New Medical Schools Opening in the US
by Amber Montanano
Today the New York Times told me that the US is planning on opening some new medical schools. In fact, they're planning on increasing the number of US medical schools by 18% over the next few years. Whoa!
The age-old discussion of whether MORE doctors is really the answer is touched upon in this article. I never went to medical school (obviously!), so I had no idea that folks could apply to 30 medical schools and receive rejections from 28 of them! More schools seems like a great idea to me, and probably to the students paying the admission fees to 30 medical schools knowing full well that they will receive mostly rejection.
The skeptics of curing the workforce issue by simply minting more doctors say that even if more doctors are accepted and study, they will most likely not go into practice in places where they're needed most - like primary care doctors in rural areas. Alas! They are probably right, too. Currently, primary care and family medicine have taken huge hits in their enrollment because of less than stellar reimbursements from insurance companies. Specialties are really where the money is at, and when you're looking at all the debt you incur becoming a doctor... well, honestly, I'd most likely go where I was most likely to make dough to pay off my education.
The article touches on a lot of different issues, of which I won't repost here since I'm going to be busy looking at all the new medical schools in Pennsylvania and rethinking my career. 
e-Patient Infiltrates Medical Professional Assessment Organization
by Amber Montanano
On January 11, we had a guest come in and shake things up a bit here. Jen McCabe Gorman gave a really engaging talk (which can be found here if you’ve got an hour to kill and feel like you could use some stimulation) about medicine, social media, and how the two can be mashed together to help you become a participant in your care as opposed to simply the object of your doctor’s care.
We had a record turnout for her morning session – literally, I think we set a record for attendance! – and then she took the rest of her day to brainstorm with smaller groups of us about topics like patient safety and communication skills (See inset pictures of the white boards... it's okay if you don't understand them. I don't think I do anymore, either. But while she was drawing them, they really made sense!). It was really interesting to see the crowd really start trying to see things from a different perspective, that of the "expert patient" or e-Patient. Even a youngster like me (almost 3 years here which is a drop in the bucket for some folks) has been indoctrinated into thinking that an “expert" must have a bunch of letters after his or her name and run a medical school or a hospital. Jen’s perspective was, in a word used by many folks at the presentation, refreshing!
And now for a non-solicited plug: You should really follow Jen on twitter for awesome scouting tidbits, and get involved in her #getupandmove initiative. It’s a way to challenge your friends to improve their health by making microchoices about their activities. Also, you should check Jen out on LinkedIn to see the many projects she has and is working on currently.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll look at Jen’s profile and think, “She’s just about the same age as me… what the heck have I been doing with my life?!” Yeah. She’s that awesome. And productive. And hopefully a collaborator for many moons to come!
Relatedly, there are now hundreds of hospitals who are finally "getting it" as far as utilizing social media tools to create better strategies for caring for their patients. See if your local hospital is on the list!
Hey, Miss Manners, welcome to 2009.
by Amber Montanano
I heard a segment on NPR the other day about mobile device technology etiquette. (As a side note, I notice that most of my posts are inspired by things I hear on NPR. What would I do without you, public radio?) It basically laid out some ground rules for when and how it's appropriate to use mobile devices when you're dating someone. In this new and strange age of technology, I suppose rules about this kind of thing were bound to happen. For me, this is a really interesting area to get into.
I know I’m preaching to the choir.
by Amber Montanano
e-Patients are getting more and more press lately. This morning I heard some people on the radio talking about how folks are using the internet for support and information. They even dropped the Patients Like Me name. What surprises me more than anything is that it's taking so long to get the medical community to pay attention to the social media explosion.
A Public Service Post
by Amber Montanano
Know your enemy!
It seems like there have been several viruses flying around the Center over the past few weeks. I think all six of us have been out for one illness or another. Suspicions of H1N1 swirl, but thankfully, no one has been seriously compromised.
Maybe I shouldn't be saying things like that until the flu season is officially over. Jeez, do I know how to tempt the fates or what?
Anyway, I was cruising around on npr's site today and came across a pretty useful video/article and thought that I'd share it with not only my non-MD colleagues, but anyone who happens across this here blog and is as curious about what viruses do in your body as I was.
