See one do one teach one is old school clinical education in a nutshell. Popularized by early 20th century surgical pioneer William Halsted, it captures a medicine-by-the-seat-of-your-pants mindset that defined more than a generation. It’s how I was taught and how I was taught to teach. But even a half-competent clinician knows you can’t teach something you’ve ... Continue Reading about See One Do One Teach One – Halsted’s Paradigm
Communication and the Law of Constraint
The smaller the space you have to communicate the more the preparation you need. I think of this as the law of constraint. When I have lots of space I’m a little lazy and loose with what I deliver. Smaller spaces, however, require real thought. Think about it: 140 characters on Twitter took more thinking than 280. Prepping an 18 minute TED talk is ... Continue Reading about Communication and the Law of Constraint
Nobody Cares About TikTok – But Everybody Loves Connection
Nobody cares about TikTok. Just like no one cares about electricity. But we all care about is what electricity allows us to do. And people love how TikTok allows them to connect and creatively appear to the world. For health professionals this is one more piece in their communication wardrobe (if you wear this kind of thing). So our interest in ... Continue Reading about Nobody Cares About TikTok – But Everybody Loves Connection
The Long Visit Fallacy – The Right Attention for the Patient
Many believe that a long visit with the doctor is a good medical visit. This is the long visit fallacy. Years ago I had a partner who related poorly to parents. So after some discussion and counseling he thought he’d fix the problem by spending more time with families. Time, of course, is correlated with compassion. And caring doctors take lots of time, we ... Continue Reading about The Long Visit Fallacy – The Right Attention for the Patient
Robert Califf and the Rise of Medicine’s Peanut Gallery
This Journal of the American College of Cardiology Case Reports editorial, A Perspective on the K-Index, by Dr. Robert Califf has drawn a lot of dialog. Through a critical discussion of the K-Index he questions the value of social commentary on research by non-research physicians. Central to Califf’s thinking is the idea that those not in traditional medical ... Continue Reading about Robert Califf and the Rise of Medicine’s Peanut Gallery
TikTok Health Champions and Skeptics
TikTok health champions and skeptics are haggling on MedTwitter over its worthiness as a platform. It started with some bad physician actors posting stuff that was disrespectful to patients. The disagreement looks something like this: TikTok health skeptics say it’s a place where bad things happen. TikTok health champions argue that pinheads are not platform ... Continue Reading about TikTok Health Champions and Skeptics