Archive for the ‘Doctor Patient Relationship’ Category

Five Steps to Avoid Misdiagnosis

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an op-ed I wrote about how you can avoid misdiagnosis.

Published studies show that rates of misdiagnosis in America are a stunning 1 in 5.The good news is there are several steps you can take to protect yourself. They start with understanding why misdiagnosis happens, how you can work with your doctor to avoid it and, above all, playing an active role in your own health care.

Diagnostic errors happen much more often than most people realize. Even doctors are not immune. According to The New England Journal of Medicine, 35% of doctors have reported errors in their own care or that of a family member.

How can this be happening in a time of such great medical advances?

How indeed.  Go to the Journal Sentinel site and find out how you can protect yourself.

Success is a Lousy Teacher

Monday, November 28th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

Bill Gates once said:

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.

It’s clever, and it seems right.  Now there is science to prove it.

In a study published last week, scientists studied special imaging scans of doctors brains as they made simulated medical decisions.  Those doctors who paid attention to their mistakes made better decisions than those who were more interested in their successes:

“These findings underscore the dangers of disregarding past failures when making high-stakes decisions,” Montague said in a statement. “‘Success-chasing’ not only can lead doctors to make flawed decisions in diagnosing and treating patients, but it can also distort the thinking of other high-stakes decision-makers, such as military and political strategists, stock market investors and venture capitalists.”

This is just the latest proof of how important it is to interrupt your doctor’s decision-making process.  Leading researchers in the field of medical decision-making have emphasized how easy it is for “overconfidence” to get in the way.  Doctors are neither immune to disease nor the pitfalls of decision-making that plague the rest of us.

A Lesson from Guatemala

Sunday, November 27th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

Guatemala is a developing country, with great natural beauty, hard-working people and many challenges.  Most Americans look at places like Guatemala and see only the challenges.  Some see opportunity.

I’ve just returned from Guatemala, where I met with our business partners, government officials, and others.   And I can tell you a universal truth.  People across the world want the best medical care they can get.  They aren’t looking for the latest technologies and drugs and treatments – or, rather, they aren’t looking only for those things.  No, what is most important to whoever I meet, no matter where they live, is that they are able to get the right diagnosis, and the right treatment.

It’s a harder thing to get in some places than in others.  Americans don’t realize that one of our great exports is our health care.  Not our system – but our know-how, education, medications, devices, techniques.  In many ways, health care promises to be the economic engine of 21st century America.  And getting access to it doesn’t necessarily mean getting on a plane and coming to the states.  At Best Doctors this is what we do – bring the expertise of the world’s leading doctors to where – and when – it’s needed.

After a speech I gave in Guatemala one of the audience members came to me and said she thought something I said was very important.  “Every person deserves the right diagnosis and treatment,” she said.  It’s a simple concept that is much harder to make reality.  But it should be the basis on which any health care program, health care provider – or health care system – must be built.

But there are no pit crews

Monday, November 14th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

Atul Gawande says that we’re used to doctors working like “cowboys” – rugged individualists who are responsible for making sure your care gets done right.  We don’t need cowboys, he says.  We need “pit crews” – teams of doctors working together toward a common goal, with each playing their own role.

It’s an appealing idea.  Pit crew-like teams work, and work well, in trauma units across the country.

But there’s a problem: if you haven’t just been airlifted to a hospital after a horrible accident, you’re not going to be treated by a pit crew.  You’re going to be on your own, shuffled from one 15-minute specialist visit to the next, likely with no one person in charge of your care.

(more…)

5 Ways You Can Avoid Being Misdiagnosed

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

Billionaire Teddy Forstmann has apparently been diagnosed with a serious form of brain cancer.  There’s a tragic twist to the story: according to Fox Business News, Forstmann believes that for more than a year, he had been misdiagnosed with meningitis.

ABC News wonders:

How could such a misfortune befall a billionaire —- a man able to afford the best doctors, best technology and the most sophisticated diagnostic tests?

They’re missing the point.  Misdiagnosis happens with shocking regularity – as much as 44% of the time, depending on the illness.

I’m sure that, as with most things, being a billionaire is better.  But as a neurosurgeon quoted by ABC News points out, even for a billionaire, getting the right care is “still a bit of a crap shoot.”

So how can you improve your odds?  Here are 5 tips that work.

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The “CSI Effect” Hits Medicine

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

I’m in Israel, home to some of the most innovative care in the world.  Doctors here wanted to know if the high-tech tests that are an increasing part of their work help.  A couple of weeks ago, they published their results.

It turns out that in about 90% of cases, it didn’t matter.

(more…)

Empowered Patients Get Better Care

Monday, July 25th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

Sometimes you need a published study to tell you what should be obvious in the first place.

This time, researchers have discovered that:

When physicians have more personalized discussions with their patients and encourage them to take a more active role in their health, both doctor and patient have more confidence that they reached a correct diagnosis and a good strategy to improve the patient’s health.

Really?

But wait, there’s more.

(more…)

Don’t Stop Medical Innovation

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

The New York Times says “In Medicine, New Isn’t Always Improved.”

Who can argue with this?

“In Dining, New Restaurants Aren’t Always Better.”

Yes, that’s true, too.  But does it mean anything?

(more…)

The Doctor is…Overbooked

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

At the New York Times’ City Room Blog, Joel Cohen writes:

my wife and I are convinced that all medical students should have to pass Overbooking 101 before they can become doctors.Again and again, we arrive at a doctor’s aptly named waiting room on or before the scheduled time, only to learn that three or four others sitting there have been given the same appointment.

He says doctors need to understand the impact of this on their patients.  I agree, but not just because it’s annoying.

(more…)

Third Place Health Care

Sunday, February 27th, 2011

By Evan Falchuk

Media reports on misdiagnosis continue to mount.

A recent study on patients with Alzheimer’s found that half had been misdiagnosed.  Half.

Another headline blared “4 out of 10 patients being misdiagnosed.”  The article encouraged patients to “see another doctor” if they are worried about their diagnosis.

You know what it makes me think about?

Starbucks.

(more…)

  • "Medicine is learned by the bedside and not in the class room. Let not your conception of manifestations of disease come from work heard in the lecture room or read from the book: see and then research, compare and control. But see first."
    - Sir William Osler, MD
    The Father of Modern Medicine
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