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 […]
With vaccines…Is there no middle ground, no room for questions?
“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. […]
The vaccine debate — Could compassion and nuance be an antidote?
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 […]
Love the wisdom of physician colleagues
Let’s be honest: If you are bold enough to hit the ‘publish’ button, it’s normal to care what readers think. I write about Medicine; I like doctors; I respect doctors. So it matters how colleagues react to my words. I was both proud and concerned when the Greater Louisville Medical Society decided to republish my […]
Healthy Privilege, Social Fabric, Education — Perspective means a lot.
Perhaps writing about health matters from the perspective of a cardiologist/bike racer is a little like parenting: At times the message seems less than compassionate, even though it’s born out of concern for others, knowledge and a tincture of middle-age experience. The many excellent comments on my recent telomere/heart-health post stirred me to write a […]
New post up at Trials and Fibrillations…Let’s give patients easy access to their charts
I’ve said it before here many times over. In achieving quality of medical care, information and transparency are fundamental. Knowledge empowers patients to share in their medical decisions. Doctors have always been teachers, but with the explosion of medical treatment options, this role has never been more important. Currently, in most of the real world, […]
Doctors and Social Media — Increasing the good we do?
“Mass social media is a crock. It is an inherent contradiction. This is why I like LinkedIn more than Facebook. It has a special purpose and therefore doesn’t feel like a time waster. FWIW, I predict the next huge win in social media will be in health care.” –Rich Karlgaard (Forbes.com) writing in WSJ […]
An important message from the Heart Rhythm Society
You all know how I feel about the value of education in the treatment and prevention of heart disease: It is self-evident and unquestionable. Along the lines of educating patients and docs, and in the spirit of February being Heart Health Awareness month, I believe The Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) deserves strong mention for their […]
On doing clinical research without a foundation
I learned a lot from putting together an abstract for a national heart meeting. More than just learning how to e-submit, e-upload and e-print a large poster; More than what t-tests and chi-squares measure; More than learning that females respond differently to AF ablation; And surely more than which coffee shop offers the best work […]
Work-life balance in Medicine–Maybe the young are on to something?
I read an interesting story about young doctors today. American Medical News reported that the changing desires of resident doctors poses recruiting challenges for practices. It’s an eye-opener–a look into the future of healthcare. It seems young docs want unusual things from their career in Medicine. The new generation of doctors seek employment, not partnership, […]
An important website for judging the quality of medical news
When I learn something that might be useful to you, I like to write about it. To date, the topics that I feel most comfortable writing about relate to doctoring, heart disease, healthy living and cycling. But an area that I am growing more and more intrigued with is health news reporting. As a believer […]
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