/Z0ynE5
We need more “old fashioned” doctors. Spending time with patients should not be considered “old fashioned”. Using technology sparingly should not be considered “old fashioned”. Technology is a tool not an answer. http://www.medrants.com/archives/7249
Work Life Balance - from Life in the Fast Lane medical education blog http://bit.ly/XoPZ12
Times have changed… we might break free from the self-flagellating oppression of yesteryear to forge a fitter and more fulfilling future
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Please email your suggestions for inclusion to clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
From NBC: "You don’t need an MRI for lower back pain. You don’t need antibiotics for a sinus infection. And you don’t need to be screened for osteoporosis, either, if you’re under 65. A list of 90 medical ‘don’ts.’"
Based on the headlines, one might think that these tests or treatments should never be done. However, this is not what the experts were saying. These are commonly overused tests and treatments, not useless.
Computers might be great if we humans were identical. They might be great if our patients were accurate historians without unknown agendas. But none of those, and many other restrictions exist. We have to weigh each piece of evidence, especially the history. We use complex illness scripts and our experience.
Excellent doctoring requires knowledge (computers can provide) plus wisdom. How can we program wisdom?
“How safe is Z-pak?” With the medicalization of everything, patients and doctors need to better understand that taking medicine or having surgery means accepting trade-offs. http://buff.ly/16cMN76
Dr. Wes: The Generality of the FDA's Recommendations on Zithromax http://bit.ly/ZFKBDo
When 1A evidence is not 1A evidence - A quest to find the truth, via Twitter http://buff.ly/XCrV8s
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Please email your suggestions for inclusion to clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
What’s your favorite thing about being a doctor? Dr. Schwimmer answers: http://buff.ly/10Dtln7
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Please email your suggestions for inclusion to clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
The #FOAMed revolution (Free Open Access Medical education)
From Mike Cadogan: "The net effect of #FOAM has taken me quite by surprise. Despite a complete lack of evidence, peer review, mission statements OR Big Pharma backing – the FOAMed revolution continues to infiltrate the psyche of the everyday healthcare professional. The ability to intelligently review, discuss and develop hypotheses, guidelines and issues; the sense of community; the sense of rebellious augmented learning and the joy of independence is rife…and contagious.
There are now an amazing 180 emergency medicine and critical care blogs. Bloggers write from 21 different countries. GMEP – ‘the Facebook of Medicine’ has just welcomed it’s 800th new member, 2 weeks after launch." http://buff.ly/12lzWzs
To become a great diagnostician – unleash your inner Columbo
"Lt. Columbo: You have to forgive me, it's not me, it's my mind, it's very slow, and I have to pin everything down" -- "Obsess over the details. Make the correct diagnosis as correct diagnoses make treatment success more likely." http://buff.ly/UwIoKH
Life as a Healthcare CIO: Naming the animals is one of the great pleasures of life on the farm. Every day when I'm moving hay, filling water, and shoveling manure, I can address everyone by name, wishing them good morning or offering words of encouragement. http://buff.ly/UYQcSE
Burnout is rampant among doctors: high rates of divorce, substance abuse, highest suicide rate of any profession. What to do? http://buff.ly/ZfpoTH
Why depression has made me a better doctor - by Dr. Ronan Kavanagh http://bit.ly/VPtlbZ
What does renal denervation mean for the future? The nephrologist Joel Topf from the blog Precious Bodily Fluids summarizes the findings: http://bit.ly/Vhciz5
10 Tips For Med Students Going Into Emergency Medicine - Adventures in Emergency Medicine http://buff.ly/12khQxK
Dr. Wes: My Grand, Sweeping Cardiovascular Predictions for 2013http://bit.ly/VCfi8x
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Please email your suggestions for inclusion to clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
A Low-tech Solution to Keep Immunosuppressed Patients Safe: a green ball http://buff.ly/VjcoFM
Cardiologist: Physicians Beware on the Twittersphere: "I was left at a conversational disadvantage because of the loss of context that is inherent to 140-character interactions on Twitter. This is a complex issue, and surely not suitable for Twitter. Engaging on this medium on this topic was a mistake. I learned from it." http://buff.ly/YWDE3x
Here is my PhD thesis, by Dr. Bertalan Meskó: “Two weeks ago, my childhood dream became true and I finished PhD therefore becoming a medical geneticist.” http://buff.ly/YWAmx7
If you’re going to purchase a medical ebook, go through the Kindle app (more flexibility and less buyers remorse) http://buff.ly/S01xFq
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Medical care is not the same as customer service
From the cardiologist Dr. John M: “Just say no to linking patient satisfaction with dollars. On a list of well-meaning but really dumb reform ideas, linking compensation of hospitals (or doctors) to patient satisfaction scores ranks near the top. Let me tell you why I think this way. It involves an important baddie—overtreatment. Medical care is not the same as customer service.” http://buff.ly/Vbyjig
