It’s not normal for me to study the literature on pediatric cardiology. There’s more than enough medical science on adults to keep me busy.
But this one on the quality of life in kids with cardiac devices caught my eye. Researchers found that kids with either pacemakers or ICDs (defibrillators) and their families reported significantly lower quality of life scores. What was even more striking was that the esteemed doctors had trouble saying such in their conclusions. They said cardiac devices ‘affected’ QoL. But that’s not true; the devices did not affect QoL, they ‘lowered‘ it.
That concept got me thinking about the therapies of electrophysiology. Are heart rhythm doctors looking inward enough at the burden of what we do to patients?
Do adult patients with cardiac devices or those that undergo extensive ablation procedures for diseases–not immediately life-threatening–understand the potential burdens? Are doctors too optimistic?
These are topics of my new post on theHeart.org.
I hope you wander over to the revamped site and take a look.
Here is the title and link: Looking inward. . . . Do electrophysiologists notice what they do?
JMM
2 replies on “New post up at theHeart.org — Noticing the burden of our therapy.”
Every time I climb a flight of stairs I thank my EP.
In the grand scheme of life-or-death medicine it may be a small thing, but to this patient getting my QoL back was a life restoring event.
Its always a pleasure to read your thoughtful and introspective writings. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.