With reports of burnout and forced retirement mandated for U.S. pilots, and military personnel, the question is whether forced retirement should be mandated for physicians as well. The AMA’s Council on Medical Education wrote a report that says “physicians should be allowed to remain in practice as long as patient safety is not endangered.” But physicians should… Read More
This is an article in the February 20,2016 Daily Republic that features Medic Ambulance’s Community Paramedicine Integrated Healthcare Program that is one of the 12 California Pilot Programs. This program looks at post hospital discharge of patients with pneumonia, COPD and CHF and works to keep them from having to return to the hospital VACAVILLE… Read More
Many people talk about the safety of marijuana. This study in the February 24, 2016 issue of NEJM explores ED Visits and compares those from Colorado vs those visiting. Because Colorado is one of the few states where there is complete legalization of marijuana, there are reports of marijuana tourism. This article explores the differences… Read More
Nurse Practioners are arguing for greater scope of practice and independence from physicians to practice medicine. Because of physician shortages, a growing number of states are granting advanced practice nurses broader practice authority. From the article A 2010 Institute of Medicine report titled “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” recommended that nurses be given… Read More
This is another article that talks about the ridiculous amount of time that is consumed with documenting on electronic medical records. This study from the February 2016 Journal of Graduate Medical Education reports that interns spend 41 minutes per patient working on medical records. As the interns and residents learn the system this time drops to 30 minutes… Read More
A February 24, 2016 Article from The New England Journal of Medicine — Readmissions, Observation, and the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program talks about the decrease in hospital readmissions for targeted conditions (CHF, pneumonia, and acute myocardial infarction.) The article states that data shows that readmission rates dropped significantly at US Hospitals between 2007 and 2015.… Read More
A February 22, 2016 article in California Healthline talks about the importance of coordinating medical and mental health care. Excerpts include People with severe mental illnesses are more likely to die prematurely than those without, and it’s often from treatable chronic diseases — in part because many, …..don’t receive regular medical care. They may be uninsured… Read More
The February 8, 2016 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine had an opinion article that reviewed telemonitoring as one potential approach to decrease readmissions. The article gives background that we are no three years into the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and CMS still reports that the CHF readmission rate is still near 22%. The authors commented on a… Read More
Telemedicine is expanding rapidly and there and every year there are additional proposals to further expand its use. Many of the opponents question whether the quality of care will suffer via telemedicine. Telemedicine has been shown to be of value in remotely assessing psychiatric patients, radiological studies, and dermatological conditions. Previously many opponents also… Read More
