This fella is a Physics teacher in Louisville. We see him at quick recall matches. Who knew he was so extraordinary. A former student made the video, which Vimeo picked as a Top-ten for 2013. It’s a perfect post for Christmas. Love teachers. After doing some research, I learned Mr Wright was featured in the […]
Month: December 2013
President Obama has a few good ideas. He wants Americans to discuss healthcare this holiday season. That’s actually a really good idea. This blog aims to do some good in the area of medicine and health. What follows are two incredibly important essays. The consolation prize is an excerpt from my recent Top Ten post. […]
When the editors of Medscape asked me to write a Top Ten article on the best Cardiology stories in 2013, I jumped at the chance. I spent a lot of time thinking about Cardiology this year. I was invested. Plus, 2013 was a year for pivoting–big time pivoting. What made news in 2013 was not […]
For the prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation, the novel anticoagulant drugs dabigatran (Pradaxa, Boehringer Ingelheim), rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Bayer Pharma/Janssen Pharmaceuticals), apixaban (Eliquis, Pfizer/Bristol-Myers Squibb), and edoxaban (Lixiana, Daiichi-Sankyo) have been sold as both superior and more convenient than warfarin. But is this true? More than 60,000 patients have been enrolled in randomized controlled clinical […]
My messages are simple: Mastery of the obvious; Reflective learning; Balancing optimism with realism; Plan for health; and this biggie: Stack together lots of small changes. Strive for small wins. They add up to big things. They are all here, plus some science. Dr. Mike Evans is a doctor, professor and creator extraordinaire. This is […]
A friend recently asked me why I am so hard on doctors. “You write a lot of negative stuff about us,” he said. That worries me. I am not a nihilist. I believe in what we do. I put doctoring decidedly in the noble category, right alongside teachers. In fact, my attachment to doctoring is […]
I made a discovery this week about the novel anticoagulant medications, dabigatran (Pradaxa), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), apixaban (Eliquis) and edoxaban (Lixiana). I was looking into the often-asked question of how these new drugs compare to the old standard, warfarin. The discovery felt like a Eureka moment. I ran it by my stats guy–my son–and a couple […]
Some things are hard to see until one leaves his or her normal surroundings. For American doctors, especially procedure-based doctors, it’s easy to get used to the wastefulness and largesse of delivering care. Then you travel. You go to another healthcare system and are left to gasp. An AF ablation ‘costs’ 100,000 in the US, […]
Last night, Staci and I watched the award-wining documentary, The Waiting Room. Here is an intro from the website: The Waiting Room is a character-driven documentary film that uses extraordinary access to go behind the doors of an American public hospital struggling to care for a community of largely uninsured patients. The film – using […]
“We should be as demanding of ourselves as we are of those who challenge us.” Dr. Jerome Groopman, writing in the New Rupublic Writing about the medical decision-making surrounding vaccines proved to be sketchy. Yesterday’s post brought stinging criticism from both sides of the debate. A pediatrician felt the structure of the post was patronizing. […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about vaccines. As a learner, an observer of humans and our nature, a worshiper of the scientific method, a doctor, a new grandfather, and a member of society, few debates could be more compelling. The kerfuffle over vaccines has it all. It’s the Lance Armstrong story on steroids. (Grin.) The […]