Dr. Wes: Like food, we need a slow movement in medicine: Basic. Organic. Local. Personal. Real. http://buff.ly/V0XHXP
Every day is an adventure at Unity Farm
From a Boston hospital CIO who has branched out into farming: "Every day is an adventure at Unity Farm. You never know what interpersonal dynamics will develop with the alpacas, llama, guineas, chickens, and dogs. You never know who will squabble, who will have an injury/illness, and who will develop new behaviors. If it wasn't for the rigors of being a CIO, I could spent the day watching the events of the barnyard - far more interesting than Fox News or CNN." http://bit.ly/UllxPp
The message might be disturbing to you. Maybe we aren't born to run? From the cardiologist Dr. John M: http://buff.ly/YvIu7B
Green tea may be a 'brain booster' - NHS blog reviews the evidence http://buff.ly/YzA6nq
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
A list of predictions on where US health care is headed regardless of Tuesday’s presidential election - from the blog Glass Hospitalhttp://buff.ly/SMfntF
Whither the stethoscope?
From Notes from Dr. RW: Well, after all, the thinking goes, why work to maintain auscultatory skills when you can just get an echo? As this article in CCJM points out, that's dangerous thinking. Echocardiography can mislead. If it doesn't correlate with basic clinical data something's wrong. As the late J.Willis Hurst was fond of saying, master low technology (basic clinical skills) or you're bound to abuse high technology. http://buff.ly/SMcDfP
You CAN enjoy Twitter without tweeting
From AllergyNet: This tweet recently crossed my timeline: “If you don’t engage, there is no point having followers. Agree?” No. I don’t agree. Why? Because a comment like that immediately disenfranchises the 40% of those on Twitter who never tweet. These are the same people that go to public meetings and never ask questions. This is acceptable in a public meeting, and it should be on Twitter. Being inactive does not mean being disinterested. http://buff.ly/SL85DS
We order too many preop tests, says Skeptical Scalpel
From from the former department chairman, Skeptical Scalpel: "As far as I can tell, "I was following evidence-based guidelines" is not a foolproof defense against a malpractice suit. While there have been some attempts to legislate that following evidence-based guidelines should "immunize" doctors against malpractice suits, to my knowledge, no such laws exist." http://buff.ly/SL25uX
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Here are this week's top blog posts arranged in 4 broad categories:
Twitter as a new educational medium for doctors
ENT doctor: "Twitter is the best and most efficient way to get started learning from and sharing information" http://buff.ly/QVwjwS
Social media is a great way to connect with others at scientific meeting and share your personal experiences. The Chest 2012 meeting jumps in the social media pool with both feet and you must join them: http://buff.ly/Sb2h8S
Crowdsourcing Gout (with tweets). Here is how it works according to @RonanTKavanagh: This is why I love learning on Twitter. New drug, limited experience and 4 rheumatologists chipping in: http://buff.ly/RMK7HS
Health policy: what's on doctors' minds
Dr. Wes is worried about The Growing Culture of Hostile Dependency Toward Caregivers: http://bit.ly/SqnWti
The Joys Of Health Insurance Bureaucracy - Dr. Val from the blog Better Health shares her personal experience: http://bit.ly/T5Ncav
Dr. Wes: The Growing Residency Squeeze: While medical schools have increased their medical school positions by 30%, residency slots have only increased at a much slower rate of 8% http://buff.ly/Sb1HrB
Medical librarian provides a much needed critical look
Online Education Sites: and the Spam Goes on - Laika's MedLibLog from the Netherlands comments on her excellent and always well-referenced blog: http://bit.ly/WmTBwV
Why Publishing in the NEJM is not the Best Guarantee that Something is True - Laika's MedLibLog http://bit.ly/URfwgN
Inner well-being: The glass is half full
Patient-Centerness in Healthcare: Chief Experience Officer at Cleveland Clinic and e-Patient Dave: http://buff.ly/RMHupn
Healthcare CIO: After I started farming, my gray hair has disappeared. My optimism and equanimity are peaking... http://buff.ly/Sb10ie
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Death is no impediment to continuing to be an author in prestigious medical journals - from the former BMJ editor Richard Smith: “One of the authors on the paper, the most distinguished of the several cardiologists, actually died before the study began. Yet that hasn’t stopped him being an author on a recently published letter that he cannot have read in response to another letter that he cannot have read about a paper that he cannot have read. Wilmshurst, it is clear, finds this absurdity amusing. Death is no impediment to continuing to be an author in prestigious medical journals.” http://buff.ly/QlJhBd
Healthcare CEO: She was on 2 medications at home, not the 22 "re-started" in hospital now. How did this happen? http://buff.ly/QlJ3tK
Virtually There -- following the 2012 ACEP meeiting via Twitter http://buff.ly/RgZ2fE
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Choosing Wisely - Good Medical Practice or Prelude to Rationing?
