I watched a news segment this week about the rising popularity of telemedicine. The segment profiled a doctor and showed him conducting a telemedicine visit in his home. To my surprise he was wearing a stethoscope around his neck. It got me thinking about telemedicine and stethoscopes. I asked my wife, ‘what’s he plannin’ do with that stethoscope, I ... Continue Reading about The Truth About Telemedicine and Stethoscopes
Against Advanced Practitioners – Medicine’s Social Pushback
Recently I’ve been getting salty Twitter remarks about my ‘sympathetic views’ toward non-MD health care providers. These comments against advanced practitioners come from physicians working to take back the night and restore medicine to its rightful hierarchy. One confronted me with the absurd question: Are you willing to turn all of your family’s care over to ... Continue Reading about Against Advanced Practitioners – Medicine’s Social Pushback
Small Doctors in Big White Lab Coats
After some deliberation, Johns Hopkins Hospital leadership has determined that their medical interns may wear long white lab coats. Until now the short white lab coat defined medical interns and the age old pecking order of postgraduate medicine in Baltimore. Woulda killed to hear that debate. Although I know how important this stuff can be to young ... Continue Reading about Small Doctors in Big White Lab Coats
Twitter’s Continuum of Female Physician Voices: ILookLikeaSurgeon, GirlMedTwitter, and MotherCutter
If you think Twitter has devolved into a buttoned-down forum for predictable professional posturing, check out Ilooklikeasurgeon. This and other communities of female physician voices on Twitter are shaping a new image of the physician. Ilooklikeasurgeon The original meme that went global, #Ilooklikeasurgeon put a spotlight on the the way real (female) surgeons ... Continue Reading about Twitter’s Continuum of Female Physician Voices: ILookLikeaSurgeon, GirlMedTwitter, and MotherCutter
Doctors, Scientists and My Identity
I recently overheard a practicing physician on Twitter characterize herself as a scientist. It was in the context of countering an alternate health claim. I think she was suggesting that her training allowed her to understand evidence. While understanding science is important for physicians, I would never insult my scientist colleagues by referring to myself a ... Continue Reading about Doctors, Scientists and My Identity
Physician Anesthesiologist
The anesthesiologist has been re-branded as the physician anesthesiologist. Check out the site for the American Society of Anesthesiologist. The Twitter feed for the American Society of Anesthesiologists has members referencing this designation. When you modify anesthesiologist with ‘physician’ it implies that anesthesiologists are no longer only physicians. I ... Continue Reading about Physician Anesthesiologist