The Medical Professionalism Blog
Category Archives: Medical Professionalism in Practice
Healthy as a Horse No More: My Recent Patient Experience
I knew that I would come to rue the day I wrote my post on my EKG claiming I was a healthy individual with no apparent illnesses. On November 3, I had my first surgery in 40 years – a procedure for a detached retina (vitrectomy with a scleral buckle and pneumatic retinopexy; I read [...]
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 [...]
Unnecessary EKGs – The Heart of the Matter
Sharon Begley’s cover story in the August 22nd edition of Newsweek begins with an anecdote about my own refusal for an EKG: “Dr. Stephen Smith…tells his doctor not to order…an annual electrocardiogram to screen for heart abnormalities….” To clarify, I didn’t object the first time an EKG was ordered by my primary care doctor, but [...]
You Say Consumer, I Say Patient: Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
There has been a long debate among health care policy wonks, thought leaders, patient and consumer advocates, and the public about the use of the word “consumer” versus “patient.” Similar debates have ensued about the use of “provider” when referring to physicians, hospitals and other clinicians. I recently heard an interesting exchange between a physician [...]
The Divided Self No More
The ABIM Foundation convened a group of health care stakeholders in Madison, Wisconsin to learn more about how they think and act about the “wise and effective management of limited health care resources,” as stated in the Physician Charter. When we convened this group of stakeholders in Madison, we didn’t know what exactly to expect. [...]
Accountable Care Organizations Waltzing With Medical Professionalism
After the release of the proposed regulations last Thursday, it’s clearer what Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will look like. They just might be the means to realize medical professionalism in the 21st century.
Thank You, Dr. Greenfield
Dear Dr. Shelly Greenfield and the Institute of Medicine’s Committee Members on Standards for Developing Trustworthy Clinical Practice Guidelines, Thank you for bestowing this gift to the health care industry: For the first time, we have universal standards for developing clinical practice guidelines and systematic reviews.
What’s Culture Got To Do With It?
In my estimation, professionalism has a lot to do with personal values. Thus, when individuals or clinicians are aggregated into groups, their personal values form the base of their organization’s values and culture. It’s not surprising to this sociological-thinking individual when studies show that the differentiating factors between low- and high–performing institutional and ambulatory clinical [...]
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