From the White Coat blog: “If we want to decrease the amount of “unnecessary” testing, we need to address all of the reasons that such testing is performed. Why doesn’t Choosing Wisely change the preamble of its campaign to include: “The following tests are medically unnecessary and no type of professional or legal liability should ever be imposed upon physicians for failing to order or perform them …”? http://goo.gl/gG0Qp
The Food Challenge Challenge
Remember: No one "fails" a food challenge. The test is either positive or negative. http://buff.ly/Ql0fCh
Urologist performed his own vasectomy
From A Cartoon Guide to Becoming a Doctor: "When I was a med student on my surgery rotation, there was one urologist in our department who had actually performed his own vasectomy. He apparently used local anesthesia and did the procedure with a colleague present in the room "just in case." There were no complications. I dare you to find a female ob/gyn who tied her own tubes." http://buff.ly/PZOm4v
Science-Based Medicine » Andrew Weil’s Seasonal Supplements http://bit.ly/O38fZc
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Putting the “A” Back in SOAP Notes: Time to Tackle An Epic Problem
From the inventor of the word “hospitalist”, @Bob_Wachter: “At UCSF Medical Center, we went live with our version of the Epic electronic medical record three months ago. It beats pen and paper, and it beats the EMR system that we traded out (at a cost of a hundred million dollars or so) by a long shot. But the effect I witnessed on patient care and education was less positive.” Read why here: http://goo.gl/HuvUd
Whatever happened to personal contact?
From the surgeon who writes Skeptical Scalpel blog @Skepticscalpel: "No one has time for lunch nowadays and the hospitalist movement has succeeded in eliminating the primary care doctors from the hospital environment. I have been practicing at the same hospital for over three years and have never even met 95% of the local primary care docs. Something is lacking when you aren’t able to attach a face to a name." http://goo.gl/MTS3Z
ACP: Stop making laws telling physicians how to practice medicine
From db's Medical Rants, ACP President, David Bronson, had this to say: "Government doesn't belong in the physician-patient relationship. It's a one-on-one, very personal, very private relationship. The patient has to have confidence the physician is giving them their very best professional advice and judgment." http://goo.gl/3NpOl
On Outcomes
Dr. Wes @doctorwes: It is difficult to follow pre-defined guidelines when there are many, many independent variables that weigh on patient management decisions. Payers want perfect outcomes or they will not pay for care, as if people are widgets on a production line with interchangeable parts. But for the majority of individuals who fall outside the center of normative data sets upon which standards, guidelines, protocols and checklists are based, the doctor and patient must face the reality that there are often no perfect answers for treatment. http://goo.gl/xQFQn
How To Integrate Twitter into Your Workflow
Krafty Librarian: If you have tried to do Twitter for professional communication but you use it through Twitter’s site and it hasn’t gone well, try TweetDeck or Hootsuite. http://goo.gl/3Dw0a
Sherpaa founder: How $1.85M in the bank are not enough to buy 2 Apple workstations http://goo.gl/J6yht
A good tweet is a terrible thing to waste. The blog Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (@m_lin) started collecting and posting important Twitter pearls in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care from the past week. Here is an example: http://bit.ly/RBhcbo
I think "Tweet Pearls" summary is a good idea although the perceived usefulness of the tweets will obviously vary according to your interest in the topic. The slideshow uses Storify and considering Twitter, Inc.'s increasingly restrictive approach, the ability of some 3rd party services (Storify, Flipboard, etc.) to display tweets may be limited in the future. The easiest approach is to copy/paste the text of the interesting tweets in a blog post but that may be against the Twitter guidelines for the use of their content (tweets) which is actually ours.
