MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'general internal medicine'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:54:34 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4151789&cid=t_212918_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fpatient-engagement-how-empathy-can-empower-your-patients%2F2010.11.10 In my recent post on KevinMD, “Deeply Connect and Engage Your Patients With Empathy,” I write about how empathy is essential to help empower our patients: “It is with empathy that we can engage and empower our patients.” Doctors and nurses are leaders in health care. Being a great leader means having a clear vision, mission or goal. It means being committed, and knowing how to listen and communicate, but it involves much more. It’s about having heart, empathy, and an uplifting spirit. I value and respect a well written post by Thomas Goetz, author of The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine recently published on KevinMD, “How can doctors successfully engage their patients?” Goetz writes about “Five things they should seek to... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4151789 Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:00:50 +0100 4151789 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4036644&cid=t_212918_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fwhen-patients-and-doctors-disagree%2F2010.10.06 A 69-year-old woman who swims in my master program came back to the pool after a total knee replacement. I asked her how she was doing. She said she is still in a lot of pain because of her physical therapy. She said that her physical therapist was disappointed that she still was still unable to achieve full flexion of 120 degrees. Why 120 degrees? Did you set that goal I asked her? ”No,” she said, “the therapist did.” She went on to tell how she already had more range of motion in her knee than she did before the surgery. My friend was quite satisfied with her progress and wanted to stop physical therapy. The pain from the PT was worse than anything she had experienced before the knee replacement. I knew she and her 80-year-old boy friend were going on a c... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4036644 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:00:00 +0100 4036644 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3750059&cid=t_212918_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fonline-medical-records-not-all-patients-want-all-that%2F2010.07.13 Anytime you come across a healthcare article that implies that every patient wants access to this or that – i.e. their medical record, patient-centered care, etc. – you can safely assume that the claim is wrong. Why? Patients are not a monolithic group –- they don’t all share the same motivations, preferences, beliefs or experiences when it comes to their health. But let’s face. If you are trying to push an agenda, just saying some people want this or that is not the same as implying that everyone wants it. Take the issue of patient access to physician notes in their medical record. Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) recently announced their OpenNotes study. The OpenNotes project will evaluate the impact on both patients and physicians of sharing, through online medical record p... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3750059 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:00:51 +0100 3750059 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3632269&cid=t_212918_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fmedical-errors-and-patient-safety-beware-of-the-july-effect%2F2010.06.04 From Dr. Toni Brayer at Everything Health: We medical folks have always known that July is the worst time for a patient to be admitted to the hospital. It has nothing to do with nice summer weather or staff vacations. Although it cannot be proven, we think the answer to the mystery of July hospital errors is human — yes, it’s the new interns. A new study published in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine looked at all U.S. death certificates from 1979 to 2006. They found that in teaching hospitals, on average deadly medication mistakes surged by 10 percent each July. The good news is they did not find a surge in other medical errors, including surgery or in non-teaching hospitals. (more…) *This blog post was originally published at ACP Intern... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3632269 Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:00:00 +0100 3632269 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3335314&cid=t_212918_99_f&fid=35344&url=http%3A%2F%2Fzackarysholemberger.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F03%2Fhow-can-patients-and-doctors-talk-about.html Check out this presentation (based on other people's research) that I'm giving tomorrow at the meeting of the Mid-Atlantic branch of the Society of General Internal Medicine. The Power Point version, prettier in its Microsoft way, is here. (Source: Zackary Sholem Berger) Zackary Sholem Berger blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3335314 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:34:00 +0100 3335314 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2796452&cid=t_212918_99_f&fid=35344&url=http%3A%2F%2Fzackarysholemberger.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F09%2Fmultiple-diagnoses-and-multiple.html I feel certain scruples about blogging about my new workplace (Johns Hopkins) - I suppose that's a good thing. I like it, is what I'll say to start. The patients are different. Half of them are very well educated and knowledgeable about their conditions, bringing in lists of diagnoses.The question I try to address - well, the question I haven't addressed yet, but would like to, is: do these long lists of diagnoses serve a purpose?I mean, there are lists and there are lists. Let's sayList 1. Diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, depression, tobacco useList 2. Cervicalgia, autonomic dysfunction, benign prostatic hyperplasia, degenerative disk diseaseList 1 is more than the sum of its parts, and list 2 - not so much. Which doesn't mean the problems in list 2 are minor (every one ha... Zackary Sholem Berger blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2796452 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:40:00 +0100 2796452 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2626043&cid=t_212918_99_f&fid=35344&url=http%3A%2F%2Fzackarysholemberger.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F07%2Fthis-is-dr-berger-he-is-visiting.html I spent the day enjoyably. I gave a talk this morning to the folks at VMA General Practice Training, one of a number of provider training centers throughout Australia. (Recently - within the past decade or so - the Australian government has decentralized the training of general practitioners, formerly under the College of General Practitioners, in order to promote competition.) I had a feeling of being at home among people like those at the primary care program I just graduated from. Now, primary care doctors in the US are (with the addition of philosophical self-consciousness and their own advocacy organization) just like internists, while their equivalent in Australia is the GP. Australia is civilized because about half their practitioners are GPs. What struck me was how little differenc... Zackary Sholem Berger blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2626043 Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:45:00 +0100 2626043 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1969040&cid=t_212918_99_f&fid=35344&url=http%3A%2F%2Fzackarysholemberger.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F11%2Fpresenting-presenters.html I was at Hopkins last week giving a talk as a recipient of one of the GIM Housestaff Research Awards. The other awardees were impressive. I wish they were as blogorrheic as I am, so I could provide links to their life & work. In any case, among the presentations werea discussion by Matt DeCamp of intellectual property rights and distributive justice, and their interdependenceLee Jennings' study of osteoporosis treatment in the hospital (per guidelines: calcium, vitamin D, and anti-resorptive/bone-forming agents). Two percent of patients got recommended treatment in-house!a sobering fact about residents' physical examinations of women (Rosette Chakkalakal): they don't listen to the heart like they should (is it because they respect too much their patients' modesty? or they're uncomforta... Zackary Sholem Berger blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1969040 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:15:00 +0100 1969040 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=540499&cid=t_212918_87_f&fid=34866&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecardioblog.com%2F2007%2F04%2F12%2Flack-of-insurance-may-increase-risk-of-cardiovascular-disease%2F Filed under: Prevention, ResearchCalifornia and a few other states may be onto something with their push for universal health care coverage. Frankly, in a country as wealthy as our own, it's almost embarrassing that some citizens must sometimes forgo medical procedures and routine physical exams solely because they cannot afford to pay for it. I'm not just venting here, either. Research into this very topic has revealed an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In the April issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center published information related to the "insurance deterrent" (as I like to call it), a pervasive problem facing the U.S. The fear of mounting medical bills oftentimes causes some uninsured people to opt agains... The Cardio Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=540499 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:00:00 +0100 540499