I must now return to my muscle aches and lethargy.
Another delicious morsel of patient safety information!
by Amber Montanano
Check out ten medical misconceptions on the Time website.
CVS Minute Clinic Visit
by Amber Montanano
Two nights ago, I was standing in my kitchen holding my cat, Shadow, pictured to the right. A noise startled him and he decided to use my palm as a launching pad to catapult himself across the room to hide.
Unfortunately, as my hand is made of FLESH and his back claws are TALONS OF DEATH, I sustained a pretty nasty scratch, pictured below. I wasn't sure exactly how "bad" the scratch was as far as animal scratches go... it wasn't as bad as if a bear had mauled me, but it was probably the worst cat scratch I've ever had, and as the happy owner of five cats, I've had quite a few. I decided to just wash it out and slap a band aid over it. However, when I woke up yesterday morning it wasn't any better. It was actually stinging more than it was before, and was looking a little swollen.
Man, I don't feel like going to the doctor for this, I thought. Who has time to sit and wait for 50 minutes in the waiting room, and then another 30 in the office? And that was even IF my doctor could see me today. I realized that I haven't actually seen a live MD in the office for a long time. I always see a nurse practitioner, which is just fine by me. Anyone who can make me feel better is all right with me! Then I remembered someone mentioning the minute clinic at CVS.
What the heck is “rumspringa?”
by Amber Montanano
Driving home from work yesterday, I heard a story on NPR
about a psychotherapist who had to change his tactics for treating a large
portion of his patient base. Dr. Jim Cates lives and practices in Topeka,
Indiana, where there is a large Amish population.
I’m very familiar with the Amish gig since there is a
huge community located in Lancaster, PA which is about an hour drive from
Philadelphia. If you’re not, here’s what Wikipedia has to say
about them.
It’s a fascinating culture, based on unwavering religious beliefs and
living a simple, honest life.
The program started with Dr. Cates discussing a
patient’s family bringing her in to take an IQ test in order to obtain
some kind of governmental benefits for her care, as she was mentally disabled.
He realized rather quickly that an IQ test written for mainstream Americans was
not going to give him insight into an Amish person’s IQ. She had no
cultural reference for many of the questions asked. It would almost be like
an American taking this Aboriginal Australian IQ test.
He realized then that he had to change his methods if he wanted to treat this
population.
The program also talked about the differences he applied to
treating Amish teenagers who acquired alcohol or drug dependence during
rumspringa.
Truly, cultural competence is becoming more and more important as the lines
between cultures blur.
Check out the written article here.
A Veritable Treasure Trove of Links
by Amber Montanano
If you're trying to find a good doctor, or are just interested in looking at how certain places do this kind of thing, check out this article. Page two lists about a billion1 links that are informative as all heck. It warms the cockles of my heart to see so much patient-centered information gathered in one spot.
Proton Beam Therapy
by Amber Montanano
This is an article that Steve passed around the other day about the different schools of thought as far as medicine and technology go. You’ve got people who want their doctors to use cutting edge technology like (this is actual language from the article) “proton beam therapy” which can vaporize tumors with little damage to surrounding tissue, and you’ve got people who are happy to just keep things simple with cheaper technologies like x-rays.
Here’s something I never really thought of (or just took for granted) when I read this article: Toilets are one of the key components to disease control. SARS was caused by faulty plumbing in a seventh-floor bathroom in Hong Kong. SARS, people. That disease that killed all those people, yeah. Three cheers for sanitation!
Scouting Themes
Research
- Content analysis of patient complaints
- Changing physicians' competence and performance: Finding the balance between the individual and the organization
- Individual Differences and the Development of Perceived Control
Bookmarks
- Pre-Grade Your Paper!
- Doctor Leads Quest for Safer Ways to Care for Patients - NYT Interview with Dr. Peter J. Pronovost
- Popular Science puts its archives online for free - awesome!
- amednews: National Practitioner Data Bank expanded beyond physicians to other healthcare professionals
- Bloggasm » New study shows some correlation between free ebooks and higher print sales