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Are Twitter friends real friends? A rheumatologists' tweetup proves they're real, and yes, they're friends http://goo.gl/6oE93
Searchable database of Clinical Examination Videos at Life in the FastLane EM blog http://goo.gl/VEf1
Physician blogger on assignment: Getting ready for the European Society of Cardiology Congress http://goo.gl/fGtpY
Life as a Healthcare CIO blog calls the Meaningful EHR Use Stage 2 "the most exciting time to be in healthcare IT" http://goo.gl/I6oNN
3 Things Medical Conferences Can Learn From Tech Events | MedCrunch http://bit.ly/RiefZk
Tweets for Credit: Social Media’s Role in CME | The Doctor's Tablet http://goo.gl/QToLQ
“Many faculty members have a keen interest in learning how to better use Twitter. They are attracted to Twitter’s quick pace, easy learning opportunities and ability to help them control more carefully what they share publicly in social media.”
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
EM and critical care physicians adopt social media at rapid pace
Here is the remarkable growth just in the last 18 months: 77% Twitter, 42% Facebook and 20% for Google Plus. An increasing number of blogs (21%) now have multiple authors. There is better identification of authors with 94% of blogs and podcasts citing the full name, credentials, contact form and geographical location of blog authors. http://goo.gl/MySga
Here is my comment: Remarkable summary, Mike. I’ve seen something similar (on a smaller scale) with the allergy and immunology accounts. In 2008, I was the only one tweeting from a major national scientific meeting (ACAAI) and it was a lonely experience. In 2011, there were 30 allergists reporting from a similar meeting, providing a rich and engaging feed of high-value updates in real time.
My guess is that the outstanding example provided by Life in The Fast Lane and a few others physician bloggers and podcasters encourage others to join in by showing them how to use use social media in practice and at the same time demonstrating the remarkable value both physicians and patients receive from using the two way street provided by these new communication channels.
Thank for you showing the way and maintaining the focus day after the day. I know it’s not easy for your guys to find the time but having Life in The Fast Lane and the other bloggers/podcasters is inspiring to many others. Keep up the great work.
"We are very fortunate to be physicians. Making our parents so happy is a wonderful unintended consequence." - Dr. Bob Centor http://goo.gl/sX88e
Life as a Healthcare CIO: Joyful Chaos. The Chief Information Officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: “By pure happenstance, my Telecom manager is selling her herd of 8 alpaca. After meeting them, we purchased the entire herd - 3 males and 5 females. Realizing that alpacas need guardians because they do not defend themselves well against the coyotes, fisher cats, and other predators on our property, we researched llamas. We found an ideal guard llama who has lived with alpaca for many years. The female llama will guard the female alpaca.” http://goo.gl/ENlBA
American Heft: What's Colorado's secret? The GlassHospital blog investigates: http://goo.gl/NwIz5
Phil Baumann comments on the "The Coming Catastrophe of Medical and Nursing Education: Today’s physicians don’t feel like they’re doing what they signed up to do. Today’s nurses don’t feel like they’re doing what they signed up to do. Each are fighting unnecessary wars." http://goo.gl/W5LyE
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
The Most Hopeful Job in the World
From Craig Canapari, MD: His "academic achievement would be impressive in anyone. But when you realize that he could not even pick up a pencil, this is really stunning." http://bit.ly/NkPOik
Setting an Example: Eating Well
The “classic” fare of residency (donuts or muffins for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and some fast food on the way home) doesn’t really give you much credibility when you are talking to patients. http://goo.gl/fQlAs
- Require all visits to have a simple summary. - Allow coding gibberish to be hidden. - Require all ancillary reports to be available to the patient. - Require integration with a comprehensive and unified patient calendar. - Put most of the chart in the hands of the patient. - Pay for e-visits and make them simple for all involved. - Allow e-prescription of all controlled drugs. - Require patients’ records to be easily searchable. - Standardize database nomenclature and decentralize it. - Outlaw faxing.
