Yesterday, Google launched Knol, immediately branded as Google’s answer to Wikipedia. As healthcare advisor to the project, I’ll say a few words about Knol, but focus on how it – and other forms of electronic self-publishing – may signal the end of medical publishing as we have known it. First, a word about Knol (the [...]
Archive | July, 2008
The Long Awaited Crisis in Primary Care: It’s Heeere!
I recently heard from a UCSF physician who was flabbergasted when he sought an appointment in our general medicine practice and was told it was “closed.” Turns out we’re not alone: there are also no new PCP slots available at Mass General. The primary care crisis has truly arrived. I’ve written about the roots of [...]
Another Case of Wrong Site Surgery: Are We Averting Our Eyes From Some of the Root Causes?
Yet another case of wrong-side surgery, this one at Boston’s Beth-Israel Deaconess Hospital. Though CEO Paul Levy does a nice job discussing the case on his blog, I’ll focus on two aspects Paul neglects: the role of production pressures in errors, and the tension between “no blame” and accountability. First, I hope you’ll read Paul’s [...]
Door to Antibiotics Time in Pneumonia: Lessons from a Flawed Quality Measure
In today’s Annals of Internal Medicine, my colleagues and I describe the saga of the four-hour measure of door-to-antibiotics time for pneumonia – the first truly dangerous measure in the era of public quality reporting. It is an important cautionary tale. As I’ve discussed previously, the biggest surprise of the last decade in the quality [...]
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