The Medical Professionalism Blog
Category Archives: Medical Education & Training
Medical Educators Need to Take Charge and Help Deflate Medical Bills
At a time when one in three Americans report difficulty paying medical bills, up to $750 billion is being spent on care that does not help patients become healthier. Although physicians are routinely required to manage expensive resources, traditional medical training offers few opportunities to learn how to deliver the highest quality care at the [...]
Recommended Reading: March 30 – April 5
Catch up on the latest literature on professionalism in medical education in this week’s Recommended Reading: The authors of “e-Professionalism: A New Frontier in Medical Education” discuss the challenges posed by e-professionalism, which they define as “attitudes and behaviors that reflect traditional professionalism paradigms but are manifested through digital media.” The study “Narrative medicine as [...]
Recommended Reading: February 2 – 8
Learn about efforts to incorporate cost-consciousness into medical education and training in the latest Recommended Reading: In “The Value in the Evidence: Teaching Residents to ‘Choose Wisely.’” Christopher Moriates and colleagues describe a curriculum created by University of California, San Francisco residents to cultivate cost-consciousness and wise use of medical resources. Putting the Charter into [...]
Recommended Reading: December 8 – 14
This week’s Recommended Reading contains a roundup of the latest articles on medical professionalism. In a new JAMA commentary the authors examine the impact of duty hour restrictions on residents’ professionalism. They assert that trainees currently exhibit “nostalgic professionalism” by placing the needs of patients and the profession above personal well-being. The authors feel that [...]
Where, Oh Where Do Physicians Learn About Cost-Effectiveness?
The Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) defines the Triple Aim as: Better health (population health) Better care (quality improvement) Reduced cost Although many quality improvement organizations and delivery systems are focused on the Triple Aim, cost is not often a part of their efforts.
Cost Awareness in Health Care: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Costs of Care, where this post was originally published, is a Boston-based nonprofit organization that helps caregivers deflate medical bills and provide high-value care. Learn more at www.CostsOfCare.org or follow them on Twitter (@CostsOfCare). “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo
Inspired by the Youthful
Maybe the awareness of cost and effective decision-making in health care will be propelled by the next generation of physicians and clinicians. After all, it was the American Medical Student Association that propelled the conflict-of-interest “movement” by grading their academic medical centers’ conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical and device companies. The generation now in [...]
Extremist Proposal Shocks the Medical Establishment
I suspect many were shocked, even disturbed, upon reading the article, Professionalism, the Invisible Hand, and a Necessary Reconfiguration of Medical Education by distinguished professor of medical education at Mayo Clinic, Fred Hafferty, and his two colleagues, Drs. Brennan and Pawlina. In the article, the authors call for all medical students to achieve competency in [...]
Trying to Make Professionalism Real And Parsimonious
There has been a lot of both positive and negative reaction by physicians and others to the recently released American College of Physicians (ACP) Ethics Manual that states: “Physicians have a responsibility to practice effective and efficient health care and to use health care resources responsibly. Parsimonious care that utilizes the most efficient means to [...]
Compassionate Care Requires Compassionate Systems
In the article, “An Agenda For Improving Compassionate Care: A Survey Shows About Half of Patients Say Such Care Is Missing,” published in Health Affairs (September 2011, Vol. 30 No. 9), Beth Lowen et al. make a good case for the connection between compassionate care and quality outcomes and patient experiences. The authors also conclude [...]
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