Bedside manner in the days of EHR
The $47 billion Kaiser Permanente managed healthcare company has even gone so far as to develop a training methodology for EHR etiquette. It's designed to teach practitioners how to both use electronic tools and be aware there's a patient in the room. http://goo.gl/2LFuk
Called LEVEL, it has five steps:
L -- Let the patient look on E -- Eye contact V -- Value the computer E -- Explain what you’re doing L -- Log off
Electronic health records changing the character of the family doctor http://goo.gl/iw36b
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Medical crowdsourcing through social media
Berci, one of the most popular proponents of #HCSM, comments on being mentioned in TIME magazine: They described how crowdsourcing works through social media and used my story of crowdsourcing a rare diagnosis via Twitter as an example. Life is just great!" http://goo.gl/CxwgK
The Final Update of the Hospital Social Network List
Ed Bennett: "After a long run, I’ve decided to archive the Hospital Social Network List. The final update will be published at the end of August 2012" http://goo.gl/z0GTm
International Conference on Emergency Medicine (ICEM) 2012 Talks Free Online
Chris Nickson, from the EM blog Life in the Fast Lane, reports that the lectures from the 2012 International Conference on Emergency Medicine are now freely available: http://goo.gl/qIF9n
Johns Hopkins medical students have invented an app that checks your symptoms
Symcat (symptoms-based, computer-assisted triage) app allows the user to enter in various symptoms such as a fever, cough, swelling etc. and receive "an instant diagnosis" (more like a suggestion rather than a diagnosis) http://goo.gl/C0nYc
Instead of Asthma, Laryngospasm in a Child
The ENT surgeon and prolific medical blogger Dr. Christopher Chang special comments on how VCD can masquerade as asthma http://bit.ly/QGMJJJ
Computers can never replace physicians as diagnosticians - Dr. Centor explains why on his blog: http://goo.gl/SDx2L
Social media updates and the 2012 AAFP National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Students
Dr. Mike Sevilla from published a #AAFPNC 2012 Wrap-up at: http://goo.gl/TCI7L
How Twitter connects Mayo Clinic and patients - Lee Aase's presentation http://goo.gl/7LNde
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
What is FOAM? Free Open-Access Meducation
From Andy Neill’s blog: Instead of all those powerpoint slides and images resting on a decaying hard drive – get them out there – let someone else benefit and engage with them. You did a talk one time at rounds? Get it recorded and post it online. If it’s good you’ll hear about it. If you’re wrong someone will tell you and start a conversation on it. http://goo.gl/QwdQe
He recorded Mike Cadogan talk outlining the future of medical education - FOAM or Free Open-Access Meducation:
Alternative journal impact factors – Eigenfactor, R-Factor, Y-Factor | The Search Principle blog http://goo.gl/EorHq
Impressive: @giustini 's 140 SlideShare presentations achieved more than 1 million viewings, with many of then focused on the use of social media in healthcare (#HCMS) and medlib http://goo.gl/qHmKR
The evolution of a physician's blog
Dr. Smith presents his research poster, which charts the tremendous growth of his eponymous blog, Dr Smith’s ECG blog. The blog is practically free to maintain, hosted by Google's service, Blogger.com, and will break 1,000,000 page views this year. The site itself represents a living and breathing, dynamic textbook: http://hqmeded-ecg.blogspot.com
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Tips for doctors looking to engage with #HCSM: "a childlike playfulness, humility, politeness, and humour"
Dr. Ronan Kavanagh @RonanTKavanagh, a Galway based Rheumatologist, offers advice for those looking to engage better with patients in healthcare: it’s worth thinking about the power of just being nice….. Practice a childlike playfulness, humility, politeness, and humour which makes you instantly more human, likeable and accessible. Just like these rugby players http://goo.gl/zKZZ5 :
Explanation: The ad shows three famous Irish rugby players asking house owners permission to play, and for volunteers to join them in a game of rugby on the grassy area in front of their homes.
Dr. Kavanagh is an authentic, practicing physician, and a rising social media superstar. You should follow him on Twitter @RonanTKavanagh
11 Chronic Disease Technologies to Watch
Here is the list of 11 Chronic Disease Technologies to Watch, by John W. Sharp:
Extended Care eVisits, Home Telehealth, In-Car Telehealth, Medication Adherence Tools, Mobile Asthma Management Tools, Mobile Cardiovascular Tools, Mobile Clinical Decision Support, Mobile Diabetes Management Tools, Social Media Promoting Health, Tele-Stroke Care, Virtual Visits http://goo.gl/vilXQ
One Doctor’s Prescription to Avoid Social Media Overload
Mark Ryan, M.D. @RichmondDoc shares a post with the the blog of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Here is his Prescription to Avoid Social Media Overload (my comments are listed as Editor's notes) http://goo.gl/bdtPU:
- Stop trying to read every update (Editor's note: I read 95-99% of the Twitter updates but I only follow about 100 accounts - @RichmondDoc follows 1,500).
