Everybody hates curbside consults – the informal, “Hey, Joe, how would you treat asymptomatic pyuria in my 80-year-old nursing home patient?”-type questions that dominate those Doctor’s Lounge conversations that aren’t about sports, Wall Street, or ObamaCare. Consultants hate being asked clinical questions out of context; they know that they may give incorrect advice if the [...]
Archive | Medical Education/Academia RSS feed for this section
“Doctor, Step Away From That Cookbook!”
A middle-aged man develops chest pain at home. Minutes after calling 911, he’s in an ambulance, whizzing through traffic to the nearest emergency room. The paramedics radio ahead, and by the time the patient arrives in the ER, the hospital’s heart attack team has been activated. A stat electrocardiogram shows an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), [...]
(Not) Saving the Best for Last: Managing One’s Time on Rounds and Sign-Out
A clever little study was published last month in the Archives of Internal Medicine, and it – plus the fact that I’ve just started a stint as ward attending – prompted me to think about the importance of managing a set of tasks in the hospital. In my quarter-century of mentoring residents and faculty, I [...]
In Today’s JAMA: Abraham Verghese and I Discuss the Changing World of Ward Attendings
Senior attendings like to quip that the medical students seem to be getting younger every year. They’re not. But the attendings on the wards of American teaching hospitals actually have gotten younger. At UCSF Medical Center, for example, about 90% of our ward attending-months are now staffed by hospitalists, about half of them physicians in [...]
Putting the “A” Back in SOAP Notes: Time to Tackle An Epic Problem
A colleague recently sent me a remarkable video – of Professor Lawrence Weed giving Medical Grand Rounds at Emory University in 1971. It’s fun to watch for many reasons: the packed audience composed mostly of white men in white jackets and narrow ties, the grainy black and white images a nostalgic reminder of Life Before [...]
On Becoming Chair of the ABIM: Why the Board Matters More Than Ever
On September 10, 1986, soon after I completed my residency in internal medicine, I “took the Boards” – the certifying examination administered by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). A few months later, I learned that I passed the exam, and that success, combined with an attestation by my residency program director, rendered me [...]
In Search of a New Rhythm on Today’s Wards
When I was a medical student, I remember wondering what my attendings did when they weren’t on the wards. As an attending now myself, trying to cram three half-month ward blocks into my hyperscheduled life each year, I find that sentiment charmingly naïve. I – like most of my faculty colleagues – am awfully busy [...]
Leaders and Leadership in Hospital Medicine: The Story Behind the IPC-UCSF Fellowship
This is a tale of leaders and leadership. And about keeping an open mind. I first met Adam Singer in 1996, when the hospitalist field still had its training wheels on. A pulmonary/critical care physician by training, Adam had become a physician-entrepreneur and was now focused on making his new enterprise, IPC, the nation’s preeminent [...]
The July Effect: “Don’t Get Sick In July” Is Not An Answer
“Don’t get sick in July!” We’ve all heard patients and family members say this – part declaration, part wishful thinking – in reference to the perceived summertime risks of teaching hospitals. When I hear it, I usually respond with comforting bromides like “robust supervision” and “cream of the crop.” But deep down, if I had [...]
Am I A Socialist?
Am I a socialist? I don’t think so, but I did inch in that direction during the four days I spent in northern Norway last week, visiting the local hospital in Bodø and speaking to about 20 of the nation’s hospital CEOs. Here’s what I learned. First, a word on visiting northern Norway – above [...]
Loading ...
