You don’t have to spend too much time on Twitter to find ideas about what people think medical students need to know. From health economics and climate change to value-based care and informatics, it seems there’s no shortage of new competencies. And every person with a new suggestion about what doctors need to master believes their idea would be transformative. ... Continue Reading about What Medical Students Need to Know – The Zero-Sum Curriculum
Do You Need Permission to Love Surgery?
Last week on Twitter I watched a surgeon ask if it was okay to say that he loved to operate. But as a surgeon do you really need someone's permission to love surgery? A bizarre question on one level. Understandable in the context of online culture. So how have we reached a point where a surgeon can’t express that his chosen work is something he ... Continue Reading about Do You Need Permission to Love Surgery?
What Bonobos Can Teach Us About Health Care
I needed a jacket and I wanted a fresh look. So I went to the Market Street Bonobos in The Woodlands, TX. I had never been there before. I read that they were doing things differently. The dance of sizing up a human being In I go. I meet the general manager, Kristy. We pick out a casual, unconstructed blazer. I like it. But then Kristy grabs me one of ... Continue Reading about What Bonobos Can Teach Us About Health Care
Physician Tolerance and the Six Sigma Clinic
There’s a concept in manufacturing called tolerance. It’s the error allowed as part of the process of making stuff. Engineering tolerance is the permissible limit or limits of variation in: a physical dimension; a measured value or physical property of a material, manufactured object, system, or service ... — Wikipedia In medicine patient care is increasingly ... Continue Reading about Physician Tolerance and the Six Sigma Clinic
Eugene Gu and MedTwitter’s Strangest Hour
Medical cyberpresence can be stranger than fiction. Case in point is the saga of Dr. Eugene Gu. For those who don't remember, Gu as a surgical resident positioned himself as a victim of white supremacy at his training program's institution. Last year his public world exploded as a weird medical pseudoreality involving, among other things, anonymous Twitter accounts ... Continue Reading about Eugene Gu and MedTwitter’s Strangest Hour
Lessons From a Botched Telemedicine Encounter
This week Ernest Quintana, a 78-year-old man with lung disease, was told by a doctor on a telemedicine encounter that he did not have long to live. Caught on phone video the family took to the media where it has triggered a national conversation about conversations. Here are 3 takeaways from this case: Hold critical conversations in person When possible. Critical ... Continue Reading about Lessons From a Botched Telemedicine Encounter