- Organize your incoming information in Twitter lists (Editor's note: I find Google Reader with folders more time efficient).
- Use time wisely. Glance at your stream whenever you have a few minutes (Editor's note: Don't forget your friends and family).
- Look into using a third-party Twitter client, such as TweetDeck or HootSuite .
- Leverage your e-mail newsletters (Editor's note: RSS feeds work better).
- Finally, if you do not have much time to be on social media, look for relevant Tweetchats (Editor's note: Twitter chats can be a huge time sink too, so be careful).
6 Inexpensive Ways to Stay in Shape - from Cleveland Clinic
It is great to see my former employer, the Cleveland Clinic, blogging useful tips to stay healthy http://goo.gl/peDXq :
Cardiologist Dr. Wes comments on a a provocative piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) http://goo.gl/tjxGU
Physician Social Media Guide
Mike Sevilla, MD comments on the newly released Physician Social Media Guide by the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) http://goo.gl/xjFUv. You can see the guide embedded below:
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
No medical social media strategy is complete without a plan for a blog
From Howard J. Luks, MD @hjluks: Google Panda and Penguin Changes are Two More Reasons for Doctors to Blog: Patients naturally use search engines to ask questions, and a blog is a great way to answer those questions. You probably answer the same questions every day in the same way--put it in a blog post! Chances are many potential new patients have the same questions. Putting your answers down in a blog post will actually save you time, and establish you as an authority on the topic. http://goo.gl/PGlSx
What are the ethics of crowdsourcing a diagnosis?
Richmond Doc: There could be great value in using social media as the world’s largest “curbside consult” in which we ask peers to provide suggestions and insight. Crowdsourcing would be like an enormous brainstorming session to help come up with ideas that the primary physician might have overlooked or failed to consider. http://goo.gl/Ez3wj
Robert West comments: Personally, I would prefer to have my own health conditions crowdsourced, than continue forever untreated or improperly treated. Not all people feel the same way, though.
EMR impact: Are we retraining our doctors from care-givers to data providers?
Dr. Wes @doctorwes describes a doctor completing an EMR: A little box pops up before him asking if he asked the patient about the exercise. He mumbles something under his breath, clicks a little box beneath the question, then moves on. This is what medicine has become: a series of computer queries and measures of clicks. It must be measurable, quantifiable, and justifiable or it didn't happen. Doctors are losing their motivation to diagnose in favor of sitting at a computer. Doctors, I also dare say, are losing their skills in favor of sitting at a computer. http://goo.gl/RrIhz
Publishing a medical journal is a very profitable activity, says former BMJ Editor-in-Chief and provides examples
Richard Smith @Richard56: “I used to be part of running a course for editors of medical journals, and on each course we’d encounter editors, usually distinguished professors, who worked evenings and weekends on journals for free. They did so as a contribution to their specialty and for a dollop of honour. In their naivety they imagined that the journals made little or no money. In fact some scientific journals are considerably more profitable than oilwells.” http://goo.gl/QeaKS
How to Save Time Doing Healthcare Social Media: A Primer for Physicians
Fauquier ENT Blog @FauquierENT: Colleagues of mine often think that I spend HOURS doing social media everyday. Nothing can be further from the truth. Beyond writing blog posts which does take time... I probably spend about 30 minutes daily reading and sharing. Subscribing to RSS feeds can also be used, but I find customized Twitter lists easier. And I automate nearly everything when it comes to sharing to save time. Here are my workhorse applications I use to save me time: Hootsuite, IFTTT, and Bufferapp. http://goo.gl/wIS34
1. Record what you learn as you learn it. If you really want to learn clinical medicine, you have to make notes. Go to work every day with blank 3×5 cards in your pocket. (Editor's note: Better yet, make notes on your phone/Google Drive and consider a blog).
2. Be comprehensive. Get a major textbook in your field. (Editor's note: At a minimum, read UpToDate or Medscape Reference [eMedicine]).
