The Medical Professionalism Blog
Tag Archives: medical education
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.
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 [...]
Putting the Charter into Practice Grantee: Costs of Care
This is the first in a series of posts written by the ABIM’s Foundation’s Putting the Charter into Practice grantees, which describes their motivation to pursue projects related to stewardship of resources. As a medical student, I heard murmurs in hospital wards about certain services being expensive or potentially uncovered. But I never imagined how [...]
Whittling Costs in White Coats
At the beginning of last week, I was excited to be invited to take part in the ABIM Foundation Forum, where the who’s who in medicine convened to discuss how to create a sustainable healthcare system, where costs are controlled and quality of care is preserved. We heard some bold vision and ideas, many of [...]
“Nothing About Me Without Me” – What Patients and Students Have To Say
At the end of July, 150 national health leaders will assemble for the annual ABIM Foundation Forum to discuss the economic sustainability of the health care system, and the respective and joint responsibilities of physicians, patients and the health care community. I reflect with a deep sense of awe and gratitude on the important participants [...]
Part-Time Women
In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, Dr. Karen S. Sibert opines that female physicians working part-time are contributing to a physician shortage and are “not making full use of their training” and the societal resources invested in medical education and residency. She also has the following message for current and aspiring female [...]
Vampires and Urban Legends: Teaching Residents about Health Care Costs
This past weekend, I gave a talk at the Committee of Interns and Residents, the largest housestaff union in the United States. The most inspiring moment of the meeting that I witnessed were the two standing ovations earned by Dr. Koffler for advocating for residents to get paid in 1936 (her first paycheck was 15 [...]
Walk the Walk, NEJM!
I recently picked up the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) to read one of the clinical cases. I began reading NEJM clinical cases over 30 years ago while attending medical school. Today, I oftentimes use the clinical cases for discussions with medical students and residents for great examples in teaching [...]
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