3. Stay curious.
3. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Don’t make your notes, file them away and pull them out the week before the in-training exam. Sit down once a week and just glance through them all. Develop a system that lets you review them 24-48 hours after you make the notes, a week later, a month later, and 3 months later. (Editor's note: This really works. Recall information at 1 week, 1 month, 3 month, and if you still need it, 6 month-intervals).
And the last but not least entry in this week's Best of Medical Blogs is: Library’s New Role to Enhance Visibility of Researchers « Laika's MedLibLog http://buff.ly/PeyFYo
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Top 9 tips for exercsing in the heat
A cardiologist’s top 9 tips for exercsing in the heat http://goo.gl/9GjRP, also known as the Nine Mandrola rules for dealing with the heat:
1. Hydrate immediately upon awakening. 2. Drink an entire bottle of water BEFORE the run or ride. 3. Limit caffeine intake on hot days. 4. Talk to yourself during a hot ride/run. Keep telling yourself to drink fluids. 5. Colored water can help on long rides/runs on hot days (??). 6. Avoid Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs). Do not take NSAIDs while dehydrated. 7. Don’t push through sickness. Never add inflammation. 8. Exercise in the morning. 9. Be alert for signs of heat-illness in yourself or your buddies.
Dr. Wes reiterates one more time: "Hence, why doctors need to be on social media. Another take-home message from this study: professional societies need to make their videos shorter and use patient experiences to bring their message home."
A Lithium Battery in a Hotdog
A Lithium Battery in a Hotdog: the picture burns itself into mind: http://buff.ly/LSmPBS. From the official blog of the journal Pediatrics: Dr. Marcus placed a lithium battery inside a sliced hot dog and when both poles came in contact with the frankfurter, the result is a picture that burns itself into your mind — and perhaps your patients’ minds as well if you show it to them as a means of encouraging them to keep these batteries secured inside the small electronics, and to keep the spares out of reach of small children.
2012 Physicians Survey reveals dissatisfaction and gloomy outlook - Orthopedic surgeon Howard J. Luks, shows the way forwardhttp://goo.gl/eBzUA
Dr. Luks: "Establish a deep digital presence. 95% of online health related discussions take place without a physician being present. When ready and capable, root that presence deeply in social media. These enable the basic tenets of outbound marketing efforts. Take advantage of what a deep digital presence offers. Humanize your Organization. Foster your relevance, Educate, Engage and help patients clear that windshield of doubt. Embed enabling technologies such as Zocdoc, Avado and Twistle to allow patients to schedule visits at a time of their choosing, enable them to manage their PHI online, communicate with your staff digitally and provide them with a secure, intelligent email system which will streamline the communication workflow within your practice. Physicians who are not interested in establishing their own digital presence, but want to try and build an online presence can consider participating in one of the many Q&A platforms like Sharecare, Avvo and Healthtap."
UMEM Emergency Physician and EKG enthusiast, Dr. Amal Mattu gives you weekly advice that will help you save lives http://goo.gl/BrNJa
Evolution of the White Coat - A Cartoon Guide to Becoming a Doctor http://goo.gl/VLrwL
Exclusive interview with NEJM Editor-in-Chief, Jeffrey Drazen, for MedGadget medical blog http://goo.gl/w4fr2
Three things about Healthcare Social Media
Ed Bennett shares three things he's learned about Healthcare Social Media: Our patients are ahead of us, Real change start at the top, Social media is more than the sum of its parts http://goo.gl/fD2Sj
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
Cycling for doctors and patients
Dr. Mandrola reviews Strava app that uses GPS information collected from a smartphone or Garmin device to track your numbers. Beware: Always racing up segments can quickly lead to over-training and excess inflammation. That’s both bad and silly. Becoming a slave to kilojoules burned or personal-best power risks squeezing the fun out of exercise. That’s worse than bad or silly. A Mandrola axiom: never take the fun out of fun stuff. If you come to Louisville, you can stomp up the Sleepy Hollow Climb and see how you stack up against “an aging cardiac electrophysiologist.” http://goo.gl/02zBx
Three things about Healthcare Social Media
Ed Bennett shares three things he's learned about Healthcare Social Media: Our patients are ahead of us, Real change start at the top, Social media is more than the sum of its parts http://goo.gl/fD2Sj
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Please email your suggestions for inclusion to clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.
